Selfless Faith

In Matthew 16:21, Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.

Right after the glorious revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus began to reveal to the disciples God’s plan to redeem man. He revealed to the disciples the gospel before it even happened. The truth is Jesus was betrayed, beaten, killed, and raised up on the third day. Many of us seem to lose focus on that. We only want to talk about the love of Jesus, the great teachings of Jesus, to follow His examples, or the peace that He brings. However, without the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, everything else is utterly meaningless. Paul wrote without the resurrection of Jesus, our faith is in vain and we are to be pitied the most amongst all men. Without BOTH the death and resurrection, there is no Christianity, there is no redemption, there is no peace. Our faith lies upon two pillars. The first pillar is the death of Christ to wipe ALL of our sins away. We are covered by His precious blood. The second pillar is the resurrection of Christ. Through His resurrection, we have received a new life. Both are the two most essential components of our faith. If one is missing, the foundation completely falls to the ground. Thank you God for this newness of life in Jesus Christ you have so graciously given to us. Lord, let Your world fall on us to bring forth the fruit you deserve.

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Respect can be defined as the condition of being honored or as an admiration or esteem. It seems we search our entire life to be respected. We feel as if we deserve respect. We even demand it. We puff our little chests and yell “I will be respected!” Why is respect so important in our lives? In Ephesians 5:33, the Bible tells wives to respect their husbands. God knows how important respect is to men. The Bible also tells husbands to love their wives. God also knows how important love is to women. However, we always forget right before wives are commanded to respect their husbands and husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church, we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that came upon Jesus while being baptized by John the Baptist. The same spirit that goes to and from the earth and sees all things, knows all things, hears all things, knows our deepest thoughts, and all the secret desires of our heart. Without the Holy Spirit, the third person of the God-head, dwelling in us, we will never be able to truly love and respect each other.

However, something that I have realized lately is people are getting this idea that they deserve respect and can demand it. I’m not sure who put this idea into our mind. In actuality, we are not owed anything by anyone. We owe our lives to Jesus Christ for His sacrifice on the cross for us. He paid a debt that we could not pay. He paid it in full. Yet we always say we must be respected. We want the world to respect us. It seems we haven’t realized that the world hates us and its ultimate goal is to see us painfully and slowly die. It is like an insanity cycle. We say respect ME and the world spits in our face, so we try again and then the world slaps us. When will we learn to stop prostituting our lives with this world? We need to stop reading the parts of the Bible that make us feel good and dive into the complete and perfect word of God. We need to ask Jesus to live His life through us. We need to have the Holy Spirit empower us.

To all who are in Christ, yet demand respect from the world (one of our enemies), let’s take a logical approach at this. The world hates God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They always resist the Holy Spirit and blaspheme Him. Now, if we are in Christ, why would we expect respect from the same world that hates and has no respect for our Savior? That doesn’t make much sense.

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In Matthew 16:7, after Jesus warns the disciples about the Pharisees, they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”

Although this statement amongst the disciples may be a bit humorous, it is also sad and describes our lives. Our minds are always preoccupied by the current state of our conditions that we may completely miss what God has to say to us. How many miracles and wonderful works has God worked in our lives? How many times has He kept us safe? He has delivered us out out of trouble over and over. Yet, it always seems to go right out the window when we are faced with uncertainty or adversity. It may be the loss of a job, a death in the family, or a mortgage that needs to be paid. There are so many different situations that occur in our lives. I know it happens to me many times. Then while I’m frantic and worrying, God tells me not to worry; He’s got it covered. Just recently, we were trying to figure out how we would solve a transportation issue for our vacation. Imagine that! Worrying about vacation. As usual, God gave the perfect solution at the perfect time because He is perfect. That is such a small example but it shows how God cares about the smallest details of our lives and wants to take care of those issues as well. Praise the Lord for His mercy. Thank God for His compassion. He is so patient with us. As He slowly refines our lives, being the great master potter that He is, He takes our worry, our thoughts, and other works of the flesh away from us and adds love, mercy, and compassion in our lives. The more we allow God to work in us, the more He transforms us into the image of His son Jesus Christ.

Fighting and going against God is so tiring and is a fight that we will never win. He wants to love us and take care of us. If anyone is yet to turn their life over to the Lord Jesus Christ, let today be the day! Ask Him into your heart and let Him do the mighty work He so desperately wants to do! Receive His precious salvation!

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The question always arises “what do I need to do to be a perfect Christian?” I am sure many people have a plethora of answers on what it takes to be a perfect Christian. All these answers are the cause of denominational outbursts. Every time we disagree with what one another says or believes (in how to live the Christian life), we create our own brand new, hot off the press denomination to do what we want to do. Not only this is dangerous but it is also selfish. Religion is the biggest separation between man and God. Look at how separated the Pharisees were from God, yet they were very religious.  The separation happens because man moves away, but God always remains in the same spot. The wall that Christ destroyed between Jew and Gentile, circumcised and uncircumcised, and all the other methods of separation, man is trying to build back in Christianity. Once we allow religion to separate us from men, we then become separated from God. God wants us to have fellowship with one another. Also, the danger of this separation allows the enemy to make his way in and devour our souls. Continue reading

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Paul says in Acts 21:13, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

With the certainty that Jesus gives us, and the love that He has for us, those who truly believe and completely trust in Him have no limitations to sharing the gospel. Many people reject it, but some do accept Christ into their lives after hearing the love that Christ has for them. As Paul expresses he becomes all things to all men with the hope of winning a few for Christ Jesus. At times, we will be persecuted, ridiculed, even attempts to hurt us because we share the love of Christ to the world. Let us share the same assurance and confidence that Paul has in Christ and live without fear or limitations. It is a beautiful love story how Christ died for our sins while we were still sinning; we should be honored to live without limitations, even including death, for His name, His life, and for the fact that He still lives today!

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