I am continuing my study in Corinthians and as I came across this scripture I had to stop. I had to ask myself this question: "Is the Testimony of Christ confirmed in my life?"
We all should ask this question of ourselves. As I talked about before, are we really accurately representing Christ in our lives, it's along the same vein. I just want to be a vessel for Him. This is a common phrase used by many Christians, but like everything concerning God, we don't fully understand what we ask of Him until He begins to show us. We say we want strength, but with strength comes a way to exercise it. How do you know you are strong if you haven't done anything where you needed to use your strength? It's not like we popped in a can of Jesus Spinach and our Popeye Muscles bulged out for everyone to see. Even if they did, does that mean you are strong? Maybe it's all a fissad, muscles for show on the outside, but no true strength to back them up.
Did you ever see the episode of SpongeBobSquarePants where him and Sandy are working out and even to lift the smallest pebble was too difficult for him? Well he gets this bright idea to buy these fake, inflatable muscles from TV. Then he goes down to the workout place and shows them off with all the buff creatures. When Sandy sees him she doesn't realize how he could have gained all that muscle overnight, but goes with it and signs him up for a strength contest...SpongeBob, knowing that he didn't actually have the strength tried to get out of it but could not. He ends up looking foolish after failed attempts to lift the heavy weights and then popping his inflatable muscles...
Why do we go to great lengths to prove our strength to others and even to ourselves? Even deeper, why do we think we won't encounter areas where we will have to prove our strength? Hmmm...
We are weak beings in comparison to such a mighty and powerful Maker. Through Him is where our strength abides. Only through Him can we truly be strong. I don't want to be fake strong...haha....I want to be real strong. The only way I can do that, we can do that, is to confirm His testimony in our lives.
What is His testimony? The Gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1:6 it is called “the testimony of Christ,” because it bore witness to Christ - to his divine nature, his miracles, his Messiahship, his character, his death, etc. The message of the gospel consists in bearing witness to Christ and his work;
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
"1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:"
2 Titus 1:8 "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"
Is the evidence of the Holy Spirit present in our lives? Speaking in tongues or miraculous happenings? Does our life SHOW God? Does it say I believe in God and look how He has done things in my life? It's not even about our experiences. Christ's testimony, the Gospel, what He did for us, is that being exemplified through us, confirmed, established, proved, in our daily lives?
How would we show such a thing? By being "doers of the word and not hearers only." James 1:22. Mark 16:20 "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." When the Lord is working through us, and we are working according to His will and purpose for our lives, than evidence of Him WILL be seen. He shows Himself to those who desire. He shows Himself to a hopeless world who needs Him, but does not realize that is the emptiness they are trying to fill on their own. Who can testify of the Lord but us who are here on the earth for that purpose. Act 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
God seeks a people who will live for Him, go for Him, move for Him...do we desire only to move for ourselves or do we see a greater purpose behind why we are even here on earth? Do we desire to "confirm the testimony of Christ in our lives" that all who sees us would not see us but see Him and come to know Him in their lives?
What is the desire of your heart?
"In light of all this, here's what I want you to do....I want you to get out there and walk--better yet, run!--on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. And so I insist--and God backs me up on this--that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion. But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything--and I do mean everything--connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life--a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself. Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry--but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. Did you used to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work. Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians Chapter 4 - The Message Bible)
Until another time...Loves and Hugs Friends,
Christina Carroll
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