Christian Living

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COME BACK HOME

You know when God knows. Your bible tells you. Your mirror tells you. Your attitude tells you. You don't pray like you used to. You don't worship like you used to. You don't even think like you used to. Reading your bible has become a burden. It doesn't interest you anymore. Your passion has changed. Worship gatherings are becoming too long. You don't even feel anything when you worship. Pleasure has become more enjoyable than prayer. Gisting has become more pleasurable than giving. And evangelism? Ah! You're never sure if he'll listen. Always afraid of her go-to-hell attitude. Or maybe you'll just feel odd in the crowd. You’ll be seen as a don't-belong. You've become more conscious about yourself - your beauty, your talent, your finances, your achievements, your abilities. And that habit? Yes, that habit. You know it. It's taking over you.
Lying? Maybe.
Anger? Sort of, …kind of.
Pornography? Well...
Pride! Yes, pride! It's eating you up like wood pests. You're drowning in self-centeredness. Everyday the bricks of lust are continuously being laid in your heart. You feel lost. Lost from the flock. Far from the cross. Beyond the reach of grace. Strangled in the grip of sin. And you wonder - "What is happening to me? Have I drifted too far? Waited too long? Slipped too much? Have I out-sinned the love of God? I am a Christian, but my desires are anything but Christian. God may have given me a place back then, but now it seems he has no place for me anymore.”
Maybe this has been your condition lately. If so, being a part of this edition of FRANK TALK may just be what you need. I am CONSCIENCE. And discussing this issue with me are, Apostle Paul, David, John, and our master Jesus. You’re welcome panelists.

PANELISTS: “Thank you.”

CONSCIENCE: "Paul, can God take us back after we stray from his grace?"

PAUL: “Consider the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. And if you do not persist in unbelief, you will be grafted in, for God is able to graft you in again. After all if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”

CONSCIENCE: "Master, Paul said, we can be grafted in again. That is, you can bring us back to you. How can this be since your eyes cannot behold iniquity?"

JESUS: “All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

CONSCIENCE: "You cannot tolerate iniquity, yet you receive everyone who comes to you. It’s sounds a little confusing. Can you explain a little more?"

JESUS: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything."

CONSCIENCE: "How pathetic. So young and knows little about life - youthful exorbitance."

JESUS: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.”

CONSCIENCE: "I can imagine the father’s reaction – some serious scolding."

JESUS: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

CONSCIENCE: "Interesting."

JESUS: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.”

CONSCIENCE: "So your attention is more on the one that was once with you and then went astray than the one who still remains."

JESUS: “When I find him, I will joyfully put him on my shoulders and take him home.”

CONSCIENCE: "What manner of love! That explains why the father ran off to meet his lost son when he saw him from afar and the feast that followed. Blood is truly thicker than water.
Let me draw your attention back to your parable. You mentioned that “he came to his senses”, which means he realized he had sinned and further made up his mind to apologize, which shows that we have a role to play in the process.
David, you were once a victim of this circumstance. You deviated from God. What did you do?"

DAVID: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night God’s hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to Him and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ - and He forgave the guilt of my sin.”

CONSCIENCE: "What should be our attitude in repentance?"

DAVID: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, the Lord will not despise.”

CONSCIENCE: "John, what do you have to say?"

JOHN: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

CONSCIENCE: "Wait a minute. Did you say He will purify us from all unrighteousness?"

JOHN: “…all unrighteousness.”

CONSCIENCE: "No matter how deep and grave?"

JOHN: “…all unrighteousness.”

CONSCIENCE: "It is also interesting to know however that the devil also has a role – a negative role that is - to play in this scene. If he can’t seduce you with your sin, he’ll let you sink in your guilt, and make you believe that God can’t and won’t forgive you…"

JESUS: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of all lies.”

CONSCIENCE: "Any last words from you Paul?"

PAUL: “Wake up, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

CONSCIENCE: "Thank you so much panelists for your contributions and Master for your compassion and mercy for strayed children."

PANELISTS: “You’re welcome.”

“At least there is hope for a tree; if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its roots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water, it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.”
- Job

“Did I drift too far? Wait too long? Slip too much? Did I out-sin the love of God? I am a Christian. My desires, however, are anything but Christian. No child of God would have these battles. God may have given me a place back then, but he has no place for me now.”
That’s Satan sowing those seeds of shame. Like I said earlier, if he can’t seduce you with your sin, he’ll let you sink in your guilt, and make you believe that God can’t and won’t forgive you.
“God’s tired of your struggles,” he whispers. “Your father is weary of your petitions for forgiveness,” he lies. And many believe him; spending years convinced that they are disqualified from the kingdom. Can I go to the well of grace too many times? I don’t deserve to ask for forgiveness again.
Forgive my abrupt response, but who told you that you deserved forgiveness the first time? When you came to know Christ did he know every sin you’d committed up until that point? Yes. Did Jesus know every sin you would commit in the future? Yes, He knew that too. So Jesus saved you knowing all the sins you would ever commit until the end of your life? Yes. You mean he is willing to call you His child even though he knows each and every mistake of your past and future? Yes.
Sounds to me like God has already proven His point. If your sin were too great for His grace, he never would have saved you in the first place. Your temptation isn’t late-breaking news in heaven. Your sin doesn’t surprise God. He saw it coming. Is there any reason to think that the One who received you the first time won’t receive you every time? You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Jesus did. And you are special, not because of what you do, but because of who you are. You are His. The one who saved you first is there to save you still. Don’t procrastinate. Call on Him now, He loves you still.
Until next time, this is CONSCIENCE saying goodbye and remain in His grace.


SCRIPTURES USED IN ORDER OF USE

1. Romans 11: 21-24
2. John 6: 37
3. Luke 15: 11-24
4. Luke 15: 7
5. Luke 15: 5-6
6. Psalms 32: 3-5
7. Psalms 51: 17
8. 1 John 1: 9
9. 1 John 1: 9
10. 1 John 1: 9
11. John 8: 44b
12. Ephesians 5: 14
13. Job 14: 7-9

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