i should do NOTHING to bring glory, fame, or honor to myself. if i do something, i should do it for the glory of Christ. in Christ's name i hand out bulletins, hoping that by having part in a sunday service at NewLife it will facilitate someone's heart opening up to the truth of Christ and someday truly glorifying Christ with their love and affections. Christianity isn't A way, it is THE ONLY WAY. and i cannot glorify Christ without offering Him as He truly is. Alone.
maybe it's not that the way of Christ is better or more appealing to a non-Christian, in honesty it’s a hard road to walk, but that it alone is the imperatively important way. it is absolutely detrimental to a human to not know God. at this point i have no way of ever convincing anyone that the life is “better” than all other alternatives because the way they understand “better” is to compare pros and cons of the day to day lifestyle. this isn’t coming out right. i’ll try again. i keep trying to make Christianity appealing to people so that they will leave their empty lives to be filled by Christ. but i don’t know that i properly tell them what they are getting into. i’m not quite sure what they would be getting into, in honesty.
i want to submit that the Christian church at large is not offering Christ as He really is. and maybe that’s because the Christian church at large doesn’t know who Christ really is. let’s open up some doors of honesty and examine things in this light.
people seem to have absolutely no concept of God. or His Glory. His majesty. His beauty. His grace. His power. His wrath. who knows God?
one who knows God glorifies Him. you cannot know God and not be changed. so instead of even having a concept of an all important God who demands a response, people have a view of an all-important self who demands a response. we are our own gods. and until we ditch the view of life revolving around our glory, our satisfaction, our fame, our happiness, etc....and SHIFT it into alignment with the way of Christ's glory, Christ's fame, Christ's satisfaction....we will not be able to truly bring Glory to God.
people who think their good deeds will get them into heaven: they're wrong. we knew that. here's a thought on why: they do it for their own glory. not for the Glory of Christ. "if you offer someone a drink, do it in My name." why? because we must never let our Glory become the center of our attentions. if i hand you a drink in my name, you'll praise me for going to the cupboard, getting a cup, putting a drink in it, and handing it to you. you'll only think of MY involvement in your need being met. but here: if i give all the glory to Christ by doing it IN HIS NAME.....not just saying"in Jesus' name" but LIVING IN AND FOR HIS NAME, then you will not see my efforts but you will see Christ as the immediate and direct source of your need being met. and with one view of Him you may start to see Him in other bigger and better ways, and you may be captured like i am being captured by the all-importance of this fact:
GOD IS BIG. and He deserves absolutely everything. and He shall have it. His ways are high. His actions are just, and right. He exposes sin in the lives of His people so that they have the opportunity to repent and properly give Glory to His name.
we must repent. oh, come. let us return to the Lord. let us grieve with sincerity the depravity of our condition and let us recognize that only Christ by the Grace of God will ever save us. let us live humbly within the saving knowledge of Grace and let us seek to Glorify God by every word and every deed and every action.
this is yet another facet of death. because we indeed must die to pride, to self-motivation, to ambition. to recognition, position, and fame. we must die to everything we have ever known, and truly be AWAKENED to His Glory.
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