Topic: Holiness or Hollowness

[Tim Russ]

The guarding of our hearts is a sacred duty assigned to us by God Almighty.  As we wait upon the lord he will reward us with the cleansing of our hearts.  This is a daily duty that must be performed regularly because in consistency we find our walk with Christ.

Just as one takes a bath or shower every day to be cleansed we know that it is a daily necessity to bathe in the holiness of God; to draw near to him; to find our refreshing of spirit.  We delight in basking in the presence of the Holy Spirit because it reminds us of our future shared inheritance with our older brother, Jesus Christ.

Today is the day for us to take action.  Tomorrow isn’t here and yesterday’s gone, written in stone for eternity.  Today is the only day.  Today is the day you live for God or live for yourself.  Joshua warns everyone that their decision is today, “Choose you this day”.  He declared his choice.  What’s yours?

[Dee]

That seems a little confused.  Haven't all Christians already made their choice?

[Tim Russ]

Good question, Dee.  It looks like I got a lot of religiosity in that post.  I'm not even sure what I was trying to say.  How about we just ignore it and move on?

[Rev Dr Roberta]

I must have read this in a whole different light than Dee did.

We have choices to make every day, not regarding salvation, but putting on holiness and "washing" the cares of life off us.
Luke 9:23
New International Version (©1984)
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

International Standard Version (©2008)
Then he said to all of them, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross every day, and follow me continually,

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He said to all of them, "Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me.

King James Bible
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

American King James Version
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

American Standard Version
And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Bible in Basic English
And he said to them all, If any man has a desire to come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross every day, and come after me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Darby Bible Translation
And he said to them all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me;

English Revised Version
And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Weymouth New Testament
And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

New International Version (©1984)
Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

International Standard Version (©2008)
Then he said to all of them, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross every day, and follow me continually,

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He said to all of them, "Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me.

King James Bible
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

American King James Version
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

American Standard Version
And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Bible in Basic English
And he said to them all, If any man has a desire to come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross every day, and come after me.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Darby Bible Translation
And he said to them all, If any one will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

English Revised Version
And he said unto all, If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Weymouth New Testament
And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

[Rev Dr Roberta]

The guarding of our hearts is a sacred duty assigned to us by God Almighty.  As we wait upon the lord he will reward us with the cleansing of our hearts.  This is a daily duty that must be performed regularly because in consistency we find our walk with Christ.

Just as one takes a bath or shower every day to be cleansed we know that it is a daily necessity to bathe in the holiness of God; to draw near to him; to find our refreshing of spirit.  We delight in basking in the presence of the Holy Spirit because it reminds us of our future shared inheritance with our older brother, Jesus Christ.

Today is the day for us to take action.  Tomorrow isn’t here and yesterday’s gone, written in stone for eternity.  Today is the only day.  Today is the day you live for God or live for yourself.  Joshua warns everyone that their decision is today, “Choose you this day”.  He declared his choice.  What’s yours?

I woke up this morning thinking of the post and the words "washing of the word" kept repeating in my spirit, so I looked it up and the entire chapter 'spoke' to me.
Ephesians 5 NIV)
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5 For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be partners with them.

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:

“Wake up, O sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.


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[Dee]

Today is the day for us to take action.  Tomorrow isn’t here and yesterday’s gone, written in stone for eternity.  Today is the only day.  Today is the day you live for God or live for yourself.  Joshua warns everyone that their decision is today, “Choose you this day”.  He declared his choice.  What’s yours?

I must have read this in a whole different light than Dee did.

I just meant that Joshua’s insistence on making a choice was about being saved.  Once a person accepts Jesus as their savior it seems they’ve already made their choice. Am I missing something?

[Ro]

When we become a Christian we make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.  However, each day we have choices to make.  Will we follow Jesus or will we go our own way. 

Dee, I understand what you were saying about Christians having made their choice, which they have.  However, there are a zillion more choices after that.   I heard today that there are 181,000 people each year who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior AND 80,000 each year who turn away from the Christian faith.  We can speculate what they did or didn't do and why they turned but it all boils down to daily choices. 

Jesus must alway be our focus.  Keeping our eye on him is vitally important.  Following him is essential. Drinking in of his word each day gives us life.  Then the choices each day seem so much easier. 

Thank you Jesus!

[Dee]

So being saved isn't really being saved?  It's being saved until we sin again?  I don't think I believe that.

[Ro]

I don't see it as being saved or not saved when some one turns away from the Christian faith for a time now. 

Jesus sacrifice paid for their sins.  That is a truth that is eternal. 

I believe that many who have turned away will turn back.  However, the bottom line is that Jesus is not going to force anyone to accept salvation, eternal life, as a spirit being if they do not want it.  I believe they will have a chance to repent and turn back to Jesus. Backsliding is not the unpardonable sin.