So maybe you already know your true identity. Perhaps you found Jesus Christ years ago and have placed Him in the High Priest’s position as LORD of all of your life and you have proclaimed that He is the lover of your soul. Isn’t it good to understand who you are and where you belong?

HOW’S YOUR LIFE GOING?

Just one question though; how has this played out in the daily actions of your life?

ARE YOU GUILTY OF OFFENDING GOD OUT OF IGNORANCE?

Unless you are very careful and you take all of life with a very prayerful approach; you might not even realize that probably half of the things you do day-in and day-out are offensive to God.

Yes; I DID say offensive.

You might be shaking your head now; and you might quickly tell me that God overlooks the things that you don’t understand because He is merciful, kind and full of love.

I would totally agree; but as a parent that has been merciful, kind and full of love; I would have to say He is STILL offended. Do you really want to go through life offending your maker?

Just because God is good and merciful and loving doesn’t make the things that are un-obvious to you and me as we go skipping carelessly through life, not something wrong that we practically keep flinging into His face every day.

WHY BREAK GOD’S HEART WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE TO?

God may be silent; but it still hurts Him. Not only do these little un-obvious things that we do hurt God; they open the door to the demons of the enemy of God.

These things that are not of God; they are NOT okay.

Ironically the subject today is preparing us to discuss a word called “mindfulness.” Here I am asking you to pay attention and be “mindful” of the things of God. This type of “mindfulness” is good; it keeps you safe and protected from the enemy.

EVEN THE ELECT CAN BE DECEIVED

Somehow; though I detect the word “mindfulness” has taken on a whole new meaning for our culture today. Christians all over the globe have fallen victim to the changing of the meaning of the words of the English language. It reminds me of what happened at the Tower of Babel; everyone is speaking the same but they all have a different understanding. Suddenly our meanings are not so crystal clear when we speak the language we have all become accustomed to hearing. Old words have taken on a new twist.

When we hear that word “mindfulness” our thinking starts out thinking about a correct and important thing; paying attention; but sometimes with society’s new definitions of the word the meaning goes off in a totally different direction in the end.

PAYING ATTENTION ISN’T JUST FOCUSING; IT IS FOCUSING ON THE RIGHT THINGS

It does matter that we pay attention to the things in our every day life. This IS godly and good.

It is the way we choose to pay attention that I want to discuss a bit further.

There are good ways to pay attention and there are deceptive ways to pay attention. Discernment matters here.

Are you discerning the things you are taking into your days?

ACCEPTING THE NECESSITY OF ABSOLUTES

Some things are wrong with each of us; and we need to have a clear picture (black and white) of what is right and wrong in order to come before our Maker with clean hands and hearts to worship.

How do we KNOW these things?

We find them out by study of the scriptures as we prayerfully seek God’s will for our lives.

The Holy Scriptures are alive and they will speak to your spirit as you take the time to read and study them.

I suppose you could call this type of focused study of The Word of God a type of meditation. This type of meditation is good and healthy and definitely should be done daily; but is that the same as the “meditations” that are being pushed on us by society at large?

It seems to me that some of this new way of meditating might be different, and I plan to devote a whole series of articles to that subject later in this column.

WHY DO PEOPLE MEDITATE?

Today we will focus on the reason for meditation; it has a name and the name is called “mindfulness.”

There are many things that we, as Christians and Christ-followers must be “mindful” of. We should not be ignorant of God’s Holy Word; and we should not be doing things daily that are contrary to what the scriptures teach.

Yes, we can repent and God will forgive our stupid mistakes; but that doesn’t give us license to walk through life in blissful ignorance as to what God does and does not want us to be doing with our time.

DO YOU TRULY LIVE YOUR IDENTITY?

If we are going to wear that label that says “Christian” then we at least have to TRY to live up to the word.

After all; Jesus gave his life so that we could have that opportunity.

He is THE WORD and He gave us a love letter that is all written down in black and white. He made things very clear. We can’t take it for granted!

WHERE DO WE START?

We must find out those “things” that we need to know and begin to live in truth.

This can’t be done without first educating ourselves by studying The Word of God.

We must pull out our bibles and begin to consume them word-by-word and line-by-line. We must want to KNOW the precepts of our God.

This is what Jesus did as a young Hebrew boy. He studied the Torah and He took it’s precepts into his heart and his daily life.

It may seem strange to think of a part of God having to read and learn the Word of God (which He actually previously composed as part of the Godhead and put into the inspired minds of the writers of the Torah and the Gospel); but it was the human part of Jesus that helped Him to come closer to us. He learned the scriptures all over as a human just as we should be doing today.

Our culture and society today will not applaud you for doing this.

Do it anyway.

WAYS OF LEARNING HAVE CHANGED

In days of the past the morals of people used to be plain and simple and out in the open. Everyone knew what was right and everyone knew what was wrong. If someone stepped out of line; his neighbor would kindly and lovingly remind them of the facts.

Today we live in a culture and society with no absolutes.

This makes the true characteristics of a Christian sometimes hard to distinguish from any other type of characteristic.

I’m here to tell you that the Christian life contains absolutes.

HOW TO DETERMINE THE ABSOLUTES OF CHRISTIANITY

God knew this day was coming; so He gave us the gift of the Holy Scriptures. They are our guide.

God’s Holy Spirit comes right along at the side us and gives us the strength and knowledge and wisdom that we are lacking in order to better follow and understand the Word of God found in the Holy Scriptures.

If we are unsure; we pray and seek God until we ARE sure.

WE ARE FIGHTING AN INVISIBLE WAR

However, time is growing short and Satan has upped the ante.

He has increased the blur between morality and immorality and love and hate and right and wrong. There are a whole invisible army of demons out there dedicated to helping him to achieve this goal.

Confused and chaotic people are easily led.

It takes a strong, willing, dedicated person to seek the things of God out and follow them all while living in today’s world.

TRUTH AND ABSOLUTES

One way to make things easier for our brothers and sisters in Christ is to teach truth and absolutes.

I know that isn’t very popular these days; but it IS biblical and correct. It DOES work toward pulling people out of the smoky realms of hell and back onto the path of light.

Our teachings need to be directed toward being able to discern the falsehoods of the culture and to help others to be able to bring the truth instead of swallowing the lies.

We have to speak out about the “less than obvious” sins existing in our culture.

Next week we will take that path.

Please pray for God to guide us and direct us in the way He would have us to go. Ask God to open your eyes to the truth and to make the truth plain to the writer of these articles.

With God on our side; how can we go wrong?

 

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