Intimate Knowledge

  Intimate knowledge

The Psalmist writes,

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16.

These words from the Psalmist says it all. God has intimate knowledge down to our very DNA. He knows why we are the way we are. That is why God and God alone is the only one who can judge us.

As believers in Christ Jesus we are not allowed to judge others. Jesus said,

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Luke 6:37.

Sadly too many who claim to be Christians are in the judgement business. They see others of different faiths and lifestyle and immediately condemn them. This should not be so.

The American evangelist Tony Campolo rightly said,

"We ought to get out of the judging business. We should leave it up to God to determine who belongs in one arena or another when it comes to eternity. What we are obligated to do is to tell people about Jesus, and that's what I do." Tony Campolo.

You will never win a soul for Christ if you judge them or others. It is our duty as believers in Christ Jesus to love as Jesus did, unconditionally. Only then can we even think of winning souls for Christ.

Please think about it.

Is Christ in you?

 Is Christ in you?

In John’s gospel we read,

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 

"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 

"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  

I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." John 17:20-26.

Is Christ in you?

Here are some questions to think about before you answer that question.

1. Do you love as Jesus loved, unconditionally? Family friend and foe alike? Whether you agree with their faith, or lifestyle?

2. Do you refrain from judging others as Jesus told us in Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged."?

3.Does your life exhibit the fruit of the spirit as described by the apostle Paul who said, “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.

Please think about it.

Do you Love

Do you Love?
The apostle John said,
"We love because he first loved us.  
If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 1John 4:19-21.
I heard a true story of a man who’s brother disagreed with him becoming a Christian so passionately that he entered the mans house while he was doing devotionals with his family. The brother trashed the house and beat up the man.
The man should have called the police and had his brother charged.
What impressed me however was the man that was beaten up told the police that he didn’t want to charge his brother. Then asked fellow Christians to pray for his brothers salvation.
The man could have easily let hate fester inside of him and justifiably had his brother arrested for assault.
That man exemplified what the apostle John is saying in the above scripture. He loved his brother so much he wished no harm to him.
A lot can be learned from how we react in circumstances especially bad ones. As believers in Christ we are called to Love in the way God loves, unconditionally.
When it comes to Godly love no greater example can be shown that the fact that Jesus layed down his life for us.
For me the best definition of love was written by the apostle Paul when he wrote,

“Love is patient, love is kind.

 It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth.  

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails....

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.”  

                                                                            1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.

This is the kind of love God requires of all who love him. It is the kind of love even those who are not Christian can agree with.
So my question is, if you claim to be a Christian, a believer in Christ Jesus, do you show this kind of love to those around you.
Please think about it.

There is a River

There is a River
Jesus said,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  
  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48.
Loving your enemy. Loving someone who will not love you back is a big thing. Why should you love your enemy? For the Christian the answer is simple. Jesus told us to.
That being said there is a deeper reason for a Christian, a believer in Christ Jesus, to love your enemy. That is by showing them the Love of God that shines through you, you are pointing them in the direction of heaven.
The apostle Paul tells us,
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
Love is the key to the Christian life. Christian love started with God. Jesus speaking of himself said,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17. 
Martin Luther King jr. the American civil rights leader said,

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

                                                                                    Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jesus when asked,
 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 
Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  
This is the first and greatest commandment. 
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:36-40.
There is a river that any believer must allow to flow through them. A river of Love. This river begins with God. Flows through the believer and out to those around them.
If we as believers in Christ Jesus do not allow this river to flow no one will ever come into a right relationship with God.
Please think about it.