“For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” (2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT)
God repeatedly calls to His children, but it is what is in each one’s heart that determines the result. Those with soft and tender hearts hear His voice and yield to Him in obedience, but those with hard hearts resist His warnings and instructions. They tend to think they are right and everyone else is wrong.
Surprisingly, when believers and non-believers sense the Holy Spirit moving, some are motivated to a deeper and more obedient relationship with God. They seek His plan and seek to be Christ-like in their daily life. The others will reject and refuse Him. They will use revenge and bad action to try to make themselves look better.
Who are we to compare ourselves to a HOLY and RIGHTEOUS God?
Since hardening is a slow process that often comes with weak explanations and excuses, it may not be easy for us to see the danger signs. Often times other people see the signs first. We as individuals are usually the last to admit there is a problem. When other people are patient and try to help, do we puff up our chest and say, “I know I am right?” Or do we humbly accept what is being said and ask forgiveness and help in doing better to do what GOD expects and act how God expects us to act?
How does one respond when the Lord speaks through His Word, our conscience, or on messages which are based on the Word of God?
Carefully consider the following characteristics of a hardening heart:
- Insensitivity or resistance to what God says in HIS WORD.
- Refusal to put ourselves under God’s authority or the authority God has established on earth.
- Disobedience to what we know the Lord is telling us to do and what He says is right.
- Excuses for our own sinful conduct and then blaming others for our own actions.
- Resistance to the correction and constructive criticism of others
- Obsession with the things of this world (career, relationships, and possessions)
- Little interest in spiritual things, or using spiritual things in the wrong way to destroy others.
- Absence of private devotion (Bible reading and prayer)
- Avoidance of public worship (joining a local church for fellowship with other believers)
A hard heart does not have to stay that way. Once anyone sees in their own daily life any of the above traits, today is the day to stop and ask, “are my actions glorifying or hurting the Name of Jesus Christ?’ His is the Name above all names.
Begin today to return to the Lord. Ask Him to change our hearts that we can know Him. “I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly.” (Jeremiah 24:7 NLT)
Remember, God specializes in making all things new. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT)
And then Paul ends Chapter 5 in 2 Corinthians this way: “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[e] so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20-21 NLT)
We are “ambassadors.” God will use us to teach others the truth about Jesus Christ. Paul says that Jesus Christ Himself became sin for us. Yes we will answer for what good or evil we did on this earth, but the end result is that if Jesus Christ is our Savior, we will have eternal life.
Let me ask this. Would it be better to act as though the only thing we know is Jesus Christ? Or is it better to act as though we, as individuals, are the only ones worthy enough to judge each other and not care at all what God says?
Stay fixed on Jesus Christ. Do not use revenge or gossip to tear down what God has created and built up.
Hello Again!!
7 years ago
