Friday 20 January 2017

To be Christian

To be Christian.
The apostle Paul writing to Timothy said,
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.  
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  
In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you  to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,  which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,” 1Timothy 6:10-15
Paul reminds Timothy that the “love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. That rather than pursuing money and the things of this world we should be pursuing,   “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.” That we should, “Fight the good fight of the faith.
Writing to the Galatians Paul states,
“But the fruit of the Spirit is 
love, joy, peace,
 patience, kindness, 
goodness, faithfulness,  
gentleness and self-control.
 Against such things there is no law. 
 Galatians 5:22,23
This is what it is to be a Christian. They are signs of a true Christian. If we are truly following Christ people will see these things in our life and be drawn to God.
The apostle Peter said,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 
Dear friends,
 I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:9-12.
The writer of Hebrews tells us,
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men 
and to be holy; 
without holiness no one will see the Lord.” 
Hebrews 12:14

If you claim to be a Christian are you doing this?
Please think about it.

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