Are you a Christian only by name? Do you say you follow Christ when your actions speak otherwise? Are you trying to serve both the world and God? Do you act like everyone else in the world? Are you not living your faith out?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, its time for a reality check.
James 1:19-25 says this:
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
We can’t just read what the Word says and not pay attention to what it says. We need to apply it to our daily lives. Being a Christian means living out your faith everyday.
James 2:14-18 says this:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
By saying you are a Christian to someone and then going out in front of that person and knowingly sin, your doing more harm than good by telling that person you are a Christian. They see you as no different as themselves. What they see is someone who doesn’t even abide by what there faith says.
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with jealousy?But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud
but favors the humble.”
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
We as Christians can’t serve the world and God. We can’t serve two masters. It doesn’t work. When we become Christians, we give our entire hearts to God. God wants our entire heart, not a part of it. All of it.
We have been bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. We are not our own any longer.
We are to live our are faith everyday, not just when we feel like it, or when its convenient. It needs to be all the time. We should be living our lives so consumed by God, that all those around us can see that, something is different about us. That they should be able to see the light of God shinning through you.
So, in the beginning I asked some questions, and if you answered yes to any of them. What are you going to do about it?
Whats causing you to not live your faith out? Whats causing you to not shine the light? Whats holding you back?
Pray about it, seek council from other believers. Ask God to show you what needs to be done in your life. Ask Him for a reality check.
My reality check was God breaking me 6 months ago. I had to be brought to my knees by God, my will broken.
Let us be completely consumed by God, let our lives revolve around Him, and Him alone. Lets be that shining city on a hill. Lets shine the light as bright as we can. Let us go out into the world doing all we can for God. Hold nothing back, give Him everything you got
Comments by Rukh Whitefang