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Blogs > ms_warriorthingy > A Follower of Christ > Sep 15, 2008
A Follower of Christ
  
Nobody worries about Christ as long as he can be kept shut up in
churches. He is quite safe inside. But there is always trouble
if you try and let him out.

-- G. A. Studdert Kennedy


A Christian……..a follower of Christ……how do you follow Christ? How do you love Christ? Whose will………His will? How do you hear Him when He speaks? Do you hear Him? Do you listen?

Which are you…….one like the woman caught in adultery……..or the prideful scorner hurling stones?

Are you like the humble tax collector who comes before God admitting your brokenness……….or are you like the Pharisee…..better than the broken one?

Are you saved? You know the beginning…….you know the ending…….but what comes between?

What does this mean?
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

What does it mean to you?

I have to admit, there is nothing easy in being a follower of Christ. It’s easy being saved, easy reading the Bible, going to church, praying but when it comes to actually living our belief and faith……we fail miserably.

Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I have taken these two verses to heart in a big way. Because being a follower of Christ is sometimes burdensome. Giving up your desires for His desires, asking for His will in your life as opposed to your own….this is not an easy thing. But He equips us, and gives us the strength we need to walk the walk with Him.

Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

When you ask God to create in you a clean heart…….it means sometimes He has to break you down, bring you to your knees……..and it hurts! Coming face to face with God with all your brokenness has got to be one of the most painful things you will ever do….but I can tell you from the depth of my heart that it is the most spirit refreshing thing you will ever do!

The closer you draw to God, the lonlier you feel as a Christian. There is nothing sadder than talking with a fellow believer about the wonders of the Holy Spirit, the amazing grace of God, and they look at you with glazed eyes. I know this because I too once stood with glazed eyes, just “not getting it”. When I talk about listening to His Word while I sleep, or listening to His Word on my IPOD as I walk, other Christians look at me as though I am whacko!

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

What does that verse mean to you? It means exactly what it says to me.

And if we are mocked for loving God this way……….who is being mocked……is it me………is it God’s work in me……..is it God Himself?

Mt. 11:15
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A story about girls and bees (Part 1) Sep 15, 2008 11:03 pm
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Once upon a time in a land far away, lived a young girl. She was called Peony, named after after a pretty flower that grew in the meadow where she lived.

Peony loved to run through the meadow, picking wildflowers as she ran. She loved to make up posies for people in the town, especially the sad and lonely folk who needed to feel loved.

But there was one thing Peony was afraid of....bees. There were lots of bees in the meadow and she was terrified of being stung. So she would only go to the meadow when the sun was going down because that was the safest time to pick flowers.

One day a beekeeper came along, and he saw Peony sitting on a rock, waiting impatiently for the sun to descend on the horizon.

"Why aren't you picking flowers, Peony?" the beekeeper asked her gently.

"I'm afraid of the bees" she answered softly, "I'm afraid I will be stung"

The beekeeper sat silently for a moment, then he said, "there is a way to handle bees safely. If you handle them in the right way, they will not sting you. Would you like me to show you how?"

Peony looked at him, a teardrop glistening in her eye, "I don't know if I can. I'm really scared of bees, I know their sting hurts"

The beekeeper stood up and walked to a nearby tree, where a beehive grew. Peony watched as he gently put his hand into the hive and brought out a lump of honey. He brought it to her and she tasted some.

"Do you like the taste?" the beekeeper asked.
"Yes I do", Peony replied as she ate more of the sweet honey.

The beekeeper looked fondly at the young girl. "Meet me here tomorrow and I will show you more."

Each day the beekeeper would meet with Peony and tell her about bees and how to handle them in just the right way so that they would not sting her.

"You can't just march up to that hive and make a big noise", the beekeeper would tell her. "You must approach the hive slowly and cautiously, and you must not show fear, because the bees will sense your fear, and panic."

Peony listened intently to what the beekeeper had to say. She was looking forward to the day when she could approach the hive herself, without any fear. And she was looking forward to be able to walk through the meadow without fear of being stung.

"I will be going away for a few days, Peony" the beekeeper told her. "When I return, I will show you how to walk up to the hive and extract the honey. Please don't try it by yourself, wait for my return".

Each day Peony would sit on her rock and watch the hive, the sound of the bees buzzing around the sweet honey would make her very impatient.

"I wish I could have some honey now", she sighed. She looked longingly at the hive, wanting very much to have another taste of the honey....


You know, God loves us so much, and He wants us to have good things.....He longs to give us the desires of our heart. But often He has to prepare us, and preparation usually means a time of waiting......

Will Peony wait patiently for the beekeeper to come back from his time away?

You will find out soon!
8 Comments
IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE..... Sep 15, 2008 3:23 pm
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I once knew this man who was an atheist. There was nothing I could say to warm him to the fact that there is a God who exists and who loves him. He would fight me at every turn, and have a comeback for everything I said. Finally in exasperation, I told him this.........

If the whole thing is a lie, if God doesn't exist and the Bible is just a book made up by some crazy person.....

then you will die and return to the dust and there will be nothing......your life will have meant nothing in the end....and you will have lost nothing I guess...

I will lose nothing either. I will also return to the dust totally deluded that a Saviour came to die for me, that my life became one of freedom rather than one wrapped in chains of bondage...I will have lived a life trying to please a God who doesn't exist....and I will die with a hope that there is something beyond the grave.......even if I were to go to just dust, I will have gone with hope....and I will have lost nothing coz I will become just dust....

BUT...........

If God really does exist, if the Bible really is God's Word to us, if everything in there is true........

I will still lose nothing....in fact I will have the most wonderful and amazing future beyond the grave, eternal life, another life with no tears, no sorrow, no strife.....only pure bliss FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER! I will dance on streets of pure gold! I will stand in the presence of the Creator of the Universe......I will be in HEAVEN!!! Literally!!!

And what about you????????

Maybe that was kind of a harsh reality to paint......but it is a reality. We have a choice, we have free will.....to follow the One who says He is the One True God, King of the Universe.....or to just ignore that He exists.

For every action, there is a reaction. Our choices in this life will determine the outcome in the next. There are consequences to the choices we make.....we can choose to believe in the gospel of Christ....or not. We can choose to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and EVERY book speaks the truth.......or we can choose to believe it's all a big set up by some whacko who wants to mess with our minds.

We can choose to believe the morals God set for us or we can choose to live a life of depravity.

We can choose to honour and obey God and strive to live a life pleasing to Him.....or we can choose to set our own code of conduct. We can be instructive....or we can be destructive......

It's all about choice.......

I wonder, if you are reading this, and you think Christians are a deluded bunch of hypocrites.....are we really?????? What makes you so sure????? How do you really know????? Are you really that clever, that insightful, that wise??????

Sometimes I wonder what makes an atheist an atheist? Could it possibly be that someone in the church turned them off God????

Let's make this week and next week and all the weeks to follow, a "let's show atheists God's love week"....not just in words but in actions too!

And then maybe........we can step back and allow God to do the saving?

Food for thought huh? God placed this in my heart this morning.
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