Dear Christians,
Have you ever listened to a sermon from a preacher who is an experienced and eloquent orator, yet their passion for God is just a memory from their youth? Or a praise and worship leader who has an amazing voice, yet only half-heartedly lives for the Lord? I’d much rather listen to an inexperienced newbie who is passionately on fire for the Lord than a passion-less pro, and I’d rather worship with someone who barely manages to stay on key than someone who beautifully sings about something they don’t live.
Just as passion-less preachers and luke-warm worship leaders leave us feeling nauseous so does anyone who claims to be a Christian yet doesn’t live it with their actions. Apparently, Christ experiences the same nausea that we do from luke-warm Christians as He says that He will spew them out of His mouth in Revelations 3:16. The obvious implication there being it makes Him want to puke.
If you constantly brag about your Godly girlfriend/boyfriend, yet you’re living and sleeping together then maybe you’re godliness is just for show, because it doesn’t seem to be actually affecting the way you live. Or, If you consistently brag about being so in love with Jesus, yet still find yourself in the bar or club on the weekends gettin’ crunk then maybe you should reevaluate who is truly your Lord. Because He definitely isn’t the one leading you to those places or those actions.
The Bible teaches that to be saved you must confess Jesus Christ as your Lord. “Lord” means that He’s the one in charge. If He’s not the one calling the shots in your life then who is? Whoever that is, they are your Lord.
Obviously, if someone is a new believer and just hasn’t been taught and doesn’t know any better then God will take that into account, and the Holy Spirit will begin to lovingly convict and mature them one thing at a time. That’s growing up spiritually. We all have to go through that process. Yet, there a lot of should-be mature believers out there who already know better but are just trying to rewrite the rules to be more convenient for them. That doesn’t work. No exceptions.
I’m not telling you how to live. The Holy Spirit, through the Bible, is the one that tells us how to live and explains what choosing to ignore His instruction leads to. You are free to embrace those consequences if you so desire, but at least be man/woman enough to call sin what it is. Non-believers are looking at us and taking our “create your own Christianity” mindset as a joke. And they should. It is a joke. They’re right for not wanting anything to do with it. I don’t want anything to do with it either.
In the Bible, when Moses was gone for a while, Aaron created a golden calf and called it “Jehovah”. They worshipped this “Jehovah”. They weren’t denying Jehovah (which is the name of the one true God btw), they were just trying to change His image into something they thought would be more appealing… A “Jehovah” who let them have wild, drunken orgies… I think a lot of modern self-proclaiming Christians are attempting to do the same thing in our day by trying to create a “Jehovah” who lets us live with our significant other, or party at the club on the weekends, or who has a politically correct platform, etc, etc.
Israel’s attempt to change the image of God into a version that let them live however they wanted ended VERY badly for them (Exodus 32), and it won’t end well for us either. You have to either worship Jehovah for who He truly is, or not at all. You can’t create your own version of Him. Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve Yĕhovah! Choose life!
Living to touch God’s heart,
Chris Ulery
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