"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."
(Colossians 3:9-11 NIV)
"Liar, liar pants on
fire." Remember that one? Usually the target of this phrase had just
been caught in a lie, but what does one say to self when we lie to
ourselves? Is there a voice telling us, "liar, liar, pants on fire" or
are we just deceiving ourselves into believing a lie? If the
enemy is telling us that God doesn't have a problem with sin--ANY
SIN--then we need to remind him, that he's a liar, the father of liars
and there is no truth in him.
For
if we have put off--literally shed the skin and practices of the old
man--the one who didn't know any better before receiving Christ into our
lives, then we are brand new--with a new attitude and a new wisdom
regarding the attributes of Christ. We can walk in our newness by facing
the fact that God is color-blind, has no respect of persons, and LOVES US ALL THE SAME! When we sin--after knowing how He wants us to live right before Him--He still loves us, but He's not happy with our choices.
When
children disobey their parents, most parents--at least those with a
little common sense and love of Christ in them, don't kill or maim their
children because they're upset. They don't like the disobedience and there is usually an unpleasant consequence the children have to deal with.
Since God is our heavenly Father, Jesus our Lord and Savior, and Holy
Spirit our counselor and comforter, we have no excuse. We cannot claim
not to know--when we have received Him into our lives, giving Him reign
over our lives and allowing Holy Spirit to do His job. He never stops
loving us, but there is a consequence for our actions for He has said, "the wages (the payment/the penalty) of sin is death" and for some a spiritual death is worse than a natural death. For if we die naturally, then sin has no more authority over us; however if we die spiritually, we continue in our sin and eventually see no wrong with what we do.
Now,
the real problem for many is that they like to make distinctions
between who is in Christ or who is not based upon one's proclivity to
categorize people--in an effort to be superior to them. I've
heard so much garbage lately, that it is really sickening and saddening
to know just how much racism and bigotry there is yet in the world. God
knows no distinctions between any people--we are all the same in Him--so
why must we use misrepresented information to try to make others feel
inferior? Ham's curse--as related in Genesis--was not about his
descendants being black! That is a misconception taught by those who
think they are superior to others. The first man--Adam--was a
person of color--his origin of creation on the continent of Africa.
People did not begin to "pale" until they started migration into colder
climates.
Really? Can this be
true? Don't take my word for it--check out the history of man's
migration from Africa--Asia--and other parts of the world. None
of us are superior to others--by race, gender, ethnicity, or education.
In Christ we are all one blood, one world of human beings and we need to
start acting like it!
None of us has ever walked this journey in life in perfection. All of us have fallen short--sinned in some manner and many who claim to know Christ are still living in sin.
It's time we stopped lying to ourselves and realize we all need the
Risen Savior, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit guiding us in all we
do--according to God's Word--not according to our own limited knowledge
of anything. There are no distinctions between people in Christ;
we are all one--loved by Him who is Love, saved by Him who is the
Savior, and guided by Him who is--the guiding Spirit of Christ.
Now that we know we are one--let's love one another--casting away our old nature and walking in the new with Christ Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment