"The eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chron. 16:9, NIV).
Just because we're saved doesn't guarantee we'll act it. In some cases Christians fall short of the ideals and morals of the infidel, who is solely motivated by selfish pride and impressing others--as people-pleasers. The Spirit-led, controlled, directed, filled believer has put on the new self-created in Christ's image, called the new man. He has found the Enabler, the Holy Spirit as the dynamic for living. It's not a matter of how much of the Spirit one has, but how much of you He has. The new life in Christ is all about surrender and it's not just a once-for-all, completed event. He doesn't have an ulterior motive for good but wants to serve God from gratitude.
We're all works in progress and should humbly ask others to be patient with us as God isn't finished with us yet. But we can rejoice that God doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve and He corrects us when we err. It is said that the closer we get to God, the more we see our imperfections. As we progress in our sensitivity to the Spirit, we strive to seek the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and not attention to us. Just like the Spirit seeks not to bring attention to Himself, but to Christ, so also, as believers we seek God's glory and rejoice when God uses us for it.
It is said quite wisely that the mature believer is not divisive, contentious, argumentative, nor judgmental, but leaves room for God's judgment or gives the benefit of the doubt. As it says in Scripture, the man of God must not strive or quarrel! But we're all human too and this temptation will come as our pride gets in the way and we succumb to Satan's Anfectung or attack. But we should beware of the devil's schemes and not get fooled--he's always playing mind games with psychological warfare (e.g., 'divide and conquer'). He just loves to strike at our pride because that seems to be his specialty and his evil.
Only when we walk in the Spirit, always in fellowship and in constant prayer and confession are we worthy of our Lord, but this involves applying the Word, being a witness to others, and growing in faith and its application as we do walk in the presence of God. There are no short-cuts, easy paths, or formulae to follow; the only way is the O.J.T. of the trench warfare of real-life--the school of hard knocks of putting God's Word into practice. We must all realize that hardship and Reality 101 are part of the divine curriculum when we matriculated in the school of Christ, and that God sends us adversity for our growth opportunities--to test our faith for our sake. We will all have a different pilgrimage and spiritual journey to complete. God has selected each man's work and purpose--finding it is the secret because many never do.
Those who serve God wholeheartedly can be said to be walking worthily. God frowns upon the lackadaisical disciple who doesn't commit or follow through. David pleased God in that he served Him with all his heart. Joshua and Caleb likewise "wholly followed the Lord." In other words, they were gung-ho and had gusto and spunk! The world may count the spiritual man as out of his mind, a fool, or demented, but this is for God's glory. We must own Him as Lord and this always includes confessing Him as Lord.
The worthy believer has not divorced faith and faithfulness. They are two sides of the same coin! He realizes the importance of endurance and perseverance as God preserves us. Faithfulness implies that we apply our faith with good works to prove its worth or value. We progress from faith to faith and grow by our faithfulness. The righteous man shall live by his faithfulness according to Romans 1:17 which also means by his faith, for the two words are the same in Hebrew (cf. Hab. 2:4).
In sum, the believer who has a healthy relationship and/or fellowship with his Lord is without duplicity or hypocrisy to others--he makes no parade of his spirituality or false impressions but is in earnest with all integrity, even if a sin is obvious, he can be pleasing to God, though the sin displeased Him. But his testimony is not jeopardized by acting contrary to what pleases the Lord. One must acknowledge his sins, no matter how great and confess them with all sincerity and this doesn't mean he won't ever sin or offend others--he's both sinner and saint--a justified saint! In other words: What you see is what you get (no pretense)! Soli Deo Gloria!
About Me
- Karl Broberg
- I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.