Do I Shine For You
Or Am I Fooling Myself?
Published by Deborah Negron – Child of God
June 8, 2022
The pervasiveness of levity and a lukewarm spirit is sweeping over the church of Christ.
We sing songs of praise but true worship is not found in our hearts.
We prepare, we rehearse as if serving God is simply an act of Sunday rituals.
All the while, the church is sleeping with politics. The Body of Christ seems to be tainted with the sin of lethargy.
From the pulpits of many known supposed preachers we hear messages that appease our conscience but speak little of humbling oursleves before the mighty hand of God.
We seek material wealth while we sit and agree to abide by everything that is contrary to God’s word.
We align ourselves with tolerance and forget that God does not. We seem lenient on issues that offend God.
We want to fit in. We want to enjoy life. Sin is pleasing for a season. Then it leads to eternal judgment and death.
Oh open your eyes, you that call yourself a believer. The very appearance of sin is sin. The clothes worn appear to demonstrate that there is no difference between the believer and the sinner.
Enamoured with the idea of being young or being accepted by others has made us blind.
The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are supposed to be pleasing to God. If the attire is not reverent to God, why wear it. If something we partake of is sinful, why accept it.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
I Thessalonians 4:3-5
The Lord has taken us from darkness in to light. He has sent His own Son Jesus, to pay the ransom, the payment for our freedom. Jesus took upon himself our condemnation. He died on the Cross so that we could be goven the opportunity to be made right with God.
But we have forsaken his path and become like an adulterous woman. We take a little sin here. A pleasure there. ” I will get paid if I claim this or that. So, I won’t say anything. Lies… Lies…
I will listen to that because I like that rhythm, that music moves me, makes me feel good… Even though the lyrics offend God.
That photograph we took makes me look sexy, inviting and youthful…. It hurts no one. That dress, that tight shirt, those tight jeans that shows what should covered makes me look good. Others will think I look good.. They will like me… men will look at me…. It is my body! I can show off what I want to show. Let me do as they do, feel as they do. I am my own person, it’s my life.
What are we saying?
It is not other gods. It is self idolatry.
The Word tells us,
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3
We have become enamoured with ourselves. We spend more time on this physical frame and fulfilling the desires we have than the time we spend in God’s presence.
A touch of Jesus on Sunday. A good worship song to make us feel good inside is all we think we need. Then we think we are okay with God.
God help us. We have forgotten what the Good book declares.
In Deuteronomy.
Joshua knew it too well. The people had become so accustomed to the pagans that surrendered them, that they were not even able to see it themselves.
Yeah, they were part of the crowd. They went with the flow. They were cool. The did fit in.
They becMe complacent with the era they lived in.
He confronted the people. He told them,
God has blessed you.God has delivered you. He has made you his people. Chosen you…
“I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God.
He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!” So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!” “Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
Joshua 24:13-15, 17, 19-24
You and I are witnesses against ourselves. We told God we loved him. We gave our lives to Jesus. We said the sinners prayer.
He took us out of the Egypt that is Sin.
But the Egypt appears to still be within us.
We appear to have become sluggish with our salvation. We have become apathetic. Perhaps we thought we were okay, just attending a church service and reading the word as a ritual daily. Perhaps we thought we were okay because we served in some ministry… we know how to pray. We know how to love on people.
We may be kind and generous.
But what has happened to us to make us think that we could allow sin to creep in and somehow we look like the world? Somehow there appears to be no difference between the things we think and what the world views as the norm.
God does not want us to follow the way of those that will perish.
We are to be the reflection of Christ on this earth. The image of God before those whom we come in contact with.
I’m not talking about some rigid religious performance.
I am speaking of having the heart to honor God. Feeling offe ded with what offends God. Removing oursleves from the mundane and melancholic religion.
We must be fervent in our faith. Jesus is coming soon.
The sinful nature in us must be killed daily. The desires of the flesh must be our constant internal battle.
The Word of God must be our Go To. It is able to instruct us, correct us, persuade us, guide us, change us, mold us and equip us to become the light and salt of the earth.
We cannot win if we are not wearing the whole Armour of God. We cannot discern what is God’s and what is not unless we are prepared for battle.
Enamoured with ourselves we will become unfocused easy prey for the enemy to toy with.
The. When evil days come, we will find ourselves unprepared for the hit.
The Lord loves us so much, He desires to make us anew. He wants to help us to walk in faith, fortified by our daily connection and our daily involvement with him in prayer, communion, learning and practicing on the daily what we learning in His Word.
He wants us to become bold in our faith and to stand out for the truth. Yes, even when it goes against the flow.
How we act, think, walk, talk, move; what we look at, read, listen to, behave as demonstrates how close of how far we are from God’s purpose for our lives.
Lord, open our eyes.
Light has no fellowship with darkness.
My best friend cannot be someone who does not love you.
My circle of close friends cannot be those who share nothing in my walk of faith.
Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement.
2 John 1:8-10
And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6:11-12
In other words, be careful you work to be a witness and win others to Christ and not that they pull you out of the Way of the Lord.
Salvation is given to us freely. Grace is given to us freely. But it cost Jesu His life. It was not cheap.
He shed his blood so that we could be restored to a right relationship with God.
So, anything that hinders this, we need to stray away from.
Anyone who is not of His is of the devil.
Yes, we share with others the love of God. He wants all to come to repentance. Jesus cam eto seek and save those who were lost.
But this does not mean we are to partake of sin to win them.
We are to seek to please God. Then He will use us to be the Light that brings others to him.
Lord help us. Today help us to be watchful and to seek you daily and to walk in the path that you have called us to.
We are yours. Forgive us. Restore us. Direct our steps and do not allow us to fall away from the faith.
Let not sin take root in us.
“For your word says,
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2 Another version puts it this way,
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2
Help us to shine for you Lord.
Life and Faith By Deb 
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