Blue, Are they a Christian Here or There?  – Checking the Clues 5   – Purity 540

Purity 540 10/02/2021  Purity 540 Podcast

Good morning

Today’s photo looking out at Maria Island from the vantage point of Raspins,
Beach comes to us from our friends at Dave Baun Photography who captured this
stunning view on the first day of their recent vacation in Tasmania. In his
comments Dave questioned whether or not he was able to truly capture how amazing
the view was, but he encouraged his friends to go and visit Tasmania to check
it out for themselves.

Dave’s encouragement to his friends to go see the sights in Tasmania points
to the fact that “seeing is believing”, that to truly understand or “know”
something, we have to experience it firsthand.  

In the Bible, when Jesus noticed two of John the Baptist’s disciples following
Him, He asked them, “What do you seek?”. When they replied them wanted to know
where He was staying, Jesus invited them to “Come and See.” Knowing that these
curious disciples wanted to know more than just what His accommodations were
like, Christ’s response challenged them to commit themselves to follow Him.  The disciples accepted Christ’s invitation
and thus started the journey that would result in their selection as Apostles
and the worldwide spread of Christianity. In order to know the Truth of God’s Word
and the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we all must choose
to follow after Christ and “come and see” it for ourselves.  We can’t live vicariously through someone
else’s faith in Christ, we must make Him our Lord and Savior and choose to
follow Him by ourselves.  

Well it’s Monday and as I chose to contemplate what “clue” of the
Christian faith we should investigate this morning, Blue, the precocious star
of children’s television now living in my imagination, introduced me to a friend
that was going to lead us into a whole new line of inquiry. The friend is a funny
little man with a red hat that who introduced himself as “Sam.” Maybe because
Blue clued him in that my hearing isn’t the greatest, he repeated his introduction
by saying: “Sam I am”.  

Sam’s first question was simple but when I considered it in terms of the
authenticity of someone’s Christian faith, it proved to be quite profound and
probing.  In considering someone’s
Christian faith, Sam invited us to consider the person and ask ourselves:

Are they a Christian, here or there?    

While the full scope of this question will be considered in the days
ahead, Blue indicated that we should examine it in just the context of where we
found ourselves this Monday morning.  

Yesterday being Sunday as the “Lord’s Day” was the day where Christians
all over the world traditionally gather for corporate worship. Today being
Monday, most people generally go back to their “normal routines” or home life.

So with the question of “here or there”, Blue and I decided just to look
at it from the perspective of the transition of these two days., Sunday and
Monday, and two places, “church” as a generic term for the place of worship or
corporate gathering, and “home” as a general term for life outside of that
corporate gathering place.  

As a reminder, our investigation into the authenticity of someone’s
Christian faith is motivated by selecting a Christian life partner and choosing
someone to spend our lives with who isn’t a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.  

So the question today is: Is the person we are interested in a “Christian”
just on Sunday and just at church?  Or
are they a Christian both “here or there”?

Now while everybody tends to display more attributes of their
Christianity on Sunday and at “church”, consider how dramatic a difference
there is in your potential mate’s “Christianity” on the days of worship versus
the other days of the week as well as between their attitudes and behaviors “in
the church building” and in the comforts in their home. 

Would you know that your potential mate is a Christian if it wasn’t
Sunday?

Would you know that they were a Christian if they didn’t “go to church?”   

The more dramatic a shift from the sacred to the secular the more likely
the possibility that the person you are interested in has “little faith”, or
quite possibly “no faith” as they could just be “going through the motions” of “religion”
and have not established a relationship with God by making Jesus their Lord and
Savior.   

Now while we could go on and on with our speculations about a person who
seems to shift from the sacred to the secular with a jarring rapidity that could
give us whiplash, instead of looking at “our neighbor” and potential mate’s
questionable faith, it might be a good idea to ask ourselves what we are
looking for in a “Christian” mate or what we are willing to settle for.  

As someone who knows the benefits of a Christian disciple’s lifestyle and
encourages people to live by faith and follow the Lord by “living in the Spirit”,
I know that there is a wide range of faith levels within the body of Christ,
from those with little or immature faith to those with “great” or mature
faith.  

So what do you want?

Do you want someone who just goes through the motions or will just “go
with you to church”  or do you want
something more?

Our Lord and our imaginary friends, Blue and “Sam I am”, really have a
way of making us think!   Our investigation
of someone’s Christian authenticity makes us not only question what we are
seeing in their faith lives, it also requires us to know who we are in Christ and
to know what we are looking for.  

