March 16, 2004

[Kidan]

Quote[/b] ]We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ . . .
—2 Corinthians 5:10

Quote[/b] ]Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, "appear before the judgment seat of Christ." But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, "Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there." If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . ." ( 1 John 1:7 ). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.

 

[Kidan]

Are you ready to appear before the judgement seat of Christ?

For this is how we should live our lives, with every action we take, to promote God's kingdom or help our fellow man.  We should do good works.  We should pray.  We should continuosly seek forgiveness for our transgressions.

Is it easy?  No, but that's why we have grace.  

Regardless though, we should strive to live our lives as close to the life that Jesus led as possible.  We should try to follow the law.  We should try to follow the greatest commandment.  Because THAT is the good and acceptable work that Christ expects His followers to perfrom.  

Trying our best to live a life that is sin-free, as well as living a life in service to your fellow humans, is the type of life that Christ wants each of us to have.  While none of us have acheived this, we should all constantly and consistently try.

And when we fail, we should pray, and get up and try again.


<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">I'm sorry about the past few days not having a devotional, but it was a long weekend, and I was in meetings all day Monday. Please remember I am looking for a helper to do the devotionals on the weekends.

God bless[/QUOTE]