A Call to Purity

Romans 6 v12 (ESV) ''let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions ''

A few weeks ago a friend surprised me with his view on what Christianity should be and how we should conduct ourselves as Christians. He held the view that as a Christian you do not have to change the way in which you live, '' God desires us to come as we are''. He further stated that Christianity is not about changing who you are but believing in God to give you grace regardless of the way you live.
I was absolutely amazed at the way he viewed Christianity but I soon came to the realisation that this view is shared by so many so-called believers all over the world. So I took the opportunity to sit back and reflect on what true Christianity is and I began to realise that throughout the entire bible, God always requires perfection and Holiness. When one goes through the old Testament we see that God always required a sacrifice that was without any blemish or impurity. The new Testament is no different, first of all God sent Jesus Christ to come die for us, this was the best and purest sacrifice God could make for us to be saved and anything less would not have been sufficient to save us.

 Romans 12 v 1 (ESV) ''...to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship''.
As already mentioned earlier, God has always placed a requirement of purity when it comes to sacrifice so when we present the sacrifice that we ought to present, it has to be pure. As a result there are a lot of things that a believer cannot find themselves doing because they know their duty is to stay pure. The way of living as a believer cannot be the same as that of the world, the believer should not strive to fit in with the world because we are after all not of it... the world should look towards the believers and be attracted to them because of the light that they emit.

Worldly standards should not be found amongst us, as a believer, one should hate sin, they should hate the thought of sinning.
God desires to come to Him as we are, but if you stay the way you were before coming to Christ then it means that you have not been walking with God.

Romans 6 v 4 (ESV) ''We were buried therefore with Him (Christ) by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life ''

 Carry your cross, seek purity and strive to be who God wants you to be... never be tempted to conform to the world but stand firm.

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy... It's not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.”  - David Platt

God bless

~Kev n' Hannah

Reality Check

Before I woke up this morning I was having quite an unusual dream. Even the atmosphere within the dream was rather unusual, and a friend and I begun floating upwards.. As we reached the ceiling I realized that the strange atmosphere was due to the world drawing to a close and us floating upwards was because the rapture was taking place! Stunned that the world was ending so soon, but excited that I was taking part in the rapture I did all I could to get through the ceiling, for some reason there were "slots" in there... Failing to pass through the slots, I beckoned my friend to come outside with me so we could soar into the sky properly. Before leaving I came across my mother and sister in the living room, realizing something was happening. They spoke of the rapture and noticed they were slowly floating upwards and together we went outside.. We soared.. It was beautiful..

Up above, we were in a room, happily conversing, people around us, the presence of the Lord apparent. As I walked around, quiet and observant, I noticed an old friend of mine. She'd been Muslim the last time we'd spoken.. I was so happy to see her, and she was so full of life, full of joy, chatting blissfully. I thought to myself how awesome it was to have so many loved ones here, all a part of the rapture. I had about 4 good Christian friends with me, but I couldn't help but wonder where my luke-warm-Christian friends were. And where my father and brother was..

I had a flashback to how moments before the rapture (still during the dream) I was doing something I wouldn't usually do... making out with some guy.. a wild friend. It was as though I'd just given in.. "It's not like I do this often anyway" seemed to be the justifying thoughts I'd had at the time.  I immediately felt sick to my stomach as I thought back at that moment, and remorseful.. Did I really deserve to be a part of this rapture? I felt so... sinful. But mostly, I felt lucky. Lucky that the Lord had allowed me to be a part of the rapture, even though I didn't deserve to be. And that's when it hit me... this is what grace is.

 As I woke up from my dream, all that was running through my head was "grace". It all felt so real.. I tried to describe this grace to myself, this unfathomable, abundance of grace and the very first thing that came to mind was "amazing grace". As soon as the words came, something clicked in my mind! And there was a brilliant moment where I trully understood how John Newton felt when he wrote the song, Amazing grace. Each lyric now, made more sense than ever. It was all so tangible now.. It was no longer just some message preached about at church, some song we sung during praise and worship. No. It was a reality. A beautiful reality. 

And although it was all a dream : the heated scene, the rapture.. and although the message of grace was the main feature in all this, I felt so encouraged to pursue purity, now more than ever. 

Also, I can't help but wonder.. my dad... my brother.. my other friends.. where were they? In as much as it would be a victorious day when the rapture does come and I am taken to my maker, I do not want to mourn  for my loved ones who are left behind. My former muslim friend? Someone must have led her to Christ! Someone must have prayed for her! I want to be that someone who prays for others... That someone who smiles when they spot those people they prayed for, evangelized to and fought for in that special room. I want.. to do something meaningful, not for me, but all for Christ.

~Hannah