James 4:5—God’s jealousy

Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? James 4:5

James was writing to born-again believers and cheapest australia cialis online studiogandom.com correcting those who exhibited the following: [Taken from James 4:1-4.]

• Quarreling and conflicts within the church
• Lusting after one another’s possessions, position, power, and/or prestige
• Allowing antagonism to boil over to the point of murderous thoughts—perhaps even murder, itself
• Envying and fighting over jealous desires
• Not seeking God to fulfill wants and desires
• Asking God, but with wrong motives—in order to fulfill selfish desire as opposed to being better able to serve or glorify God
• Becoming like the world, demonstrating hostility to God—spiritual adultery

When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord, you become a new creation and the habitation of God through the Holy Spirit. As a believer, your new course is to pursue God, feed on His Word, worship with like-minded believers, and listen to and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. By doing these things, you grow in Christ and build on the foundation of His Word—a trustworthy platform from which you can make divinely-informed decisions. However, He does not turn you into a robot or marionette. In other words, God does not excuse you from maintaining your end of your relationship with Him.

Once you are born again, you are born again. But you have the responsibility as a new creation to conduct your life—both inwardly and female viagra drugstore outwardly—according to the precepts of the New Testament. You are called to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b); you are admonished to present your body to God as a living sacrifice and to refuse to be conformed to the world (see Romans 12:1-2). You are further instructed to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and to receive the Word with humility which is able to save your soul (see Romans 12:2 and James 1:21).

The 1970 movie “Love Story” introduced a slogan into pop culture: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” I remember moviegoers being so moved by the sentiment of that message, yet even as a teenager, I didn’t buy it. If someone hurt me, I thought, I’d want them to apologize. As far as I saw it, not saying you were sorry meant that you were taking advantage of someone’s love, intent upon doing your own thing, with no regard for their feelings.

And so we have the uncompromised gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus voluntarily died so that you could be saved. In fact, you were saved by grace through faith. Your salvation is not the result of your works—it’s a gift from God (see Ephesians 2:8-9). However, you were not saved merely to acquire hell-insurance. Your salvation opened the door for you to have free access to God—the Maker of the universe—as your Father, both now and for eternity. Your salvation began the adventure of your life, founded on and maintained by close intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And since you aren’t a puppet or a programmable droid, everything you think, do, and say really does matter to the One with whom you are in relationship. And therefore, the slogan of the seventies, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry,” should never be your philosophy as a Christian.

Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

James made it very clear—you and I are accountable before God as new creatures for our choices, behaviors, attitudes, and words. The privilege to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit is not to be taken lightly—it is monumental and canada viagra sublingual indiegamesmarketer.com paradigm-shifting. As a Christian, you walk around this planet with the Spirit of the Living God on the inside of you. And yet, you have the freedom to ignore, neglect, or defy His leading. If that is the course you choose—supported, perhaps, by a misguided understanding of His grace—you might feel that it would be legalistic or unnecessary to confess selfish or compromising choices as sin and to ask for forgiveness. This dismissive attitude toward personal behavior arouses God’s jealousy. Simply stated, here’s why: You, who have entered covenant with Him, refuse to allow the God of grace to counsel, correct, and lead you—actively denying Him the Lordship that you originally gave Him.

God’s abiding grace poured out on you doesn’t render null and void the fact that you have the capacity to grieve the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 cautions all of us, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” It is very possible to grieve the Holy Spirit; therefore it makes sense that God jealously desires His Spirit not only to dwell in you, but also for Him to be honored through your words, actions, and attitudes.

You have the unparalleled opportunity to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. Don’t neglect Him or grieve Him. Nothing you crave—nothing this world has to offer—could ever come close to the joy, pleasure, and wonder of being a yielded vessel of the Spirit of God.

Dorothy

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20