Cost of Discipleship Pt 50 All glory to God!

Chapter 7 The Visible Community

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Continuing from yesterday…

Bonhoeffer- 'The call of Christ makes those who respond to it the salt of the earth in their total existence.'

'The call of Jesus Christ means either that we are the salt of the earth, or else we are annihilated; either we follow the call or we are crushed beneath it. There is no question of a second chance.'

My thoughts.

Today it's really been sticking with me, thinking about yesterday's blog. Not only is Satan the walking, living dead, but everyone who rejects the offer of Salvation in Jesus Christ truly desiring to be His disciple NOT under cheap grace, but costly grace, are the living dead as well.

I was talking to my son about it today a bit, and he mentioned the show 'The Walking Dead.' It's a popular zombie television show. We discussed how amused Satan must be by the depiction of what man considers zombies- the dead still living in a very altered state which makes them prey on other non-living dead humans.  I've never watched the show but I've seen my share of zombie movies going way back. I believe it amuses Satan to no end because the truth is that he has a whole slew of zombies of his own. They are the living dead, just as He is and they prey upon others who are NOT living dead, seeking to turn them into the living dead as well-- all in a very real, very spiritual sense.

When we read Bonhoeffer saying-'The call of Christ makes those who respond to it the salt of the earth in their total existence.' We are reading truth, because Christ is the salt, Christ is what keeps us alive, and Christ must be in our TOTAL EXISTENCE not merely on the occasion that we happen to think of Him.  He is the CENTER of our lives, the LIFE FORCE of our Spiritual, Physical existence. Without Christ we are absolutely NOTHING, we are dead- just like salt that has lost it's savor is dead. It still exists, but it's useless, it flavors nothing. It might look like it is good, but it's not. We too can look like we are very healthy spiritual creatures living for our Savior, but the truth can be far different. He who knows whether or not we still retain our spiritual savor can tell the difference. We might fool everyone around us into believing we are something we are not. It might sound good on Bible study night, but come the next day we are back to living a life putting self first, and Christ somewhere else.

This is the truth- Bonhoeffer- ''The call of Jesus Christ means either that we are the salt of the earth, or else we are annihilated; either we follow the call or we are crushed beneath it. There is no question of a second chance.'

No question of a second chance, no question of living somewhere in between. If our salt loses it's savor every now and again, it's a HUGE deal.  We can't be partially savory salt and partially savorless salt. We are, or we aren't. We are Christ's or we aren't.

*

Continuing…

Bonhoeffer- '"Ye are the light."  Once again it is not "You are to be the light," they are ALREADY the light because Christ has called them, they are a light which is seen of men, they cannot be otherwise, and if they were it would be a sign that they had not been called.'

'The same Jesus who, speaking of himself, said, "I am the light," says to his followers: "You are the light in your whole existence, provided you remain faithful to your calling. And since you are that light, you can no longer remain hidden, even if you want to. It is the property of the light to shine.'

'Now they must be what they really are--otherwise they are not followers of Jesus. The followers are a visible community; their discipleship visible in action which lifts them out of the world-- otherwise it would not be discipleship. And of course the following is as visible to the world as a light in the darkness or a mountain rising from a plain.'

My thoughts-- 

The same principle as the salt. Being the light as Christ is the light means our total existence is to be HIS. If we truly are HIS, we will be HIS without being anything else.  You won't have to worry about being savory or shining, because you will be automatically. As a true disciple- this is truth! As a false disciple there are a lot of things you will be- even mingled with a false light and false savor so that you may THINK you are truly Christ's, but you are not.

