FALWELL CONFIDENTIAL
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com
From: Jonathan Falwell
Date: September 7, 2007
Are You What You Appear to Be?
"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be." — Socrates
I occasionally hear people say that they are not interested in becoming a Christian because they see how some Christians live their lives. They look at people around them who claim to be Christians and see nothing different than the way the rest of the world lives. The question that pops into their mind is this: Why do I need to be a Christian if they're no different than me?
Such observations are tragic. The fact is that we never know when people are observing us. Oftentimes, people are seen going to church on Sunday and then choosing to live apart from their faith the rest of the week. Their private persona contradicts their public persona and hypocrisy becomes a way of life.
It has been said that we (Christians) are the only Bibles that some people read. But if we are not living our lives in servitude to Christ, we may well be personally poisoning people's perception of the Gospel.
As Christians, it behooves us to live out our faith 24/7 and to understand that we may be under the microscope at any given moment. Genesis 17:1b says, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless." In other words, Christians should spend every day attempting to live blamelessly before God. And, we should also live blamelessly before others.
But is it even possible to live a blameless or faultless life?
Of course not. We are all victims of our fleshly nature.
Certainly we cannot fully live out our faith on our own. Attempting to do so is nothing beyond a prescription for failure.
Living lives of diligent faith can be accomplished only when we completely trust God to be preeminent in our lives.
This begins with daily prayer and Bible reading so that our hearts are prepared to be worthy representatives of Christ at home, in the workplace and in our backyards. This also begins by being honest with ourselves, identifying our weaknesses and casting those cares upon Christ, knowing that we cannot address our own flaws and inadequacies apart from Him.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843) said, "What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more."
Apart from Scripture, there may be no more powerful statement ever made regarding the Christian life. It cuts to the core of our beings.
We cannot lie before God or bargain with Him because He knows our every thought and motive. At the same time, He is also our great advocate who wants to forgive our sins and to facilitate our quest for holiness.
Here is the greatest thing about the Christian life: we have the Spirit of God living within us. In John 14:17, Jesus stated, "… but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and shall be with you."
What comfort He gives in trying times.
What encouragement He gives in difficult times.
What wisdom He gives in uncertain times.
What friendship He gives in lonely times.
In return, should we not be living our lives so that others want to understand the joys of knowing Christ?
If indeed the Spirit of God lives within us, we have a source of strength that allows us to live above our capabilities; we can actually live beyond ourselves through Christ.
And so through Him, we can overcome anger problems, marriage and family dilemmas, job-related difficulties, bitterness or any other struggle that plagues our lives and prevent us from being strong ambassadors for Christ. Only when we take on "the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:13) can the Spirit of God then take hold of our lives.
So then, when we serve God in sincerity and in truth (Joshua 24:14), not only can we live victoriously, we don't have to wonder if people who are observing us are seeing a proper picture of the Christian life.
Imagine the impact we could have on our nation if every Christian chose to live a life in accordance with Philippians 1:21: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." If we all could live in this way in politics, in business and in our families, we would see a much different society than the one in which we now live.
Insider weekly newsletter to The Moral Majority Coalition and
The Liberty Alliance http://www.moralmajority.com
From: Jonathan Falwell
Date: September 7, 2007
Are You What You Appear to Be?
"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we would appear to be." — Socrates
I occasionally hear people say that they are not interested in becoming a Christian because they see how some Christians live their lives. They look at people around them who claim to be Christians and see nothing different than the way the rest of the world lives. The question that pops into their mind is this: Why do I need to be a Christian if they're no different than me?
Such observations are tragic. The fact is that we never know when people are observing us. Oftentimes, people are seen going to church on Sunday and then choosing to live apart from their faith the rest of the week. Their private persona contradicts their public persona and hypocrisy becomes a way of life.
It has been said that we (Christians) are the only Bibles that some people read. But if we are not living our lives in servitude to Christ, we may well be personally poisoning people's perception of the Gospel.
As Christians, it behooves us to live out our faith 24/7 and to understand that we may be under the microscope at any given moment. Genesis 17:1b says, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless." In other words, Christians should spend every day attempting to live blamelessly before God. And, we should also live blamelessly before others.
But is it even possible to live a blameless or faultless life?
Of course not. We are all victims of our fleshly nature.
Certainly we cannot fully live out our faith on our own. Attempting to do so is nothing beyond a prescription for failure.
Living lives of diligent faith can be accomplished only when we completely trust God to be preeminent in our lives.
This begins with daily prayer and Bible reading so that our hearts are prepared to be worthy representatives of Christ at home, in the workplace and in our backyards. This also begins by being honest with ourselves, identifying our weaknesses and casting those cares upon Christ, knowing that we cannot address our own flaws and inadequacies apart from Him.
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843) said, "What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more."
Apart from Scripture, there may be no more powerful statement ever made regarding the Christian life. It cuts to the core of our beings.
We cannot lie before God or bargain with Him because He knows our every thought and motive. At the same time, He is also our great advocate who wants to forgive our sins and to facilitate our quest for holiness.
Here is the greatest thing about the Christian life: we have the Spirit of God living within us. In John 14:17, Jesus stated, "… but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and shall be with you."
What comfort He gives in trying times.
What encouragement He gives in difficult times.
What wisdom He gives in uncertain times.
What friendship He gives in lonely times.
In return, should we not be living our lives so that others want to understand the joys of knowing Christ?
If indeed the Spirit of God lives within us, we have a source of strength that allows us to live above our capabilities; we can actually live beyond ourselves through Christ.
And so through Him, we can overcome anger problems, marriage and family dilemmas, job-related difficulties, bitterness or any other struggle that plagues our lives and prevent us from being strong ambassadors for Christ. Only when we take on "the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:13) can the Spirit of God then take hold of our lives.
So then, when we serve God in sincerity and in truth (Joshua 24:14), not only can we live victoriously, we don't have to wonder if people who are observing us are seeing a proper picture of the Christian life.
Imagine the impact we could have on our nation if every Christian chose to live a life in accordance with Philippians 1:21: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." If we all could live in this way in politics, in business and in our families, we would see a much different society than the one in which we now live.
Thanks for today's blog posting to - Bert Page & Jonathan Falwell
Thanks,
Gary
gkendall@KendallSystems.com
www.KendallSystems.com
972-488-0009
"While it is hard to motivate someone with no Vision, it is almost
impossible to stop someone with a Vision." - gary kendall
Please pass this email on to anyone you think should see it.
Visit the blog at:
http://firstdallasmen.blogspot.com/
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
menofgod-subscribe@kendallsystems.com
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to:
menofgod-unsubscribe@kendallsystems.com
No comments:
Post a Comment