Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger.
Zephaniah 2:3
Sometimes when we are seeking to be righteous we fall into
a place of self righteousness, which can lead to a very selfish
"proud" attitude and a judgmental demeanor.
Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by faith.
Habakkuk 2:4
We (as followers of Christ) are called to be humble,
however this also can lead to a problem, As some mistake
the meaning of humble. Or maybe rather then mistake the meaning,
people let humbleness lead them down a path of a "Woe is me"
attitude. By the way just for the record I struggle with the following at times myself, I in NO way mean to elude that I am perfect.
I just see so many of us that hang on to the fact that we are all sinners,
and yes indeed this is true, but so many of us ignore seeking righteousness,
as if the fact that we are forgiven allows us to be oblivious of our sins,
oblivious to the fact that sin ANGERS GOD...Oblivious to what is right and what is wrong. How many have the attitude that "Yup..I'm a sinner, freely admit it, Christ saved me from them" and then therefore do not even seek to allow Christ to work through them and change their behavior, do not repent when they do sin because they do not think they need too, and don't even seek righteousness that can be found in Christ.
Sin very much so angers God, so much so that Christ suffered
and paid the price for it,as I've quoted before..
DO NOT think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I DID NOT come to destroy but to fulfill.
Matthew 5:17
Christ was the only one who actually followed the Law perfectly,
and He came to be the sacrifice for US because we could
not and can not follow the LAW(without him), this everyone indeed agrees with...BUT Christ's forgiveness doesn't give us FREEDOM to sin..
This I feel really needs to be explained. I'm a horrible person, I'm a sinner,
this I recognize with a remorseful disposition "For the things I wish to do, those things I do not do, but the things I wish not to do, those I do"
I HATE my sins, I seek not Self-righteousness... BUT the righteousness that is found in Christ Jesus, I seek to live by his words as there is nothing else to even remotely live for, "Whom have I in heaven but you? and earth has nothing I desire besides you"
However it is in this seeking of righteousness that I must REMAIN humble as not to think I could ever save myself or to think that which I seek to do makes me better then anyone else.
Forgiven for being the failures that we are....yes indeed,
this however doesn't mean we blind ourselves into thinking
sin is ok, or that we do not warn those about the damaging
life of sin. If I do not seek to be humble in dealing justly with others,
you better believe the holy spirit will convict me of my own doings,
it is in this inward self examination of just how corrupt I am,
that without Christ... without His sacrifice, which led to Gods forgiveness, just how unworthy I'd be of any sort of relationship with Him, other then of course His wrath and anger...
If there be ground for you to trust, as you do, in your own righteousness, then all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did from the fall of man to prepare the way for it, is in vain.
Consider what greater folly could you have devised to charge upon God than this, that all those things were done so needlessly; when, instead of all this, He might only have called you forth, and committed the business to you, which you think you can do so easily.
-Jonathan Edwards
Does forgiveness mean we shouldn't realize what we are forgiven from?
If we should realize this fact, then why don't more of us know the Ten Commandments? many ignore them saying "We don't have to follow them"
indeed we are saved by Grace not works, but the fact is we have broken the law wether we think we have or not, otherwise Christ wouldn't of had to die for us. Shouldn't we know them, not for salvation purposes but to realize how fallen we are? NOT so we can "feel bad" or walk around saying "Woe is me"
but so we can see how amazing His forgiveness really is, So we can see
just how undeserving of His grace we are.
1."You shall have no other gods before Me.
2.You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3.You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5.Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
6.You shall not murder.
7.You shall not commit adultery.
8.You shall not steal.
9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10.You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
Some might say; "gods? Idols? i've never done such a thing"
really? anything can be an idol, and anything can become your god,
for anything you put above God hence becomes your god..
I.E Money,Cars,Yourself,Music,Tv,Movies,Video Games ect...ect..
remember the man who came to Jesus in Matthew 19?
He said he has kept all the commandments since he was young(Liar)
and then jesus said;
"If you want to be perfect, go, give all you have to the poor,
and come follow me."
Did the man do it? who knows, all it says is he was very sorrowful,
because he had great wealth, if He wouldn't follow Jesus because he loved
His money more, he essentially broke the first/second commandment.
Even still some might say; "I've never murdered or committed Adultery!"
Really? Jesus said in Matthew;
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
Matthew 5:21-22
Hmm..Ever been angry with someone for no reason? had a bad day
and you chew someone out...just because? or whatever the case may be..
guess what? Christ says then you have broken the 6th Commandment.
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
Who can say they have never lusted after someone before? If you have,
and YOU HAVE...then you also have broken the 7th commandment...
What is my point? my point is we all have sinned and fall short of Grace,
anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar and the truth is not in him.
There is no justification in sinning, there is no work you can do,
there is no mountain you can climb that will ever make you deserving of anything other then the wrath of GOD...
It's like what Paul Washer said in the video I posted on Facebook, Many people ask why do bad things happen to good people? When the question should be, Why does any good ever happen at all? For we are not "good people" and any good that we receive is more blessing and love that none of us deserve in the first place, for we are wicked.
Therefore humble yourselves under Gods mighty hand, and realize the price
has been paid for YOU, someone had to suffer for what YOU DID...and you will NEVER deserve that kind of love...
