I’m almost done here, so let me conclude the “9 evidences” before I move on to other trains of thought. The three other aspects of Christian character and maturity I’d like to talk about are:
Worship and Truth: We often think that worship is something we only do in church, but sometimes when worship is mentioned in the Bible, it’s not in reference to an organized church service at all. It is personal worship. Here are some examples:
Genesis 24:26 – Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,
Exodus 34:8 – Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
John 9:8 – Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
The common trait with worship is that it is done in the presence of the One being worshiped, that is, God. It is grim to worship in a setting where the Spirit of God is not present. Worship has little meaning if it’s not in God’s presence. Jesus further said in John 4:22:
“…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is (a) spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
He said we must worship “in Spirit and in Truth”. What does that mean? Worshiping in truth means being real before God – he knows our motives anyway, so why try to hide? It also means HIS truth, not ours. The fashion these days is folks making up a gospel of their own and following it.
Some lifestyles are now accepted by churches that have made up their own ‘gospel’, because “God loves everyone”. What poison for those who believe that “truth”! They and their version of truth will be rejected by the Truth.
Folks are just hilarious sometimes. Like the golden calf, they will create their own religion, throw the Name of Christ into it and think God will bless it. I think sometimes that many who pass the gates of hell are as completely shocked as they were completely deceived.
How is your personal worship life? Do you have one? Do you spend time worshiping Him in the “beauty of His holiness”? Our public worship should be an outflow from our personal life of worship.
Is your worship in Spirit or based on ritual, form and function? The driest churches are those whose service formats are fixed in stone. God couldn’t break in even if He wanted to. Don’t believe it? Read where; “…they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”. (Psalm 78:41). I have nothing against structure and certainly I love services that start on time. However, we must remain open to the Spirit. We must be led by Him and not by formats or schedules.
Love: Paul, in 1 Peter 1:22, says;
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
The final “evidence” is love. This facilitates the entire Christian life and allows our faith to work—faith works through love. We love with His love. I think if we had to love with our love, it would be a rougher world than it already is. Remember how we gossip about people because we are ‘concerned’ and want to “pray for them”? Or how we advise people in certain directions because their actions will benefit us? Or how folks seek to control others in order to gratify a controlling spirit? Our love must be sincere, not selfishly motivated.
