true hope
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: religion
True Faith in God is not a result of our work. It is not dependent upon our ability or financial independence. Nor is true faith in God built upon an inherent ability we have in doing the work of God. True faith in God is a result of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives showing us through His word how we are to commune with God. It is the Spirit who guides us through the desicions and trials of life. There is a certain type/kind of walk that the believer is to undertake. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, the Apostle Paul outlines what that walk should begin to entail. We are to walk so as to please God. The Christian life is not license to live as we please nor is it a certificate declaring that we have no need to be odeient to God. We are clearly commanded in Scripture to "be holy for God is Holy."(1Peter 1:14-16) Our lives are not our own; we have been bought with a price, the Apostle Paul clearly outlines what that price was(1Corinthians 6:20-7:23) So then, our true hope is not in anything we have earned. For again Scripture tells us what we really should be paid when it tells us that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."(Romans 6:23) One may ask the question That is all fine and dandy but what does this have to do with me? I'm not one of those mentioned in that verse. Scripture is truly clear about who is on that list which Paul tells us are the wages of Sin when we read that "...by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that ALL have SINNED:..."(Romans 5:12) This is the price of one man's sin. But "...by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."(Romans 5:19) The Christian's walk is not a live as one may please attitude. The Christian has an assignment. Paul asks the question, "What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."(Romans 6:15) Nor "...Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound."(Romans 6:1) We are told that "There is therefore NOW no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."(Romans 8:1) The Spirit directs our life not from the outside in but from the inside out. "...Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."(1Corinthians 6:19-20) We are told that "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not....But he was wounded for our trangressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."(Isaiah 53:3,5) He was bruised has clear reference to the curse after the first sin. When God tells the serpent(a reference not to the animal per say, but to Lucifer, the Devil) "And i will put emnity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."(Genesis 3:15) Jesus was bruised, but ultimately victorious over sin, death and the curse. Therefore "...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(2Corinthians 5:17) Our true hope then is not in what we can do for ourselves or for Christ but in what Christ has done for us. Therefore we are to walk worthy of the one who has called us.(1Thessalonians 2:12) The walk will be frought with dangers and trouble. Jesus told us that "in the world ye be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."(John 16:33) Our joy is in the Lord and our walk is to emulate his. We are unable to do this fully successfully on our own and so Jesus says to us "..for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."(John 16:7) Paul advises us to "...walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."(Galatians 5:16) Our lives in Christ are not the same as when we were sinners under God's wrath; therefore Paul tells us "if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."(Galatians 5:26) for "the Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."(Romans 8:16) Our true hope is Jesus Christ. It is in no other thing that the world may tempt us with. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."(1John 2:15-17) To try and serve two masters is futile.(Matthew 6:24) The person who tries to do so is really doubleminded and unstable in everything he/she tries to do.(James 1:8) He/she will be of two minds on everything and thus useless for the Lord. Much like the Laodiceans of whom Jesus says, "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot...I will spew thee out of my mouth."(Revelation 3:15-16) The life in Christ is not a games of high stakes poker nor is it a crap shoot. It is a life to be wholly dedicated to God, for his purpose for His use. We are not to be so busy in our lives that we become no use for Him, because we have other things to do with our time instead of working for the Lord. Instead of a me first attitude we should adopt the Scriptural God first attitude, we will find that we will be so busy fot the Lord, we do not have time to do other things. Our interests will have been redirectd to Christ and His work.