Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect
and complete, lacking nothing. —James 1:4
“Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are
still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin,
but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. … Beware of
becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will
have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence
until we become entirely His..” OSWALD CHAMBERS
To be careless in your faith means that you care – less
about the things of God and care – more about your natural life. As a Christian, there is never a time when we
are not to love God with every fiber of our being. Heart – mind – soul –
strength. What does that look like? It
does not mean that you are standing on a street corner wearing a robe and sandals
waiving a sign that says “Repent – The end is near!” It means that everything
you do and think and say is expressed in the context of your new life in
Christ. That the old has passed away and
all things are new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Care-less Christians look very much like the rest of the
world in terms of how they live and interact.
They make excuses for the things they do that are clearly in conflict
with the Word of God which is the Truth of God.
They see some sins as permissible sin.
They have low regard for the fact that the Word says if you sin in one part,
any part of the law you have broken the whole law. (James
2:10) “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty
of all of it.” That God can have not
part of sin - any sin – even the tiniest
sin.
We like the idea of going to Heaven and not Hell. The problem is that we disconnect life after
death from life before death. I am not denying that we face temptations and we
sin … all of us do. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
But we should not be satisfied with that.
We should not surrender to it. To
let our old nature have its way in our lives.
To trivialize our sin and deem it as inconsequential. The world needs to see Jesus and you are the
best representation of Jesus that many people will see. And if there is virtually no difference
between the world and you, well … you have failed in the most fundamental
calling that all Christians have – to be His witnesses to a lost and dying
world. Don’t be care-less but be care-full
in your faith and life. Being a witness is 10 percent (10%) what you say, and
90 percent (90%) what you do. CHARLEY
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