Your Life God's Way
It’s our life but we should want to live it the way God wants us to.
THE TRUTH ABOUT SALVATION
Consider these words of Jesus:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" Matthew Chapter 7, Verses 21-23
The Bible explains these two verses as being the day of judgement “when the faithful and genuine enter the future kingdom. ‘That day’ will be one of separation based on true character as revealed in outward conduct. It will be a day of surprise for those who performed public actions and even demonstrated unusual power but never committed their lives in submission to Christ.”
As Christians, we’ve been told that when we repeat the “sinner’s prayer” we obtain our salvation and the promise of heaven. The Bible says differently. For example, read Luke chapter 13 verses 3 and 5, John chapter 8 verse 51 and John chapter 14 verses 15 and 23. According to the words of Jesus, in addition to loving Him with our whole heart we must also repent, not just ask for forgiveness, and obey His and God’s commands.
These verses above in Matthew should make every Christian ask themselves some very probing questions:
1. Am I really submitting myself to Jesus or did I just say a few words at an altar and continue to live my life as I choose?
2. When I sin, do I repent from that sin or do I just ask for forgiveness and continue to live my life as I choose?
3. Do I obey the commands God and Jesus gave us in the Bible or do I just continue to live my life as I choose?
Finally, if you want to draw close to God and Jesus and live the life they want you to live, follow the teaching of Paul in Galations 5:16-26 NLT.
Living by the Spirit’s Power
16So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.
AMEN!
I hope you’ll give this a lot of prayer and consideration so that when your judgement day comes Jesus won’t be saying, “I never knew you”.