Hey everyone! As usual, I pray that all is well and all will be well in your lives.
We’re continuing on with the fundamentals of a Christian life: prayer, reading the word and fasting. They are crucial and key for you to have a healthy and better relationship with Jesus. As mentioned last week, failure to do these or not doing them properly will stunt your growth and relationship with Christ. We discussed backsliding last week; this week we’ll talk about self-righteousness. And, in addition to self-righteousness there are also spiritual bigotry and fanaticism. While these three are not the same, they all flourish from the same reason: not doing the fundamentals properly. So, backsliding is when you don’t do the fundamentals, these are from not doing them properly. Because of that, they are far more dangerous than backsliding. It is better for a person to backslide than it is to fall into any of these three. Now DO NOT get me wrong, backsliding is detrimental and it pains God when a soul walks away from Him, but with backsliding a person generally knows that they are wrong. That means they can still be convicted and have a path back to God! However, when a person is self-righteous, a spiritual bigot or a fanatic it’s almost impossible to convict them and thus they have no path back to God. This is what is meant in Hebrews when it says: “it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened”
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. — Hebrews 6:4-6
Simply put, self-righteousness comes from rejecting God’s authority. In terms of not doing the fundamentals, this happens when you do not read the word of God and/or reject what it says. Further, it comes from being closed to learning: thinking you have all the answers and no one can teach you. One should always have a desire to learn and grow in God. God has a lesson in all things and from all people.
I still yearn to learn and seek advice, because I want to grow and change. The key is being open and wanting it. Now, there are many false teachers and ideologies out there. It’s fine to be cautious of what people say and teach, that’s not being self-righteous! We must try the spirits and verify what people say and teach against the fundamentals: namely by reading the word.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. — 1 John 4:1-3
Spiritual bigotry, this goes hand in hand with tribalism that we’ve talked about before. Some people will live and die on the hill of their denomination/traditions and look down on anyone who doesn’t follow along. Is every denomination good? Of course not, but that doesn’t mean we should look down, treat them badly or cut them off from love. Bear with me when I say a spiritual bigot’s teachings and sayings may not necessarily be wrong, but the spirit in which they present them is. Whoever truly has Christ in their life will produce his fruits spiritually and shine. As you shine, and not be a bigot, people will be drawn to you and ask what’s going on in your life. That’s your opportunity to strengthen your brothers and sisters. There is only one church: the body of Christ. Humble yourself while fasting and praying to be in, and remain in it.
So, there is a fine line between fanaticism and zeal or devotion. In fact, a definition for fanaticism is: excessive or irrational zeal. Fanaticism comes from taking something out of context. Now, people will use the word of God out of context in a heartbeat to justify their ambitions. That’s not what I’m talking about, those people are just liars, grifters and corrupted. Ex: using the bible for racial divides or war is not fanaticism, it is people pushing their hatred. What I’m talking about is back to my first sentence of this paragraph: zeal or devotion that’s gone off the rails. Most fanatics will never believe that they are one, in fact they will get irate if you even suggest it. I may draw a lot of heat for this, but the reason why we have so many different denominations in the Christian faith is mainly because of fanaticism. People take a portion of the word of God and only focus on that. One cannot accept the word of God without accepting it in its entirety! As you study the word of God make sure you study it all together. It is one book with one author: The Holy Spirit! Do not take his works out of context.
Further along the line of fanaticism are those who believe they have some revelation/calling from God. Everyone has a calling from God (work for his kingdom), but not everyone is ready for their calling. When you try to move before you’re ready, you fall into the trap of becoming a fanatic. Be humble, sit and wait at the feet of Jesus until you are ready. The peace of His Spirit will come over you when you are. And, whatever you do must be in context of BOTH His word and acknowledgment of Jesus first.
This and last week’s post are the preface before we go into how to do the fundamentals. Please keep them in mind as we dive into them over the next few weeks.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” — Matthew 7:24-27
May God bless and keep all who read this.
May God bless and keep all brothers and sisters, new and old, in the faith in his name.
With his love and mine,
Chrom