Christian Living
We as Christians are confronted with how to serve Christ in this world. We need to consider our belief system to find the answer to the following:
M't: 22:21: They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
In the Christian walk we are to follow Christ first, then do all the others. This allows us to consider in truth what we are doing. If we follow Christ first we will follow the laws of government as long as they are not contrary to our belief. If it is between Christ and the government, we are to obey our master, as a Christian that is Jesus the Christ.
2 Kings 17:7: For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
2 Kings 17:8: And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
If we pretend to follow the Lord and are actually following statutes of the heathen or statutes of our Government, instead of following Christ, we are going to suffer the loss. The Lord has shown us that he will not share his glory with anything. We must remember that he is God. Christ must be served first, then (render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's). We as the people of Christ must stand for our Lord first in all things. Otherwise we are serving self or idols. Presently abortion is considered a right, but God still considers it wrong.
2Pe: 2:10: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Are we to speak against our government as a church? We are to be a light to the world. This can only be done when we are able to see a Christian for who they are. If we blend in with the world, we are not a light. That is why we are to stand for what is right and preach the gospel according to life principles. This means we as the body of Christ must tell the world what our government is doing in order to stand for Christ. We cannot run from all of the principles that the Lord gave us and still be a Christian. This means we must take a stand for Christ principles with every part of this life including our government.
It is our everyday life that allows us to be obedient to the Lord. If you are waiting for the big opportunity to serve the Lord, I'm afraid that you have a long wait. If we cannot be obedient to the Lord in small things, then we are not going to be given a chance on the big things. It is in our everyday lives that we are given the opportunity to be a light in this world. We are to obey Christ first and then the government. If we do this, we find that we must stand against what the government does that is wrong as far as the Lord is concerned. We are to stand as Christians and be a light.
We are to live in the world, but be separate from the world. How can we do this? We are to choose Christian principles in life when we could make more money by following the world's principles. So often in life we are given these opportunities and if we do not choose Christ, then he is not our Lord.
2 Kings 22:8 And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it
2 Kings 22:10 And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
11. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
You see Israel was the chosen nation and had followed their Kings (Government), Levites (Church rulers), and Heathen (Liberals) so far from the path of the living God that they had even lost the book of the Lord. This is rather sad when you consider the amount of people in the world today who have never read the Lord's words but have followed faithfully the traditions of man.
2 Kings 22:13 Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
14. So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.
(Go ye, inquire of the Lord for me), this is sad when these are the leaders of the church who are going to inquire. This means that the King had been so far from the path of the Lord and the church had been also. They were following the traditions of men. They were serving themselves (the creation) instead of the living Creator our Christ.
In the world that we live in, we are not serving the Christ but have been wayward. In the USA at the time that I'm writing this, the presidential election had just taken place and the Democratic Party was showing how much deceitfulness they could do. The votes were being bought, double voting, corrupt manipulations of elderly, just to mention a few.
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
We as Christians must stand and those who say it's always been this way so they will continue the same, are telling us where they actually stand. Their stand is with their father, Satan.
Children stand in Christ, the truth, the way, and our life.
God bless.
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