It is easy for a believer in Jesus Christ to get swept away into the tide of negativity if we are not careful. It is easy to just, "go with the flow", but we believers and followers of Jesus must resist that temptation. It is all too easy to compromise our beliefs and start acting as the world does.
Sometimes we fail to walk in the Spirit as we should and we allow our fleshly nature to emerge and that is never good for our witness for Jesus Christ. We are His ambassadors here on the earth. That is we are His representatives and I must admit sometimes I am not a very good representative. Sometimes I allow my frustration and anger show especially when I am overtired and when I feel pressured by someone.
When we start acting out in our fleshly sinful nature it is a clear sign for us that our focus is not in the right place. If our focus is on the worldly stuff that is happening then we will start behaving as the world does, but if our focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ and on things above then we will be more apt to walk by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is a step by step approach.
We must no longer walk as the world does, but we need to throw off those things that slow us down and the sin that makes us trip and fall on the journey that we are on. We must put on our new self that we obtained when we trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. When we repented of our sins and trusted Christ as Savior we were born again. We have been bought through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of God's high standards. We are all deserving of being placed in hell and eternally separated from our Holy God.
God made a way for us to be reconciled back to Himself through a personal relationship through Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and He laid down His life on the Cross where He shed His blood for our sins. When we trust Christ as Savior the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us and we will never truly be alone on our journey on the earth.
Colossians 3:1-10 says,
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
We need to now set our minds on Jesus and not on things of this world. The things of this world are perishing and passing away. Our focus needs to be on those things that are above that is our focus needs to be on eternal things that actually last.
We died to sin when we came to know Christ as Savior. We do occasionally sin, but our sins have been paid for by the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He died for our sins past, present, and future. We are saved by His grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to put to death those things that rise up in us that come from our sinful nature. We need to cast off the anger, the immoral behavior and thoughts, and everything else that is not honoring to the Lord. God's wrath is coming very soon on those who have not repented of their sins and have trusted Christ as Savior. Those who are still in their sin will face the wrath of God because they have refused to turn away from their sin and receive the gift of forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Let's put on the new self that we received through the Holy Spirit when we came to know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior. We do this by submitting to the Holy Spirit's lead and direction. I know I am not anywhere near the point where I can say that I am walking in step with the Spirit everyday. I stumble and fall a lot, but I keep getting up and continue on with my focus on the Lord. We must continue marching along with our focus on the Lord Jesus one step at a time.
Lord,
We praise Your Name.
Thank You for this day.
Thank You for Your great love toward us.
Help us not to be discouraged and angry over things that have no eternal value.
Help us to keep in step with the Holy Spirit.
Come Soon Lord Jesus.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.
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