Riches and Power Corrupt

Dusty

Inactive
Riches and Power Corrupt

Proverbs 30:9


9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God.


The Kingdom of God belongs to those that are "poor in spirit" .We must be conscious of our need for God.

OUr code of conduct is "The Beatitudes".

We are a "Holy " people set apart from the world to belong to Him.and to obey Him. We must be true to our identity as a Christian and be "holy" or 'Different" in all our outlooks and behaviours.

When we come under the gracious rule of God., What do we look like?

That is the question, I leave with you today.
 
Very interesting topic, Dusty.
The Bible tells us this~
Titus 2:14
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Peculiar means appropriate, distinct, distinctive, distinguishing, exclusive, individual, particular, personal, private, proper, restricted, special, unique

Have you ever been in public and could spot a Christian by the way they hold themselves, interact with others, seem proper and sure of themselves?

I think a Christian has certain characteristics inside and out.
Using the word 'peculiar', to me means God's children should stand out and apart from non believers in actions and character.



 
Have you ever been in public and could spot a Christian by the way they hold themselves, interact with others, seem proper and sure of themselves?

Yes and that is a good question because we do stand out in a crowd. By our fruits we will be known and outward appearance radiates from within.
 
Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder.

When we come under the gracious rule of God., What do we look like?

Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder.

This phrase having been expressed the first time somewhere in the 3rd century BC ( That being Before Christ)comes to mind when we speak of recognizing Christians in public. As do the phrases of wisdom;"don't judge a book by it's cover" and "All that glitters is not Gold"

Certianly many have seen those that appear to be what the popular conception or should I say (misconception) of a "Christian" is.

Jesus himself had no differance in appearance and was not recogniszable as differant until He spoke. And even then many could not recognize the Massiah. And His chosen people were expecting him at any time (or at least should have been)and had every word of identification recorded of him.

The first problem is in the eye of the observer. Realisticly can one who doesn't know or follow Christ have any idea if another is or does?????
Maybe I shouldn't feel this way but the one thing that gets to me the fastest is to see someone who denies Christ say to any other "That isn't christian "or "you are not a christian".or Christians can't or don't do or believe that.
Just as bad is the "Christian" that makes a specticle of themselve with their attention seeking religous antics. Or those who express themselves as "Christian" while at the same time publicly being or doing something that is at best questionably Christian and often far from it.

Actualy from my experience those who best example the life of Christ in the world today are those that without speaking to them one would not quickly claim them to be anything but unnoticable in normal circumstances.

In a ""drive by" or "drive Buy" culture many don't take the time to observe and or discern. We often get the high points or low points as the case may be and run with that based on our"Get it done" snap judgment.
There are many ,used car selesmen, con artist, politicians, and yes "Christians" that for what ever reason take advantage of that.
I said all that just to say this
Many true Christians (maybe most ) don't fit the popular "Christian "image. and no doubt many that fit the image ,fit the image and little or no more. Meaning we just can't tell by the public personna portrayed wheather some one is christian or not.

Scripture says we can tell a tree by it's fruit. The thing about that is the leaves are not fruit, the bark is not fruit, The shaddow is not fruit, the blossoms are not fruit. Only the fruit is fruit and that takes time to produce and rippen and close observation to determine.

What do we look like???? Pastors, preist, pew warmers, wall flowers, geeks , hill billys, yankies ,children, truck drivers, dish washers, travelers, cab drivers, housewives, too short ,too fat, to skinny, too loud , too old, too young (more often than not) too quiet. . . Too happy, too sad, (Way to often) rude, ignorant, uncaring, arrogant, judgmental, and out of touch with reality. It's what we are inside that makes us christian, not what we want others to believe we are or what others think we are,not what we look like or say or do.
But a great deal of this false impression is because we are seen through so many differant eyes. Another part is simply because being "Christian" (contrary to popular beliefs) doesn't mean we are perfect.
A bad misconception that unfortunately Christianity has had a great deal to do with bringing upon it'self.

