Monday, March 27, 2006, 03:54 AM
Did you see the movie, “The Passion?” Most spoke of the graphic cruelty and blood and physical abuse. But, did they miss the truth of the movie? Did they see the passion that Christ has for us to submit himself to such horror? Would you volunteer to experience what Christ did for people that hated you? When we see that movie we should see the passion that Christ has for us to put Himself through such physical, mental and spiritual agony for people that hate Him. Christ desires us to have the passion for Him that He has for us. Thank God we do not have to suffer as He did. To have a passion for Christ does require some suffering. The whole world suffers and I would much rather suffer with Christ as without Him. We all suffer due to sin.
Passion to the world usually refers to sex or an intense desire for something. God wants that desire to be directed toward Him. Most people only know who Jesus is without the passion for Him. We know who Abe Lincoln was but we do not have a passion for him. This means that we have some facts about them. Many Christians know the Christmas and Easter story and they know a few old testament stories from their childhood Sunday school class but that is usually the extent of so many Christians knowledge of Christ. This is not a personal relationship with God. This is apathy. And then they wonder where God is when they have crises and their prayers do not seem to be answered. People that are not Christians can in many cases claim the same knowledge about Christ as professing Christians. If it is hard to tell the Christian apart from the unbeliever there is something wrong (Ps26: 1-8). This is a very superficial way to know Christ. It is not God pleasing. Just knowing the facts does not bring satisfaction to the Christian. Their hearts are not filled with joy and peace. They are still walking in the world. They have not experienced Christ. There is no passion for Him. They have missed the boat for the most beautiful ride of their life.
To have a passion for someone is to be intimate with them. When we are intimate with Christ we see a tiny piece of God’s glory (I Cor.15:10). When we are intimate we know that all good things are from God and we know that we can do no good thing without Him (John 15:5). We can take no credit for our walk because we can clearly see who we are and who Christ is. And who are we? We are sinful and Christ is without sin. We are trapped with only one way out. Jesus Christ is our only way out.
I read a story in Our Daily Bread about an old lady that lives out of garbage cans. She died and they discovered she had a million dollars stashed away. That is what we do with our faith in Christ. We take the stories we learned as a child and just think about them once in awhile and go on with our life. We know what we are taught in church each Sunday morning and we go home with the attitude it is there if I need it. In the mean time we live out of garbage cans. We live like spiritual paupers when we could be filthy rich.
Our passion is not to use what God puts in our hearts and minds but to store it away. To have a passion for something we want it with us all of the time (Ps.42: 2). We desire to know it as well as we can. We savior it and pamper it and want to do its bidding in our life. We want to please it and love it and put it first above everything else (Col. 3:23). We want to think about it and we want to know it as well as it will let us.
When we have a passion for Christ it comes out in our daily lives (Ps 40:9-10). Christ is not just a once in a while occurrence. He is there in our very being (Mt. 5:16). People can see Him in our attitude, in our speech (Ps.71: 15,16), in how we carry ourselves (Col.1: 10,11). It is what we live for. Are you after God’s own heart like David was (II Sam.24:25; Acts 13:22)? Does your soul pant for God (Ps.42:1,2)? What do people see when they look at you, listen to you and how do you spend your time? Where is your passion?
You can reach Nancy at:
Crossing the GAP
PO Box 384
Marshall, IL
62441
art@nancysgallery.com
Monday, March 20, 2006, 06:38 PM
There are “great” scholars in the world that knows a lot about famous people such as George Washington, Abe Lincoln and Jesus Christ. They believe they have all of the facts. They see Christ as a mere man like any other man. They can tell you all of the history and the things that Christ did and how he lived on this earth. Many of them can even tell you the way to salvation. But they may be missing a very important ingredient to salvation. They have the knowledge without faith. Our churches are full of people with the head knowledge of Christ. But they do not have the faith in their hearts. Knowledge without faith does not require obedience. Knowledge does not require true worship from the heart. It does not require emotional response such as a deep love for God. It does not require reaching out to help others. It does not require trust in God’s innerrent word. It does not give a drive to know more unless it is just to store knowledge for their personal use. It only requires that you know who Christ is. Satan knows that much (James 2:19).
God desires that we have more than a head knowledge of Him (Heb.4: 2). God wants our heart as well. If we only have the knowledge in our minds and no faith in our heart we are no good for God’s purposes in our lives. He can still use us but we are not fulfilling His will in our lives. The Holy Spirit must reside in our hearts to give us the faith that is to go with the knowledge (II Cor.3: 2-6). We can acquire some knowledge without the Holy Spirit but we cannot acquire the faith without the Holy Spirit (I Cor.2: 4,5). God gives us the Holy Spirit (I Thess.4: 8). On the other hand we can have the faith without the knowledge. That is because faith does not rest on knowledge (Rom.10: 8-10;I Cor.1: 21-25;I Cor.8: 1-3; Eph.3: 19;I Tim.6: 20;II Tim.3: 7). When our heart is touched and we have the Holy Spirit we know that we are saved by Gods grace. If you ever hear a pastor say to work hard to get to heaven I strongly suggest you find a different church. Find one that says, by the grace of God you are saved by faith and not by works (Eph.2: 8,9). Grace is the undeserved love and forgiveness of God. I have also heard people say that as soon as they get their act together they will become a Christian. They will never become a Christian that way. Have you ever heard the song, “Just as I am?” Got takes us just as we are. We do not have to be good enough and clean up our act to be saved. If we did no one would be saved. The Bible says that one sin will condemn us to hell (James 2:10). And if someone believes they have never sinned then they are sinning with that very statement. If you ever hear someone boasting of what they have accomplished and their knowledge of the Scriptures you can be sure this is not coming from a Sprit filled heart. It is a self-righteous and a prideful heart. Knowledge without faith is a killer (Rom.14: 23).
Knowledge in itself is great but it is like a breeze without the Holy Spirit. It is here and then it is gone without changing a life. As a witness for Christ we need to have the character of Christ and the special gifts in our heart that can only come from God by His Holy Spirit. We will be available to God to do His will and not our own will.
There are going to be many people that will be very surprised when they draw their last breath and they are not in heaven. They were trying to follow the letter of the Law (Rom.1: 17). The Law is to make us aware of our sins (Gal.3: 19-25). It does not save us (Gal.5: 4-6; 2:16). The Law never gives life, it kills (II Cor.3: 5,6; Gal.3: 25). Knowledge of the Law is good so that we can use it as a curb on how to live but how we live will never save us. Faith in Christ is our only way to salvation (Heb.11: 6). When we believe that Christ has freed us from every sin and we are forgiven we are saved. We do not have to do anything for this salvation. It is a free gift (Eph.2: 8). By the Holy Spirit we seek the things of God and we are guided to be a witness to others. We are to study the Scriptures daily. By doing this we will gain knowledge by the Holy Spirit and grow in our faith. (II Cor.3: 2-6).
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Rom.5: 1,2).
You can reach Nancy at:
Crossing the GAP
PO Box 384
Marshall, IL
62441
art@nancysgallery.com
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