Most of my Facebook posts focus on the message of grace, forgiveness and love, because that is an area of great need. However, I would rather share an open rebuke than foster a hidden love, because I get the feeling that not everyone sitting in pews on Sundays knows the information shared in this picture (because I didn’t just a short time ago).
Please, if we call ourselves Christians, let’s not just read Matthew 7:1, John 13:34, and Ephesians 6:12 – and then overlook Ga…latians 5:19-21 and Hebrews 10:26-27. We aren’t meant to use our freedom in Christ to continue in our sin. This is shared in love and is not directed at anyone specifically, but if this message convicts you, I encourage you to please dig deeper into this.
This was a game changer for my walk, when I realized that I had called myself a Christian for 30 years, only to find the scriptures bearing witness to my stumbling blind and lost in the darkness as a prodigal son. I thank God for healing me and opening my ears to what I NEEDED to hear instead of shut to only receive what I WANTED to hear.
God bless.
FORGIVENESS
We don’t know the heart of a person,
or the future of a person, therefore
WE LOVE ALL PEOPLE
and consider no man to be our enemy.
[Matthew 7:1] [John 13:34] [Ephesians 6:12]
But we who follow Christ
ARE NOT BLIND
but recognize those things that are the
ENEMY OF GOD
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery,
idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you as I did before, those who live like this
WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
[Galatians 5:19-21]
For if we
GO ON SINNING DELIBERATELY
after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
THERE NO LONGER REMAINS A SACRIFICE FOR SINS
BUT A FEARFUL EXPECTATION OF JUDGEMENT
and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
[Hebrews 10:26-27]
Harold J. Ballinger 