From Pastor John Collins:
“Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their heart, And return and be healed.” Isaiah 6:10 (NKJV).
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seek after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” Romans 3:10-12 (NKJV).
When we think of those who have been blinded and made deaf,
those who have been given over to their lusts, we think of the obvious sinners,
the ones living life in defiance to the commandments of God and Jesus Christ.
Yet, the most pitiful and dreadful blinding that exists is the blind Christian.
Blind Christians believe they have it right. These believers
gossip, hate, are self-righteous, are greedy, selfish, proud and just don’t
even realize it. They believe because they know scripture, may even be able to
quote it, they go to church and claim Jesus as their Lord that they are the
real deal. These are the most dangerous and desperately lost of all. When one
is so confident in their salvation that they cease to look within, that person
is not working out their salvation with fear and trembling.
We must walk a fine line in our faith. We must believe in
our salvation and forgiveness yet we must always maintain our awareness of our
souls and the need for repentance, the need for purity of our mind and heart as
well as the need of our devotion to gaining knowledge in the word of God.
Our faith must be active and alive. We must nurture it so
that it grows. It will be tested and it will be tried by fire. We must learn to
participate in our lives with Christ. We must be willing to seek the truth in
our souls. This I can tell you plainly: whatever ugly is inside you, God
already knows it is there. We must acknowledge it, face it, and release it
through repentance and forgiveness that is genuine and not lip service only or
we will take it with us to hell. Fear nothing, be honest when you look within
and make sure that your personal inquiry is based on the truth of the gospel
and not your perception of some weakened version of it. Come to the foot of the
cross in truth, naked and trusting, bare your souls and receive genuine
salvation. It is only with transparency that we will find forgiveness and we
are unable to be honest as long as we are holding on to our self-image as seen
through the eyes of this world.
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3:14-15 (NKJV).
