Following Christ Without Excuses

Now the works of the flesh are plain:  fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.  I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 5

As we talked about before, we must have faith and follow the Gospel.  It's all spelled out and makes perfect sense - easy to understand, but so very hard to do!

And we cannot tell Christ, when He calls us to do something, that we will surely do it, but just not right now.  If He calls us now, He means from us to do it now.  And Jesus said in Luke 9, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

This makes we think of the quote from C. S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, that we cannot ask "what if".  There really isn't - can't be - a what if.  We are where we are because of what we have done.  We really can't turn around and go back, because what's done is done.  

We always have consequences to any act we do.  Simply drinking a glass of water will cause our body to remain hydrated.  That is a consequence of drinking water.  And, of course, the consequence of walking out in front a train has a far different, and much more terrible, consequence.

So, to begin with, we, having free will, can do what we wish.  We can listen Paul's sermon in Galatians to follow the Spirit, or we can choose the way of the flesh.  Each has its own consequences.

But, because God is a forgiving God, and because Jesus loves us, when we do misstep we can go forward again, for if we ask forgiveness, and we truly mean we will endeavor to NOT sin again, we will be forgiven...over, and over, and over...so long as we truly mean to NOT sin again.  And, of course, God understands our intentions.  After all, He is God!

Christ gave His life on the cross to take away all our sins, and all we have to do is believe, and we have to do the best we absolutely can.

So I challenge myself, and everyone else, to read the Bible, to pray, to try our best, to ask forgiveness when we sin, to love one another, to help those in need, to have faith - and don't look back, only look forward, because God is forward, and it is toward Him that we must move.  And if we do, we will gain eternal life with Him forever.

How glorious is that!

 

It you haven't read C. S. Lewis' books, I highly recommend them, and although this may "look" like a children's book, I can assure it is not!