You say you are a Christian, but...
You believe you are saved. You want to follow Jesus. You have a desire to go to
heaven. But you know something is missing in your life. You try to lead a good life
pleasing God but you know you fall short of his expectations. You don't have a burning
desire to go into the world and preach the gospel because you are not so sure yourself.
And most unfortunately you are not sure about going to heaven if you die today.
If you believe you belong to this group don't worry. Majority of the "Christians"
today fall into this category.
They believe they have repented of their sins and have been saved. Some lead a life
of good works, trying to please God through their everyday actions. Some accept
the fact that it is impossible to lead a sinless life as long as we live on the
earth and so continue in the vicious cycle of sin and repentance. These people get
their Christian identity by being in Christian circles and religiously following
"Christian duties".
They pray, they read the bible. They know what God expect from them but have difficulty
understanding it. They set a human limit on divine commands. They are in the world
and of it. They have godliness without contentment. Evangelists work for worldly
gain rather than the kingdom. Preachers sell their doctrines rather than the gospel
of Christ. Ministry worker get depressed because of lack of recognition because
they do it for man, though they believe otherwise.
Some are ineffective because their salvation is not right. They didn't mean what
they did when they confessed their sins. Others are right in repentance but are
not born-again. They lack the death of self and birth of spirit experience. They
get bible concepts backward. They believe they must follow God's commandments to
be like Christ. II Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new"
that is the biblical concept. If you are born-again with the spirit of Christ you
will follow his commandments without trying to follow his commandments! Paul talks
about this in Romans 12:1, 2 "...be transformed by the renewing of the mind..."
unless we have the mind of Christ, we will be ineffective Christians.
The church in Laodicea was an ineffective church. Jesus warned the church, "So then
because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my
mouth." But he also gave them a promise, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with me."
Here's a simple test to identify if we are leading an ineffective Christian life.
When the Holy Spirit convicts us of something while reading the bible if we say
"How can I..." our self is probably not dead yet. Instead if we say "Here I am..."
we are probably on the way of dynamic Christianity