A Lenten Reflection
As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond?
There are a great many people who claim the Christian faith in America...though the "numbers" are down from previous decades, still the vast majority of Americans claim some faith in a higher power, and of that number, most of them claim to be Christians.
You'd never know it, would you?
I mean, look around out our country. The violence....on the streets and in our televisions. The greed...where we drool over celebrities. applaud the insanely wealthy but allow veterans fighting cancer to freeze to death, and we turn a relative blind eye to the skyrocketing number of school children who are homeless. Where movies about sex have record profits, and the issue of domestic violence is quietly moved to the side. In our some of our churches, we preach morality and then go home and live obviously immoral lives. Our government sends troops in to questionable wars, yet allows genocides and religious persecution to occur on a regular basis without seriously taking measures to stop either. Our elderly suffer, our neighborhoods are deteriorating, and we're all fixated on what the next tv show or sporting event is.
This is America....look around.
We're not a Christian nation, and I don't know if truly we ever were.
But we're awfully good at beating the drums of a politically infused religion and telling ourselves how wonderful and sanctified we are. And we love soft spoken religious adages, as long as they're not too pointed...and certainly as long as they're not pointed at us.
We have left the age old message, and traded it in for fuzzy feel good salesmen, who promise to give us lives of purpose, our best lives now, and wealth just because we're good (and tithe to them.)
We, in general in this country, have fallen far away from the message Christ taught, and that the Apostles faithfully delivered.
And yet..when you talk to a person claiming Christianity in America, and you ask them about what happens when we die, if we face judgement, if there is a heaven and who is going there, their answers are full of the assurance that because they are "nice" or "good" or "really love their families and friends and tried to do good"...then they're fine with God.
Christ didn't journey to Jerusalem to be betrayed, tried, whipped and crucified to save "nice" people.
He died to save those who repent of their sins and trust and believe in Him.
Simply being nice isn't enough. Being nice to our friends and family isn't enough. Trying to be good isn't enough. For none of us are righteous, all of us are lost in sin. And only Christ Jesus can save us.
I was reading Scripture today and came again across Matthew 7:21-23. A set of verses that should terrify lukewarm believers...I know at one time they terrified me.
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"-- Jesus speaking.
When I was an older teenager and first really studied these verses, it kept me up at night. "Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness?" I pondered...."Is He talking about me?" It led to a great delving into prayer, of examining my faith, of study of Scripture...of analyzing my life. And ultimately, of surrendering my life and will to Him who became my Lord, not just in words, but in truth.
We can't be half hearted Disciples.....an outward profession of religion, no matter how well stated or acted upon, will bring us unto salvation. We can fool other people, but God sees into our hearts. He knows whether we love Him, whether we seek to do His will for His glory...or whether we have a social faith, or a political faith...or a faith we wear as a fashionable outfit.
Matthew Henry's commentary says the following on both saying *and* doing the will of the Lord: "That it is necessary to our happiness that we do the will of Christ, which is indeed the will of his Father in heaven. The will of God, as Christ’s Father, is his will in the gospel, for there he is made known, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: and in him our Father. Now this is his will, that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. If we comply not with the will of God, we mock Christ in calling him Lord, as those did who put on him a gorgeous robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Saying and doing are two things, often parted in conversation of men: he that said, I go, sir, stirred never a step (Matt. 21:30); but these two things God has joined in his command, and let no man that puts them asunder think to enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Oh my friends, use this season of Lent to examine your heart and your faith. Do not be an outwardly professing Christian who is hollow on the inside, for that shall not save you!
Christ Jesus hung upon a cross so that you might have eternal life through Him; take hold of that, cling to it, believe and trust in Him who loves you so! Do His will with love for Him in your hearts, so that you never hear those dreadful words, "I never knew you!"
Christ paid a high price for those who believe in Him and do His will, but He will not claim those who disdained Him with their lives, and mocked Him with the professions of their lips.
As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond? What will He answer to you?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond?