*

Continuing…

Bonhoeffer- Is it in this light that the good works of the disciples are meant to be seen. Men are not to see the disciples but their good works, says Jesus. And these works are none other than those which the Lord Jesus himself has created in them by calling them to be the light of the world under the shadow of his cross. The good works are poverty, preregrination (traveling),  meekness, peaceableness, and finally persecution and rejection.  All these good works are a bearing of the cross of Jesus Christ.  The cross is the strange light which alone illuminates these good works of the disciples. Jesus does not say that men will see God;  they will see the good works and GLORIFY God for them.  The cross and the works of the cross, the poverty and renunciation of the blessed in the beatitudes, these are the things which will become visible. Neither the cross, nor their membership in such a community betoken any merit of their own-- the praise is due to GOD ALONE.  If the good works were a galaxy of human virtues, we should then have to glorify the disciples, not God. But there is nothing for us to glorify in the disciple who bears the cross, or in the community whose light so shines because it stands visibly on the hill-- only the Father which is in heave can be praised for the "good works." It is by seeing the cross and the community beneath it that men come to believe in God. But that is the light of the Resurrection.'

My thoughts-

The good works are NOT the things the world considers good works, not really.  I can't count the number of times that people have told me I need to be more assertive, more aggressive. And I'm not saying this presuming to have any great meekness (only by the grace of God will I ever have that through the grace and righteousness, the meekness of our Savior.)  But I'm saying this to emphasize the point that being meek is NOT considered a good work.  Being persecuted and facing rejection, is NOT something people truly believe is a good work.  Living a life for Christ is seldom, if ever, glorified by the world.  Those who do glorify God when they see these works manifested in those disciples of His on earth, comprehend that it is CHRIST in those men and women, living in them. They know it's NOT any goodness on that person's part at all, but it is the glory of God manifest in the works.

All our works whatever they are, are a result of GOD, not of anything we've manifested of ourselves. To GOD be the GLORY always!

If anyone ever glorifies God because they've seen His works manifested in us, all PRAISE TO OUR SAVIOR for such a honor, to be HIS disciple, to be USED by HIM, to LIVE by HIM and have Him live through us!  We NEED NO GLORY, NONE! All GLORY TO GOD!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 49 - Satan, the walking, living dead.

Chapter 7 The Visible Community

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Bonhoeffer -  'Up to now we must have had the impression that the blessed ones were too good for this world, and only fit to live in heaven. But now Jesus calls them the salt of the earth -- salt, the most indispensable necessity of life. The disciples, that is to say, are the highest good, the supreme value which the earth possesses, for without them it cannot live. They are the salt that sustains the earth, for their sake the world exists, yes, for the sake of these, the poor, ignoble and weak whom the world rejects. In casting out the disciples the earth is destroying its very life. '

My thoughts-

'Salt the most indispensable necessity of life.' 

Bonhoeffer is speaking truth, because it's true that without salt we can't live.  You hear about people diluting their bodies so much with water it throws off all the balance of the salt in their body and they end up dying because there isn't any salt left to keep the bodies organs working.

'Marathon runners are susceptible to water intoxication if they drink too much while running. This is caused when sodium levels drop below 135 mmol/L when athletes consume large amounts of fluid.'

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication> / '

Calling the disciples the SALT of the earth does tell us so much.  When Bonhoeffer said 'The disciples, that is to say, are the highest good, the supreme value which the earth possesses.'  The most important thing in the earth.  This salt the disciple possess comes from CHRIST, He alone gives them their worth! There is NO worth without CHRIST! Absolutely none.

Is this why we cannot really comprehend what God can comprehend? That LIFE is not worth anything, not a single thing, without Christ or the possibility of having Christ, without having HIM.  We fight this! Satan fought this and LOST life!  He is the epitome of the WALKING DEAD. 

No, angels can't die like us human's die, but they can and they will be DESTROYED permanently in the second death after the thousand years is up.

Satan was the FIRST to become the walking dead, the living dead and all who choose to live for him , rather than for CHRIST, are a part of the walking dead as well. They are mere living shells. We can't fathom that though, because we've been perverted by Satan to believe the lies that tell us we have worth all of our own, life, all on our own.

We mourn when we read of the hundreds of thousands of people killed during Old Testament - men, women, children. We look upon them as innocents caught up in the cruelty of a wrathful God.  They aren't innocent.  (Side note- children who are so young they aren't accountable for their sins, will not be guilty and their deaths will be vindicated with eternal life- the ultimate gift.)  Those who were killed were NOT truly alive. They had NO life in Christ Jesus their Lord and Savior to come, their CREATOR. They looked to OTHER gods and they chose death over life.

SATAN LIES and people listen to HIS LIES!

God would have ALL to be His, and none to be lost, but men are given FREE reign to choose their own path and if they decide they have no need of their CREATOR, their REDEEMER, then He will NOT force them to have LIFE in HIM.

When we do NOT choose LIFE through CHRIST JESUS we are choosing death, and people do NOT want to believe this  People call God CRUEL and unjust, unworthy of them.  They try to convince those who believe  in God that they are believing in a fictitious being, or a real being who is not worthy of worship.  They call us crazy, demented, stupid, and all manner of vile names when we stand up for our God, when we say HE is a JUST GOD! They do NOT comprehend the JUSTICE of our GOD, they cannot because they'd rather believe in themselves!

Is it cruel to say our world is truly filled with the living dead, or is it merely the truth, and factual?

Our Savior alone gives us true life it is found only in HIM, without HIM we are dead!

Only our LORD knows who has life in HIM, we can never presume on another's eternal life, never!

Please LORD, please help us to be the salt of the earth, alive IN YOU always!

Cost of Discipleship Pt. 48 This world is not our hope.

Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes

Bonhoeffer- 'Having reached the end of the beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place on this earth for the community which they describe.  Clearly, there is one place, and only one, and that is where the poorest, meekest, and the most sorely tried of all men is to be found-- on the cross of Golgotha.'

My thoughts-

TRUTH!

We can try all we want to find this place all around us, try to create it as we seek to be what our Savior so clearly longs for us to be. But He tells us that the place is ONLY found in Him.

We are to seek first the kingdom of God- and He is the kingdom of God.

Mat 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

If we do NOT seek the kingdom of God first we can't expect ANYTHING else, not a single thing.  We must bring ourselves to Christ first, surrendering ourselves to Him, and allowing Him to recreate us in the new birth, the new life in Him.  We have to surrender ourselves daily, because if we don't we will find ourselves trying to take back our own lives and steering it down our own path which isn't His.  It has to be HIS path, not ours, and all too often the only path we head towards is one of our own making. A daily surrender.  A constant surrender. A surrender always.

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Bonhoeffer- 'His disciples are reproached, but because it is for his sake, the reproach falls on him. It is he who bears the guilt. The curse, the deadly persecution and evil slander confirm the blessed state of the disciples in their fellowship with Jesus. It could not be otherwise, for these meek strangers are bound to provoke the world to insult, violence, and slander. Too menacing, too loud are the voices of these poor meek men, too patient and too silent their suffering. Too powerful are the testimony of their poverty and their endurance of the wrongs of the world. This is fatal, and so, while Jesus calls them blessed, the world cries: "Away with them, away with them!" Yes, but whither? To the kingdom of heaven.'

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Bonhoeffer- 'There shall the poor be seen in the halls of joy. With his own hand God wipes away the tears from the eyes of those who had mourned upon earth. He feeds the hungry at his Banquet. There stand the scarred bodies of the martyrs, now glorified and clothed in the white robes of eternal righteousness instead of the rags of sin and repentance. The echoes of this joy reach the little flock below as it stands beneath the cross, and they hear Jesus saying: "Blessed are ye!" '

My thoughts-

Imagine.

We have to imagine this as being a reality we hope for, we live for.

We can imagine our lives tomorrow. We make plans to do things, to go to the store, to go to school, to go on a trip, to stay home, we envision ourselves in the future at least as far as this. We also envision ourselves in many future situations. Some can see themselves getting married, having babies, getting a career, jobs. Others see the next major celebration, a birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.  We have this ability to make plans with ourselves in those plans. With this ability comes the ability, by the GRACE of GOD, to imagine ourselves as HIS, with HIM when He returns for us and calls us to meet Him in the air, to be his forever more.

We need to utilize this ability constantly, because our Hope is the KINGDOM of GOD we are to seek first.  The gospel, the good news that Jesus lived on earth to bring to US! He wants us to be with Him, to know this is the hope we have!

This world isn't our hope.

Jesus said-

Joh_17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Our hope must be in JESUS and HIS WORLD, the WORLD HE OFFERS, where HE prepares a place for us!

Joh 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Joh_14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also

By HIS LOVE!

Through HIS GRACE and MERCY!

ALWAYS!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 47 Persecuted

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Bonhoeffer- 'This does not refer to the righteousness of God,  but to suffering in a just cause, suffering for their own just judgments and actions. For it is by these that they who renounce possessions, fortune, rights, righteousness, honor and force for the sake of following Christ, will be distinguished from the world. The world will be offended at them, and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness' sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get from the world for their message and works. It is important that Jesus gives his blessing not merely to suffering incurred directly for the confession of his name, but to suffering in any just cause.  They receive the same promise as the poor, for in persecution they are their equals in poverty.'

My thoughts-

Distinguished from the world.

Suffering for being Christ like.

The suffering will come in many shapes and sizes, seriously.  We're not all going to be beaten, imprisoned, abused vocally. The persecution can come in many, many ways.

Have you ever been made to feel bad for doing something good?  Seriously, ever?  You did something nice and someone turns around and gives you grief for it.  That's a form of being persecuted for righteousness' sake. 

Of course we often retaliate when someone chides us for something we don't think we should be chided for. We get indignant.  We snap back at those who are persecuting us, and that is the spirit of Satan sneaking in using our failings to bring us down.  We can all it a natural reaction if we want to, because we LOVE to make excuses for our actions rather than admit the failure and fall to our knees crying out to be forgiven, to be helped, to be changed by the Holy Spirit.

I'm speaking from a lot of personal experience here, because this is a daily battle for me. I'm constantly finding myself on the defensive rather than being submissive to any sort of persecution. 

Also, being submissive to the persecution- isn't there a danger of resentment in there too, I mean, can't their be? And once there is resentment, a silent seething ire however small, it becomes just as bad as if we were outwardly defensive.

This is a very slippery slope to be sure and one I fight daily. And it is a fight, a spiritual fight, a battle that we are in. Satan is there encouraging every bit of ire, fanning any tiny flicker of flame he can find until it grows into a real inferno.  He is real, he is relentless, he is evil and he wants every single one of us!

How do we fight him?

With the weapons given to us.

Eph 6:17  ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

The Word of God!

We have the entire Bible and we have our SAVIOR!   With these weapons Satan can be defeated! We have to wield these weapons, truly wield them in a real way as if we were holding a sword in our hands.

We will be persecuted for righteousness' sake! We will! And the reward will be 'the kingdom of heaven' !  Life with our SAVIOR!

Please LORD, please! Help us to truly use the weapons you have provided for us! All by YOUR GRACE, YOUR LOVE, YOUR MERCY!

Christ is Returning, Ready or Not!

Luk 21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Luk 21:35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Luk 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

LOOK at YOURSELVES!

Are you all about overeating?

Are you all about getting drunk?

Are you all about the cares of this life?

Do you fall into any of those categories? Seriously, do you?

Are you consumed by food? 

You do NOT have to be overweight to be an over eater, a surfeiting person.

Dictionary def-

sur·feit  (sûr

v. sur·feit·ed, sur·feit·ing, sur·feits

v.tr.

To feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust.

v.intr. Archaic

To overindulge.

n.

1.

a. Overindulgence in food or drink.

b. The result of such overindulgence; satiety or disgust.

2. An excessive amount.

Pasted from <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/surfeiting>

Eating to excess, overindulging, eating more than you should.  How easy it is to do this, because in truth we don't need a lot of what we do eat. Where one bite would suffice, we take ten.  Where one sip would do, we down a whole glass.

Those of us living in the Western world, not hampered by devastating droughts and famines so  that our food supply is virtually non-existent, are consumed by surfeiting and the sad thing is, most people don't even realize it. I'm not saying that our government hasn't declared a war on obesity, but the surfeiting goes far beyond obesity.  We are obsessed with food and drink.  While many people would not dream of committing a crime of any sort, of sinning, few think little of surfeiting as a sin, as a real problem.

We are to TAKE HEED to ourselves.

