I'm also not recruiting members to my said "Church" nor am I attempting to organize an institutional entity of any kind. No, my plea is to those that claim Jesus as their Lord to begin to focus on the "True" purpose for the redemption of those that chose to believe IN Him.
There are times when a said "fleshing out" needs to take place, yet only when the motivation for participating is also for a healthy outcome.
Let's begin with the question "What does the word Dubious conjure in your mind when heard? Now let's add context in the form of what most believe to be applicable in the life of a said believer in Christ.
Just how much of what we say we believe soon becomes a derivative of how much of ourselves we're willing to make available and for the sake of Christ?
Now ask yourself the same question except this time substitute the word Christ with the "Gospel"?
More often when the word "heart" is heard people generally associate that to mean the "Whole" person.
When we hear someone say, "Put your heart into it" as if a motivational plea or "Your heart's just not in it", wouldn't that suggest something that's not being applied? An even more specific use of this word can be seen when we want to be HEARD, "You and I need to have a heart to heart discussion"!
Think about it, the physical body can be present and surely the brain still resides in the confines of the cranium? We can still breath, eat, drink, drive cars, watch TV and even TALK without our heart being an active participant in those events can't we?
Now add to that thought "Your treasure is where your heart is".
Mark 14:38
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing , but the body is weak."
NIV
What is the athletic coach suggesting as they scream from the side lines to their players "Focus", or the school teacher that sends a report home with your child whose comments read, "Failure to focus" or consider the symphony conductor that taps his instrument as if the gesture made in hopes of being able to "Conduct"?
What if the said "heart" instead of it being considered as the whole person were broken down into smaller participants which make up the "Whole" (heart), what might one see? Let's put that consideration in color for the sake of hi-lighting the thought.
Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. NIV
If you will, now let me ask a question about commitment based on percentages and the above criteria, "Who or What has become your personal God"?
What are we suggesting when we use the word "Personal"?
We can ask our friends about their new relationships by inferring something specific when we ask, "Just how personal is this relationship" only then to hear our suspicion confirmed "We've become intimate"
We can use this word to thwart forward questions when we choose NOT to directly respond, "That question is too personal"! We'll even hear people use this word when they are talking about store bought items with respect to their shielded privacy items?
We hear specific words used all the time which remove doubts in others with RESPECT to being clearly understood.
Has Christianity been robbed of the meaning of all our words that are used in order to express a divine thought while communicating with this world? Is the world now using what used to be specifically defining words against us?
You ever watch one of those movies or shows where the convicts of a prison make weapons out of just about anything? I've even seen one where a tooth brush handle was shaved down to a point to be used as a dagger.
Which of your words when used against you end up defining who your enemies are?
Ps 64:3
They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.
NIV
Often times this passage gets reserved for the admonishment of preachers when the accusation is made concerning the use of God's word to profit the preacher. Think on it this way, are they the only ones that have a testimony concerning Christ in their daily lives while in this world?
Words these days don't seem to mean to much to humanity, yet we must remember that our creator through the exercise of speaking "Words" created what we see and who do we also believe that we are as His heirs?
2 Cor 2:14-15
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
To the one we are the smell of death ; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
NIV
Think how often you hear the surrounding world that has not accepted Christ as Lord using such words to hi-light the point (perspective) they're hoping to suggest from a worldly perspective?
Where today is the divine perspective being heard? Where is that place where devine "Words" have the affect on the hearer as the reason they were spoken to begin with?
More importantly what is it about their presentation that could possibly suppress (obscure) the truth which is their strength?
What do divine words conjure in the mind of a listening audience?
Maybe believers (in Christ) are not focused on what we're saying because we have lost sight of our TRUE "concern"? More concerned that is for what we are broadcasting as though our (owned) personal gain while being "Read" by the world around us?
Maybe what's been said to be a "heart to heart" visit is in order?
2 Cor 3:2-3
You yourselves are our letter, written on ---> our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, ----> the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
NIV
Now copy and paste that same context to the place where one can observe the overall participation within an institutional setting such as maybe a corporate setting. Now consider just how long it might take before the decision makers pick up on the said "Non-participants" whose hearts are not in the matter at hand?
Is the church of this day suffering a loss in terms of its faithful attending membership OR is it's membership growing strong because of what it now finds acceptable from its members?
What seems to be the resounding message from the pulpit each week? You're going to heaven with no concern for what we now do?
Being saved is not like a purchased ticket given to you so that you get into an amusement park. Being saved is to suggest that you're not presently being judged for your sins committed.
Being is an active word, yet if your over all being is not also a willing participant, what does that say about what you've placed your faith having only skimmed over the truth of the matter?
Jesus in the only righteous one, yet we have been justified by the shedding of His Blood.
We too must be weighed by the truth. Believers have been justified but for what reason?
So that the evidence is found to be True upon whom our hope has been placed and only seen as the Christ of humanity.
Have you been saved so that you can look and act like the world and those that love it so who have a destiny to be burned with unquenchable fire?
Wake up! Just because you say it doesn't make it true no matter how many times you say it.
You've been justified for the sake of love and not for the sake of a selfish soul which daily refuses the spirit of God that looks to transform us into a living epistle which testifies to the Gospel God sent in the form of His son.
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