Friday, August 31, 2012

Tracing Your Spiritual Genealogy

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Galatians 3:26-28 (NKJV)

There are some people who spend time researching their family history, their genealogy.  These people can go back quite a few years and tell you many stories about this or that ancestor.  Other people may not know a lot about their personal family history but they are very proud of their country of origin or their ethnic background.  Still others put a lot of confidence in their education, social standing, financial status, or their job.  While it can be interesting to learn about our family history and who our ancestors were, it is far better to trace our spiritual genealogy and get to know it better.

In Galatians 3:26-28 we are told that through faith in Jesus Christ we have become sons of God, God is now our heavenly Father.  Today we are God's children and that is the main aspect of who we and what we need to focus on.  No matter what earthly family we came from, good or bad, we can now easily trace our spiritual genealogy; the spiritual family that we are in is what really matters.  Paul says in Galatians 3:28 that for those in Christ, people who have received salvation through Jesus, there is no nationality, social standing, or gender that takes precedence over our spiritual position in Christ.

No one is able to choose the natural family that they were born into, but once we choose to receive salvation we are a part of God's family and we have become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Because we are a new creation in Christ all of the old and former things that identified us are gone.  We need to find out who we are as a child of God and live our life based on that, not on who our natural relatives are but who are spiritual Father is.  Get to know who you are through God's Word and don't allow your natural past or present, good or bad, to be the thing you base your life on.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

You Are What You Eat, Spiritually

"For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God."
Acts 20:27 (NKJV)

There is a saying about how the food you eat has an effect on your overall well-being, you are what you eat.  If you eat healthy foods you will be healthy and if you eat a lot of junk food you will not be so healthy.  Concerning natural food, we need to have a diet that is balanced with foods from all of the proper food groups.  Spiritually speaking we need to get to know all of what God's Word has to say and not just our favorite parts of the Bible or whatever happens to be the latest emphasis in Christian circles.

Our main source of spiritual food is from the Bible, but we need a proper balance.  For example, some people have so much of their focus on judgment and sin.  They have a steady spiritual diet of teaching in this area so that is how they view everything.  Any little sin they see is magnified in their eyes and worthy of condemnation.  Other Christians have a spiritual diet of nothing but the mercy and grace of God and this is all they seem to see.  It is almost as though sin does not exist for them and they end up living undisciplined and irresponsible lives.  These are just a couple of examples.
If we don't have a well-balanced natural diet we will get into trouble and the same goes for our spiritual diet.  Paul talked about the whole council of God (Acts 20:27) and this needs to be our focus as well.  Spiritually it works about the same way, we have to realize that there are many important truths in the Bible and we need to have a well-rounded understanding of God's Word and what it means for our lives.  You are what you eat, spiritually; what does your diet consist of and do you need to make some adjustments?