To Whom You Belong!

"Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness” (2 Timothy 2:19 NIV).

When we repent of sin, believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He was crucified, died, buried, and rose again, accept Him as Lord and Savior, we become part of the family--joint-heirs with Jesus. This belief establishes a firm foundation on which we can build our relationship with The Lord, solidify it by allowing The Word to govern our behavior and confessing to all that Jesus is Lord. If we confess that Jesus is Lord, we must turn away from wickedness--remove ourselves from the arena of sinful behaviors and move towards those who will encourage us to remain sin-free.

Living a sin-free life is possible when we put ourselves in an environment that is conducive to doing so. We must be willing to acknowledge all those things that keep us from living a sin-free life (the temptations we give in to) and turn away from them completely. When we refuse to acknowledge those behaviors that are sin and stay in the environment that leads to sin, we reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ and put ourselves in position to not receive God's best for us. God knows those who are His and who is living right before Him.

If we truly belong to The Lord, we don't refute what He says in an attempt to justify living any way we want to live.  Sin--against our own bodies (all sexual sin), drug addictions, alcohol addictions, laziness (over-eating/lack of exercise), lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating others, deceptive practices, abuse against others,blasphemy and murdering, having respect of persons--all is sin. There are no little sins or big sins--everything we do contrary to God's Word is sin.

Now the Lord knows those who are His. These are the ones who attempt to live according to God's Word, and may slide backwards, but refuse to dwell in or allow sin to inhabit their environment. When we backslide--we need to acknowledge it and quickly remove ourselves from the temptation and/or environment that got us there. And sometimes--that means removing ourselves from people who deliberately sin and then entice us to do the same. It is our choice--to live according to God's Word or not. Everything that we "do" (actively participate in) is our choice. Unless some one is holding a gun to our heads, threatening to blow us away, we have a choice in the matter of our behavior. God gave us--free-will--to choose what we do.

For all of those people and activist groups that proclaim that they were "born" anything other than male or female--they acknowledge they are led by the devil in promoting the lie. They further manipulate others into believing the lie and then expect special consideration--from everyone else, including the government. God will not excuse sinful behavior regardless of any governmental stances taken to support or promote sin. We are all accountable for what we do in this earthly body and when the time comes--no government policies will be able to intervene on our behalf. When we stand before Him in judgment--Only what we do for Christ and in Christ will matter and living a sinful life--will not get us into heaven.

Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to understand sin as You have proclaimed throughout Your Word and create in us a heart that desires to please You, not self or others.