That's a question I ask myself every so often, but definitely not as often as I should. Sometimes during my "good" moments I think I doing pretty well living out my godly, Christian faith. Other moments, not so great. I know we are all human and no one is perfect, however, that should never hinder us from progressing and seeing ourselves grow. Better yet, other people seeing us grow and change. What better witness is there than other people to see your life continually transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who resides in us. In age of self-help, self-awareness, self-gratification, self, self, self, as Christian we have to be vigilant about not overcrowding ourselves with self that there is no room for Christ's spirit to abide in us. Brings me to the scripture of Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". I believe that scripture is true and I've seen people, including myself using that scripture, but I have to be honest, I wonder how many of us misuse that scripture at times. The scripture is mainly used by those in times of encouragement , however, have we thought of using or applying that scripture as a reminder that we must allow Christ to work in and through us not only to strengthen us doing our times of accomplishing our self appointed goals, but also the goals the Holy Spirit is trying to accomplish through as well? The reason I bring this up, is because of a two things:
1. Not many Christians are asking themselves what does the scripture of, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" - Romans 12:2 really entail. The term Christian is used very loosely nowadays, so loosely it's unrecognizable at times (some days I even call myself a Christ follower to differentiate myself from the "masses")
2. There are Christians walking in the darkness, but think they are in the light (2 Corinthians 4:4; 11:3-5)---will explain more in another post
Everything and everyone is commingled together nowadays, it's very difficult to look at and see the difference between any two things. Why the Church isn't asking why this is happening is beyond me, especially when I think of the scripture, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; (2 Peter 2:9). Looking at the group of a whole of people who call themselves Christians (in the U.S.), we don't look much or any different those than who don't identify themselves as Christians. Not sure what criteria is used for being a Christian, just believing that Jesus Christ did in fact die on the Cross for our sins isn't enough since we know that even demons believe (James 2:19-20).
The conversations I have with people about their goals, dreams, ambitions sound great, but I often wonder how much of it was consulted with the Holy Spirit and how much of it was self. The more I learn about life, the more my prayer becomes, "Lord, I want to be kept" (Numbers 6:24). There so many things, people, ideas, etc. floating around in this world that it wouldn't take much to captivate our attention and distract us from where the Holy Spirit would have us. We can't be too prideful and arrogant to come up with our own plans and at the end use a "Holy Spirit Approved" rubber stamp on it. I think we definitely need to be looking ourselves (myself included!) on a daily basis and asking ourselves does my lifestyles, speech, appearance, etc. reflect that of a Spirit-filled, Christ-following, Bible believer? Do people look at me and wonder what makes me "different"? When I leave the presence of others are they in a better state? Am I being spirit-led or self-led with my actions and decisions? When we do this we are allowing the scripture of 1 Corinthians 3:16 to be fulfilled in our lives and living out His call for our lives and not our own (1 Corinthians 6:19).
So, how do you look?
Until next time...
