Old Friends...

Romans 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

I have sinned again. This time I know that I must have upset a lot of people. A lot of my old friends won't even talk to me anymore because of this. I can't believe that I am saying this but, "I really don't care." What? No, "I don't care." And I am not going to stop this type of sin because it is about something much more important than me...

But wait you said that you sinned! Yes, that's what I said. But the reason that I won't quit is not because of my fear of hurting my old friends, I still fear that they are not understanding, actually what is difficult for most to understand is that they are the ones who are sinning. You see what I have done in their mind is sin (and they will make you feel horrible as a result, you will question your position and stand on God's word, and His will) as I tell them the truth about Jesus Christ. And we know that that can't be sin. Or can it? Mark 8:38 tells us "
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

I have met a lot of christian jerks who offended God and everything that Jesus represents. These people however are motivated by ego and either make some since yet somehow what they stand for doesn't follow the teachings of Christ. We are reminded that we are not to offend anyone. This includes our enemies. The illustration which God gives us is to turn the other cheek. And to understand that He loves everyone especially our enemies. This is a difficult lesson yet it is clear as we look at certain verses. Especially who it is put in the context of our neighbors. As well as choosing who we decide who we love(See Matt 5:46). The christian jerk doesn't understand this. He feels that it is his right to offend because in his mind it is not him that is doing the offending. Which is why we need to be certain concerning this certain truth. Check God's stance on these matters, this is the only way to be 100% positive that it is not you that is doing the offending.

We know that the truth and the Gospel is always offensive to the lost. But we are not just talking about this principle. We are talking about our foolish pride that is doing the offending. While we are yet in the flesh we often let our own ego become bruised or even shattered and as a result we feel our own pride getting hurt or stepped, then we in turn revolt and lash out in anger and our deeds end up hurting someone. Latter on we go back and say that we're sorry yet why did we do it in the first place. Who were we serving?

When we serve Christ we must emulate Him. This is difficult when we are not in fellowship with Him! We must continue daily even constantly in reading and studying the Bible, fasting, and praying. And it takes a lot of our precious time. Time that we would rather dedicate to the worship of Hollywood, the internet, or any of the other categories of junk that are out there. Sure, we need quality time with our family, and we sometimes need time for other real priorities which arise in our life. But none of it is important if we continue to disregard God.

You see, I can't be concerned about my old friends, especially the ones which are ungodly. Coming from a scientific background and with my experience in working with a lot of very "intelligent" engineers. I have a lot of these old friends which I occasionally run into. And they have not changed. And I have to admit that some of these were at one time (before I was truly saved) very close to me. But I have moved on. By the grace of God I am putting that behind me and by the power of Jesus Christ I pray that I don't let it derail my walk with Him. Because it is all very tempting.

This is very serious because I I have to let you know that I considered compromising my own faith because I foolishly became more concerned with what and how my old friends thought about me. Rather than consider what it was that God had planned for me. Can you imagine that? This sin is very tricky. You see the great adversary, Satan knows this. He knows how to get to us and he knows how to mess with our heads. I have even had my own father, my earthly father or "dad" tell me to ease up a little because some of my family members "many even confessing christian's," (little "c") were offended by my Goldy dialog, and my outspokenness towards God, Jesus Christ, the Lord, Church et al. I discovered that to them old friends and family, that to much church was a bad thing.

When you think about it it could be true. Look at it this way sure to much church might be a bad thing. To much of the wrong kind of church that is. Any church or doctrine which is not in direct alignment with the will of God could be a bad thing especially for the unsaved. Sure going to a church that teaches false doctrine or even by us spending any time at all in a such a place as these might be to much time. Yet I myself have learned quite a bit from going to some of these places. I've even realized that after being there that I was never going back. So in a way I did spend to much time there. Yet what I learned from being there had significant value. By the way, this was one of those churches with the trampolines in it, I'm joking! No, actually the ones which don't believe in the trinity. The ones which have their own version of the bible, which either have a whole lot of missing verses, and even some ungodly additions, or entire different books. I won't name any names.

I am hear to warn you that we all make mistakes, even sin, by falling into the trap of our "once" comfort zone. Which surprisingly is no longer comfortable. You know our old autopilot, where we don't try to stop and think and make the right choice. Or we think about it some and knowingly make the wrong choice. Or when we let our own foolish pride take over the wheel and just "go with the flow." That is still popular you know? These are deadly, always very subtle, or slippery, and they all have a negative purpose. A side which serves the spirit of untruth. These being outside of the will of God yet perfectly aligned with the world, man, and especially the enemy.

Ephesians 6 breaks it all down for us; "Eph .6:11-17 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:"

I pray His peace be extended to you today.