Life Comes From Death

The idea that life comes from death.

Before life there must be death.

Soil is composed of decayed plant material. This material is full of the nutrients plants need for growth.

We are new people in Christ. 2 Cor 5:17  This new life comes after we die to our old life. Christian baptism shows this concept. Baptism represents the burial of the old man and coming up out of the water represents the new man resurrected with power in Christ.

We are not able to serve God effectively if we have one foot in the world and another foot in God's kingdom. We need to make a break from the world and go for God 100%.

Jesus goes so far and says if we are a friend of the world we are hostile towards God. James 4:4; 1 John 2:15

A seed dies before it gives life.
We die before we give life.

Choosing death to our old life gives fertilizer and vitality to our new life. If we hold back from giving up our old life then there is no power in serving God in our new life.

Repentance is turning from the old way of life and deciding to follow Jesus in living a new life in Him.

Let us not shrink back from turning from our sin and living a victorious life. Heb. 10:39

2 Cor 1:9 Death to ourselves gives us the ability to trust God.

The kingdom of God has this idea presented in parables of The Field with a hidden treasure Matt 13:44 and The Pearl of Great Price. Matt. 13:45 We sell all to get these.

Forgiveness Repentance and Confessing

Thought about forgiveness and confessing sins.

Are we of the truth if we plan on sinning and then confessing later?

IE does confessing count if our attitude does not line up with our confessing?

Man looks at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. God looks at what we say and our heart at the same time. We are not going to fool God.

If our heart and our words don't line up we are only fooling ourselves not God.

Then what are we to do? We know something is wrong. We want to stop sinning intellectually but emotionally we don't want to stop sinning.

How do we change our emotions to line up with our understanding?

Two answers that have come to me:

1. Do works in keeping with repentance. Make right what you have done wrong.
John the Baptist discusses this in Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8. The works are related to the sin. Zachaeus the Tax collector gave an example of repentance and works by saying to Jesus that he would repay those he defrauded by 4 times the amount.

2. Put your treasure where you want your emotion and heart to go.
The parable of the Kingdom of God and the man finding a treasure in a field. He then rehides the treasure and sells all that he has and buys the field. If we make the opposite of sin our treasure than sinning will become abhorrent to us. Instead of making sin our treasure make Jesus our treasure. It is Jesus that gives life. We learn from experience sin does not satisfy in the long run. Sin is destructive. God is not a God who delights in our suffering. He told us sin is sin, because it will destroy our life.

Acts 26:20 is another verse that refers to this issue. It is within the conscience of humanity that a person should repay the wrongs that he has done.

Some would suggest what I have said is teaching salvation by works. I believe that there is a difference in putting our faith in our own efforts and doing works to show our true repentance.

It is not that we have to work for forgiveness;. Its that our words alone don't change our heart. When we act we are solidifying our decision to change our ways.

What is repentance? It is changing direction. So if we don't go in a different direction after we confess our sins we have not repented.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Salvation is 2 fold.
1. We are saved from sin and enter the kingdom of God at one point of prayer.
2. We are saved from a life of sin and live for Jesus as a growth process.

Lets work to live a life unto God and not for ourselves.