I've noticed this for quite some time now, and I'm sure you have too. Some people will one day post a status declaring how much they love Jesus, or they will type out praises to God, or will tell someone, "I will pray for you."
However the next day, or maybe even within the next few minutes you see them either posting profanity, promoting something that is ungodly, or acting ugly toward someone else. What's up with that?
As I type this a few people come to my mind, and most likely these people if they read my blog posting would think I'm speaking specifically about them. The truth is there are SO MANY people like this I'm certainly not speaking of just one person, or even a few people.
Of course I could now easily take this blog in the direction of focusing on sin and begin blasting the people who behave this way, but I'd rather take a better direction. Many people will say they are a Christian (as opposed to being a Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist) and to them this is enough.
Are they really Christians though? How do we know? More importantly - What does a Christian look like? The bible gives us some clues, but specifically a Christian is a person who has placed their faith (or trust) in Jesus Christ. At some point in their life this person came the realization that they were sinful and therefore hopeless without Jesus Christ.
These people understood that they were destined to pay for the penalty of their sin which meant being eternally damned, separated from the presence of God, and being tormented in an actual, very real, place called Hell.
These people that are ACTUAL Christians (and not just giving Facebook shout outs to Jesus) are Redeemed from the Curse of the Law, meaning they have been Bought Back because they have clung to Jesus as a climber hangs to his rope! They place their full trust in the only one Who can SAVE them!
They are sorrowful for their sins and have REPENTED, which means to "turn away from" them. Because they have done this they have been Forgiven... Reconciled.... Justified... and they are now Children of GOD!
Christians are now indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This means that GOD HIMSELF now lives inside of you. Isn't that something that just blows your mind? A Christian never wants to go back to where he once was.
A Christian will read God's word daily and dig deep for Truth. By doing this a Christian becomes sanctified by the word of God. Their mind becomes renewed and this changes the way they look at the world. They now have a Heavenly, eternal perspective instead of a materialistic, trendy, temporal, worldly perspective.
Finally, the Christian LOVES Jesus. Because of this love the Christian begins to see other people as Jesus does, and therefore loves them! Because of this awesome relationship between the Christian and his Lord Jesus, the Christian cannot help but tell others about Him!
One misconception is that when a person becomes a Christian everything is always good and life's problems go away. This is not so. You will have problems just as everyone does. What is great though is that you have God with you. He will never leave nor forsake you.
So what kind of RELATIONSHIP do you have with Jesus. Is He a trend? Is He an app? Are you 1,000 miles away from Him in your heart, and you would rather be left alone?
If so, just know this...
Jesus is right there waiting for you to give Him a chance. Without Him you are already damned and will go to Hell once you die, but Jesus paid that penalty for you already. If you accept Him as your Savior, Repent for your sins, and Believe Jesus is the Son of God who died and was raised again, then you too can have a REAL relationship with Him, and not just a superficial appearance of one that most people have.
However the next day, or maybe even within the next few minutes you see them either posting profanity, promoting something that is ungodly, or acting ugly toward someone else. What's up with that?
As I type this a few people come to my mind, and most likely these people if they read my blog posting would think I'm speaking specifically about them. The truth is there are SO MANY people like this I'm certainly not speaking of just one person, or even a few people.
Of course I could now easily take this blog in the direction of focusing on sin and begin blasting the people who behave this way, but I'd rather take a better direction. Many people will say they are a Christian (as opposed to being a Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist) and to them this is enough.
Are they really Christians though? How do we know? More importantly - What does a Christian look like? The bible gives us some clues, but specifically a Christian is a person who has placed their faith (or trust) in Jesus Christ. At some point in their life this person came the realization that they were sinful and therefore hopeless without Jesus Christ.
These people understood that they were destined to pay for the penalty of their sin which meant being eternally damned, separated from the presence of God, and being tormented in an actual, very real, place called Hell.
These people that are ACTUAL Christians (and not just giving Facebook shout outs to Jesus) are Redeemed from the Curse of the Law, meaning they have been Bought Back because they have clung to Jesus as a climber hangs to his rope! They place their full trust in the only one Who can SAVE them!
They are sorrowful for their sins and have REPENTED, which means to "turn away from" them. Because they have done this they have been Forgiven... Reconciled.... Justified... and they are now Children of GOD!
Christians are now indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This means that GOD HIMSELF now lives inside of you. Isn't that something that just blows your mind? A Christian never wants to go back to where he once was.
A Christian will read God's word daily and dig deep for Truth. By doing this a Christian becomes sanctified by the word of God. Their mind becomes renewed and this changes the way they look at the world. They now have a Heavenly, eternal perspective instead of a materialistic, trendy, temporal, worldly perspective.
Finally, the Christian LOVES Jesus. Because of this love the Christian begins to see other people as Jesus does, and therefore loves them! Because of this awesome relationship between the Christian and his Lord Jesus, the Christian cannot help but tell others about Him!
One misconception is that when a person becomes a Christian everything is always good and life's problems go away. This is not so. You will have problems just as everyone does. What is great though is that you have God with you. He will never leave nor forsake you.
So what kind of RELATIONSHIP do you have with Jesus. Is He a trend? Is He an app? Are you 1,000 miles away from Him in your heart, and you would rather be left alone?
If so, just know this...
Jesus is right there waiting for you to give Him a chance. Without Him you are already damned and will go to Hell once you die, but Jesus paid that penalty for you already. If you accept Him as your Savior, Repent for your sins, and Believe Jesus is the Son of God who died and was raised again, then you too can have a REAL relationship with Him, and not just a superficial appearance of one that most people have.