If we do NOT take heed to ourselves then Christ's return will come upon us as a snare, we will NOT be ready!

Seriously!

Christ said to TAKE HEED to ourselves!  We have to look at ourselves and comprehend there are things that can stop us from being wholly His!

And before you count yourself lucky because you don't have a problem with food obsession, or alcohol, you HAVE to ask yourself if you are a worrier.  Seriously. It's not just overeating or over drinking that can ensnare you and keep you from being ready for Christ- it is also the -

CARES OF THIS LIFE.

Wow, right?

Who isn't caught up in the cares of this life?

We are not taught to NOT worry. We have learned the opposite. 

We are so consumed with worry over just about everything, that we have to medicate ourselves just to live. We have to numb ourselves so that worry doesn't cause us to lose all hope and give in to total despair. The trouble with medicating ourselves is we also run the risk of numbing our selves to a lot of other things.

So with this warning from Christ Himself- how are we to ever imagine we have any hope at all of being ready for Him?

Only through HIM.

Our lives have to be consumed by HIM, not by eating, drinking, and worrying about this life.

Consumed by Christ!

Does Christ mean more to you than food, drink, and this life?

He should.

Can you even imagine, the day arrives, Christ returns and you realize in that moment that food has kept you from eternal life? That drinking alcohol has kept you from eternal life? That worrying has kept you from eternal life?  It wasn't that you murdered someone, it wasn't because you hated Christ, it wasn't because you were too selfish, it wasn't because you lied, it wasn't because you were disobedient and hateful to your parents, it wasn't because you abused others, but because you were consumed by your flesh desire for food, drink, and by worrying.

We don't want to imagine that those things could actually keep us from Christ!

But it our Savior Himself who has warned us in no uncertain terms that those very things can ensnare us so that we are unaware that the coming of our Savior is so much more important than all these things!

Have we regulated Christ's return as being the most important thing in our lives?  Or have we shoved it under a pile of food, drink, and worry?

When do we think about Christ and His return?  Is it the first thing upon waking up, the last thing upon going to sleep, do we have a study hour that we've regulated thought about Christ to that time? Christ is returning, ready or not! Preferably, ready and not unaware.

All by the grace of God!

All through His Love!

His Mercy!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 46 Peacemakers

Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes

Mat_5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Bonhoeffer- 'The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. His kingdom is one of peace, and the mutual greeting of his flock is a greeting of peace. His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce all self-assertion, and quietly suffer in the face of hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate. But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than were they meet the wicked in peace and ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ's work of reconciliation they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God.'

1Jn_3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

My thoughts-

Peacemakers.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Php 2:16  Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation we live.  No one can truly dispute this fact. And being in the midst of it we will truly stand our as LIGHTS in the world if we are NOT a part of the crookedness, the perverseness.  How easy it is to laugh at the crude joke, to smile at the perverted words that so many today call normal and good. How incredibly easy it is to fit in with the world by sacrificing truth and accepting evil for good.  To be a peacemaker truly means being wholly Christ's and while the world, perverted as it is, immerses itself ever deeper into the vile mire of evil, it means NOT being a part of anything that would destroy the peace of Christ, His truth!

Remember this--

Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

And this--

Joh_16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Christ's PEACE is left with US.

In the world we will have TRIBULATION- but we are to BE OF GOOD CHEER because Christ has overcome the world!

This is the peace we have.

Christ said this--

Mat_10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

That sword is HIS WORD!

Eph_6:17  ...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Joh 1:4  In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Joh 1:5  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Our Savior, the Word, truth!

Our Savior did not come to bring peace on earth- HIS WORDS, NOT MINE!

Our Savior came to bring the TRUTH on earth!

Our Savior came to bring HIS PEACE, the peace found ONLY IN HIM and NOT in the world!

Blessed are the peacemakers-  those who understand that peacemaking is living in CHRIST wholly trusting in Him and all His ways, and not our own!

