Just as Queen Esther was strategically planted in a position to save her people (Esther 4), we who make up the remnant know we were born for this difficult time in world history when God's designs for gender, sex, and pre-born life are being mocked and despised and when people who trust God's loving principles are being shamed and slandered.
Sadly, there are others who profess to know Christ who are choosing to walk away from biblical truths in favor of culture. When friends or family members choose sinful lifestyles, they first excuse them and later defend them. They are the first to say "It's not our place to judge" when someone expresses concern for the immoral behaviors embraced by culture.
They call themselves Christians, but they have more in common with the lost souls in our world, those who've never professed to know Christ, those who blindly follow culture (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The unfaithful make it even more difficult for the remnant, but the remnant is undeterred. We've counted the cost and put on the full armor of God (Luke 14:25-33; Ephesians 6:10-20). We recognize that these hardships are part of God's plan, and we won't let them deter us from unashamedly sharing the true gospel (Romans 8:18-25; Romans 1:16).
If you are sitting on the sideline, I encourage you to join the remnant in defending the faith (2 Corinthians 10:5).
For more en-courage-ment see:
Bible Love Notes
This Bible study is interesting to me as it is something I have been thinking about. It is interesting to see men and women of God dismiss though who disagree with them as not being part of "the remnant", or even to say they are not Christians. That is a very serious thing to do spiritually, knowing we will all be called to account for our actions.
ReplyDeleteWhile there are those who not not saved, I would immediately question any Christians who puts someone into that category because of disagreement. I've seen this a few times online and as I said, SO dangerous spiritually
Hi Beverly,
DeleteScripture commands us to judge a great many things: bad companions, bad influences, false teachings, etc. It commands us to confront Christians who are living sinful lifestyles to bring them back to God. Judgement is part of God's love. Ephesians 5:1-16 commands us to "walk in the way of love" exposing "the fruitless deeds of darkness." If we remain silent or approve lifestyles which damage people's souls, we're not walking in the way of love.
So all of that is about addressing a specific person or ministry and it's commanded in Scripture.
Here's a few of the passages that command us to judge people and teachings: Matthew 7:15-20, Matthew 18:15, Galatians 6:1, James 5:19-20, 1 Corinthians 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Ephesians 5: 5-7.
And in this devotion, I didn't actually address anyone or any ministry specifically, but I described a category of Christians who are not living for the Lord.
And you feel that's wrong. You describe that as dismissing people who disagree with us.
And then, in your comment, you "question any Christian who puts someone into that category" and say it's dangerous spiritually.
You say that it's wrong to question anyone's Christianity and then you question the Christianity of anyone who questions anyone's Christianity.
There's a lot of contradiction in your comment, Beverly, and it's not Scripturally accurate.
We must be careful about describing ourselves as the remnant and others as "professing" Christians though. Spiritually, that is a very dangerous thing to do as we cannot see into people's hearts/reasoning and Jesus was hardest on those who saw themselves in a good light and condemned those who they thought were not as good. Just a perspective I have seen played out on social media.
ReplyDeleteThe Pharisees judged hypocritically. They judged others with a measure that they didn't use for judging themselves. And yes, that happens a great deal on social media and in comments on blogs.
DeleteAnd we cannot judge people's hearts, but we can and should judge their lifestyles and their actions when they violate Scripture. It's an important aspect of walking in the love of Christ.
There's a common belief, not based on Scripture, that Jesus only confronted the Pharisees and rarely addressed the sins of others. But this is what Jesus told His unbelieving brothers "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil."
It's become extremely popular to say nothing about sin, but it's not a biblical attitude.