Now, more than ever before in our own lifetimes, we desperately need to restore true Christianity ~ in our own lives as well then as in the lives of those around us. For, true Christianity is the very heart and soul not only of human life but also of human civilization. How can that be done? How can Christianity be 'restored' so as to be rightly understood ~ in order that it may then be experienced? Answer: The revelation of God must be . . . well, revealed and, so, restored. That is to say, the truths ~ the actual truths of Christianity, which have long been concealed, must be taught again. Those truths have been concealed by the very ones whose job it was (many have mistakenly supposed) to teach those divine truths. But they, false teachers, have been blind leaders of the blind.
But not to rant. Rather, I want to teach something that is absolutely fundamental to genuine Christianity, as I have been alluding to that. It has to do with the most basic realities pertaining to the nature of man; as follows.
Man is a house
What on earth can that mean? It means exactly what it says. (Though I should say that one's body is actually the "house".) God created man to be a special kind of house wherein God can dwell. The Bible refers to man as the "temple" of God. The word temple means the 'place' where the Deity lives and is worshiped. That unspeakably great idea..., that eminently important idea, must be understood ~ if one hopes to live.
Though every human person was made by God to be His dwelling place; yet, God does not indwell every person. But each one must choose whether he or she is willing to become, and forever to remain, a house of God. Of course, there are conditions attaching to that decision. Which is exactly why it is that most refuse to give themselves ~ body and soul ~ to God. Those "conditions" just alluded to have everything to do with the question: Will I rule over my own life? or will I submit to God to rule over me?
God is holy. He will not indwell an unclean temple. Right there is the crux of the problem with contemporary Christianity so-called. To illustrate my point: Just this morning I read that a recent poll (undertaken by a reputable agency) indicates that more than half of all professing "Christians" believe that casual sex between consenting adults is approved by God. How can such persons know anything at all about what God approves? Their own beliefs betray the fact that they are not merely ignorant of God's nature and will but, furthermore, they themselves are enemies of God. So says the Bible.
Man cannot live without God. God never made man to be capable to live apart from God. Man was not made for his own sake; but man was made for God. You were made for God. But if you will know God and be reconciled to His will, you must be willing to become God's dwelling place, God's house. And to that end, you must know and understand that God is holy. Therefore, you must be holy if you will be the temple of the true and living God. And be His temple you must ~ if you desire to live. For, only those whom God indwells shall live. For ever. That has been God's plan from the beginning.
The above image suggests the notion that man, in the fundamental constitution of his being, was made to be a house of God. Consider, if you will, the marvelous revelation of Scripture, concerning the creation of man:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became . . ." (Genesis 2:7).What did man become? He became "a living soul" (Genesis 2:7).
Look at the picture, above. Man was nothing more than a lifeless clay sculpture. But then something came out from God and went into that clay figure. The Hebrew word for "breath", in Scripture, is the same word which elsewhere in the Bible is translated as "spirit". In other words, when God's Spirit entered, man then ~ and not until then ~ came alive! It is still that way, today.
We have a 'natural' life that we inherited as descendants of the first man (and woman) whom God created and invested them with powers of procreation. But so long as one remains alienated from the life of God, such individual is radically incomplete: he or she is missing the most vital element that is indispensable to his or her life; which, that vital element, is the Spirit of God. Without God, one merely exists; but he does not live. There is a vast difference ~ as the difference between light and darkness; between heaven and hell.
Those who would live must be willing to be God's house. Which means they must then be willing to be (made) holy. Yes, holy. Not only is it possible to be holy in this present life, in this present world; it is moreover required of all that we must be holy unto the Lord. For, we were made by the Lord and for the Lord; we were not made for our own pleasure, but for God's. To be sure, God made us such that our greatest pleasure is to be found in union with God. True happiness can only be had when one is in right relationship with God. In order to be God's house and, so, to live and walk with God, one must be holy. Unhappily, that truth has been consciously and utterly rejected by the modern Church; to their own everlasting damnation. They have chosen instead to believe that one can continue to sin ~ and yet be acceptable and well pleasing to God. Because.
Because . . . why? Because that's the way they want it to be.
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