Homeward Bound

Eden was the place where man saw His God and Father directly, there was no sin to create separation between the made and the maker. The sonship was complete. It was perfect, meaning it was also without sin. When the fall came, that all changed. 

It is one of the reasons why I say sin is separation from God, because in looking at the Edenic Estate, we know that it separates us from the presence of God in the physical, and in the spiritual.

And what is reestablished in Christ is the spiritual first, it is the foundation upon which we build. The journey home, and reaching there, is the only way to reestablish our physical ability to be with God, in His presence, before His throne. Our Walk Of Faith is all about that journey, it is about bringing back the dominion of God into our lives. 

The word “kingdom” literally means “the dominion of the king”. And when we reestablish our relationship with Him, and are no longer separated by sin, that is what takes place, God's dominion expressing in our lives. So in other words, we move back into His kingdom, or like the prodigal son—we return home.

We do this in our Walk Of Faith, or again in being just like our Master, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our discipleship is to Him, our emulation (our doing and being just like Him) is the only way home, because He is the only road that leads us there. That is why He is “way, truth and the life” because it is literally true by definition.

So our walk must reflect the real process of our Son or Daughter relationship, through Christ, to our Father. It re-establishes our relationship with Him and gets rid of the false props, desires, promises and hopes, of Corporate religion. It is a true path that leads us home, but then again in Christ it would.

Again remember Jesus Himself said in John 14:6:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

So when Christ quoted the Psalms concerning us being Gods, He of course was right. Are we Gods in the sense of the New Age concept of deity in human guise? Of course not. Christ was speaking directly to sonship and relationship. Hens have chicks, dogs have puppies, and God has children of the divine. We are literally baby Gods. But we have fallen and lost that heritage. And like every loving parent, when a child falls down, they encourage them to get back up again.

This is our Walk Of Faith in action.

So when we think upon our relationship with God, it now makes sense when in Philippians it states that Christ thought it not robbery to be equal to God and we are to think the same way. Why? Because as His children, when we grow up we will be like Him—not be Him! As humans it is an expectation that our children will grow and mature into adults, and be just like us. Why then do we not consciously apply this to our relationship with God?

So a final thought to consider: an important aspect of any healthy and vibrant relationship, especially in having a relationship with God, through our discipleship in Christ, we must give our hearts fully, totally and completely to Him.

So now we find ourselves with a new to understanding what the body of Christ is, and what it actually means to our Walk Of Faith. This is not an exercise in theological thinking, but rather a needful understanding of how we relate to our Father, and how He relates to us. 

When I first thought about writing this I was going to look up scriptures and offer them as reference. I then realized that it doesn’t take scripture from the Bible to answer this question, it just takes a little honesty and a real relationship with Jesus Christ. 

We have all heard the phrase “Sunday Christian” and know what it means. For a person to give enough time to God to sit on a pew for a couple of hours on Sunday and then never giving Him a second thought, as if all requirements were met and all rewards assured. Hardly. 

But are those of us who profess our Christianity not only in the words we speak, but in the actions of our everyday lives, doing enough ourselves? Can we stand shoulder to shoulder with Paul, Peter, Daniel or John? Could we declare, like Elijah, that we are men and women of God and have the heavens confirm it? Only you can answer that, I only offer that you should look at your relationship with God and find your answer, it is important to your walk, and your life. 

I never gave it much thought as I always try to do my best in my walk with God. However, it was the word “try” that came to my attention recently in a conversation with my daughter. We were watching a movie called “The Messiah: Prophecy Fulfilled” with Nick Mancuso as the Rabbi Yudah. He was preaching in the town square when a bystander named Zechariah declared, “I try to keep all the commandments” and Yudah answered, “trying is not enough, God said that you must be Holy even as I am Holy!” 

Now movies, even good ones (and this is), aren’t usually my frame of reference for living a Christian life. But it reminded me of the passage in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father, which art in heaven, is perfect.” Hmmm, there goes that uncomfortable niggle in the spirit again. It was time to get understanding. 

I only had to look as far as the above mentioned disciples and prophets and their lives. I had to ask the hard questions like, do I really exemplify the life of Christ in all that I say, do, think and feel? Do I keep my heart in constant contact and prayer with God’s spirit? Do I expect and live in a miracle-filled world? Is my first response to anything a Godly one? And many more like these. 

