Truth Byte #17

Those who have surrendered themselves to Jesus Christ and have received the Holy Spirit as their residential and constant companion, only those can legitimately call themselves Christian. If that is not you, please go to my website, pray the prayer you find there, and believe you receive God as your Father.
 
 www.martydelmon.com  or  www.martydelmon.fr

​When the church is trying to introduce people to Jesus Christ, we must be careful. We have been so glib about having people say the sinner’s prayer, and then whooping and hollering about a new member in the Body of Christ. Anybody can say words, repeating them after someone else, or reading them from a script, but that does not make them a Christian. It takes surrender. A Christian is someone who has given his or her life to Jesus Christ so that they no longer belong to themselves, they belong to the Lord. They live for the Lord; they don’t live for themselves. They do His will, not their own. Christianity is not lip service; it is life service.

​Yes, you may say, but we have so many roles to play. We are mothers or fathers; we are employees or employers; we are manual laborers; we are mental laborers; we are members of a church; we are members of a sports team, etc. We can be, and are, many things. Now, how do we surrender all of these roles to Jesus Christ? Our lives require quick decision making. Sometimes we have the time to search the Bible for our answers to our roles, but usually it’s what the minute requires. So how do we surrender?
 
There is no excuse for any Christian to not have time for fellowship with God. In advance we can speak with the Lord about our upcoming day, maybe we speak with Him the night before, or we get up an hour before normal and talk with Him. Then, like Jesus, we can say we do what we see our Father in heaven doing, and we say what we hear our Father in heaven saying. Other people are not the ones who put so many demands on our lives that we don’t have time for God. We put those demands on ourselves.
 
Even in the most hectic of situations, we can always refuse to answer a question demanded of us until we hear from God. Just take a step back and wait. Tell the Lord you won’t say another word until He tells you what to say. The Holy Spirit lives in every true Christian. He is there to give us answers and guide us. It is simply training that we lack. When we become accustomed to waiting on the Lord for the answers and the actions that we need, life will become simpler and better lived.
 
That reminds me of an old Spike Jones record I loved as a kid. “You only hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all. You only hurt the one you love with hasty words you can’t recall. So if I broke your heart last night, it’s because I love you most of all.” These words aren’t exact, but you get the gist. I used to laugh and laugh at this song. Of course, Spike Jones jazzed it up with sound effects, which gave it a party flavor. But, I’ve learned if I let the Lord feed the right words to me, I don’t break anybody’s heart anymore.
 
Recently, a “Christian” tried to explain to me that people are generous because it is their way of manipulating life. His words gave him away. He’s not a Christian, although he calls himself one. Christianity is about giving. We don’t look for the return or the reward from the one who we gave to. We don’t even look for recompense from Jesus. That’s just part of His character. He always rewards His people, but the minute we give out of a mind-set of getting something in return, we have stepped out of the role of Christian.
 
Make Him proud!  Be just like Him!