What’s Your Excuse?

~ Are You Pleasing God in Your Every Day Life? ~

This posting is about the very fundamental core principles of living the Christian life effectively.

God’s Expectation of His Children  ~  “The Kingdom of God is not just talking; it is living by God’s power” (1 Corinthians 4:20 TLB).

You Have NO Valid Excuse  ~  “Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing His will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7 TLB).  “So don’t be proud of following the wise men of this world.  For God has already given you everything you need” (1 Corinthians 3:21 TLB).

Are You Struggling?  ~  So did the Apostle Paul, who sad, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t.  I do what I don’t want to—what I hate.  I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking.  But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it.  It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.

“I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned.  No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right.  I want to but I can’t.  When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.  Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.

“It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.  I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.

“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin.  Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!  Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature?  Thank God!  It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord.  He has set me free” (Romans 7:15-23 TLB).  All true believers can identify with this struggle, but have you grasped the reality of those last three sentences! 

The Refinement Process  ~  “Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace?  Then learn to know Him better and better.  For as you know Him better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own glory and His own goodness with us!  And by that same mighty power He has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings He promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us His own character.

“But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough.  For then you must learn to know God better and discover what He wants you to do.  Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you.  This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply.  The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ.  But anyone who fails to go after these additions to faith is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin so that now he can live a strong, good life for the Lord.

“So, dear brothers, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen, and then you will never stumble or fall away.  And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2-11 TLB).

“But remember this—the wrong desires that come into your life aren’t anything new and different.  Many others have faced exactly the same problems before you.  And no temptation is irresistible.  You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it, for He has promised this and will do what He says. He will show you how to escape temptation’s power so that you can bear up patiently against it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 TLB).

The Bottom-Line  ~  God has pointed the way and He has given us the resources for victory.  It will be a struggle—but as the Apostle Paul points out victory in this life can be achieved.  The real questions are:  Where is your heart’s desire?  Are you progressing in Christ-likeness. 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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“I Have No Need”

~ In Reality You Have No Excuse! ~

note:  This is one in a series of Biblical answers to objections some individuals raise when presented with the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

 “I will not bother to personally conduct a serious investigation of Jesus Christ because I really don’t need anything—and I certainly do not need a ‘Savior.’” 

This is like saying, “I will not bother to personally conduct a serious investigation of Jesus Christ because I am perfectly okay as I am.” Such a response doesn’t stand up to the test of logic. But logic is not the main issue. What does God say?

You Are Guilty Before God  ~  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’” (Galatians 3:10).

The Penalty of Your Guilt Is Spiritual Death  ~  “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

In Your Present Condition You Will Incur the Wrath of God  ~  “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).

Refusing to Investigate the Claims of Christ Is No Excuse  ~  Jesus said, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

God Has Provided for Your Salvation Making You Accountable  ~  “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him” (Hebrews 2:3). 

You Cannot Earn Salvation On Your Own  ~  As Jesus was teaching He gave an illustration, “‘I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:12-14).

If You Accept God’s Provision You Will Be Saved Eternally  ~  “Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame’” (Romans 9:32-33).

There Is Only One Path To Salvation  ~  “They don't seem to realize that this comprehensive setting-things-right that is salvation is God's business, and a most flourishing business it is. Right across the street they set up their own salvation shops and noisily hawk their wares. After all these years of refusing to really deal with God on his terms, insisting instead on making their own deals, they have nothing to show for it” (Romans 10:3, The Message). 

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the [only] way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6). 

summary: “The basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of His divine being.

So nobody has a good excuse.

What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life” (Romans 1:19-22, The Message).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

Lack of Knowledge

~ There Is Too Much I Don’t Understand ~

note:  This is one in a series of Biblical answers to objections some individuals raise when presented with the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

 “I will not bother to personally conduct a serious investigation of Jesus Christ because there are too many mysteries in all this spiritual stuff.” 

This is like saying, “I will not cross that highway bridge since there are so many things related to civil and structural engineering that I do not understand.” Such a response doesn’t stand up to the test of logic. But logic is not the main issue. What does God say?

If You Understood It All You Would Be God  ~  “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). 

One Day You Will Understand Fully  ~  “And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority’” (Acts 1:7).

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this’” (John 13:7). 

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). 

summary: “The basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of His divine being.

So nobody has a good excuse.

“What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life” (Romans 1:19-22, The Message).

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW