All to the Glory of God!

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.--I Cor. 10:31

'We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction. Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making
every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.'  --The Pursuit of God  by A.W. Tozer

Truly we have fallen into a horrible trap when we try to lead two lives- one for God, and one for the sin-filled flesh we are. Does this mean we don't have special worship time? NO.  God is first, or SHOULD be first in EVERYTHING we do.   Yes, everything! If we step out of God's view at any moment we are NOT living with Christ in us.  We can have our set aside times for deeper worship, but God needs to be in all we do, this isn't a joke. This isn't idle talk. This isn't some unrealizable hope. This is TRUTH.

Whether we are EATING-

Whether we are DRINKING-

WHATSOEVER we are DOING-

-we DO ALL to the GLORY OF GOD.

This is TRUTH!

Can we slip? Yes, we can let a temptation sweep us away but as SOON as we recognize that falling away we need to repent and seek forgiveness. Ideally we don't fall to temptation, there is NO green light for sinning at any time for any reason.  We must live to the glory of God and by HIS power through the Holy Spirit by the love of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of our Savior we are enveloped in HIS righteousness, His blood covering our sins.

And lest anyone try and soft peddle this to you, do NOT believe that it will be an easy road paved smoothly without any bumps.  It's a very narrow way. We can expect to be buffeted on all sides.

2Co_12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Satan will buffet us at every opportunity.  Satan will remind us how awfully sinful we are. Satan will point out to us every reason why we are unacceptable to God. Satan will try to convince us that it is impossible to live in Christ, to be Christ's, to live sinless through Christ's righteousness. Satan LOVES to point out the smallest of our errors and is loathed to have us ever forget the biggest of them.  Satan wants to lead us to despair and will do ALL in His power to bring us to the point of believing we are without hope.

And Christ has done ALL in His power to give us that hope!

When we are told to pray always it is no surprise not really. Because we are in God's presence at all times. We like to pull down the shades and lock our doors, but they never keep God's presence out, He is always in our lives through our good and bad. Every record of our lives is kept, there is nothing left out.  Christ has promised that if we believe in Him, believe in the LOVE He alone has for us His creatures, His brothers and sisters in humanity, that He will through the power of the blood sacrifice that He made forgive us our every sin.  Christ is our HOPE and our LIFE, all our life! 

Sin, especially deliberate sin will separate us from God as long as it is left unrepentant and unforgiven. And while everything in our lives is recorded and known that does not give us automatic forgiveness and understanding. We choose.  There are many, many people who will happily declare their freedom from believing in God, and they have that. If they want the separation they will be separate because God will NOT force Himself on anyone. God is still there for each and every one of them should they have their eyes opened, their hearts convicted of the truth. Make no mistake though, God will NOT bring every one into His kingdom and it will be through NO FAULT of His own. He will NOT FORCE heaven or eternal life in Him upon any one at all, not a single person is forced to believe, not one!  Those same people who choose to reject Him, those who refuse to accept His truth in all things revealed, those who only make a pretense of being a Christ follower, all of these people will not see heaven upon Christ's return.  Some will expect it, knowing they made the choice and are now proven foolish in their decision, others will be shocked believing their own brand of Christianity should have been enough to see them through.  May we be among those found only in HIS truth, in HIS righteousness, known by Him, loved by Him.

Let us LIVE our lives in CHRIST.  No, most of us are not preachers making a living preaching our faith, we are laymen but our lives must be lived in Christ just the same. Please, do not put Christ up on a shelf only taking Him down as needed, Christianity does NOT work that way. He is forever needed. Just as we would not divest ourselves of our own flesh and blood, Christ should be that much a REAL part of us and our lives.

May we, through Christ be truly HIS! 

All through Him and His power, in His love and mercy now and forever!

AMEN.