Christian Con Artists
The great deception
Is it possible that we are Christian con artists? How is this possible? How is it possible that we fall under the same category as a felon? I hate to reiterate, but many of us Christians are just as bad as someone who has committed murder. We fool ourselves if we think everything is always alright in our lives. But, everything isn’t alright. If it were, we would have no reason for repentance and forgiveness, and therefore no reason for a Saviour. Without a Saviour, how can we feel love and acceptance? How will we know right from wrong? And how will we know true freedom? How about others around us? Are we all acting like cons?
The definition of “CON” is adj. involving abuse of confidence and to swindle. To pursue by deception.
According to the above definition, confidence can be abused. If we don’t have the boldness to tell others about Christ, we are in fact betraying their trust, and signing their death warrant. Don’t you think that someone would want to know that here on Earth, there is life with true freedom, and when they die that the same is so? Of course they would. In that respect, we are also abusing our own confidence by not showing it. We need to ask God to give us that boldness to lead others to Him. We need to share His love with others.
Notice I used the word “need”? We need to do what God asks. We need His approval, love, and acceptance. Those who don’t know Christ also need Him. Are we not only con’s, but greedy con’s as well? We hoard all of Christ’s love for ourselves, when clearly is says in Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” This was a direct command from Jesus Himself, telling us that we must tell everyone about Him and His love and forgiveness and what wonderful things that love and forgiveness brings. Do we or anyone else have to put up with the enemy’s (Satan’s) abuse anymore? Being abused is not fun! If you see a dog that has been beaten, it cowers if you go to even pet it. Think of it this way, we have been beaten for far too long by Satan and his nasty thing called lack of confidence. It’s time to take back our boldness and courage and take it to our unsaved loved ones, neighbours, and who ever else we come in contact with day to day, or not even day to day but once in a while. It’s time to take back what Satan stole and tell him to get lost!
Looking back to the definition of “CON”, it says that con can swindle. If we look at our lives, how many times have we stolen or swindled an opportunity to be bold for Jesus? How many opportunities have we ignored or brushed off? So many opportunities, so little time! Where’s our courage? We’re robbing ourselves and others of Christ’s love and forgiveness. How will we all fair on the Day of Judgment when we’re facing our Lord? The One Who we denied, time and time again. The One Who died for us. The One we claim we love.
Deception is a big thing when it comes to being a con. You’ll do anything to get what you want and to make yourself feel good and/or better. When we don’t tell others about Christ, we are deceiving them to believe that everything will be okay if only they do good... or mostly good anyway. How foolish can we be? We’ve fallen for this same lie! The only difference is we know the Truth. We just refuse to not tell anyone. We’re deceiving others into believing that we are no different than anyone else, and at the same time, they don’t know that there is hope for them because we’re not living like there is. We are deceiving ourselves if we really believe we can get away with this.
I believe, and I know many other believe, that the biggest con job we as Christian’s have pulled is that we blend in with the world, it’s lies, deception, etc., rather than being apart from it (Romans 12:2). We look like everyone else, so what could be that harm, right? In actual fact, according to Matthew 5:13 we are to be the salt of the earth. Again, we are to be the salt, not the sugar. If we are just adding something like sugar to an already sugary recipe, someone’s going to get a cavity, and it might be us. With that in mind, we are not meant to sugar coat the gospel. We are to tell the truth. Remember this, adding salt to a cookie recipe makes the cookies sweater. In the same way, when we tell others about Christ, we are showing them how much better their lives can be with Him in it. Also remember though, too much salt will spoil the cookie dough. My meaning of this, we are not meant to “Bible bash” people into repentance, but to show Christ’s love. Be compassionate. Think of it this way, if we do “Bible bash” people, are we then in fact not being the salt, but perhaps pepper? Too much spice, and not enough TLC put into the recipe? We’re conning those we are trying to reach if we don’t reach them where they’re at. We’re not reaching them in the right way.
So what now? How do we reach people? In order to reach others in the right way, we need (there’s that word again) to quit being con artists and blending with the world. We need to search our hearts. Does it align with God’s? Or are we fooling ourselves into thinking it does? We need to draw near to God and ask Him to reveal to us what His heart is for us. Listen. What’s He saying? He knows us. He knows everything about us, scary as that may seem. Or can that be comforting for us? We need to ask God for boldness and courage to tell others about Him. We need to ask for forgiveness for not using that boldness or courage or possibly not asking for it before. We need to take back what Satan stole from us so we can show others how to do the same, and we need to do it now! Otherwise, how can we or others reform? We need to become reformed con’s now so others can see that we are indeed prisoners in Christ and not of this world. Others lives are at stake. Your family members and loved ones lives are at stake. Your neighbour’s lives are at stake. Those you see on the street, their lives are at stake. Stranger’s lives are at stake. Your enemy’s lives are at stake. Must we continue to be Christian con artists? Souls are a stake.
