I’ve been pretty upset with social media lately. I've had a hard time blogging because of that.
We can not buy from God. He holds the keys to death and to hell, He owns everything on the earth. He does not fit into ‘our culture.’ He is above culture, and above reproof. Throughout cultures and generations, He has stood unchanging beyond reproof, beyond doubt, above lust, and above shame. You can not receive the next best thing from Him and you can enter into a relationship with Him for the glory of yourself. He is not our next biggest adventure or an avenue to make the most out of our life. He is not an excuse to blog about all the cool things you do every day. He is not simply a scripture above a picture of an orphan that you once knew.
He is a call to come and die. Die to your culture, to your will, to your desire to make the most of yourself, and to your desire for earthly praise. To die to receiving your value from what you do, what you post on instagram, and die to your desire to change the world.
Die: shift the world, change the earth, by entering into eternal life in the kingdom. One life dead to the flesh. Not to make yourself a better person, but a NEW person. Not for your own good, but for the glory of His name.
We preach a diluted gospel when we preach “Come to Jesus and He will make your life better.” We begin teaching that God is merely a supplement, a tool.
We withhold His glory from Him when we withhold the truth that God gives us NEW LIFE - not just simply makes the old life good. We withhold His glory when we don’t acknowledge that there is death to the flesh. We cannot live two lives, it’s one or the other.
God is not a self-help book.
He is not merely a means of reaching a better place.
Do not be a teacher that coaches your flock into half-hearted surrender.
We can not come to God to better our lives, we come to God to LOSE our lives.
I came to God when I realized that this world had nothing for me, and that He desired to give me NEW life.
His worthiness lead me unto death. He did not come to make my life on this earth better. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords died a death on a the cross because of the worthiness, and kindness, and HOLINESS of the Father — and the Father desires for his children to have LIFE.
He is worthy of the lives that He paid for.
His desire is for the glory of God to rest on our faces. Worthy.
His desire is for every person who has been hurt, betrayed, deceived, lonely, and unsatisfied by this world to have an abundant life with Him. Worthy.
His worthiness is why we cry out for His children to receive life.
Jesus didn’t die to answer my earthly problems. He died so i can be in relationship with the Father, and my captivation and relationship with the Father is the source of all my joy, all of my identity, all of my love, all of my strength, and all of my satisfaction.
When we attempt to walk in an effort to “fix ourselves,” we are not walking in new life.
New life doesn’t need to be fixed, because it is made out of the perfect will of our perfect Father. God doesn’t desire to ‘fix’ his children, but to raise us up ! With love and discipline. That way, we can walk worthy of the calling He has placed on our lives - a calling to BE his child.
Not so that we can fix anything or anyone, but to Be his child : love God, love others, feed His sheep.
We live in a world in which everyone desires for their voice to be heard, for their life to be glorified. We are so easily offended because we are continuously putting ourselves “out there” instead of letting ourselves die.
As believers, we have to remember and renew our minds every day that our battle is not against flesh and blood. It’s not against red cups or whatever is the trending social media argument. It’s not against your fellow brother.
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20