If we are truly following the Lord Jesus to “come and see” what He has for
our lives, we have to make sure our own shifts from the “sacred to the secular”
aren’t so dramatic. We can’t rightly judge and expect others to have a faith
level that we haven’t experienced ourselves. Otherwise, they would have the
right to question why they should be with us!  

The “clue” of what someone’s faith is like “here or there” is a good
one. If we want a “real Christian” as a life partner, we will want to find
someone who wasn’t as different as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from Sunday to
Monday, or from “in church” and “out of church”,  because if someone really is a disciple of
Christ they will seek to follow Him all the days of their lives and in all
sorts of environments.  Authentic Christians
would seek to represent the kingdom of God every day and every where they
go.  

But we must also examine ourselves and decide if we are for “real” and
make decisions on how much faith is “too little faith” for the person that we
will spend the rest of our lives with.   

So keep walking and talking with God. Know who you are in Christ and
what you want in a Christian life partner. 
Relationships can be a lot of work in and of themselves and having “enough
faith for two” was never a burden the Lord wants to put on us.   So use the eyes, ears, and mind that the
Lord gave you to examine the attitudes and behaviors of those you are
interested in to discern what their faith level seems to be and make an
informed decision when choosing the one who will walk with you from here to
eternity.  

 

 

This morning’s meditation verse is:

1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJV)
¹⁹  Or do you not know that
your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have
from God, and you are not your own?

Today’s verse indicates
that Christians have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in their bodies
and that their bodies are to be used for His glory.  

If we are to
consider today’s verse seriously, we will be convinced that the Holy Spirit is
in us and that we are to care for our bodies and surrender our bodies to the Lord’s
purposes.  

So should we get
tattoos or piercings? Should we have abortions? Should we overeat? 

Are any of these
things going to give God glory?  Or are
these things examples of ways that we decide that we don’t agree with today’s
verse and will choose things that may not be according to God’s perfect will
for our lives. 

The first step of
Christian Discipleship is to choose to believe that God’s Word is true. The
second step is to live by it.  

I am pressed for
time today so I will let the listener to consider those questions and ask
themselves: Is my body the temple of the Holy Spirit? How should I treat it?
What would God want me to do with it in these areas.  

In this word we have
free will and liberty in Christ, but as Christians we should consider what we
do according to the fact that our bodies are not our own and that God has written
His word to guide us in our decisions regarding them.

So use your body for
the Lord’s glory and choose the best course for your decisions with the Lord’s
wisdom in mind. 

 

 

As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk. 

 

Today we continue to share from June Hunt’s The Blended
Family’s God’s Recipe for Success.

 

As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $5.00:

IV. Steps to Solution

Let’s face it, some of us will never make the perfect chocolate souffle…
no matter how hard we try. But that doesn’t mean we can’t produce something
wonderfully good! Does it really matter if the coconut cake slopes ever so
slightly or the peach ice cream never sets up very hard? The important thing is
to keep on trying when you feel like giving up. Stick close to God’s recipe for
loving others, and He will bless your efforts.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”
(Proverbs 16:3)

A. Key Verse to Memorize

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to
mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19)

B. Key Passage to Read and Reread

Colossians
3:12-15

• Know
  that you are chosen by God…. v. 12
• Realize
  that you are loved by God…. v. 12
• Reflect
  the character of Christ (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
  patience)…. v.
  12
• Lift
  up and support each other…. v. 13
• Forgive
  those who offend you…. v. 13
• Act
  in love…. v.
  14
• Know
  that love builds unity…. v. 14
• Live
  in peace with one another…. v. 15
• Have
  a thankful heart…. v. 15

“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as
the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them
all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (Colossians 3:12-15)

C. Remarriage Readiness Test

• Do you
  understand why you married your first partner?
• Have you
  recognized and confessed your part in the broken marriage?
• Was there
  an honest attempt to work through the relational problems in your first
  marriage?
• Have you
  learned to be content as a single?
• Have you
  developed a healthy identity as a single or a single parent?
• Are you
  capable of being responsible with your finances?
• Have you
  determined why you desire to remarry?
• Do your
  children have a healthy, well-working plan of visitation with their other
  parent?
• Have you
  considered and consulted your children regarding their feelings about your
  remarriage?
• Have you given
  up the unrealistic dream of an “ideal family”?
• Have you
  committed to remarriage only with someone who has a personal
  commitment to Jesus Christ?
• Have you
  made the issue of remarriage a matter of prayer, and are you seeking God’s
  will for your life?

“Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly
brings punishment to fools.” (Proverbs 16:22)

Biblical Counseling Keys: The
Blended Family: God’s Recipe for Success.

—————————more
tomorrow————————

 

 

 

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over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship