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If Christ Jesus is NOT risen from the dead (bodily) our faith
is vain. If Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not physically alive in
some physical place, in a three dimensional body, what is
our hope? How do we think that our souls will find some kind
of peace if we've been duped and our life was wasted
believing a lie?
Reconciled with his wife years ago and forgiven by her, (she
and God being the injured parties) and obviously God
through Christ’s blood, this man knows the pain, regret and
embarrassment this stumble creates. He may be seen by
those who elected him as damaged and not able to
represent them constructively, so he may loose his senatorial
position (again, the obvious joke ignored), but he is still a
sinner being saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
Christ died for your sins too, whether you believe it or not,
whether you want it or not. He also rose from the dead and
is alive today in a real physical body somewhere, at the right
hand of God, preparing a place for his bride, (Christians).
He's not raising an army, He's gathering together a body of
believers joined as brothers, his inheritance from the earth.
That's what we base our lives on, it may sound unbelievable,
but it's the title deed to the inheritance we have in Christ
Jesus.
(To the religious right: until Christ' return, the law of the land
is the constitution of the United States of America, not the
law of Moses, not the law of grandma, not the law of pastor
whoever. The only reason this country is special is because
God entered in 231 years ago and set up this nation as a
constitutional republic (a country of refuge). We are citizens
of the United States of America as well as being Sons of
God. When acting as a citizen of our republic you have every
right to pursue any and every political concern you have, and
more power to you, but don't try to codify or impose your
particular religious views into law.
Christians should live their convictions while following Christ.
Christians should preach Christ risen and understand that
our Lord said "judge not lest ye be judged" "Love your
neighbor as yourself" "pray for your enemies" for a reason;
because this world is not our home, we are passing through,
and as Psalm 84 says "passing through we turn this valley of
weeping (becca) into a place of springs".)
Our Lord Jesus went even further, He said " if you hate in
your heart, you are as guilty as a murderer" which makes
sense if you consider that His focus is on the condition of our
souls; I mean that if you hate someone in your mind, your
soul is a murderer, just because you control your physical
action and no one is harmed, you still want them dead. Let
me put it this way, if you were all powerful like God and your
word became fact (as it may well in our future as sons of
God), that thought might kill. "Be angry and sin not". Paul
said to "pray without ceasing". It is pretty hard to sin when
you are talking to Jesus all day long.
Sin is Sin. The king James says "all have 'sinned' and fall
short of the glory of God". Where did that English word SIN
come from anyway? In the Greek it's "all have missed and
missed the glory of God". The word is translated from the
Greek "hamartano", in Strong's concordance number G264
it translates "to miss the mark, as to not share in the
prize". Our use of the word "sin" may have come from an
old archery term, when reporting the result of a missed
target, the Latin, "sine" meaning without or lacking as in, "the
target is without or lacking an arrow, the arrow missed the
target". The Spanish "sin" also means without or lacking as
in, "Jose es sin pantalones" or Jose is without or lacking
pants; the French word for without, sans, Portuguese, sem,
etc.
Since Christ took our punishment, God is now free (yes, God
is freed, He was bound by his word " for sin comes death")
to put a portion of the same spirit in you that raised Christ
from the dead to quicken your mortal body, (the only hope
any of us have) and when He looks at us He sees Christ in
us. Not because we deserve it: How could we deserve to be
looked upon as Christ? How many good deeds could you do
to make up for not being Christ? We become a hybrid
person, part old man, part new man. The trick is to feed the
new man and starve the old. Not an easy trick, simple, not
easy.
You feed the new man by keeping your mind on Christ, not
on your sins, not on mine, but on Christ. When you fall in
love, aren't you are always thinking about the one you love;
about reporting to your loved one what happened to you
during your day, what you saw that reminded you of her,
planning where you need to stop to buy her a rose on the
way to see her, what you can do to make her happy.
That is the way our relationship with Christ should be, just
keep that up, it is an adult relationship that MUST be
nurtured with communication and private time. He loves us,
we are his "bride" (I continually have a hard time with
thinking of myself as anybody's bride). He walks with us to
watch out for us and we can talk to Him whenever we want
to, (you don't have to close your eyes to "pray", just talk). We
are in Christ when Christ is in us. We have to keep that
connection, our relationship functioning, and we do that by
continuing as we started, stepping in faith, (faithing) that is
what keeps us in Christ and Christ in us.
I know this may turn you off but it's an analogy, not reality.
Have you ever had a kitten or a puppy? What do you think of
that pet? Do you say to that puppy or kitten "do what I say or
I'll beat you? I hope not. When you call that puppy and he
comes arun'in, you keep calling until he arrives and you pet
him and praise his "obedience". Do you think less of him for
coming when you call? Do you think he cares what the other
puppies think of him? After you have taught him to perform a
task and you command him to sit or stop or stay, do you
think him slavish? No, of course not, you love an obedient
animal, everyone does. We praise the owner and the
obedient pet and the more obedient the pet, the more praise
we bestow. We even tell our friends and loved ones about
what a good dog that was, and we look at our not so
obedient pet with a little sorrow that either we were not able
to train them as well as we could have or we assume that
our pet was not as "smart" as the other one, but we still love
him.
I've been told the word was used in the world of horse
training. Anyone who has ever worked with horses knows
the difference between a "meek" or depressed horse and a
well "trained", spirited, controllable workhorse. I have seen
cutting horses and barrel racers that respond quicker and
with more dexterity than any race car. Tamed, not wild and
uncontrollable but obedient, responding to commands; not
"meek", depressed, shy, timid, skittish, nervous.
Giving is risky; it takes the chance that God will not "supply
all your need according to his riches in glory". Giving
requires faithing. The Old Testament ends with the book of
Malachi and God saying "you have robbed Me of tithes
(tenths, plural) and offerings (plural) and you are cursed with
a curse". That sounds to me like God takes this giving stuff
seriously. He also promises to pour out blessings so great
they cannot be contained.
Giving has been described as the difference between the
Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has no
outlet and is therefore dead while the Sea of Galilee has an
outlet and is alive. Once we understand that giving is as
necessary for our spiritual health us as it is for the Sea of
Galilee and the blessings that it brings, the verse "…. for
God loves a cheerful (hilaros in Greek, like our word
hilarious meaning spontaneous outburst) giver" makes
sense because God sees us giving up that control
spontaneously, joyfully, voluntarily, that is something the old
man cannot do. Hilarious giving is a sure sign that the new
man is growing in you.
God is all about giving; He gave his Son and His Son gave
His life, He gives us the same spirit that raised Christ from
the dead. God knows what the spirit looks like when He sees
it and His spirit growing in a human wants to give joyously,
not giving to get, but giving hilariously. Once we understand
this, we see that the tithes (plural) and offerings (plural) are a
governor against over-giving; helping you to be a good
steward of the talents we've been blessed with.
Bryan W.Gall