Who Is A Christian

                                     When The Door Slams

Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46 NIV. "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." John 14:15-21 NIV.    

            Who is a Christian? He can be described from many angles, but...we can cover everything by saying: a man or woman who acknowledges and lives under the word of God. One submits without reserve to the word of God written in "the Book of Truth" (Daniel 10:21 NIV), believing the teaching, trusting the promises, following the commands. His eyes are to the God of the Bible as his Father, and the Christ of the Bible as his Savior. 

            He will tell you that the word of God has both convinced him of sin and assured him of forgiveness. His conscience, like Martin Luther is captive to the word of God, and he aspires, like the Psalmist, to have his whole life brought into line with it. "I wish I were more loyal in obeying your commands." "With all my heart I try to obey You. Don't let me break your commands" (Psalm 119:5-10 NIV).          

            The Promises are before him as he prays, and the precepts are before him as he moves among men. He knows that in addition to the word of God spoken directly to him in the Scriptures, God's word has also gone forth to create, and control, and order things around him; but since the Scriptures tell him that all things work together for his good, the thought of God ordering his circumstances brings him only joy. He is an independent fellow, for he uses the word of God as a touchstone by which to test the various views that are put to him, and he will not touch anything which he is not sure that Scripture sanctions. 

            Think about this: The Lord does not say that hell-fire was prepared for human beings.  Although we all are sinners and guilty of eternal death, God nevertheless wanted to prevent this misery by giving His Son into death for us. And thereafter He revealed His good Word to us, so that we know what we are to do if we want to serve God and live to please Him. So our heavenly Father would very much like for us to be saved and, therefore, has ordained for us, not eternal fire but heaven and eternal life. But we go despising the forgiveness of sins through Christ as a insignificant treasure....

            We also take no delight in doing what God tells us to do in order to serve Him. Since, then, we degenerate to the very level of the devil and observe his will more than the Word of our Lord God, it must follow that we are obliged to share this judgment. We prepare this doom for ourselves. 

Renewal: Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him (Deuteronomy 8:6; 13:4 NIV).  

Related Bible Texts: 1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 9:42-50; Luke 16:19-30;          1 John 2:5; Revelation 1:8-18 

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                        Never Rest Ministries