Yes, in the face of adversity we are to be strong IN CHRIST. We are not to render evil unto evil! We have been taught this is the way it is, that it's only fair for us to stand up for ourselves even being mean and nasty while we do so, because we are only giving it to someone who deserves it. The truth says otherwise! The truth says we must be PEACEMAKERS even if that means TRULY turning the other cheek so it can be slapped, and turning it again to be slapped, and again, and again, letting vile people continue their evil without us being evil in return but rather PEACEFUL IN CHRIST as CHRIST would have us be, not as we want, not as our evil flesh nature wants, but as CHRIST would have us be in the Spirit with HIM.

This is harder than you can imagine.

In our every day lives there comes constant little nit picking nastiness that we are so incredibly used to that we don't even realize that we are being far from peacemakers but giving evil for evil, not even attempting to turn a cheek for another slap but raising our arms to give a few slaps of our own.  We do this! We are GUILTY! We don't want to admit our guilt but it's there! We want to excuse our guilt!  But there is NO excuse for our GUILT! NO EXCUSE!  We must ask for forgiveness recognizing the sin in our lives in the smallest of ways, not try to excuse it away, but seek forgiveness for every single cocky, contrary, bickering, biting, word we speak and try to justify under the world's standard of justification.

We need to be PEACEMAKERS, Christ's disciples!

All by HIS GRACE, MERCY, HIS LOVE!

Save us!

Cost of Discipleship Pt 45 Pure heart

Chapter 6 - The Beatitudes

Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Bonhoeffer- 'Who is pure in heart? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that he may reign in them alone. Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil-- and by their own virtues too. The pure in heart have a child-like simplicity like Adam before the fall, innocent alike of good and evil: their hearts are not ruled by their conscience, but by the will of Jesus. If men renounce their own good, if in penitence they have renounced their own hearts, if they rely solely upon Jesus, then his word purifies their hearts. Purity of heart is here contrasted with all outward purity, even the purity of high intentions. The pure heart is pure alike of good and evil, it belongs exclusively to Christ and looks only to him who goes on before. Only they will see God, who in this life have looked solely unto Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For then their hearts are free from all defiling phantasies and are not distracted by conflicting desires and intentions. They are wholly absorbed by the contemplation of God. They shall see God, whose hearts have become a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ.'

My thoughts-

We can't see our hearts, people can't see our hearts, our inner workings, are innermost thoughts and beliefs.  All too often you'll hear tell how shocked people are, when people they know commit crimes. They think they know the people but they really don't. We don't know the heart. But we do know that God can create a clean heart in us.

Psa_51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

If we want a pure heart there is only ONE way to have a pure heart- by God creating it in us.

We cannot create our own pure heart, it's impossible.

Bonhoeffer saying this- 'Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil and by their own virtues too.' 

Undefiled by our own evil.  We understand that. We know that we are not to be evil. But is it true, can our hearts be defiled by our own virtues, too? Our hearts can be puffed up with vanity, we can be ruined by well doing when we turn it into something for ourselves and not of God.

Our hearts are tricky things aren't they?

We want to do good, but we do things that aren't good. We want self to be satisfied, not realizing that were we given everything material in the world we still would not be satisfied.  Whether rich or poor we have to deal with our ever tricky heart.

Our hearts need cleansing to be pure, and only our Savior can cleanse our hearts.

David said the following-

1Ch 29:17  I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee.

1Ch 29:18  O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee:

1Ch 29:19  And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.

Prepare their heart unto thee.

Give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart.

God prepares, God gives, God creates when it comes to our hearts!

Mat_5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Bonhoeffer says- 'They shall see God, whose hearts have become a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ'

This is because it is Christ who has cleansed our hearts, creating new hearts within us.

This new heart belongs to Christ! He knows this new heart!

We need to choose Christ always in all things, allowing HIM to purify our hearts. 

Heb 10:22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

1Pe 1:22  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

Christ offers.

We choose.

Every single day!

Every single moment!

Christ will purify our hearts, we must surrender our hearts to Him to purify.

We cannot keep a hold of our heart devising our own ways, and expect Christ to purify our ways. We must take hold of Christ's ways.

Please LORD, make our hearts PURE in YOU!

All by YOUR LOVE! Your amazing purifying love.