If you were to set my real piece of jewelry next to a piece of my costume jewelry it would be easy to tell which one is the real deal. If I put the real piece next to one that had crystals instead of diamonds or a non-precious metal for the chain it wouldn't take much more than a close look at the stones to see which were real or by putting the chain in nitric acid to see which holds up and proves its weight in gold.
Much like proving whether jewelry is real the same goes for proving whether people are really Christians and actual followers of Christ. Much like I have stated three different types of jewelry,...costume, immatation jewelry, and real jewelry, there is three different types of people, non-believers, those who say they are believers but are not, and believers. Lets look into how the ornaments of life we "adorn" will help us prove real amongst the wolves in sheep clothing.
The unbelievers are easy to tell apart from believers because they either state it outright or their lifestyle and decisions prove thus.
It's the ungodly that say the are children of God that can be hard to tell the difference between because often times they mimic the actions of the godly.
They hide themselves within the church, sometimes even becoming so hidden they become leaders in the church. Judas is a good example of someone in the Bible being a deceiver and pretending to be a follower of Christ, being put in a position as one of the 12 apostles, even trusted so much he was made treasure, only to be shown as the liar he was. But the Lord gives us a manual to go by so we can spot the differences and discern the real from the fake.
Differences can be easy to spot, like a malicious gossip, as well as difficult to see, like someone teaching slight but important differences in doctrine. So we must be well versed in Gods word so that we will not be fooled.
The biggest issue we have in the church is that we have worldly believers creep into the church and start changing the teachings of God. Wanting to make things that are not okay, okay and perverting the Word to benifit themselves or their cause.
A great way to prove a child of God from a child of the world is to test their lifestyles. Lifestyles they openly or secretly live and impress on others.
An example of this would be when someone says it's okay to have an affair on your spouse because your unhappy in your marriage or because your spouse is cheating too or it's okay to go out to the bars every weekend and get soused while you flirt with everyone there and your children are being cared for by someone else, or as long as you go to church on Sunday what you do during the week is forgiven.
Now the Bible doesn't state that having a sitter or drinking alcohol is wrong but what it does state is that we should be at home with our children and that being a drunkered is wrong. Why? Because it impairs your judgement. We are called to be sensible in our thoughts, words, and deeds and while drunk a person tends to do or say what they shouldn't and often times will regret. & God calls us to be with our children so that we are rasing them, in Him. Now I am not saying one cannot go out for a night on the town occasionally either. Instead, I am stating that our outings should be kept to a level that still allows us to put our children first. But a worldly person would try to convince you otherwise, because society says it is okay.
These examples and others like it cause some Christians to go astray into certain sinful lifestyles they wouldn't have done originally. They creep into our church like the shade does as the sun starts to slowly go down and rub off onto the less seasoned, the slothed in faith, those who don't know the doctrine, & even those who do but are at a vulnerable place in their life.
Those who do know the Word and detest those who lead others astray must stand out against them so that those they are trying to lead astray will turn to them & they can lead them to God before they turn to sin.
The Word of God is written on flesh; Our Hearts. We must adorn in! By having God in our hearts we become different in the way we think, speak and live. We become hyper aware of our actions and how they please or dishonor God. The same goes for the way speak and hold ourselves. Someone who doesn't believe in God should be able to look at you and know something is different about you and they want whatever it is. When they see you and make the discovery that you are who you are because of God and His glory, they will want to come to know this God you speak of. We should bring people to God by the way we "adorn" our lifestyles and our words.
Many people decorate or "adorn" lampshades with ribbons that hold crystals or mirrors on them in an effort to let out more light in the room. We need to do just that. By mirroring how God says to live our lives. We should be so decorated and pleasing in actions, motives, words, thoughts, etc., that we set a room on fire for the Lord because of the amount of light shining from us.
When this happens not only will we bring others to Christ; but we we will also either push away the decievers or convert them as well.
Yes! The Word of God is written on our flesh. It is inscribed in our hearts as our names are on His hands. Let us wear the jewels of life that were once diamonds in the rough. Worldy unhappy lifestyles, words, thoughts, everything that He turned around and made better for us to show His glory. That glory, is what we wear & how we can stand out and be the light He wants us to be, to help guide the lost, out of darkness and into Him.
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