I would highly recommended this video to any Christian who is seeking to mature in their faith. It’s quite lengthy. But please take the time to listen, pause as needed, examine what’s being said to see whether or not it’s true, and reflect along with your bible. & if you do not have a Bible, you can follow along the Scriptures within the video. Discussion and comments are encouraged within the comment section of the video.
Tag: christ
Will We Always Sin?
Will we always sin until Christ returns?
No.
My husband and I have put our faith in Christ that one day we will walk as He walked, in perfect obedience, here on this earth before His return. Our hope is that we may be found blameless before Him.
I believe this can only happen by faith in Christ, believing that He will do this.
Of course there is a period of growth. As my husband says, just like a baby, who is learning to walk, stumbles unsurprisingly. However, eventually that baby will mature into a child and then into an adult. It will be second nature for him/her to walk without even thinking about it.
Likewise, I believe, eventually as we mature in Christ, it will be in our nature to walk in obedience and free from sin. It is something that is accomplished in us by the spirit of God when we have faith in Him.
The one thing, I believe, that we will face until He returns is temptation. Even Christ was tempted but remained without sin.
Have I achieved this perfection yet?
Mm, I don’t think so. There’s still much in me that I need to grow in so that I can partake in His holiness. But He is dealing with me, just as a father who loves his child. 🙂
This is a message that has brought me much hope because when I have sinned, it greatly grieves me and hurts others. I know I can ask for forgiveness but I know it doesn’t stop there. And I wouldn’t want it to. Not only does He offer forgiveness but He promises to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Praise God.
However, this doctrine of “we will always sin until Christ returns” or “we will never be perfect on this side of eternity” is widely accepted and taught amongst professing Christians. I don’t understand why.
I understand that it may seem that way if we look at ourselves. But when when we look at Christ and His power, isn’t He more than capable of giving us the power to walk in obedience and without sin?
I believe He is.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16 NASB
*Although there are several passages that would support this, I find that the entire book of 1 John would be a good place to read to understand what it means to walk in righteousness by abiding in Christ.
“Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
1 John 2:28-29 NASB
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
1 John 3:2 NASB
“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.”
1 John 3:4-6 NASB
“This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”
1 John 3:23-24 NASB
What is faith?
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Galatians 2:20 NASB
What is faith? Is it a feeling? Or is it a reality? A truth?
I’m having trouble understanding my faith in Christ. Can I still have faith even if I do not feel anything?
Perhaps I will post more on this as I search to understand this more.
Disciple of Christ
People will know that we are disciples of Christ by the love we have for one another.
This has held me accountable to love purely and sincerely especially with those whom I relate most intimately with such as my husband and children.
I find that it is most challenging for me to love them because they are the ones I relate to so closely, at all times. Therefore, there seems to be more opportunities for me to give way to a fleshly response (such as being rude, impatient, irritable etc). It shouldn’t be so.
I want those around me to know I am a disciple of Christ by the love I have for others. (Not just because I say it or post verses or write about biblical things)
Imitation
1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”
My two year old daughter has been doing a lot of imitation. She’ll imitate our 6 month old baby by babbling, putting toys (or her fist) in her mouth, wanting to sit in my lap, or crawling around. When she does this, I tell her that I don’t like when she acts like Joy (our 6 month old, her sister). That I like when she is like Grace (our two year old daughter, herself). Then she will get back on her feet and returns to her normal self until moments later I find her being like Joy again.
She has also been imitating me a lot. It’s really cute and funny. However, it holds me more accountable to model Christ’s behavior towards her. Some things I find her doing are, being really sweet to her sister like singing for her when she starts to cry, smothering her with kisses, or even telling Joy not to move in a commanding voice (I’m trying to teach Joy not to squirm while changing her diaper).
The other night, my husband and I were talking in our bedroom while Joy and Grace were playing around us in the floor. I don’t remember exactly what happened but what I do recall is that Grace got really upset and yelled at her dad, “No preguntes tanto!” (“Stop asking so much!”) then ran out the room. It was the first time she had done something like that. Had it not been for her messy curly hair, widened eyes, and thin arms gesturing towards the air we could have held in our laughter and dealt with it differently. But our laughter allowed us to be lighter about it and call her back into the room. When she came back in the room we were still kind of amused by what had happened that she started to smile too. My husband talked to her for a little and she felt better again.
However, it was convicting for myself because she was actually imitating something I had said to her a few times, “No preguntes tanto.” (Stop asking so much) Most of the times I had said this to her out of impatience. She has begun to ask questions throughout the day repeating the same question over and over (and over) until she gets a full response (uh huh and mm hm are not adequate responses). I suspected she was trying to learn how to speak and pronounce words better but other times I’d wonder whether she was just trying to be “bratty”. After a while (days) of her doing this, I began to feel very annoyed by her constant questions especially during stressful moments so sometimes I’d lash out and tell her not to ask me so many questions. She would usually get upset too because I wasn’t answering her. At the end of the day, while putting her to bed, I’d feel terrible. I’d pray and ask God to forgive me and have mercy on me. I asked Him that for her sake to give her a loving mother.
I had asked on a Christian woman’s discussion board whether this recent behavior of hers was normal and sure enough they confirmed my suspicions. One woman said that she has heard the repetition is comforting to them. Which made sense to me because every time I’d repeat myself she would repeat the answer to herself and seem very pleased inside. Another woman pointed me to an article (https://nogreaterjoy.org/articles/beginning-with-words/) that was extremely helpful to me in understanding and confirming to me in my situation. Indeed, my daughter was learning. Now, by the grace of God, I am a lot more patient and I delight in answering her questions.
Overall, that incidence has held me accountable to model Christ to her. I want to be able to say, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). I want to take extreme advantage of how much behavior she absorbs simply by watching us. Yesterday, she was playing with her toy “smartphone” and “scrolling” through it with her pen. She kept telling me, “Estoy leyendo la Biblia mamá, es Jesus. (I’m reading the bible mom, it’s Jesus.)” When I finally understood what she said, I laughed and felt so grateful to the Lord for the testimony my daughter can show forth about me through her behavior. She also loves to follow me around the house and does whatever I’m doing whether I cook, wash dishes, nurse the baby. She’ll try to nurse her baby doll too. It’s interesting to see the things she picks up including my mannerism specifically the way I say things.
I want to delight in following Christ and pick up on all his ways too. I pray that not only can I model these outward behaviors to her but inner virtues as well like, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” Galatians 5:22-23.
These past few days with her have been fun. I’m looking forward to many more, as the Lord wills.
A few other verses that I like to keep in mind are:
Titus 2:3-5 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
This one encourages me to pursue those good things so that I can teach them to my daughters as they get older.
1 Timothy 2:15 “But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.”
As I continue in faith, love, and self control I trust the Lord will keep me as I raise my children.
Kept by Christ 