“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things
have passed away; behold, all things have become new” —2 Corinthians 5:17
“Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly
opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some
special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will
never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves,
“God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows
that my prejudices are all right.” But we
must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! […] It is part of our moral education to see our
prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God
pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional
surrender.[…] How are we going to
get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the
ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is
not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by
allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect
trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only
want God Himself.“ CHAMBERS
When my dad, Don Pierson, would be talking to someone about
an issue in their life, he would typically say “Let’s see what the Bible has to
say about it. He never went beyond high-school
in his secular education, but was a great Biblical scholar and a man of Godly character. When we face issues in life .. when we
examine our lives and the way we are living them, the only standard that we can
use is the Bible. God addresses all of the
issues of life either specifically or in principle. All too often, we use our culture’s
definition of right and wrong. Some of what our culture believes to be truth is
actually Truth .. biblically based, but much of it is not. So, if you ask “Is it wrong to think or say or
do something or the other?” and look to your culture for the answer, you might
very well get the wrong answer. You can
equate that to choosing sin. If that
thought makes you feel uncomfortable .. that is a good thing .. it should if
you are a Christian.
What a culture believes comes with a new Christian .. it is
embedded in the way they see right and wrong, That is why we must be familiar
with the Word of God. I heard a saying
once “Sin keeps you from the Bible and the Bible keeps you from sin.” That is an indirect reference to Psalm 119:11 “You word have I hid in my
heart that I might not sin against You.” The more your are familiar with what
is Truth in the Bible, the easier it will be to recognize what is not truth in
your culture. James 1:22 “But be
doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving yourselves.”
One last note. If you were not fortunate enough to have a dad like I did ... maybe you can be the godly parent that your children tell others about.ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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