Blog Thirty/Three After Salvation How Shall We Live? Part Four
Salvation is only the beginning of a lifelong relationship with God. Like any relationship, it must be developed:
When a person really receives Salvation or Jesus Christ into his or her spiritual heart (Believes Jesus is the Son of God and repents of all sin) there must be a change and difference in how one lives his life. They will no longer live just for themselves; the lustful pleasures of life, they will want to live their lives to please God. How do we please God? We have a written guide; His inspired pure Scriptures.
Salvation is only the beginning of a lifelong relationship with God. Like any relationship, it must be developed, but how?
1) Through time spent in God’s Word, and in Prayer, Talking to God and allowing Him to speak to us through his Words impressed upon our heart which flows up to our soul; (mind) during prayer and meditation on His written Word.
2) Surrounding ourselves with like-minded followers of Christ is nearly mandatory to grow a healthy spiritual life. To grow in God’s Word, learn to recognize His voice or unction of His Spirit impressed upon our soul, and follow in His footsteps in our journey of life, we must hook up with a local Pastor and church.
3) The people you run with have such an influence on your life, sometimes there must be a change in time spent with your unsaved friends. I don’t mean forsake them all at once. But when you no longer want to do the same things or go the same places, (that is if lustful unhealthy actions are flaunted there), likely they will either distance from you or follow you in your direction toward the Lord.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
In a sense, this means; the believers have each other’s back, encouraging, lifting up and praying with and for each other.
Apostle Paul said we are either servants to sin or righteousness; one or the other:
When we get saved, we change our paradigm; our thinking and where we get our source of information and belief.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
4) Paul is saying here, "As much as you yielded your selves to sin before Salvation, now afterwards, yield yourselves to righteousness and Holiness, for when you were in sin, you had NO righteousness."
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These blackened verses would be good to memorize. The wages of sin means the consequences of sin are death. Does the Bible name specific sins? Absolutely, everything we need to know about how we are to live can be found in the Holy Bible; which is God’s Word revealed through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
God’s Word will never change:
Luk 21:33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
God’s covenants, laws and commandments will remain the same, and what the Bible says is sin is still sin.
It is my belief as a guide to go by, if the chances of an action in question bring harm to our mind, body or spirit it is sin to us. I also think, there may be some things that we could do that necessarily would not be sin unless done in excess. But if we never do them, then we won’t ever be addicted to these things.
Drinking a tiny glass of wine with your evening meal may not be a sin, but excessive certainly is sin because it becomes harmful to them and others around them. Some casual drinkers have water on the brain and it begins to dull the thinking, while excess destroys the liver, and drunkenness causes many deaths in car accidents:
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 32,885 people died in traffic crashes in 2010 in the United States (latest figures available), including an estimated 10,228 people who died in drunk driving crashes, accounting for 31% of all traffic deaths that year.
So to avoid the evil of not remembering what we said or did the night before, and avoid causing an accident, we just say NO to drinking any alcoholic beverage.
A lifestyle of eating harmful foods in excess which creates obesity causes nearly all diseases and early deaths could be just as harmful.
We must say no to these things that are harmful, and addictive. It is a fact that the cigarette companies added stronger nicotine in their cigarettes just to make people more addictive so they buy more and companies make more money.
What are the Specific named sins? God gave Moses the first list of laws to govern and live by peaceably, and The New Testament expounds and explains more clearly. The Old Testament:
Exo 20:1 And God spake all these words, saying,
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Exo 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Exo 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Exo 20:16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exo 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Jesus taught from the Ten Commandments, it is NOT supposed to be done away with. Which one offends people? All ten are simply a good way of life to follow.
In the next lesson we will study these a little deeper. How can we please God or follow His guidelines if we don’t know them? Remember: since He created mankind, His commandments or directions for life are for our health, happiness and well-being here on earth as well as a road to eternal life with Him for forever.
