Resurrected Life - New Thoughts
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Original Post in Black
Added Thoughts in Purple
Living the resurrected life is what we who are redeemed are called to do. But what does it mean? We are called to live like Christ. But what does that mean? I don't know about you but I find it difficult to be that amazing all the time. Okay impossible. So what are we supposed to be doing?
Romans 7-8 talks about the new life we are supposed to be living. It tells us how sin was our master because Adam gave authority to it. We were unable to break away from sin. This is something that people in church say a lot, but is it actually understood? Do you understand what it means to be a "slave to sin"? The thing we have to understand here is that sin owned us. We were bound by it. Have you been addicted to porn, cigarettes, food, gossip, Facebook? if you stop and pay attention to yourself when you are doing these things you will notice how you crave them. It is tough to put into words, but your flesh demands these things and will punish you if it doesn't get them. The next time you indulge in one of these things, I dare you to stop before you want to. Sit there and really pay attention to how you feel. You will feel the longing, hungry, need to devour the thing. This is the power of sin. This is where we are before Christ and where we can go back if we choose to.
Some things are easy to recognize as being bad. Porn is generally accepted as a bad thing by the church. Smoking isn't good for you, even the world knows that, but things like gluttony and gossip our harder to pick up on. They have been accepted for so long and have become acceptable.
Gossip becomes "I'm just worried about her". If you are so worried that you need to tell people, then you better be going to that person together to talk about their issue, and you better have already tried to talk to them solo (Matthew 18:15-17). If you are telling them this and do nothing about it then you are gossiping plain and simple. no 2 ways about it. You simply talked about this to make yourself feel good and to revel in someone's sin. (Ephesians 4:29, Exodus 23:1, James 1:26, Proverbs 17:9, Proverbs 26:20. Click here for full list)
Gluttony doesn't have other names. It has not name at all. We have simply chosen to ignore the fact that we gorge ourselves at nearly every meal and cannot control urges to snack. Many families do this right after church on Sunday. We do not even see it. Their stomach is their God and they are slaves to it. (Ezekiel 16:49, Philippians 3:19, Romans 13:14. Click for full list )
Well I'm going to let you in on a couple of things. First, we are seen by God as if we are already resurrected. That's how He can look on us the way He looks on His son. In His eyes we are our perfect selves. In the spirit we already appear as we will on the day that we are resurrected and given our new bodies. Cool!
This is how the church can love each other so well. Jesus said the world would know we are his by how we love each other (John 13:35). This doesn't really happen today. Churches divide and split. New denominations are created. People are not unified. Even in your own church, I bet you have people that you don't want to sit by. I know this because I have felt that. But Jesus said he wanted us to be one like he and the father are one (John 17:21). How are we supposed to do that?
Well the answer is above. If God sees us all, and see us in the fullness of how he created us, then all we need to do is ask him. If we are one with him, then we will see others as he does. We will be able to love them. Simple enough right?
It seems like everything comes back to relationship with God doesn't it? Church tries too hard to force good behavior. It's happy faces are masking the truth beneath. But, if we each drew closer to the lord and abided in him fully, we would be transformed. We wouldn't have to force ourselves to act a certain way. We would want it because it pleased him. It doesn't mean that sin won't fight back, but when you actually want to win, the war becomes possible.
So how does that work out here? Does that mean that we are automatically perfect? It surprises me how many people think that or at least live that way. No we aren't instantly transformed into perfect beings, but we are called to "work out our salvation". (Philippians 2:12)
As stated, this is the part where people get lost. Some believe that they have been made perfect now. They simply expect everything to be great now and don't worry about sin anymore. The problem with that is there is an enemy out there that wants to destroy you. He doesn't give up when you give life to Christ. In fact, he likely busts out a bigger plan for you. You are the enemy now. You work for his most hated enemy. You have the potential to do great things for the King and you must be stopped.
This is when he sends lust, gluttony, false prophets, sloth, and all their sneaky cousins after you. See, you may be in the lord's camp, but he can still make you useless, miserable, and hateful. You can still be brought down. All he has to do it get you to renounce the freedom from sin that Christ gave you. It's easier than you think. If you choose to indulge in a temptation, you give it authority over your life. you have chosen this thing over the lord God. It now owns you in this area. You must repent and be freed. But, the verse above says work out. Read on.
Work out? Work out! I don't know about you but working out is kind of hard. You get sweaty. The whole point is to make you uncomfortable. Yuck! But the results? How can you argue with that?
So we are called to do the same thing in our resurrected life. As we work and seek God through His word, worship, and prayer time with Him we will find ourselves working on the things that offend the Holy Spirit within us. As He brings up things and we grow closer to Him we will see our lives, our bodies, coming together, and we will be closer to living out the life and the being that we were always meant to be. God's perfect creation, redeemed through Christ's love.
Breaking free from the power of sin is hard. Repentance and coming to the lord will break it's hold, but your flesh still desires it. You must be healed from the affects it had on you. This can take time. Time spent with the lord working through each thing that you have believed to create this stronghold. The freedom from sin gives you a chance, but you must undo the damage.
The good news is Christ is very good at this. He can walk any person through healing regardless of their skill level or strength. I suggest you find a good guide who you trust and has done this a lot. Especially if it's your first time.
For more info on the power of sin and what Christ's work did for us, read Romans. There are other places of course, but i like the way it's written here.
Original Post in Black
Added Thoughts in Purple
Living the resurrected life is what we who are redeemed are called to do. But what does it mean? We are called to live like Christ. But what does that mean? I don't know about you but I find it difficult to be that amazing all the time. Okay impossible. So what are we supposed to be doing?
Romans 7-8 talks about the new life we are supposed to be living. It tells us how sin was our master because Adam gave authority to it. We were unable to break away from sin. This is something that people in church say a lot, but is it actually understood? Do you understand what it means to be a "slave to sin"? The thing we have to understand here is that sin owned us. We were bound by it. Have you been addicted to porn, cigarettes, food, gossip, Facebook? if you stop and pay attention to yourself when you are doing these things you will notice how you crave them. It is tough to put into words, but your flesh demands these things and will punish you if it doesn't get them. The next time you indulge in one of these things, I dare you to stop before you want to. Sit there and really pay attention to how you feel. You will feel the longing, hungry, need to devour the thing. This is the power of sin. This is where we are before Christ and where we can go back if we choose to.
Some things are easy to recognize as being bad. Porn is generally accepted as a bad thing by the church. Smoking isn't good for you, even the world knows that, but things like gluttony and gossip our harder to pick up on. They have been accepted for so long and have become acceptable.
Gossip becomes "I'm just worried about her". If you are so worried that you need to tell people, then you better be going to that person together to talk about their issue, and you better have already tried to talk to them solo (Matthew 18:15-17). If you are telling them this and do nothing about it then you are gossiping plain and simple. no 2 ways about it. You simply talked about this to make yourself feel good and to revel in someone's sin. (Ephesians 4:29, Exodus 23:1, James 1:26, Proverbs 17:9, Proverbs 26:20. Click here for full list)
Gluttony doesn't have other names. It has not name at all. We have simply chosen to ignore the fact that we gorge ourselves at nearly every meal and cannot control urges to snack. Many families do this right after church on Sunday. We do not even see it. Their stomach is their God and they are slaves to it. (Ezekiel 16:49, Philippians 3:19, Romans 13:14. Click for full list )
Well I'm going to let you in on a couple of things. First, we are seen by God as if we are already resurrected. That's how He can look on us the way He looks on His son. In His eyes we are our perfect selves. In the spirit we already appear as we will on the day that we are resurrected and given our new bodies. Cool!
This is how the church can love each other so well. Jesus said the world would know we are his by how we love each other (John 13:35). This doesn't really happen today. Churches divide and split. New denominations are created. People are not unified. Even in your own church, I bet you have people that you don't want to sit by. I know this because I have felt that. But Jesus said he wanted us to be one like he and the father are one (John 17:21). How are we supposed to do that?
Well the answer is above. If God sees us all, and see us in the fullness of how he created us, then all we need to do is ask him. If we are one with him, then we will see others as he does. We will be able to love them. Simple enough right? It seems like everything comes back to relationship with God doesn't it? Church tries too hard to force good behavior. It's happy faces are masking the truth beneath. But, if we each drew closer to the lord and abided in him fully, we would be transformed. We wouldn't have to force ourselves to act a certain way. We would want it because it pleased him. It doesn't mean that sin won't fight back, but when you actually want to win, the war becomes possible.
So how does that work out here? Does that mean that we are automatically perfect? It surprises me how many people think that or at least live that way. No we aren't instantly transformed into perfect beings, but we are called to "work out our salvation". (Philippians 2:12)
As stated, this is the part where people get lost. Some believe that they have been made perfect now. They simply expect everything to be great now and don't worry about sin anymore. The problem with that is there is an enemy out there that wants to destroy you. He doesn't give up when you give life to Christ. In fact, he likely busts out a bigger plan for you. You are the enemy now. You work for his most hated enemy. You have the potential to do great things for the King and you must be stopped.
This is when he sends lust, gluttony, false prophets, sloth, and all their sneaky cousins after you. See, you may be in the lord's camp, but he can still make you useless, miserable, and hateful. You can still be brought down. All he has to do it get you to renounce the freedom from sin that Christ gave you. It's easier than you think. If you choose to indulge in a temptation, you give it authority over your life. you have chosen this thing over the lord God. It now owns you in this area. You must repent and be freed. But, the verse above says work out. Read on.
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| This is a great story on one perspective of how the enemy views us. Check it Out |
Work out? Work out! I don't know about you but working out is kind of hard. You get sweaty. The whole point is to make you uncomfortable. Yuck! But the results? How can you argue with that?
So we are called to do the same thing in our resurrected life. As we work and seek God through His word, worship, and prayer time with Him we will find ourselves working on the things that offend the Holy Spirit within us. As He brings up things and we grow closer to Him we will see our lives, our bodies, coming together, and we will be closer to living out the life and the being that we were always meant to be. God's perfect creation, redeemed through Christ's love.
Breaking free from the power of sin is hard. Repentance and coming to the lord will break it's hold, but your flesh still desires it. You must be healed from the affects it had on you. This can take time. Time spent with the lord working through each thing that you have believed to create this stronghold. The freedom from sin gives you a chance, but you must undo the damage.
The good news is Christ is very good at this. He can walk any person through healing regardless of their skill level or strength. I suggest you find a good guide who you trust and has done this a lot. Especially if it's your first time. For more info on the power of sin and what Christ's work did for us, read Romans. There are other places of course, but i like the way it's written here.
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