I’m thankful that I was able to muster sufficient time to take one of my many-mile mega-walks today.  As mentioned several times in the past, other than the time spent “hunkered down” in my daily Bible memory sessions, these walks are probably my most prized and precious pastime or activity of any kind.  Because (very similar to my memory sessions, not surprisingly) they invigorate me physically, stimulate me mentally, inform me intellectually (just being amid nature does that ever time!) and renew me spiritually since I’m able to focus on and listen to and speak with the Lord with utmost intensity and clarity and consistency (thus giving a whole new meaning and texture to the phrase “walking  with the Lord” =).

Today’s walk was without a doubt the most creativity-drenched I’ve ever experienced; literally, I’d walk a fraction of a mile and another interesting and impactful thought would come to me.  And right after filtering it through my mind, a new one would manifest itself… so instead of trying to cram them all into a single post, I think it would be better to publish five of these distinct thoughts in their very own post; I won’t include the billion little, split-second thoughts, just the big ones, of which there are several so, specifically, these next five  posts (starting with this one) will convey those thoughts that hit me along the way on my walk today.

Okay, let me say without delay if I may that I’m definitely, absolutely, certainly NOT sinless… but I do sin less  each year than the one before.

You see, though saved, even saints slip on a proverbial banana peel (or, for fellow alliteration lovers, proverbial plantain  peel =) from time to time; the key is firstly to confess and repent of that sin (1 John 1:9) (the sooner, the better) and secondly that, like the chart of a failing stock, the presence, the occurrence of sin in a Christian’s life should surely show a clear trend DOWNWARD.  (Or conversely, righteousness and good deeds in a Christian’s life should have a consistent UPWARD trend overall, like the sun that gets brighter and brighter as the morning progresses.)

• “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the fullness of day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

Which is why we are warned by the Bible’s magnificent mirror multiple  times to check the “stock chart” of our life to see whether or not there is in fact that upward trend of goodness and downward trend of sin, since such signifies and indeed confirms that a person is truly saved and thus headed for heaven when their time on earth ends.

• “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10)
• “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!  Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
• “Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.  But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.  But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.  If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.  This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:21-27)
• “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:  anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.  He who does not love abides in death.  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.  We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.  But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.  We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.  And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.  And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.  And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:10,14-24, emphasis added)

In other words… during our time on earth (which, compared to eternity, is like a single breath you see for a split second in cold weather according to James 4:14) Christianity has NOTHING to do with being sinless.  But the Bible bids us to be crystal clear that Christianity has EVERYTHING to do with sinning less.  Or put most simply and concisely:  a Christian will NOT be sinless  but WILL sin less  overall from the time of our spiritual birth (the “born again” of John 3:3,7 and the “born of water and the Spirit” of verse 5) to our physical death (or, for a comparative few, Christ’s return or as it’s often called, the Rapture, which will preempt death at that time).

The Bible blesses us by giving these clear and wise words of warning; likewise, the goal and pointed purpose of this post is NOT that you’ll question your salvation but rather than you’ll CONFIRM it, i.e., to increase confidence and destroy doubt.

And derail deception.  You see, for our entire time on earth, our sin nature within will never stop trying to deceive us…

• “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

… to make us think we’re headed for heaven when we’re actually headed for hell, or to make us think we’re headed for hell when we’re actually headed for heaven.  The fallen human heart hungers and constantly seeks to deceive; it literally plays both sides of that equation.  This is exactly why it’s so important to take time at regular intervals to truly and honestly look at our lives through the lens and “mirror” of the Bible to CONFIRM that we are indeed redeemed, to not just believe but KNOW that we’ve been born again.

 

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