He made Him who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —2
Corinthians 5:21
“Sin is a fundamental
relationship— it is not wrong doing, but wrong being— it is deliberate and
determined independence from God. The Christian faith bases everything on the
extreme, self-confident nature of sin. Other faiths deal with sins— the Bible
alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the
heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of
the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive
power.[…] Jesus Christ reconciled the human race, putting it back to where God
designed it to be. […] A man cannot redeem himself— redemption is the work of
God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual
people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it.” CHAMBERS
I am teaching a Sunday School
class. I call it “applied Christianity”.
A friend said he was going to refer someone to my class who needed to a beginning
Christianity class. Unfortunately, in my
observation, almost all of the Christians I know need to be reminded of the
fundamentals of the faith. But more,
they need to apply them to daily living.
It does us no good to store up knowledge, week after week, if all we do
is store up knowledge. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 starts by telling us
what the Word does and ends by telling us why “so that the servant of God may
be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
And that can only happen if we live a surrendered life. Surrendered to God, not living in a state of
self-trust. On the back of our currency
are the words, “In God We Trust”. Now
you know that is no longer true for our country. Most of our country lives in defiance of God
and for their own pleasure. Even Christians. We need to apply our faith to our lives,
every day, every moment. (James 1:22) “But prove yourselves doers
of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” God did not intend for you to live
independently from Him. Jesus defeated
sin so you could walk and live rightly with God as your source, the Spirit as
your guide and the Word as the lamp to your feet. If only you will stop trying to do it your
own way and listen to God. ELGIN
On a separate note, my heart is heavy for the people
of Haiti. Our friends in Anes du Clerc
and the surrounding mountain villages are struggling with aftermath of Hurricane
Matthew. If you would like to help in some
way, please email me at charley@pathfindermission.org
and I can share some ideas about how you can help. Bondye Beni Nou (God Bless You All)
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