A common mistake of Christians -- Mike

Here are two important verses for Christians everywhere. I myself was and still am to some extent making this mistake and it is a common one that many Christians do but should not! First I will present them and then I will elaborate on them. God is speaking to me on this and wants me to get it out and this is how it came out.

Matthew 6:24 NIV - No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Money can also apply to any other lust or corrupt way of the world. Replace money with whatever you like.

Hebrew 6 4-7 NIV - It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Here's what this is saying. Jesus died for your sins. By God's grace he let his son die to take away our sins! You don't earn God's grace. It is a gift. By having Jesus in our lives and turning our backs on him, we are rejecting God's Grace which we asked for in the beginning by asking Jesus into our lives! We are rejecting the lord's gift of setting us free from sin. That's like getting a really nice christmas present from your favorite relative or a good friend and really enjoying it for a while then sending it back to them in a couple months. Would you do that to your favorite relative or a good friend? No! Then why would you do it to God? Here, let me elaborate further.

The lord has set me free from sin yet I keep indulging sin. Picture this parable. There are two slavemasters: a kind one and an evil one. The evil one was rotten to you. He abused you, tortured you, made you depressed and feel terrible. He worked you hard and punished you severely if you did anything wrong. He threw wild parties which gave you a temporary sense of satisfaction. Then after the fun is over its back to his abuse. He promises to eventually kill you when he's done with you. Then you found the kind slavemaster. He displayed love, gentleness, kindness and his full support. He urged you on kindly. If you made a mistake every once in a while it was okay. He'd show you how to avoid that in the future and his patience was endless. He doesn't approve of partying. He's such a great guy that you feel more joy working for him than you did at the evil slavemasters' parties. He promises you a great inheritance if you serve him. But for some strange reason some part of you is tiring of the work of the kind slavemaster and longs for the parties of the evil slavemaster. So you sneak out and sign back up for the abuse just so you can partake in his parties. The kind slavemaster keeps coming back to you asking you to come back. While that good part inside wants to, you keep taking the abuse and you choose to ignore the kind slavemaster. You would prefer to enjoy the evil slavemaster's parties than to work for the kind slavemaster even in light of the abuse. Then one day you have a change of heart. You feel guilty and you decide to go back to the kind slavemaster and work for him again. He reminds you of all the times he asked for you to come back to work for him and how you ignored him. He tells you he's sorry, he tried but you wouldn't listen. It's too late, your stuck with the evil slavemaster.

So the point of this folks is that God has set us free from sin. It's okay if we slip up every once in a while. That's what Christ died for. So many people choose to hear God's word but not live it. The bible clearly tells us light and darkness can not exist together. You can't serve both God and Satan. So don't fall away from the lord and if you're falling away repent and make sure you change your evil ways! If you fall away from the Lord's grace and you fail to see any wrongdoing or repent your sins, you have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit and Jesus will not forgive you. So diligently seek Jesus and always ask him to bring to light what you've done wrong so that you may repent and live a lifestyle that God can be proud of! Don't worry though, seek God but at the same time be patient and take your time. You don't have to put away everything right away. That's impossible and will only lead to failure and depression. That's another way of rejecting God's grace. By worrying and trying to change to much you're preventing him from changing you. Instead ask the Lord to help you so you can grow in him. Wait and listen. Pray and read the Bible diligently. The Lord will send messages your way that are related to what you're going through. I know. I've been going through the same thing. I put away everything and realized my mistake. It works but you have to take your time. Don't listen to feelings in your heart or voices in your mind. Such things will deceive you. That's how the enemy will attack you. He'll tell you you're making a mistake and your worthless in the eyes of the Lord. He will tear you down and further increase your depression. The Lord will reach you through scriptures and messages from fellow Christians. Which brings me to the most important lesson. You cannot be a successful Christian without fellowship. A Christian cannot live separated from the body of Christ (which is made up of other Christians). A person apart from the body of Christ withers and dies. He's setting himself up for sure failure. So invest some time and effort into the Lord. Go to church and try to involve yourself in as many activities within the church as possible. After all, you reap what you sow. What you put into God is what you get out of God. God bless you everybody and may you take this message to heart so that you do not fall away from the Grace of God!

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