This isn't easy, y'know.
Ok, here comes some more:
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2 Timothy 4:1-5
(1)"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: (2)Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. (3)For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (4)They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. (5)But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
This has seriously been bothering me lately... Heather has talked about things similar to this, about watching out for false teaching... But right now I'm looking more at what sorts of things entice the teachers to become false... The lazy, self-serving hearts of "believers". Are we really believers? I am often paralyzed with fear for the souls of those around me. As I work out my own salvation, I see some that say they are Christians, that are sure in their faith, and I know--I know--that they have not received salvation. They have not received the Holy Spirit. Their hearts are worse than hard. They are lukewarm, they are apathetic. They think quoting the "sinner's prayer" and then turning round and doing whatever they like to please themselves, all the while forking over a pretty little tithe as extra insurance, is actually going to get them into heaven.
Listen to me. These words are not mine. I don't know these things, I don't have the answers, I've never even read the whole Bible, I'm just getting around to having read the New Testament straight through for the first time (that means no stopping to study and meditate on verses). I have no right to judge, to say who is going to hell and who isn't--I'm as bad as the rest, I'm human too. And yet there are times when I know. I didn't make the decision, I just saw it. Now, listen...
It isn't about just believing. Even demons believe in the one true God. Examine your hearts, test yourselves. It's about REALLY being born again... It's about accepting the awesome grace offered to us, the salvation offered through the sanctifying work of Jesus Christ... it's about really, truly choosing the Kingdom of God over the kingdom of man, the kingdom of earth. When you choose a kingdom, when you choose whom you will serve, you don't just say "ok, I'm on your side" and then go play with the other team. You serve that which you serve, not that which you say you serve. "You will know them by their fruit..."
It has to be a real effort, a continuous conscious effort. I'm not saying that you will from that moment on never do anything wrong again... we are human, we are weak, we fall short, we sin, we backslide... but we serve Whom we serve.
Who are you really serving?
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Sometimes I really don't like doing that. I know that it's going to seriously tick some people off. I can already hear people going off on me, getting irrate, writing me off, etc, etc... I know it's the last thing that some people want to hear. I'm a people-pleaser, I don't like conflict, I don't like it when people don't like me, or are angry with me... and I am still FAR from coming to grips with the gifts of the Spirit... But I have to say what He convicts me to say. If you don't like it, then it's probably meant most for you. You ought to open your heart. You ought to stop worrying about your pride, and start worrying instead about your place in eternity.
I do know, though, that it is also meant for others whose hearts aren't so hard. They need someone to remind them. They need someone to shake up the perspective and pull their noses out of the day to day and remind them that this, this life, this place... this isn't what it's about--that there's a bigger picture that they've been losing sight of.
At any rate...
God knows the condition of your heart. You might want to familiarize yourself with it too.
