Not wanting to step on anyone’s toes, but I must be truthful about something that upsets me, whether I see or hear it in myself or in my fellow Christians. Let’s have a laugh first so you see where I am going with this:
Now let’s go to the serious side by looking at what James has to say in Scripture:
But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22 ESV)
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17 ESV)
Back to my first paragraph. What upsets me is when we as Christians know exactly how to look and what to say in order to skirt the heart of the matter. These are our smoke screens, rather than being ‘Doers of the Word’. It is very easy for us to say, “Have faith” or “Jesus will take care of it” or “Remember, all things work together for good” or “I am praying for you” rather than lifting a finger and helping when we can.
We are commanded to have ‘sincere’ compassion, not ‘shallow’ compassion:
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3:8 ESV)
We have developed our own Christian swag and lingo in order to try and soften the blow of having to live in the world, but not being of the world:
I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18 NKJV)
It doesn’t stop with skirting the issue of being ‘doers of the Word’. There is even a bigger problem with our Christian swag and lingo. We soften what the Word of God has to say about ‘sin’. The world has completely erased the word ‘sin’ from its vocabulary and refer to it as ‘making a mistake’. The world has an excuse for every mistake. They go to great depths to attach a name to it and call it a condition of which people are not responsible. But God holds a person accountable for their ‘sin’. The punishment is focused on the sin, not the individual. The world turns it around and softens it. Now the Church is following closely behind. Swag and lingo are thriving during our time of prosperity. But when the rug of prosperity is pulled out from under our feet, as end times judgment comes upon us, people will be looking for a ‘no frills’ Christianity that has real power to address the ‘sin’ and ‘dire needs’ in their life:
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47 NKJV)
Another quote us Christians just love to bark back at is, “Don’t judge me”. Keep in mind that swag and lingo conform to the world, but here is what God says:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2 NKJV)
Us men, not only women, need to apply this (condition of the heart) in the day and age we are living in:
Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. (1 Peter 3:3-4 NKJV)
I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. (1 Timothy 2:8-10 NKJV)
Now let’s take it one step further. This is what God says about the effeminate (men acting like women):
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. (1 Corinthians 6:9-12 KJV)
It’s time that each of us takes a look in the spiritual mirror and see what God’s sees. It is not your life, no matter how much you think it is. You were bought with a price and that price was the precious blood of Jesus (see 1 Peter 1:18-19).
“God loves you just the way you are, and because of it He loves you too much to leave you where you are!”
Annointing 