Slaves to Christ

It bothers me that today's "Christians" only want to pray to God when they need a miracle or when then have experienced something tragic. Yet, when they have been blessed to the extreme in any way, shape, or form, they choose not to acknowledge the fact that God rewards us for our good works (Matthew 24:45-51). 

It only makes sense that if you were to point the finger at God and blame him for any loss or tragedy in your life, you better be ready to point the finger at Him and praise Him when you experience something wonderful or when you have been blessed (Psalm 63:5). He is the God who gives AND takes away (Job 1:21), you can't have one or the other. 

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus demanded all of you, or none of you (Matthew 5:1-7:28), for it is better to be either hot or cold, for the soverign Lord declares that He will vomit you out of His mouth if you are luke warm (Revelation 3:16). For a person to merely claim that they believe in God, would bring me to the point of questioning their salvation. Even the devil believes in God (James 2:19), so where does that place those with similar beliefs? Jesus said that He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), and salvation is a gift given to us by faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15). 

So, with that in mind, can you look at your spiritual walk and say with confidence that you have the best possible relationship with Jesus? It says in the Word that those who love Jesus keep all of His commands (1 John 5:3), and as I stated earlier, we are commanded to give ourselves over to Him as slaves to the will of the Father (Romans 6:19). Not to just call upon Him in our time of need, and when we are living a life in abundance of blessings, or to claim the glory and act as if God's loving hand played no role in blessing us. Rather, to glorify His name, and praise Him for the blessings he has bestowed upon us AND to praise Him for the trials we experience (Job 13:15) in order to bring about change in our lives that will lead us to conformity in the likelieness of the Son. 

We don't deserve the salvation that was given to us from God through the life of Christ (Romans 3:12). But the God Most High loves us so dearly that He paid the price that it took to bring us back into fellowship with Him (John 3:16). We sinned, and He gave it all, so that we could love Him and be loved by Him. Christ died for us, and it is now our turn to live for Him (Romans 12:1).