Sunday, June 5, 2011

Life or Death

“What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words”.      Prov. 18:21   GNT

Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a life or death matter.  Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”  (John 6:63)

He did not say, “My words are living”; He said, “My words are life”.  

This means that wherever the Word is released, there is life.  Whenever the Word enters a human being, that person begins to show spiritual life.

That means that we must constantly be in a condition in which the Word can flow uninterruptedly through us.   The moment we block the flow by disobedience, pride, jealousy, lust, greed, etc. that moment life stops.

It is difficult for a believer to imagine that they can be the bearer of spiritual death.   But it is true!  The kind of spiritual death I am speaking of here is not the death of salvation but the death of our godly influence.

Outwardly, the Pharisees obeyed every rite and tradition, but because the Word had stopped flowing through them, they were inwardly like tombs. (Matt. 23:27)   We, too, may conform to every orthodox doctrine and yet, because we refuse to allow the Word to continually flow through us, we may be harboring inward putrefaction and decay; aka…defilement.

At any given moment we are the minister of life or death.  It all depends upon our relationship to Jesus’ Word.

We have a huge responsibility as ambassadors for Christ.  We are the vessels of life to those in our surroundings. We can be God’s oasis to a dry and barren environment.

“Lord, help me to be a vessel overflowing with life to those around me.  May I be like Ezekiel’s river, which brought greenness to a parched and barren land.  (Ez. 47:12)

“Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing”.     II Cor. 2:15-16  NLT

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