CHRIST LIVED A PERFECT LIFE, CAN WE?

As Christians, we relish the fact Christ came and died for our sins and was resurrected, thus overcoming the power of the grave.  In I Corinthians 15:51-57 Paul tells us that when Christ comes for us, we will be given our immorality, death will be swallowed up in victory and our victory over death comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many Christians only bother to go to church on Christmas and Easter.  These two holidays represent the beginning and ending of Christ's life here on earth. The first reminds us that Christ sacrificed His place at the throne of God and came and lived in the flesh, the other that He was resurrected and claimed victory over the grave.

But what about the rest of the story?  The actual life of Christ and what it represents to we who believe.  The fact that Christ overcame death is vital to the possibility of we the fallen race to actually obtain eternal life.  Just don't ignore the other vital piece of the puzzle.  Christ lived a perfect life. The only way life eternal is possible for any created being is to live a life in COMPLETE compliance with God's law.  Not 70%, 80%, or even 99.99999%.  It takes 100% obedience.  Christ endured every temptation and He overcame all of them.

Revelation describes those who will ultimately reign with God forever.  The message to the 7 churches uses the words "to him who overcomes" again and again. God repeats the important points we need to understand so we don't miss the point, and the point here is that we must be overcomers.  Except, there is a problem with this because no matter what we humans do, no matter how hard we try, we will never be overcomers of sin.  All the overachieving we can muster, will not be enough to make us overcomers.

Thank God that Christ did it and this gift is just as important to our salvation as the resurrection.  The even better part is that accepting this part of His gift is something we get to enjoy here and now, day by day, while still on this earth while we wait for the fulfillment of the second part of the gift when we overcome death at Christ's second coming.

If you ask a Christian if they believe they can have eternal life by accepting Christ's gift on the cross, you will most likely always get a "yes" in response.  If you ask those same Christians if it's possible to be perfect, you will probably get some very sceptical looks, perhaps a look of disbelief that you would even suggest such a thing, a few definite "no's" and just maybe a "yes" or two.

The beauty is that Christ wouldn't lie to us and He Himself told us we could, just look at Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." KJV.  Take a look at how the NCV translation says it "So you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."  Christ doesn't ask us to do the impossible, so is perfection possible for the Christian?

Well, the problem lies with us, not God.  Our part in this is to let go of self so that Christ can abide in us.  We need to take seriously the advice of The Beloved in 1 John 2:28 CEV "Children, stay one in your hearts with Christ. Then when he returns, we will have confidence and won't have to hide in shame."  It is necessary to abide in Christ if we are to be confident at the Appearing.  We can be sure of the fact we are saved and ready for Christ when He appears. 

I got curious just what does "abide" mean so I went to the online interlinear Greek Bible and did a little research.  First, let's look at John 5:7 KJV "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."  Take a look at what the CEV translation says though "Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered."  The Greek word for abide in this verse has a tense that is past, present, and future.  Isn't that amazing that the meaning is forever, from past to future just like God Himself.  The meaning of the word is shown as:

to continue to be present

to be held, kept, continually

in reference to time

to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure 1b

of persons, to survive, live

in reference to state or condition

to remain as one, not to become another or different

to wait for, await one

Next, take a look at John 15:10 where Jesus says "If you love me, keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love". Here you find that the tense of the word abide is future and also that the mood of the word is indicative which means a simple statement of fact. If an action really occurs or has occurred or will occur, it will be rendered in the indicative mood. I found this very interesting because it shows that we are assured that if we obey, the fact is that we will abide in Christ.  So many Christians are under the delusion that grace saves them through faith in the blood of Christ and that nothing is required of them beyond that faith.  The Bible clearly states otherwise.  Our active role is the willingness to obey.  The dilemma is that we of ourselves can never accomplish this.

So, we must learn to abide, to wholly submit our will unto God's and allow His will in our place.  We cannot enter heaven unless we are perfect because sin cannot exist in heaven. Our time here on earth is to be spent letting go of self and letting Christ be in our heart so that His character replaces ours. We must acknowledge and accept the precious gift of Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection, just don't forget that He lived a life of perfection that He also offers to each of us who will take His will and let it replace our own.

CHRISTMAS TIME

Even though I see no snow when I look out my window because I live in the desert, I remember fondly the many Christmases I spent as a child just a short distance from the beautiful mountains in Colorado.  I think I was about 6 when we didn't have snow in our front yard so mom and dad put us in the car and drove us to the mountains because they had promised we would always have snow for Christmas.

Now, more and more it seems that here in our Christian founded country that Christmas has been has become politically incorrect.  When I see Christmas being attacked because it might offend someone to tell them "Merry Christmas", it reminds me how much the devil works to turn us against God.  The economic recession continues to place most of us in a financial situation that traditional gift buying isn't the same as it once was or even possible for some. I think this can be a Christmas blessing if we stop and realize it's not about the gifts we can buy others or the monetary gifts we receive.  Rather, the meaning of Christmas should be a time to refocus our lives.

