Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Christianity: A Growing Process

When a person makes the decision to accept Jesus Christ as their savior, they usually are not instantly perfect overnight. At least not that I have seen. I believe in days to come, the Lord will do a QUICK work. But as of yet, I have not seen instant-overnight-perfection. If someone chooses to become a Christian at 28 years old then please remember... they had 28 years to develop some bad attitudes, bad habits, bad morals, bad judgments. Twenty-eight years is a LONG time. Sooo... the Lord has some work to do. The first step is that the person gave their heart to Him, confessed Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior, and repented for being a sinner. Now they have asked Him to change their heart & make them brand new. He will put a new spirit & a new heart in them. But people tend to remember how they used to respond to something and that's what they wind up doing...then they have to repent because it was the wrong way to respond. Reading the Word of God causes the person to have a new way of thinking: HIS way of thinking. Reading the Word washes the person's mind & heart (soul) & then they have to put into practice the things they have learned so they can develop these new habits to wipe out the old ones.

So cut a Christian some slack. It's tough as it is without Christ. Who is anyone to judge someone else? We are all in need of grace & mercy & forgiveness. Not a one of us is perfect to God's standards. We're all a disgrace to Him. So when we see other people's faults and bad habits, we should not be quick to criticize them or point out how bad they are. Remember, "You were once there too." I don't care if you didn't do what THEY do... the fact is: You've done something just as bad, if not worse.

Praise God that a person even chooses to accept Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior in their life. Nowadays, it's amazing, it's a miracle, to see someone even make that choice. It's so much easier to get caught up into the hype of this world's systems. There are so many things "to tap into" nowadays to help "escape" from the reality of the a lot of the darkness that's in our face on the news & on TV & around us.

There are however some Christians who just KNOW BETTER. They have known the Word of God for a long time, they confess to be walking with Him & to hear His voice. These folks know better & have no excuse. They have had the Holy Spirit working through them in gifts of the Spirit. If these type of folks are willfully sinning along & expecting others to "do as they say not as they do", then uh-uh I'm sorry but that's a no-no. They know better & the Lord will take care of judging them. I just stay away from them because they're fake --- like fake fruit: looks real enough to eat, but then you touch it & find out it's all plastic & fake. What a bummer.

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