There are a great many people who claim the Christian faith in America...though the "numbers" are down from previous decades, still the vast majority of Americans claim some faith in a higher power, and of that number, most of them claim to be Christians.
You'd never know it, would you?
I mean, look around out our country. The violence....on the streets and in our televisions. The greed...where we drool over celebrities. applaud the insanely wealthy but allow veterans fighting cancer to freeze to death, and we turn a relative blind eye to the skyrocketing number of school children who are homeless. Where movies about sex have record profits, and the issue of domestic violence is quietly moved to the side. In our some of our churches, we preach morality and then go home and live obviously immoral lives. Our government sends troops in to questionable wars, yet allows genocides and religious persecution to occur on a regular basis without seriously taking measures to stop either. Our elderly suffer, our neighborhoods are deteriorating, and we're all fixated on what the next tv show or sporting event is.
This is America....look around.
We're not a Christian nation, and I don't know if truly we ever were.
But we're awfully good at beating the drums of a politically infused religion and telling ourselves how wonderful and sanctified we are. And we love soft spoken religious adages, as long as they're not too pointed...and certainly as long as they're not pointed at us.
We have left the age old message, and traded it in for fuzzy feel good salesmen, who promise to give us lives of purpose, our best lives now, and wealth just because we're good (and tithe to them.)
We, in general in this country, have fallen far away from the message Christ taught, and that the Apostles faithfully delivered.
And yet..when you talk to a person claiming Christianity in America, and you ask them about what happens when we die, if we face judgement, if there is a heaven and who is going there, their answers are full of the assurance that because they are "nice" or "good" or "really love their families and friends and tried to do good"...then they're fine with God.
Christ didn't journey to Jerusalem to be betrayed, tried, whipped and crucified to save "nice" people.
He died to save those who repent of their sins and trust and believe in Him.
Simply being nice isn't enough. Being nice to our friends and family isn't enough. Trying to be good isn't enough. For none of us are righteous, all of us are lost in sin. And only Christ Jesus can save us.
I was reading Scripture today and came again across Matthew 7:21-23. A set of verses that should terrify lukewarm believers...I know at one time they terrified me.
"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"-- Jesus speaking.
When I was an older teenager and first really studied these verses, it kept me up at night. "Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness?" I pondered...."Is He talking about me?" It led to a great delving into prayer, of examining my faith, of study of Scripture...of analyzing my life. And ultimately, of surrendering my life and will to Him who became my Lord, not just in words, but in truth.
We can't be half hearted Disciples.....an outward profession of religion, no matter how well stated or acted upon, will bring us unto salvation. We can fool other people, but God sees into our hearts. He knows whether we love Him, whether we seek to do His will for His glory...or whether we have a social faith, or a political faith...or a faith we wear as a fashionable outfit.
Matthew Henry's commentary says the following on both saying *and* doing the will of the Lord: "That it is necessary to our happiness that we do the will of Christ, which is indeed the will of his Father in heaven. The will of God, as Christ’s Father, is his will in the gospel, for there he is made known, as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: and in him our Father. Now this is his will, that we believe in Christ, that we repent of sin, that we live a holy life, that we love one another. This is his will, even our sanctification. If we comply not with the will of God, we mock Christ in calling him Lord, as those did who put on him a gorgeous robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Saying and doing are two things, often parted in conversation of men: he that said, I go, sir, stirred never a step (Matt. 21:30); but these two things God has joined in his command, and let no man that puts them asunder think to enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Oh my friends, use this season of Lent to examine your heart and your faith. Do not be an outwardly professing Christian who is hollow on the inside, for that shall not save you!
Christ Jesus hung upon a cross so that you might have eternal life through Him; take hold of that, cling to it, believe and trust in Him who loves you so! Do His will with love for Him in your hearts, so that you never hear those dreadful words, "I never knew you!"
Christ paid a high price for those who believe in Him and do His will, but He will not claim those who disdained Him with their lives, and mocked Him with the professions of their lips.
As we call out, "Lord, Lord,"...what shall He respond? What will He answer to you?
On towards the Cross,
-Beth Haynes Butler
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