Many Christians are living a life of compromises. They do just enough to feel comfortable with their Christianity while allowing themselves to become part of the world around them. They focus on climbing the corporate ladder, socializing with friends at ball games and the like. They worry about debt, the economy and world events. They fret over what the neighbors think and their place in society. And I ask you, where is God in all this?  

In the New Testament it states that we are a peculiar people, a royal priesthood a holy nation. Not if no one can tell us apart from the world. And many Christians strive to not stand out in a “worldly” crowd. Where is the testimony? Where is the faith? Where is the Christ-like living? If it walks like the world, talks like the world, does “just like” the world, and we know where that all leads to. 

I challenge you to really think about it. 

I could go on, but it isn’t necessary. What is necessary however, if you are serious about your Christian faith and your walk with God and Christ, is for your to answer for yourself that question we started this discussion with; are you really Christian? 
  
One of the most telling points throughout out Christian history is the divisive nature of the faith. There have always been those who are legalistic, caustic, apostic, opportunistic, and of course, the truly faithful. It is interesting to note that many can not define what Christianity really is, much less how to appropriately apply it in their own lives. 
  
A sad commentary indeed on the state of Christianity today, and again, of all time.

Being Christian is not something you do, it is something that you are, and the actions will flow from there. I could quote a myriad amount of scripture here to support what I am about to say, however, as the debates rage and the attacking continues it is quite obvious that the Word Of God is the first casualty of this war—and it is a war! 

See the greatest deterrent to Christianity is other Christians. Just look around you and you will find that many who profess are not examples of the very thing they are claiming to be. That is the cultural and dictionary definition of what apostacy is, and what many in the faith are actually living. 

There is a difference between what a Christian is, and what the Body Of Christ is. Especially by today's standards.

Being Christian is a label to identify (hopefully) a specific set of doctrinal beliefs, being in the Body Of Christ is a definition of our relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Many are Christians, but fewer are of the Body Of Christ. It is much like the difference between being a gifted singing Artist, and merely singer. 

Without help, the singer really is nothing more than a pretty face, which is bolstered by those (musicians) who are really doing the heavy lifting. An artist is one who can give voice to an aria of sublime magnificence. The two are as different as night and day. Of course today there are many who don't qualify for either, much as Christianity is today.

Many are adept, or not so adept as the case may be, in giving a good show and performing outwardly for all to see, however the true disciple of Christ shines forth even in the blackest of night. They are a true reflection of the light of God that is indwelling within, and made manifest for all to see. 

What will others see? If they are true members of the body of Christ, others will see Christ in all that the person says, does, thinks and feels. They become the very things they have set their minds, focus, and offered their hearts to become, Children Of God in every sense of the word. 

We are admonished, like Abram in Genesis, to walk before our God and be perfect, reflecting the character of our calling, and circumspect (thinking carefully about something before you say or do it) in our Walk Of Faith. When you discipline yourself to something (hence the discipleship) you are striving to become that thing, in this case like Jesus Christ.

Like a great athlete who practices, day in and day out, to become a great runner, or basketball player, or any endeavor, they become that thing which they have fashioned their lives around. And thus the defining characteristic of the calling, to be that which we are called to. That IS the power of discipleship.

In the divisive nature of those who claim the right to a godly inheritance, many will be disappointed with the status they will truly receive. Many will be the calls to take the lower seat at God's banquet table. Earthly pride, arrogance, and other traits of dissension, and self-importance, are checked in at the door and not allowed inside. 

Indeed no shirt (or mantle of Christ) no service! 

When we look at the diverse roads each of us are on, it is good to remember that road is not Pentecostal, Lutheran, Baptist, et al, but rather, Joe, Felicity, Aaron, Maria, Gwen and Steven. In short, the road is in the heart of every man, woman and child, placed there by God. The destination is the same, but no two walk the same road, as also no two relationships are the same, be they earthly or divine. 

We can question false doctrine, misguided thought and ill conceived perceptions concerning the teachings of God and His Word. And are called to do so.

But we can not question a person's relationship with God, because we are not in the other's relationship with God. We are outside, voyeurs looking at the earthly reflection of what is divinely established, a love bond and kinship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is a realm that no man has traversed in another's shoes, but rather can only be a companion and friend on the road of life together. 

We are admonished to uplift, love and support one another, in the bonds of peace. We are to be a waymark perhaps, but not a stumbling block. Our example is to be an inspiration to others to want to be in the Body Of Christ, and a child of God. It is our lives that are the testimony, not our words or our actions, but both in the harmony of our living. 