The Jewish nation had been given great blessings from God despite the fact they continually promised to follow God only to turn and rebel against God almost in the same breathe at times.  Yet, God continued to call them a great nation and provide not only guidance but specific prophecy about when Christ would be born.  In Daniel 9, we find the 70 day prophecy which clearly depicts when Christ would come to earth.  The Jewish people had this prophecy and the Jewish leaders had studied it for many generations, yet only a handful of Jews accepted Christ when He did come to earth.

It is easy for us as modern day Christians to ponder just how stupid the Jewish nation was to not realize it was Christ when the scriptures had so clearly laid the timeline out. But, are Christians today any less guilty?  Many in the Christian world have literally torn apart the 70-day prophecy which is the prophecy that proves Jesus is the Christ we place our faith in and use the last week of the prophecy, the very prophecy that is the time frame of Christ's earthly ministry, and they put this one prophetic week or 7 year period at the end of time and claim there will be a secret rapture.  Just like the Jewish nation in Christ's day who studied the scriptures and looked toward the coming Lord missed what was in front of their face because the were looking for someone to save them from the Roman oppression of their day; Christians who use Daniel 9 to teach a rapture theory are also teaching an error which will cause many to not properly prepare for the second coming of the Lord because they think they'll have a second chance.

What about us who understand that there is no secret rapture taught in the Scriptures?  Are we immune from the errors of the Jewish nation in Christ's day?  I think there is a second potential error of not realizing how important it is to prepare our hearts and fully commit to living a life that will prepare us to be ready.  I believe it was the Jewish people who readied their hearts in prayer while studying the Scriptures who were open and ready to accept and recognize the Saviour when He came.  We need to be continually setting self aside and in a prayerful state of mind, asking God for His will to be fulfilled in our lives.  Reading the Bible, knowing the truths we do such as the Sabbath, lack of a rapture, or that we don't go to heaven when we die; these are not enough to prepare us for the Coming of our Lord.  The pharisees had studied the Scriptures and knew them by heart, taught them to others, and yet they were not prepared to accept the Lord upon His coming.

Unlike the precision of the first advent prophecy, we are not told the exact time the Lord will return the second time but Christ Himself told left us many signs and they are rapidly being fulfilled before our very eyes. May God bless you this Christmas season and I pray that your heart will be open to His will, that you receive the gifts of the Spirit rather than material presents so that you will stand strong and hold firm the truth of the Scriptures. 

"But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers." I Peter 4:7

Time Well Spent???

More and more lately, I find myself pondering the question of how I should spend my time if I truly think that Christ will come gather us to take us home soon.  If heaven is a full time opportunity, than shouldn't my preparation for spending eternity there also be full time,  not just here and there when it's convenient?  We know we must occupy while we are here but just what does that mean? 

Up until 2 years ago, my Sundays were filled with football during the fall/winter.  On Sunday, I pretty much would start out with the pre-game NFL shows and end the day with SportsCenter wrap up.  I have been known to hang out with friends and literally have 3 tv's setup to get more of the games.  Then when I starting getting back into Bible study, you can refer to my "how this all started" section for more info on that journey, I thought what a waste of time to spend the day with football instead of God, my friends and family, or other worthwhile activities.  God helped me go cold turkey so to speak on that.  I am not trying to say watching football is a sin, I'm just saying it was interfering in my spiritual walk.  Whether you should watch football or other sports is between you and God.

Then I started thinking about the videos sitting in my living room...should I have them there, should I be watching them?  Over the next 6 months, I discarded all my fiction reading materials from my shelves and about 1/2 the movies.  Now I find myself pondering just how much, if any, tv or movies are ok for me to spend my time viewing.  I don't have an answer for sure yet but I am more and more each day feeling that less and less is the right choice for me.

If you have read other sections of my blog like my thoughts on music in God's house and you have watched the Ivor Myers testimony, you know how much the devil uses these distractions to keep us from focusing on what's important.  Even more so, hollywood has so many other evil aspects.  I grew up when movies were still basically "forbidden" for Adventists to go to but during my academy and college years is when it started being acceptable.  I used to understand that the reason Ellen White admonished up to stay away from the "theatre" was because in her day that meant the burlesque shows.  I thought that made sense and didn't apply to what a theatre is today.  After reading this article, I know I was wrong in that assessment, I urge you to read Morning Trumpet Article.

We all have different growth rates in our Christian walk and the Spirit will guide us if we are willing to pray and listen to the response. 2 Tim 2:15 (CEV) tell us "Do your best to win God's approval as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message."  If I am a worker for God, what are my study tools...the products of hollywood or the Scriptures?