Our walk with Jesus is a spiritual one. He didn’t come to bless us materially. When we love Jesus with all our heart we set our minds on things above, not things on the earth. We seek spiritual blessing: wisdom, understanding, discernment, purity, meekness, the leading of the Spirit. We want to please Him with true hearts of repentance, love, and worship of Him for who He is. We desire the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We seek to be more like our wonderful Savior, and to know Him more and more through prayer and His Word- the Bible. Jesus did not come and die for our sin so that we could go on sinning without regard, but that we could be forgiven of our sin and receive the power to overcome sin in our lives, more and more, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not come and die for our sin so that we could “live our best life now,” living only for enjoyment and comfort, traveling, entertainment, and excitement. Our great need is not in experiencing every great thing this world has to offer. Our great need is in the regeneration of our spirit and the renewal of our mind, not in temporary, material abundance or vanishing worldly pleasures. 100 years will come and go in the blink of an eye. Our lives on this earth are like a morning mist that blankets the hillside, but by noon, has completely evaporated. That is why Jesus said,
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).”
“For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:16-17).”
We must take great care to confirm within our own hearts that we are true to the Lord. Paul said, “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified (2 Corinthians 13:5).”
The only way to test yourself, to test your Christianity, is to compare it to the New Testament. How do your beliefs hold up against biblical truth? The book of Acts through Revelation are uniquely for the Church, and are the basis and standard of what Christianity is to actually be. Test your faith against the New Testament to see if you are in the faith, and to grow and change accordingly, as the Lord reveals to you through His Word. This isn’t optional for Christians. This is the only way to test your faith to see if it is truly biblical Christianity!
When John and Andrew began to follow Jesus, Jesus asked them, “What do you seek (John 1).” We need to ask ourselves, “why am I following Jesus? What am I seeking from Him? Am I focused on what the Lord can do for me here and now, or am I yielding to the Spirit, seeking and searching for the truth and to know God more fully? Am I seeking to die to this life and follow Jesus wherever He sends me or am I looking for material blessings for a worldly life?”
These may be indicators of where your heart toward God is truly at.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).”
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).”
“Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14).’"
A person can only be saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace, not by our own good works. But saving faith produces spiritual fruit (Galatians 5). There is a renewal of our hearts and minds to the things of God (Romans 12). There is regeneration of our spirit, which was once dead to the things of Christ Jesus, but is now alive to Him (Titus 3). Is God’s Word penetrating your heart? Can you look at the fruit of your faith and see the spiritual, biblical changes? Our walk with Jesus is over a lifetime, and we will always have times that we fall. I am far from perfect, but you should have seen me before I gave my heart to Jesus! I really want to know Him! I agree with His Word. I really want to please Him. I really want to be done with this fallen nature. He really has changed me, even in light of knowing how far I still fall short of the glory of God.
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness… (Romans 3:21-25).”
Maybe you have lost your first love (Revelation 2), or maybe you were never born-again at all (John 3). Take this opportunity now to turn to the Lord in truth and in spirit and to fully commit your life to Jesus Christ.
"’But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, ‘Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father (John 6:64-65).’"
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:37-39).’”
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Romans 8:9).”
Brian Farrell is a follower of Jesus, saved by God's amazing grace through faith in Christ. Brian is a Bible teacher and the founder of Walking With Jesus Ministries. He lives with his wife Dana in Temecula, California.
