This week has been very busy and challenging, so I'm sharing an old post with you again today. This was from my old blog and was copied here in April 2011. It is still a good reminder, and something I need to think about.
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Dec. 3, 2005
A Family Resemblance
In family Bible reading this week we read 1John 2:29, If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
The thing that struck me is that doing righteousness is a "family trait" of those that are in God's family. We know that ...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6 But, in Christ Jesus and through Him, we can do the righteousness of God. In this there should be a family resemblance.
We expect to see similarities between parents and their offspring in looks, actions, and attitudes. As spiritual children of God, joint-heirs with Christ, we should be showing a resemblance to Him. But, it is not possible unless we are born of Him for it is a family trait, a resemblance that is passed on only through blood relationship. Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
It is also our calling.
1Peter 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: 22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
We should ask ourselves these questions regularly: Do I resemble Jesus Christ? Would others know from my life that I am related to Him?
This is a good and much-needed word. Too often we content ourselves with our own cheap version of Christianity, neglecting to remember the reason for our salvation: that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thank you for sharing with us at Grace & Truth!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by, Jennifer. I agree with we tend to forget the purpose of our salvation.
DeleteThank you for hosting the Grace & Truth link up. :-)
This is a thought-provoking post, and I appreciated reading it. Especially when there are so many people out there telling others that Christians can live years and years in habitual sin, where you might not be able to tell them apart from the rest of the world. That's not what the Bible teaches. Matthew 7:16 "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and commenting.
DeleteI have heard of a few cases where someone was actually saved who lived in habitual sin for years, but the thing is that they seem rare to my knowledge - rarely are they really saved in the first place. The only way to know if such a person is really saved is if they eventually repent, but in the mean time, since we can't tell by their fruit, we have to assume they are not saved and treat them so. In the case with one man my dad knew, this is what brought him to the point of realizing what an un-Christ-like life he was living and caused him to repent. When he was finally confronted by his pastor and church men (with compassion, but directness), he actually started to make an effort and follow Jesus Christ and his life changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.