Cori-Beth
The definition of “CON” is adj. involving abuse of confidence and to swindle. To pursue by deception.
According to the above definition, confidence can be abused. If we don’t have the boldness to tell others about Christ, we are in fact betraying their trust, and signing their death warrant. Don’t you think that someone would want to know that here on Earth, there is life with true freedom, and when they die that the same is so? Of course they would. In that respect, we are also abusing our own confidence by not showing it. We need to ask God to give us that boldness to lead others to Him. We need to share His love with others.
Notice I used the word “need”? We need to do what God asks. We need His approval, love, and acceptance. Those who don’t know Christ also need Him. Are we not only con’s, but greedy con’s as well? We hoard all of Christ’s love for ourselves, when clearly is says in Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” This was a direct command from Jesus Himself, telling us that we must tell everyone about Him and His love and forgiveness and what wonderful things that love and forgiveness brings. Do we or anyone else have to put up with the enemy’s (Satan’s) abuse anymore? Being abused is not fun! If you see a dog that has been beaten, it cowers if you go to even pet it. Think of it this way, we have been beaten for far too long by Satan and his nasty thing called lack of confidence. It’s time to take back our boldness and courage and take it to our unsaved loved ones, neighbours, and who ever else we come in contact with day to day, or not even day to day but once in a while. It’s time to take back what Satan stole and tell him to get lost!
Looking back to the definition of “CON”, it says that con can swindle. If we look at our lives, how many times have we stolen or swindled an opportunity to be bold for Jesus? How many opportunities have we ignored or brushed off? So many opportunities, so little time! Where’s our courage? We’re robbing ourselves and others of Christ’s love and forgiveness. How will we all fair on the Day of Judgment when we’re facing our Lord? The One Who we denied, time and time again. The One Who died for us. The One we claim we love.
Deception is a big thing when it comes to being a con. You’ll do anything to get what you want and to make yourself feel good and/or better. When we don’t tell others about Christ, we are deceiving them to believe that everything will be okay if only they do good... or mostly good anyway. How foolish can we be? We’ve fallen for this same lie! The only difference is we know the Truth. We just refuse to not tell anyone. We’re deceiving others into believing that we are no different than anyone else, and at the same time, they don’t know that there is hope for them because we’re not living like there is. We are deceiving ourselves if we really believe we can get away with this.
I believe, and I know many other believe, that the biggest con job we as Christian’s have pulled is that we blend in with the world, it’s lies, deception, etc., rather than being apart from it (Romans 12:2). We look like everyone else, so what could be that harm, right? In actual fact, according to Matthew 5:13 we are to be the salt of the earth. Again, we are to be the salt, not the sugar. If we are just adding something like sugar to an already sugary recipe, someone’s going to get a cavity, and it might be us. With that in mind, we are not meant to sugar coat the gospel. We are to tell the truth. Remember this, adding salt to a cookie recipe makes the cookies sweater. In the same way, when we tell others about Christ, we are showing them how much better their lives can be with Him in it. Also remember though, too much salt will spoil the cookie dough. My meaning of this, we are not meant to “Bible bash” people into repentance, but to show Christ’s love. Be compassionate. Think of it this way, if we do “Bible bash” people, are we then in fact not being the salt, but perhaps pepper? Too much spice, and not enough TLC put into the recipe? We’re conning those we are trying to reach if we don’t reach them where they’re at. We’re not reaching them in the right way.
So what now? How do we reach people? In order to reach others in the right way, we need (there’s that word again) to quit being con artists and blending with the world. We need to search our hearts. Does it align with God’s? Or are we fooling ourselves into thinking it does? We need to draw near to God and ask Him to reveal to us what His heart is for us. Listen. What’s He saying? He knows us. He knows everything about us, scary as that may seem. Or can that be comforting for us? We need to ask God for boldness and courage to tell others about Him. We need to ask for forgiveness for not using that boldness or courage or possibly not asking for it before. We need to take back what Satan stole from us so we can show others how to do the same, and we need to do it now! Otherwise, how can we or others reform? We need to become reformed con’s now so others can see that we are indeed prisoners in Christ and not of this world. Others lives are at stake. Your family members and loved ones lives are at stake. Your neighbour’s lives are at stake. Those you see on the street, their lives are at stake. Stranger’s lives are at stake. Your enemy’s lives are at stake. Must we continue to be Christian con artists? Souls are a stake.
Cori-Beth
1 comment:
You're quite right here. The world has nothing worth compromising our walk with God for; and if we really believe the Gospel message we know what is at stake when others are not saved. We are forgiven by Grace, so we should not be self-righeous; and we should care enough to warn people. Interestingly, the sermon in our church today dealt with this.
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