Post by delo63 on Jul 21, 2017 6:43:50 GMT -6
Mostly everyone of us knows or is friends with someone who likes to think themselves as a know it all. The best way I would describe a know it all would be, they think that they are better than everyone else, and they think they know more or are smarter than everybody else. I can honestly say that I know this well, because like many other people I've always been a know it all.
I would think that everyone was beneath me and that everyone else was an idiot. Well I learned that thinking this way, usually either got me in trouble, or made me lose friends, and made it hard to gain new friendships. When you fool yourself into this thinking, then it is just so easy to dismiss and hate others.
I used to use my know it all tendencies to judge everyone else, to make myself feel better. Well what happens down the road is that you push so many people away that you end up alone. Fortunately, my wife is stubborn and loved me anyway, and I am very grateful for that.
So when I gave my life to Christ, I was still a know it all. Actually I believe it got worse, because I would learn through scripture and some other people wouldn't see or understand some of what I was learning. So I got a big head, and then when I would talk to others about God, I would push them away because of my arrogance.
See when I first became a Christian, I don't believe I grasped the gospel at all. It wasn't about Jesus to me, it was about following all these rules, and doing all these things. I believed I was saved as long as I followed all these rules, and tried my best to do good things to make up for my mistakes. The whole saved by grace message to me meant that you are saved, but you have to keep doing all these things to keep your standing with God.
I was so wrong, see grace is from believing in Christ and asking Him into your life, but I got it twisted. I put all these conditions on my salvation. That made it hard for me to actually grow in faith, because I had none. Then one day I read John 5, and it showed me how wrong I was.
In John 5, it speaks about an interaction that Jesus has with the Pharisees. Earlier in the day Jesus decided to heal a man who could not walk for 38 years. It happened to be on the Sabbath so the Pharisees started giving Jesus grief about healing the guy on the Sabbath. This was Jesus response.
John 5:36-47,
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[d]?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
The moment I read this I immediately was convicted. Jesus basically was telling them, that that they can study the scriptures all day and know everything there is to know about God. However, if they do not believe in Christ it means nothing! Also when Jesus said, "nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent." That hit like a knife to the heart, Jesus doesn't live in your heart and you are not saved, unless you believe in Christ as your personal savior and that's it. So it doesn't matter, if you understand scripture more or less, it just matters if you believe or not.
Another thing that hit me, was that Moses was their accuser, because they are following the law and the law alone. So to them Moses is there savior, or the law itself is their savior, not Christ! That means they are doomed, because Moses and the law itself cannot save anybody.
Now the reason I am posting this, is because there are many churches that teach, that you have to do all these good things, and you have to do all these traditions and follow all these rules to be saved. Well I want to tell you that's all a lie, the only way to be saved is through Christ and Christ alone!
Also, this is for those who were like me who thought that I had a real relationship with Christ, but lived by the law and not by faith. The law will never save you, only Christ will. I realized that I was basically those Pharisees arguing with God, thinking that I knew what was right. So for those that are still stuck in the know it all phase of your life, its time to leave that way of thinking. If you do not, then you are no different then the Pharisees, who argued with Christ and didn't recognize that He was and is the God who created the world.