November | 2011 | Done with Religion

Archive for November, 2011

Spiritual Education

Posted in christian living, tagged Christ, Christian, education, family, grace, guidance, humanity, Jesus, love, service, spiritual, training on November 22, 2011| 4 Comments »

Acts 4:13 – Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus…

We hear a lot about education these days. How important it is and how everyone needs a good education. We even have religious schools to teach us from a Christian viewpoint, and schools to teach us how to minister, how to preach, how to prophesy and use our gifts. What will they come up with next?

The thing that this verse points out to me is that education is really not necessary when it comes to our spiritual lives.

I’m not against education. It is important in our world today, and if you want to get a decent job to provide for your family, you had better get a good education. Many people have earned a good education and use it in great ways to better humanity and help their families. There is certainly nothing wrong with education. Although in ‘spiritual terms’, education is way overdone.

In this article I am talking about spiritual education, we do not need to be educated to live for God, or to be used by Him. That is what stood out so much to the rulers that Peter and John were in front of, that they were uneducated and untrained. Imagine that, no education, no training. BUT, they had been with Jesus.

That is the difference when we are talking spiritually. Education cannot teach us how to live in the Spirit. We can get all the head knowledge about God, about living for Him, about service, but if we aren’t saved by faith in Christ, all the education in the world really won’t help us. If we aren’t allowing the Holy Spirit to teach us, guide us and lead us into truth, no amount of man-made education can help us in our daily Christian walk.

I am thankful that God does not require us all to be scholars or highly educated. Any and all of us can come to salvation by grace through Christ. It makes no difference if we are educated or not. He loves us and wants a relationship with each one of us.

The difference in us as Christians should be that we have been with Jesus. A life under His guidance and love is one that will stand out and make a difference. A difference, spiritually speaking, that education cannot make.

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Christ alone

Posted in christian living, tagged believers, building, Christ, church, organized, pastors, shepherd on November 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

A good friend of mine wrote the following paragraph. There is an old hymn that says “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand” As important as the church is in our lives, we have to be careful not to put our hope in it. I have received a lot of help thru the church and a lot of good basic teachings. I was also saved in church but my hope is not in the church. My hope is in “Christ the solid rock”. There are times when we are alone with no Christian fellowship and maybe we can’t make it to church for some reason. We have to be able to stand as mature Christians and rely on our relationship with Christ. The church is no substitute for Christ. It is only where we learn about Him. I guess what I am saying is that we have a relationship with Christ and not the church, and He is our source of strength if we call upon Him in truth. I personally am going thru the desert in life and I have to depend on Him. He has proved His love and care for me and in reality, He is the “Son of the Living God”. Bottom line, let’s be careful to put our dependence on Him. All other ground is sinking sand….

This goes along with some of my posts about modern-day church. The organized church today is a place for believers to get together, but it is not the goal. Going to church does not make us Christians, it does not make us better people or more dedicated believers. It is a place to get ideas and interpretations from others of the Bible, a place to meet other believers, a place to reach out and help others. Basically it is a Christian social organization.

We need to stop putting the focus and emphasis on church, stop putting our eyes on pastors and realize that they are not the answer. We need to put all focus and attention on Christ. He is who we follow and worship. He is the Shepherd, the rest of us are the sheep. There are no co-shepherds, no intermediates between Christ and us. We are to follow Christ and Him alone. We are to learn from Him and love others equally.

There is nothing wrong with going to church, but don’t put your eyes on it and the leaders therein. Keep your focus on Christ. Whether you go to church or don’t go to church, Christ is the one we look to and serve. Don’t worry so much about going to church, but rather be the Church. It is not a building we go to, but a people who love and follow Christ.

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Who Needs a Physician

Posted in christian living, tagged communication, gospel, Jesus, pharisees, physician, sick, sinners on November 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Matthew 9: 11,12
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

When I read these verses, it always makes me think of how a lot of Christian people are today. They think of themselves as good, moral Christians, avoiding things that are ‘bad’, keeping away from people who aren’t religious and who don’t do the ‘right’ things.

Yet Jesus, while here on earth, hung out with ‘those’ people all the time. People who were involved in the wrong things, people who no one really wanted to be around or associate with, it was those people you would find Jesus spending time and communicating.

Obviously, we aren’t to participate in and do things that are wrong, but we should not avoid the people who do them. These are the ones who need friendship, and who need to be shown the love of God.

When we think we are better than others, and keep away from those who are different, we are just playing the part of the pharisees of Jesus day. We need to show the love of God to all those we come in contact, and take the medicine of the good news of the Gospel to those who are sick in sin.

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Husbands and Wives

Posted in christian living, tagged Christ, church, husbands, Lord, love, wives on November 7, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

I think these two verses are very misunderstood by many people today. Wives, be subject to, or obey your husbands. This verse is taken out of context so much that it’s almost comical. We men want to quote this verse whenever we can to show our wives that they must obey us. The only thing is, this verse doesn’t mean that we are the dictator and rule over our wives, getting anything and everything we want. When we read on to the next part, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church, we see that there is a different side to what is meant here.

We men do not have any right to demand obedience from our wives in the sense that we initially think. When we think of how Christ loves the Church….not a building but a people, those who accept and follow Him, then we realize that we don’t need to be demanding of our wives. We are to love them to the point of being willing to die for them. This is a very unselfish type of love.

We are to love them to the point of being more interested in what is best for them rather than trying to get our way. When we love our wives like Christ loves the Church, we won’t have any problem getting love and respect in return from our wives. They will show love to us because of the love we show them.

I do believe in the marriage relationship God has put the responsibility on the man to be a leader and take responsibility for looking out for the best for his wife, but we are in no way given the right to rule over her and demand that everything go our way.

When we love like Christ loves, everything falls into proper place and we will get the love and respect back from our wives like God intended.