John 12:35 Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. 36 Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”
Believe it or not, there is an upside to doing what is right, even when it hurts. For those who have the light, there is this natural tendency or tug at your heart to do what is right. When we receive the light, it shows us the darkness in an even clearer way, and that should translate into a better way of living. So what is going on with mean Christians? These are people who profess Christ but hurt others so much, usually without any reservation. I have run this by some people I respect, and their consensus is those people may not be born again, and they are just Sunday Christians!! I have searched the scriptures, and God has shown insight through His Word into answering this nagging question for me.
Jesus was very upfront about who the true disciples are, and in the following scripture in Matthew, you will be able to come up with the truth. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Before you begin to accuse me of "judging," people realize I am just sharing what Jesus said, and you can see it was not taken out of context. In fact, the verses before these are brutal in the way He was presenting about having good fruit in our lives. Here are those verses. Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Matthew 7 is fraught with great truth with great challenges attached to them, and some of it calls me to really look at myself. There is a standard for true goodness that is attached to being the light Jesus is calling us to be in a dark and evil world. Light needs to shine in all things so the dark can be exposed. If that means we have to deal with some persecution and deal with it in a Godly way, then the light will shine even brighter and expose that hidden darkness that sometimes stays in the shadows. Jesus spoke about a truly good life all through Matthew and added a caveat in Matthew 23. just in case He missed those who are in the shadows and put forth "fake" light. Matthew 23:27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. You may think, "How much of this does Jesus see?" ALL OF IT!
Don't keep Jesus at "arm's length" because He is right here with us and us displaying His light is very important to Him so He will deal with us at heart level and that is good, unless you are faking this whole "Christian thing." To which Jesus says, "Come to Me."
The question is "Who are you really?" Proverbs gives us a great truth in Proverbs 4:18 The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. 19 But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over. There is a standard for goodness and the result is found in God's righteousness. There, you will Trust the Light. Begin today.
Today's Message,
David Warren
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