August 15: Signs of the New Birth
This lesson is vitally important!! One of the saddest things on this earth is to watch someone who has performed some ritual of the church and think that act puts them in right standing with God. They try to mimic Christian behavior (legalism) but they have none of the comfort, power or joy.
The New Scofield Study Bible (NIV) is the one that I use the most, and I love his comments on John 3:3 -- "The necessity of the new birth grows out of the incapacity of the natural man to "see" or "enter" the kingdom of God. However gifted, moral, or refined he may be, the natural man is absolutely blind to spiritual truth and impotent to enter the kingdom; for he can neither obey, understand, nor please God...The new birth is not a reformation of the old nature, but a creative act of the Holy Spirit...The condition of the new birth is faith in Christ crucified."
If you ever know anyone who questions the validity of their salvation, refer them to the book of I John. It is a small book, but designed as a self-evaluation. The purpose of the book is plainly stated in I John 5:13 -- "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life."
Jesus, please show us all where we are deluded and out of step with You. May our Spirits be at peace as we ask ourselves "is our knowledge of You born of internal spiritual perception? Do we perceive Your rule? Have we stopped sinning?" If we squirm when we ask You these things, please show us what to do to make it right!!!
The New Scofield Study Bible (NIV) is the one that I use the most, and I love his comments on John 3:3 -- "The necessity of the new birth grows out of the incapacity of the natural man to "see" or "enter" the kingdom of God. However gifted, moral, or refined he may be, the natural man is absolutely blind to spiritual truth and impotent to enter the kingdom; for he can neither obey, understand, nor please God...The new birth is not a reformation of the old nature, but a creative act of the Holy Spirit...The condition of the new birth is faith in Christ crucified."
If you ever know anyone who questions the validity of their salvation, refer them to the book of I John. It is a small book, but designed as a self-evaluation. The purpose of the book is plainly stated in I John 5:13 -- "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may KNOW that you have eternal life."
Jesus, please show us all where we are deluded and out of step with You. May our Spirits be at peace as we ask ourselves "is our knowledge of You born of internal spiritual perception? Do we perceive Your rule? Have we stopped sinning?" If we squirm when we ask You these things, please show us what to do to make it right!!!
posted by Jane at 4:49 AM
2 Comments:
'Portland Tribune' As Public Square?
Despite the various and sundry protestations from those who have managed to actually remain ... , California Marriage Ruling Nearly Irrelevant To Oregon ...In 2003: 'Oregonian' Turns To Weblogs
Wow! You have a distinctive blog. I'll bookmark you for sure.
I have a work from home site. It pretty well covers work from home related stuff.
Please check us out.
Great insights, Stacie! As one who has been trying to walk with Jesus for over 40 years, I can see that it has become easier to not sin, at least in the open ways. I have still a long way to go on controlling my sins of omission and my critical and angry thoughts.
One of the reasons that a sinless life becomes easier as you walk that road is because one can look back and see the tremendous benefits. Once when the girls were in elementary school, we were at a professional baseball game and some college students were sitting behind us. Most of them were very drunk -- one kicked Jennifer in the head and another one threw up on the bleachers behind us. At first I was angry, but then I had a major insight. Making sure the girls could hear me, I turned around to them and very kindly said, "I want to thank you people. You have done more to convince my girls that they shouldn't drink than anything I could have told them." They could tell I wasn't angry, so they started a conversation. At one point, I told them that I understood their need to celebrate, because I liked to get high, too. It's just that I get high on Jesus. One of them smiled ruefully and replied, "Yeah, and you don't have a hangover in the morning!"
Even if I found out there was no heaven or even no God, I wouldn't change how I live, because this way of life the Bible teaches us is the best way to have heaven on earth.
Post a Comment
<< Home