A Christian is the one who strives to acheive the best knowing that they will fall short and that Christ will cover the short coming and understanding that the world doesn't (to their detriment) know or accept that.

But in respect to power and money I believe dusty gave the answer before he got to the question;)




Pro 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
Pro 30:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God invain.

A balance is always the best, because either end of the spectrum is very dangerous.

Blessings
Cliff
 
But in respect to power and money I believe dusty gave the answer before he got to the question;)

Hi Cliff, That was a wonderful response but one thing I have to correct you Dusty is not a he .... LOL .... She is a she.:dance::dance: and a dancing one , I might add. Whoo hoo.

I seem to always do that give the answer before the question but hoping that it generates other responses as well.

Yes Cliff , there is too much focus on physical beauty these days and it is true that beauty comes from within. And another saying is beauty is only skin deep. We as Christians should ,in my mind stand out from the crowd and as we talk, people can hear the gentleness of Christ shining through.

OK here's the point the best example of the way riches can keep us from crying out to God is the church of Laodicea to whom John was directed to send a letter from the glorified Christ. read Rev. 3 :17-22 for John's assessment of Laodicea.

Revelation 3:17-22 (NIV)

17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
 
This visable church,(Laodicean) for as its Christian profession, was not truly Christian at all. Self- satified and superficial, it was composed ( according to Jesus ) of blind and naked beggars. But the tragedy was the they would not admit it. They were rich, not poor, in spirit.

Ok question: What sort of spiritual "wealth" do churches today imagine they have accumulated ?
 
Dusty,

What sort of spiritual "wealth" do churches today imagine they have accumulated ?

They believe they have the true spiritual wealth. At least those who are not seeking the the wealth of this world by deception do.

Whether they are being deceived or deceiving them selves I sincerely believe that many in the church are truthfully seeking the right spirit. They are for the most part looking in the wrong places,or not looking at all because they have been told they already have it or can get it from or in the church.They simply don't know.

How can they know???
They have taken the word of man for it. They have never had it tested in the fire of trials.

That is what Jesus is telling the church at Laodicea. and that is exactly what needs to be done today.
Which brings us back to proverbs 30 .
It applies to the church as much as it does to the individual.
The institutional church has gotten so rich that it can avoid the trials, so it does. It is no coincidence that the greatest growth on the Church (big C)is where the people are persicuted for their belief, where they sacrifice and risk life and limb just to worship.
And more than a coencidence that here where it's all nice an cushy (so to speak) we argue over carpet color and don't come to church if the air conditioner is broken or we find some little thing offencive.

Blessings
Cliff
 
i will give you a clue evaluate yourself,and lets say you wan,t to give up something,see how often you are tempted to take it up again.
 
Cliff..... THanks for your post and it is so true what you say about our churches today. It seems like we are going backwards instead of forwards and then we don't understand why the Lord is not blessing us. more pastors shoud be preaching about the hazards and happenings of the Laodiceans as a wake up call in the society that we are worshiping in.

The institutional church has gotten so rich that it can avoid the trials, so it does. It is no coincidence that the greatest growth on the Church (big C)is where the people are persicuted for their belief, where they sacrifice and risk life and limb just to worship.
And more than a coencidence that here where it's all nice an cushy (so to speak) we argue over carpet color and don't come to church if the air conditioner is broken or we find some little thing offencive.

In the passage that I quoted in Rev. 3:verse 18-20....Christ offered a remedy to the Laodiceans. What was that remedy ?

What I find is that God is saying He cannot tolerate their lukewarmness any longer. He wants them to buy the gold made pure in the fire which I think and (correct me if I am wrong) is that we must purify ourselves through salvation and the trials of life so that we can become like gold. And by the white cloths that it speaks of does that mean purity as well? And buy from the Lord medicine to put on our eyes so that they will be opened to the gospel so that we can truly see.

And then after we accept Christ's offer verse 20-21.. of Rev 3. What did Christ promise as a result of our acceptance ?


I'll throw that question out to you all cause Cliff says I answer all my own questions.:D:D:D
 
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