Are We Willing?

Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”   Mark 10:38    

Do not ask for Christ to come into your life if you are not willing to become more like him, suffer like him, be mocked like him, or be uncomfortable in our cushy, little lives. Are we willing to accept the offensive part of scripture; the hard truth. Christ came in such humility and he didn't have to. He came to force us to realize how selfish we really are in our love for God to save us from hell.

Are you willing to go into a church and say "you are money changers" because they have a bookstore and cafe open to their members on Sunday Matthew 21:12?. Do you turn people away, because they are not members of your church? Would you allow a murderer into you home that has accepted Christ, repented, and became a good man Acts 9?  Would you give a thief everything in your home, and then ask "do you need more to live?" Would you tell a woman that aborts a child because of the sex that she has committed murder, and she should be tried for murder Jeremiah 1:5. Do your tell children it is ok to ask someone else to pay for their lives? I think we do when ask others to pay more taxes, and to forgive our financial debts Psalm 37:21, Romans 13:7.

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. James 2:1-6


Do you support environmentalists in their passion to save a lizard over a man being able to feed his child (this is happening in an area of Texas and New Mexico) Genesis 1:26? As a pastor do you play favorites in your church and the members tell you what to say on the pulpit instead of what scripture says. Do you support gay marriage, and homosexuality knowing that God says it is a sin 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Mark 10:6-9? He says to treat others with kindness, but to uphold him in all things no matter if it goes against public opinion. A NAACP board member resigned yesterday, a civil rights leader, because they supported this. I thought gay marriage was a civil right. Explain to me please. I guess he is a bigot now.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/ready-civil-rights-leader-resigns-from-naacp-national-board-over-gay-marriage-endorsement/

Do you base a person by their appearance, or base them on what is in their heart Matthew 23:28? Do you tell your children that their appearance has to be a certain way so they will be accepted? A parent that does that is creating a child that does not find worth in how God made them. We are making rules for how a christian is supposed to look, not how they live their life. Children learn by our actions not by our words. They watch us, then they mimic us and live their life that way. Don't live a life contrary to how scripture says we should live. It takes a lot of courage and strength to do that. Proverbs 3:1-3

People don't like the way the like way my sons look, because their hair is longer. I had someone say this to me recently, and that didn't work out so well for them. It is unacceptable to me to damage a child's spirit, because of the way they look. If they shave their head I don't care, but then of course someone will say they look like a skinhead. That makes my boys feel as though they aren't worthy enough because of the way they look. That says to them they don't have good hearts, because they don't look a certain way. It is one thing to attack me, but I don't accept it when it comes to my children.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."   Deuteronomy 6:5-9

People have lots of opinions about how we live our lives. My question is are you basing that on scripture, or the world? My gift is the gift of eternal life in heaven if I give up every selfish part of myself because it offensive to him. Do you really think your good deeds are going to get you in, or your acceptance of sin is what God wants?  If I am constantly willing to see where I have failed him, seek forgiveness from him, and doing what he asked me to do I am at much more peace in my life. My worth is not based how people think I should live it is how God told me to live.

It says a lot to God when we support and do things that are not acceptable to him. It says a lot to people that truly believe scripture is the literal truth of God. It says a lot to people that are trying to live their lives according to God's commands. We don't really love the God we profess if we are to weak to take a stand for him. Pretty sad. I don't care how old you are. I don't care how long you have been a christian. I don't care how you look. I don't care where you live, or what you have. It doesn't matter to me. What matters is if you are doing those things above, use god to do it, and think you are a good christian. I would work on that. I have to do that a lot, and still have to do it everyday.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; James 2:18-22

I don't have a lot of fear anymore in these postings, because I fear God more. It doesn't really bother me if it offends you. I love you enough to tell you the truth of scripture, because I am commanded to by him. When we recognize our weaknesses and have enough humility to admit our mistakes we are choosing him.