February | 2013 | Done with Religion

Archive for February, 2013

Grow in Grace

Posted in christian living, tagged Christian, cross, grace on February 20, 2013|

2 Peter 3:18 — but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen

We are saved by Grace. A one time event of Christ dying on the cross provided all we needed to be saved from the curse brought upon us through Adam.

But Grace itself is an ongoing, daily event. We aren’t saved and then just sit around and wait to go to Heaven. Jesus told us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. We learn more about Christ and the grace He provided by daily dying to ourselves.

By Grace our sinful nature is crucified, dead and buried. By Grace we are resurrected in the power of Christ and it is His spirit that now lives within us. By grace we are now hidden in Christ, and He is seated at the right hand of God (Colossian 3:1-3). We don’t just wait until we die our natural life to enter His Kingdom, we now live in the Kingdom of God.

He said we must decrease, and He must increase. Only by dying to self and emptying our natural human desires can there be room for Christ to increase.

When we realize that only by dying (spiritually speaking) and allowing the life of Christ to dwell within us, can we truly follow Him. It has been said that a dead man has no worries. When we are dead to self, and alive to Christ, it is His life that is within us. His desires become our desires. His thoughts become our thoughts.

We are saved by Grace, we can’t buy it, can’t earn it, can’t do anything to pay God back for it. Each day we can commit ourselves to God, ask Christ to live through us and daily deny the human nature and selfish desires that separate us from true fellowship with the Father.

Grace is an ongoing, daily lifestyle. It is our choice to commit to Him. When we do, we will continue to grow in grace and knowledge of Him, and will enjoy our fellowship with our Father.

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The Word or the words

Posted in Word of God, tagged #wordofgod, Bible, Jesus, word, words on February 6, 2013| 3 Comments »

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This verse clearly states that Jesus is the true, living, inerrant Word of God.

Not to sound sacrilegious, but sometimes we Christians can actually make to much of the Bible. People will hold it up and say it is the word of God and worship it more than we worship Christ. Christ is the true Word of God. He is the living and powerful Word and His Spirit lives within us.

In John 5:39 and 40, Jesus told the religious leaders “you study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life”. The religious leaders of the day spent so much time studying the scriptures that they missed the Living Word standing right in front of them.

The written words of God contained in the Bible are inspired by God, but the Bible isn’t the whole picture. God does not live in time like we do. He has no beginning and no end. The written words of God are stories of only a certain recorded period of time.

God won’t do anything that is contradictory to His Word, but we need to remember the Bible is the written words of God and Jesus, living in us by the Holy Spirit, is the true and living Word of God. We were given the Holy Spirit to be our companion, guide, teacher and comforter, and He will lead us into all truth.

This certainly doesn’t mean we don’t need to read the Bible, but we do need to keep it in its proper place.

Jesus is who we are to look to for everything. He is the Word. He is our all in all.