God is the power, the fabric upon which all creation is hung; He needs no one to fill in for Him. He simply calls us to love, and walk our walk of faith uprightly. The question is really quite simple in our lives, are we Christians, or are we of the Body Of Christ? 

Or in a true sense, are we His Children? 

Are we a reflection of all that He is, doing that which He has done, loving as He has loved, and walking the paths of righteousness that He so lovingly blazed over two thousand years ago? His legacy still stands, His promises are new EVERY morning, and His spirit sustains us even today. We do not bear the vine, but as branches it is the vine that bears us. In Him do we have adoption, and in Him are we justified?

Just remember that no man can judge us, for that is the purview of God alone. 

Let us heed the call to love one another. Because it is in the bonds of love wherewith we make our election sure. It is the heart that defines our faith, and our mind that defines our understanding of God's truth. But it is our relationship with God that defines our inheritance. 
  
Make sure that what you receive is the divine glory of sonship, under Christ, rather than the glass beads of the worldly nature. We are not of prdition but of a divine inheritance in Christ if so be we walk in the principles of faith, and the mantle of His calling. We are all prodigal sons and daughters of God, and we are ardently striving to find our way back home. 
  
Let no man be an obstacle on this journey home. 
  
So I once was asked, is the only one way to determine if someone is a Christian, is to judge them?

Actually no, you don't determine who is a Christian, only God does. To us it is niether needful or given to do. We can discern their fruits, and what they profess, and even to a degree the why of what they do. But God knows the why someone does what they do, we don't have that capacity. But to know that there are criteria for what a Christian is, and the difference between that, and one who is of the Body Of Christ, that we do have a sure guide for—the Word of God. 

We are never called to judge, notwithstanding the oft quoted verse in John. We are to discern that which is of God, and that which is not. They are external, or to put it simply, seen. The personal integrity of the individual's Walk Of Faith with God, is just that, theirpersonal walk with God. When we sit in the judgement seat, however good our intentions, we are out of line with God's Word. 

It is a simple thing to say someone has stolen something, the proof is physical and evidentiary, but to call someone a thief, for a single act, is to judge things we have no experience of, and no sure knowledge. 

When we address our sisters and brothers in Christ, it is to witness truth, and that is a fact. But when we witness to their faults and failings AS PEOPLE we have lost the example of love that Christ gives us to follow. Judge acts, yes, judge people, no. Discern that there may be faulty thinking, or misguided understanding, but do not judge the quality of character of the person themselves. 

When we associate with someone in an intimate and personal way for a long period of time, we can discern their proclivities, and even perhaps their motivations. But without in depth knowledge of what they believe in their hearts, where they come from (physically and spiritually), and first hand knowledge of their life experiences, we can only know OF them and not know truly WHO they are. 

Because if we even knew those things, we still don't know the person they are inside, and their relationship with God. Let me explain.

If you are around someone who steals constantly and consistently, they are by example a thief. If a man preaches every Sunday in church, again, by example, he is a preacher. The example being the evidence of your eyes to the outside conditions and actions. However to say that preacher is esteemed before the throne of God above the thief, is to qualify what we see. 

Perhaps the thief steals to feed his children and simply to survive, and the preacher preaches to gain the fame, fortune, and power over others. The thief has done wrong with a good heart, and in that there is the ability for forgiveness and redemption. However, the preacher has done good to receive that which is of the world and contrary to God's Word, the preacher may be ultimately unable to be redeemed. But looking at the outside actions, without the inside knowledge, one would suppose the thief is the lost soul, when in fact it is the preacher instead. 

In this we learn that actions are OUTSIDE things, and our Christian faith (which is a very real and dynamic relationship with God) is about INSIDE things. We can see the outside, but are blind to what may lie within a person's heart. We do well to follow the unction to discern, be wise and judge not IN ANY THING. 

In this we follow ALL of God's commandments, and stay away from sure judgement ourselves. 

So the question is asked again, are you really Christian? What side of these principles of faith do you stand on? What part of our Walk Of Faith do you adhere to, shunning the rest? These are not questions for me to know the answers to, however they are needful to any disciple of Christ to know. 
  
In that we gain, or lose, eternity. And that is the journey home.
  
Be blessed, be loved and be at peace. May the light of God's glory and presence fire the brilliance of your souls. You are greatly loved.