Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Relevant

I've often heard that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the church, and the Bible is not relevant to our lives. Of course, I adamently disagree with any such notion. But, I was wondering what is the criteria for something to become relevant to us.
The dictionary says...Connected:having some sensible or logical connection with something else such as a matter being discussed or investigated. Having Social Significance:having some bearing on or importance for real-world issues, present-day events, or the current state of society.
What are your thoughts on the matter....

Monday, July 20, 2009

Who We Are in Christ

After reading the introduction for Catalyst for the Cross blog by Brad Moseley (and it's a great blog!) and also thinking on the message from yesterday on this very subject, I'm convinced that a lot of "Christians" simply do not understand what it means to be a "Christian". Probably in our society a more discriptive label would be "Followers of Christ". This, in a nut shell, describes what we should be....a follower of Christ!
In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul first describes who the Ephesians or the Gentiles were before Christ; "...you were dead in your trespasses and sins...you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience...". Then he describes who the Jewish believers were before Christ in verse 3; "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh adn of the mind,..by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
Then in verses 4 and following Paul describes who we ARE in Christ. Friend, we're supposed to be different! We're supposed to be a new CREATION! Paul says, that He made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
If you're a Christian, you will be a Follower of Christ! You will be different than you were previous to Christ. Realize, this is a work in progress, but we should be heading toward being more like Christ as our goal.
Any comments...