"Yet take heed not to be doing your righteousness in front of men, in order to be gazed at by them, otherwise surely you have no wages with your Father who is in the heavens. Whenever, then, you may be doing alms, you should not be trumpeting in front of you, even as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they should be glorified by men. Verily, I am saying to you, they are collecting their wages!"
Matthews Account 6: 1-2, Concordant New Testament
I was reminded once again this week of the lengths some will go to in order to further their image. A friend reminded me of a local pastor who it seemed to measure his success by the number of Facebook likes he received. Of course, my own personal view of a pastors duties certainly clash with this world based thinking. I see a pastor as a shepherd of the family of the ecclesia, the church body of Christ Jesus {Paul to the Ephesians 1:22}. The role of the pastor is not one of absolute authority or divinity, but of guidance. A good pastor leads the body of Christ into a knowing Him. Sadly, many of todays church leadership have not learned that lesson. Yet we cannot and should not place all of the blame for this shortcoming upon the shoulders of our church leaders. For the lie spoken unto Adam and Eve in the garden by the deceiver was that if they were to eat of the tree forbidden by the Lord that they would, in essence, "Be like God" {Genesis 3:5}. This has led to the belief that mankind has somehow become separated from God. But nothing could be further from the truth. We know from scripture that God has and will never leave us {Deuteronomy 31:6}. How is it that we could be separated from God Who has created us {Genesis 1:27}? The lie spoken by Satan in the garden goes down as one of the biggest con jobs in history. Even the church has gotten on board, teaching that all we could ever hope for is to "Be like" Jesus. Yet the words of the apostle Paul speak to the presence of Christ in us {Paul to the Galatians 2:20}. We know from scripture that Jesus has spoken of our union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. There has never been a time when God has not been an intimate part of who we are.
In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Johns Account 14: 20, Concordant New Testament
So, what is it with believers believing that they are what is important? Isn't our focus supposed to be on Jesus? The world is indeed an arena, and many of the Lords children put on a performance there. The belief is that we ourselves are in charge of our own lives. We're to make the most of it before we "Punch our ticket" to eternity with the Father in heaven. If this is your thinking, you're missing the point entirely. How is it that you can proclaim that the earth and heavens were created by God and yet in the same breath declare that you are in charge of your own life? Believe me, God has not taken a back seat in your life, but your thinking has become deceived by the lie of Satan. Growing up in the mainstream church theology, I was raised believing that I could never be in union with my heavenly Father. My own sin prevented that from happening. Yet it is Jesus who became sin on the cross that we would be united with Him {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. It is Jesus who died ONCE for all that we would be free of the chains which bound us {Paul to the Romans 6:10}. Therefore, the only one who is preventing you from realizing your union with Christ...is you. You have become blinded by the lie of the deceiver. But Jesus does not hold that against you by any means. It is Christ who has come that through Him all would be saved {Johns Account 3:16-17}. The world arena might lead you to believe that you are the main attraction, but the truth of Christ Jesus reveals that He is the reason for all things {Johns Account 1:1-3}.
~Scott~
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