The selfishness that occurs due to our weak knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is caused by a lack of communication with God. We may say that we pray every day, but my beloved, what are we praying for? Are we praying for the truth of God to be revealed in us so we can preach the word of God throughout the world? Or are we praying to worldly satisfaction? Do we want people to do everything the way we want it done because we are the perfect Christians? I say assuredly, when we continue to pray to God for something He does not want to give us, He eventually may allow us to obtain it, but it will also come with the consequences of why God didn’t want to grant that prayer request. Let us not blame the Lord for our selfishness.

This denomination outburst is incredible. We have become so divided in order to have a higher place so in this world to say we are doing the will of God. The commandments of Jesus Christ were to “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) Our selfishness causes us to be divided; we are unwilling to accept one another. We are so stiff-necked and hard-hearted. We all want the Word to conform to our lives and to be shaped around our selfish nature. We must shape our lives around the Word of God so it can mold us into His perfect image.

I have seen so many denominations of Christianity that will not even listen, let alone acknowledge another denomination because they do not do the same things or follow the same rituals that they do. We all want to have people convert to our denomination by teaching why our denomination is better than all the other ones, but where is the Word of God? Where is the encouragement to love brothers and sisters and to tend to the lost sheep? Yet we keep statistics of how many converts we make, and how many members we have, how much money we raise, building projects, and all this worldly information so we may boast. This information is not for the Lord because He already knows! Why does it matter how many members a church has or how many people converted?

Speaking to a Catholic relative the other day, she told me the Catholic Church is the ONLY church because it is the “universal” church and is the church that Simon Peter established. I say assuredly, the ONLY church is the Church that the Lord Jesus Christ established. That is the universal church. What we label a church is not what makes it the Church of Christ, it is what our spirits put into it and what our spirits get out of it that makes it the church. Whether we are Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or any other denomination of Christianity, we are ALL baptized by the SAME Holy Spirit and none of us is any different from the other. To be a Christian, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not trust Him, rely upon Him, cling onto Him, knowing that He died for our sins, but rose again on the third day by the power of God the Father, and have the assurance of salvation, that we will be with Him in eternity, we are not yet a true Christian. We are just going along with the label. Whatever denomination we claim, the ONLY thing that truly matters is that we preach the Word of God and we live accordingly to the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. Assuredly, if we want to stand to worship, sit to worship, wear earrings or not wear earrings, hats or not hats, sneakers or shoes, and the list can go on and on, do it for the glory of God. Just love the Lord and praise God for giving us life! Don’t let petty rituals and religion get in the way of the loving relationship we have with our Savior, our Comforter, our Friend, our Protector, our Provider, our Messiah, our Christ, our Lord, OUR GOD!!!

In Romans 14:1 the apostle Paul writes “As FOR the man who is a weak believer, welcome him [into your fellowship], but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions.” (Amplified Bible)

Who are we to say a person is a weak believer and tell them how they serve the Lord is wrong? Let the Lord guide them as we unite with them in fellowship. Let us not cause brothers and sisters to fall because we do not agree with their methods. The way they serve may bring them closer to God the same way we serve brings us closer to God. If the way we serve doesn’t bring us closer to God, maybe we are really the weak believer and should be the one asking for their guidance.

I actually have an answer to the opening question “how to be a perfect Christian?” The answer is simple. The Lord Jesus Christ answered it to for us two thousand years ago. If someone disagrees, you are not disagreeing with me because I didn’t say it; I’m just quoting my Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. The answer is to love God with your all and ask Him to let the Holy Spirit guide us. Once we have truly opened our hearts and accepted the Holy Spirit, it will unite us with our brothers and sisters covered by the blood of Jesus Christ regardless of which denomination of Christianity we belong to. Let the labels not divide us, but let Christ unite us! We shall speak out on what is against the will of God, provide support for the body of Christ, helping each other grow in truth accepting each other’s differences, so in all ways we can glorify Christ, our Savior and King.

Now, my beloved, let us not be selfish, but be filled with loving hearts, compassion, forgiveness, and receiving everyone. Remember Jesus said what we do to the least, we also do it onto Him. We must not gossip and have hate filled hearts towards one another. We cannot say we love Jesus but hate everyone else. If we love Jesus, we must love and care for everyone else and if we hate everyone who displeases us, we also hate Jesus. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we were filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which never departs from us. The love that was shown to us and for us on the cross must be reflected through each second of our lives receiving our brothers and sisters, sitting them down at our tables, loving one another as Christ first loved us.

Relationships in families, marriages, friendships and so much more can be ruined with lack of forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the key elements in life. Being that NOBODY is perfect, when you make a mistake, you expect to be forgiven, so why must you be unforgiving?   After all, Jesus was crucified on a cross to forgive us of our sins so we can live eternally; so how can we not forgive others? Can we really say a person has caused us more pain than the pain Jesus went through for our sins?

Matthew 18:21-22 reads ²¹ Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Jesus will forgive us as many times as it takes to get it right! As hurt as you may be, we must be forgiving, compassionate, loving, and accepting of the faults and flaws of the people we love. It is what strengthens us in Christ. Holding a grudge hurts you more than the person who has wronged you.

So many relationships suffer because both parties are unwilling to accept the fact that humans make mistakes. Instead of working through the rough times, they abandon the ship and dwell on the pain instead of aspiring to work together and progress.

In my line of work, there is something called regression testing. That is when you go back to check if the prior mistakes have been corrected. This should not apply to relationships.  One of the worst things to do is bring up prior incidents and situations. That is not really forgiveness. That is just collecting leverage to use against a person when future mistakes are made.

Pure forgiveness is acknowledging that although something has occurred, it will NOT tear our relationship apart. We can talk through it, and work together to leave it behind us. Nothing is too big to accomplish through Christ.

I am not saying to allow yourself to be a doormat and have people walk all over you; you must carry your faith strongly. However, you must remember that we all fall, and just as Jesus was there to extend his hands to save the disciples on drowning, He will reach out His hands to pick us up when we fall down; you must be willing to do the same for the people you love.

If we walk with compassion, understanding, love, and forgiveness, none being greater than the other, then we can be that brightly shining light in the lives of others that allows them to know we are all human, and you will be there for them to love and forgive them just as our Savior is there to do the same for us.