| Author | Message | ||
| 8thday Registered user Username: 8thday Post Number: 916 Registered: 11-2007  |
2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test! This verse blessed me this morning because this is a very simple test - and there is only one question. Paul was questioning the fruit in the Corinthian church - so he asked them to check their hearts, to see if they were indeed "in the faith". When religion wants to make so many tests out of things on the outside, the true faith test only looks at one thing.. what (or Who) lives in your heart? Observing a day is not wrong. Making it a test of who is "in the faith" is supplanting Christ from His rightful position. | ||
| Jrt Registered user Username: Jrt Post Number: 508 Registered: 10-2008 |
Wow! I appreciate your post! This is so good and so simple. Thanks. Keri | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 6954 Registered: 3-2004  |
Thank you for that. Jesus Christ is the only one for me. Diana L | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 794 Registered: 7-2007 |
The trouble is; the only thing Adventists have to go by are their checklists. Are they: 1. keeping the Sabbath? 2. checking to make sure the food they eat doesn't have lard? 3. not partaking of "the narcotics" tea and coffee? 4. making sure all sins are confessed and forsaken? (which puts the attention of the SDA on themselves and not on Christ) SDAs have only a vague idea of the Holy Spirit's work; but that and the "checklists" aren't just an Adventist phenomenon. ALL the false religions; the Roman Catholics, the Mormons, the J.Witnesses too, have their "checklists" and none of them have the Holy Spirit. The people in those religions have no idea what it means to actually have the Holy Spirit living within them. They have no idea what a relationship with God is. They think that they're Christian and that the things that they can see in their lives is all the "proof" there is - things like "keeping" the Sabbath (although SDAs cannot agree on how to "keep" it). They think that THAT is what a relationship with God is. Their spirits haven't been born again. They think that "born again" means to accept the fundamental beliefs of the SDA church and get baptized. That's the way I used to be too. Sometimes I'd wonder why I couldn't keep my mind on the Bible when I was reading it. Things of this world seemed more interesting than things about God. But I just figured that if I kept asking forgiveness for everything, I'd be all right. | ||
| Indy4now Registered user Username: Indy4now Post Number: 510 Registered: 2-2008  |
Thanks Sondra... how simple is that?!?! Love that. It all goes back to understanding that the OC was all about changing the "external" part of us. The OC could never change us from the "inside" or the "internal" part of us. Understanding that Jesus is in us and transforms us from the core of who we are is the beauty of the New Covenant!!! Jesus IS the way, He IS the truth, He IS OUR LIFE!! ~vivian | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 9885 Registered: 12-2003  |
Asurprise, I understand. I used to struggle to keep my mind on the Bible, etc etc. But I was constantly tortured because I suspected, deep down, that continually failing in the same way was a very deep sin, even if I did keep confessing. I figured that I HAD to keep confessing, but the fact that my flaws never went away meant I wasn't really right with God. My perpetual guilt just never resolved. Low-level anxiety was ALWAYS there--and sometimes it was more than low-level. It is amazing that Jesus Himself is the antidote, the power, the solution, and peace, the relief, the answer to all that neurosis and confusion! I don't find Jesus through figuring Him out; I "find" Him when He grabs hold of me and reveals Himself and makes His own word come alive. Christianity is the only religion that doesn't demand or depend upon our pleasing or earning the response of God. It is the only "religion" in which God Himself takes the punishment for human sin; defeats mankind's legacy: death; rescues us, gives us life; saves us while we're still in our sins; and then cleans us up and produces His own fruit in us. Only Christians serve and worship a God who takes full responsibility for humanity and, at His own expense, saves us for His own glory and purpose. Amazing! Colleen |
