Many use grace as an excuse to be greedy and selfish. But, God calls his narrow road followers to guard his property and use it for his glory. Christ showed us how to love through sacrifice of everything and calls Christians to be like him.
Today because of the ignorance of God’s hatred of sin, and His nature of holiness, love, almighty power and grace for the Christian, many in the church have no clue of what God’s amazing patience toward them entails.
Here is the truth that many miss, God’s love without failure; compels, pushes, controls, and empowers the narrow road follower of Jesus to walk in righteousness, not live in constant sin. For example, the apostle Paul states, “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.” [Romans 6:18 (NLT)] John adds, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” [1 John 3:9 (NKJV)]
But I hear from so many people of the church the very opposite. They argue for sin in their lives, and expect God to be forgiving them constantly. They quote scripture to make it sound okay to sin all the time. They never see the cross as salvation from sin, but only from hell.
God does not tolerate sin, instead He pours out grace to His Narrow Road Followers.
Here is the truth that many miss, God’s love without failure; compels, pushes, controls, and empowers the narrow road follower of Jesus to walk in righteousness, not live in constant sin. For example, the apostle Paul states, “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.” [Romans 6:18 (NLT)] John adds, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” [1 John 3:9 (NKJV)]
But I hear from so many people of the church that live the very opposite way. They argue for sin in their lives, and expect God to be forgiving them constantly. They quote scripture to make it sound okay to sin all the time. They never see the cross as salvation from sin, but only from hell.
With God’s commands from scripture, the Narrow Road follower of Jesus needs to evaluate everything that they look at or focus their minds upon. And since America has become a culture that communicates and interacts through media instead of personal contact, we need to question and evaluate the morality of this section of our lives. We now make decisions, purchases, build relationships, and establish our opinions and beliefs on what we see and watch. But God demands His followers to make these choices based on His commands.
So what makes a media creation good? Is one television program good and another evil? Does a certain song have lyrics that make it wrong for a narrow road believer to listen to? What about a best selling novel? By what standards can a Christian establish and make sure they are pleasing the Lord Jesus and not angering Him in this area of life? Are there Biblical principles that move this conversation away from opinions and into a holy Biblical life of obedience?
“Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness, but instead [let your lives be so in contrast as to] expose and reprove and convict them. For it is a shame even to speak of or mention the things that [such people] practice in secret.” [Eph 5:11-12 (AMP)]
