Bible
Study: 1ST Timothy 1:15-17. / Luke 6:43-49.
It is one
thing to hear God’s word but a different thing altogether to practice it. Jesus
says to us today: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, but not do what I command?”
This is a question that is so relevant even in our very day.
A lot of
us Christians are very devoted, we fast for long periods and pray a lot, we are
regular at church services but we do not keep God’s words to the letter. When
we pick up the Bible to read, we tend to remind God of his great and beautiful
promises to us, we love to quote those passages that pronounce blessings on us.
We forget that as much as we expect God to play his part, God also wants us to
play our part by practicing what we read in the Bible.
Much of
today’s Christianity is about how to receive favour from God, how to destroy
ones’ enemies and so on. There is no emphasis on the doing of God’s wishes. It is
like God is just a piece of wood, you shout at him when praying, you command
him to send down fire, you tell him to prove his worth by blessing you, in
short, failure to obey God only goes to show that we are simply USING him
rather than WORSHIPING him. A Christian who expects so much from God and does
not practice the word in his life is like a building that has no foundation. One
day, this building will crash, and the pagan in him will be exposed.
The major
obstacle keeping us from practicing what God’s word demand is the LACK OF
BELIEF IN OURSELVES. We tend to laugh at the possibility of ever doing exactly
what the word of God requires but the simple truth my dear friends is that PRACTICE
MAKES PERFECT. First, we must tell ourselves continuously that it is POSSIBLE. This
positive self-talk becomes the motivation that inspires us to push on, we keep
telling ourselves that we can and we keep making our best efforts. Soon, we get
used to following God’s word to the letter.
Have you
ever seen a baby learn to walk before? At first you pity for him but after
several falls, you notice the baby keeps trying. God has already programmed
into our nature long before we were born the spirit of never-giving-up on
goodness. Since when did you start assuming that it is impossible to keep God’s
words? Since when did you believe that lie of Satan that there are no holy
people today? Since when did you fall into temptation and sinfulness on the
basis of everybody-is-doing-it?
Come to
think of it. If Satan has not yet given up on you but continues to tempt you
everyday left, right and centre, why should you give up on yourself? Why should
you assume that you cannot become a SAINT? Why be a mediocre Christian (simply
satisfied with doing the barest minimum)? Note that if you do not aspire for
Sainthood, you can never make it.
Christianity
is not just meant to bless us, it is meant to change us! Unless we are changed
from within, unless we practice what we believe, we are not yet converted.
How can
this inner change take place? By the constant training of our minds. We need to
feed our minds on a daily basis with rich food, hear God’s words and assimilate
them. We need to constantly train our minds to believe that IT IS POSSIBLE TO
DO EXACTLY WHAT GOD DEMANDS. As Jesus says: “A good person out of the store of
goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil
produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” You see,
the heart is like a store, it is what you keep inside that determine the life
you live. If you store goodness, you live a good life but if you store evil, if
you continue entertaining immoral thoughts, if you feed your mind with unholy
pictures, if you keep feeding it with lust for riches or worldly music whose
lyrics are very much opposed to moral values, you only end up never rising
above sin.
Change your
mind today and watch how your life changes as well.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, help me not just to listen to your word and expect blessing thereby
deceiving myself but help me to follow every word and practice in my life
accordingly. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy weekend.
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