With all the beauty of the creation of man sin entered in the world. The devil deceived mankind with the lie that they would not surely die. With that deception it stole the very life of God in mankind and caused God's greatest creation to become separated from their creator. God always makes provision for His own. In order to retrieve His creation He went to great lengths to restore mankind back into it's rightful position. He did it in a way that was hidden throughout the Old Testament through prophecies but revealed and made known in the New Testament. In order to restore mankind God made a promise to the serpent (devil) . . . in Genesis 3:14 - 15 it says . . . So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“ Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15) And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
Through the seed of Abraham God would send redemption to mankind. God wanted His creation so much that He enclosed Himself in flesh to become the sacrifice that was going to take away the sins of the world. In the most well known verse throughout the world it says, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). When John the baptist saw Jesus in John 1:29 it says . . . The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Through the mighty sacrifice of His Son, mankind now have the opportunity to choose eternal life and be redeemed from sin which separates man from God.
When we make that wonderful decision to receive Jesus into our life we are totally made over. 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are made new creations in Christ Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." New and improved is always better. With the new and improved creation comes instructions to keep you working at it's your best performance. That instruction manual is God's Word, the Holy Bible. One of the main instructions is found in 2 Timothy 2:15 which says to . . . Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
An old habit that is often found in human nature is a habit of taking short cuts and cutting corners. In order to receive the best performance in life we are to become a disciplined people. In the book of Hosea 4:6a a statement is found which says, not because God has not provided, but due to the tendency of our nature the scripture's reads . . . My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge. By taking short cuts and cutting corners instead of searching things out for ourselves, we allow others to do the work that was meant for us to search out to see what God would speak to our lives. The personal invitation to sit with our bible and fellowship with God is available to all. We go to people who have studied and found truths that God want to give us. When we search the scriptures we will find life and know how to live it at the fullest.
We have the capability to have the mind of Christ. The Scriptures says so in 2 Corinthians 2:16 . . . For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart. We have the responsibility to be renewed in the spirit of our mind according to Ephesians 4:17 - 24 . . . This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18) having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19) who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20) But you have not so learned Christ, 21) if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24) and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
We must not miss out in our Christian walk by taking the short cuts and cutting corners because we will be as the saying . . . A mind is a teribble thing to waste. Knowing God more intimately is taking time to be in His presence with His Word, worshiping and praying to the God that loves us so much. He desires our fellowship with Him. John 14:21 gives us a promise . . . He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. Take the Apostle Paul's advice from Romans 12:1 - 2 which says . . . I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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