Growing Weary

I am tired! I am weary from failing, and seeing other Christians fail. We aren't who we're supposed to be. Very seldom do I see emulations of Christ. If Christ walked with me, I would need to apologize all the time. He does, and I do! It seems being apologetic, and then repeating the wrongs, is insincere. Sometimes, I feel my apologies are insincere. Most of the time, actually, because I go ahead and repeat them.

Paul had a thorn in his side. I believe that thorn was false teachers - one which was Simon Magus by name. Paul preached the truth but for every one that the apostles converted, the gnostics converted another. They even stole Christians, if not entirely, through creating doubt and confusion. It seems that Christians today are still doubtful and confused about who they are!

Ask Christians what "born-again" means. Catholics don't even believe in it yet they are the oldest Christian group in existence, and claim to be the true Church. I am tired of millions of people misrepresenting Christ. I bet He is too! I'm tired; I can't change them. The Lord could by force, but He doesn't do things that way. Imagine how weary He is!

Few Protestants know what "born-again" means even though they hear it from the pulpit every Sunday. Ask them and they will reply very catholic-like: "I believe in Jesus." Congratulations - the demons believe as well (James 2:19). I want to be better than demons. If I am to believe, I desire it to include trust as well. I am weary. Sometimes, I fail to trust Jesus.

Scripture says that to be saved we must believe:

Acts 16:31 ... Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved... 

Simple, huh? "Believe" means much more than believing! Are you confused yet? The Greek word transliterated "believe" is pisteuo, meaning "to have faith in" and "to entrust one's spiritual well-being to Christ" (Strong's Dictionary). Hence, one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, have faith in Him, and that faith includes trusting that He can and will do what he says He can and will do!

Jesus claimed that He was God. He showed that He was (Is) by dying in our place and coming alive again. Do you believe Jesus is God? do you believe that He did the impossible? You accept it because that notion is ingrained in your training. However, do you truly believe that?

The part about Jesus being God: Do you believe that? Sure you do, but then deny that God created the earth! How weak your faith suddenly becomes. If He can make and take you to a heavenly kingdom, indeed God can make and Create you in this world. If He is so weak that He can't do that, how would He be able to fulfill the promise, "And thou shalt be saved?" How much faith do you have now? Are you confused? It's in the Bible, and that is claimed to be truthful. Do you really believe that, or do you pick and choose?

Picking and choosing what to believe is relegating to oneself what belongs to God. "I won't surely die if I eat of the fruit," was what Eve thought. She picked and chose what Words God said that she would believe.  Maybe you are your own god! If you don't admit to that, perhaps you should look in the mirror. God looks at your face all the time; maybe you should consider it for awhile as you are reflected back to you. Do you like what you see?

You may be beautiful. I'm sure inside most of us think we are. Mirrors reflect that beauty. It doesn't have the ability to reflect what's inside. Now as you stand in front of the same mirror, close your eyes and look within. I do that, and I am weary of what I see. I don't like what I am inside, and desire to be better. The reflection you physically see in the mirror is of the flesh, and it is weak.  With your eyes closed, your spiritual reflection is uglier than sin. I don't like my spiritual reflection, and tire of seeing it. Some avoid that by closing their eyes to the ugliness inside.

Matthew 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Ironically, the eyes in this verse are spiritual eyes - eyes that are opened with the natural eyes closed! Saul was made blind that he could see (Acts 13:11). When Saul finally saw through spiritual eyes, with natural eyes closed, he changed. Saul became Paul as God created him anew. Saul was born-again because with eyes wide open but blind to the world, he could see the Light of God.

Close your eyes now. Do you see Saul in you or Paul. Saul was the murderer. If you hate anyone, you are too! In fact, if you wrong another person, you are hating them. If you wrong God, you are hating God. If we truly love God, we are to obey his commands (John 14:15).

People don't obey God, and fail to love others. God gets tired of that. Are you growing weary of yourself, and want to change that? Most people aren't weary of the way they are but God is! "I won't change for anybody," some contend with rebellion.  Anybody includes God. He requires that you change for Him, and Comforts you as you do. His Holy Spirit does the changing, yet it is never by force. The Spirit awaits only your willingness to change, but that willingness seems to never arrive.

Another verse adds to the first:

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved...

Another criteria is added here: one must be baptized. That is more than getting wet. Some have been baptized several times, and have only become damp or wet by the water. It's not the water which is saving, but the spiritual change which comes about. The immersion is a testimony to the believer's spiritual change, but many get soaked even though they have yet to change!

Without the circumcision of the heart the baptism is meaningless:

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

It's not the baptism of which circumcision is symbolic, but the new creation which is significant. When one is "born-again" is when the new creature emerges, and not from the swamp! This is validated when Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When people believe, one would expect to see all these new creatures walking around. I don't see them, and sometimes not even in myself, if I look with sincerity. All I see are the walking dead who have a wrong belief that they are alive. I grow weary of my own walk. God grows weary with our walk. How are we to walk? As Jesus did! I see few walking in the manner of Christ, and grow weary with my search. God's search is easier; he looks at their hearts.

1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ...

For the layman, this is said more easily: It's not the water which cleanses but having a good conscience toward God. Baptism is the testimony to that cleansing. Many engage in the washing without ever having been washed! Baptism is not saving, but many wet people think it is. What is saving is the willingness to allow God to put away the filth of the flesh. Most are willing to be baptized but unwilling to have the filth put away. They are confused.

We grow weary with ourselves because we are not the new creature that we ought to be. Close your eyes and look in the mirror right now. Are you born again? Do you even know what being born-again is? I know; you believe. Dig deeper than that. Have you changed? Are you willing to quit doing it your way, and do it God's way? I don't see that. Are you willing to trust God to cleanse you from sin, and even deliver you from temptation? You pray that in the Lord's Prayer... of do you pray His prayer?

To trust the Lord means to understand what "born-again" even means. That trust will mean change, or you are trusting yourself. I submit that you are born again when you are enlightened that I must do it God's way - through Jesus, and that you are unable to obtain salvation by any other name, including yours.