Godless, Sinner or Saved?

In spite of the many different ideologies about religion and who is right, when I read the Bible I see what God has indicated in The Word.

As a people—we fall into one of three categories.  We are either Godless –having no relationship with God; Sinner—thinking we have a relationship with God, but still practicing sin; or saved—having surrendered our lives in total submission to the will of God in relationship with Him.

These are the conclusions I have drawn from all that is said in the Bible.

• God created man to be in relationship with Him and we failed— and some were Godless for a season
• Man trying to live without God is pointless and hazardous for our health.
• God came to earth in the person of Jesus to restore/reconcile our relationship with God—saving us from ourselves.
• Religious people—practice a form of religion, but have not come to the truth about how God wants us to live and treat others.
• If we are saved, we should not practice sin and if we think practicing sin is okay with God; then we are religious, but have no right relationship with Him because we do not understand Him, will not listen to Him, and are not open to His correction.
• People in right relationship with God, do not practice sin, but know they have an advocate if they fall short; are quick to repent and repair the breach in the relationship, and live according to God’s Word, not man’s word.
• People in right relationship with God receive correction and know how to love all.
• People in religions know how to recite The Word, but do not live according to it.

My conclusions are not based on any assumptions or personal opinions, but on The Word that arises in me, when I am tempted to sin.  James tells us that when we are tempted, we are drawn away from God by our own desires—the things we want to do because they feel good, but we should not do. God does not tempt us.  He has no need to do so since He knows exactly what we will do and when we will do it. He knows which of us are Godless, Sinner or Saved and we cannot hide who we are from Him.

I do not profess perfection, but I profess to love God so much that I only want to please Him. And when I am about to do something that would not please Him, I hear the Holy Spirit, gently remind me that there are things I cannot do because of who I am and to whom I belong. My love for Him settles it.

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One In Purpose!

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Although there are four commonly known versions of the life of Jesus, I wish I had the time to fully expound on John’s Gospel–his personal insight that brings me to new understanding every time I read it.

Before I can even begin to explain what I have been inspired to write, I must go back to the beginning.  If we are to truly understand anything about life, we must understand the origins–the beginning of those things that we later say are “history.” John reveals who Jesus is and that God and He are one and the same, in purpose from the first verse.  “In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God and The Word was God.” What is the beginning that John references?  When God created all things that were created, The Word–Jesus–was with Him.  How do we know?  In the first chapter of Genesis in verses one through twenty-five, when God was speaking everything into existence, He said, “let there be” and it was. In verse twenty-six, He says, “Let us make man in our image” and they did.

Since God is a spirit, Jesus became the flesh of the implantation of the Spirit and lived among us. Glory to God! The Spirit of God, implanted in the virgin so that man’s seed would not have any corruptible influence on God’s plans to redeem–Jesus is God in the flesh. However, because He understands our inability to sometimes see clearly what He does, He references Jesus as His Son and rightfully so. Jesus, who from the beginning knew what His role in life was to be, called God “Father” and rightfully so. Since Jesus is the Son, and we are adopted into the family when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, Jesus is our “elder brother” because we are all now sons and daughters. I wish I could dwell here, but I can not, there’s too much more to be said.

When Jesus ascended to Heaven, He sent back His Spirit–as promised–to comfort us, teach us, guide us and remind us what The Word said and did.

Three distinctive roles–the Divinity–God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit with the same purpose: The Father created us to have a relationship with Him, the Son restored us after the relationship was broken, and the Holy Spirit sustains us in keeping a right relationship with Him, to give us opportunity to have abundant life, share the gospel with others so all might be saved, and to have access into heaven as our eternal resting place.

Since this understanding as been revealed to many–either by the Holy Spirit–or by reading books written by man who received the revelation, there is no need for me to attempt to further explain.  I suggest, reading the Gospel of John with eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, heart ready to receive what is revealed, and a mind made up to serve Him.  Like them, we should all be–one in purpose! Life with Jesus is about relationship, not religion.