Appendix 1J; Prove God, Take Loving Action
It’s a change in your perspective that makes Christlikeness (Christian cognitive consistency) possible. When Jesus Christ died and rose again, He left access to the power of the Holy Spirit to anyone who chooses to believe in Him and wants to live a life that pleases God (Romans 8:14, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 John 2:6, 3:18). The Holy Spirit's power is triggered by your decision to act on what you believe and, by living inside God’s loving boundaries, you learn contentment and can experience joy and freedom as you mature in the faith (Ephesians 3:16-19, 4:30, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Galatians 5:22-23, Appendix 2H). It’s gratitude, trust, and self-discipline that turns an attitude of mandatory compliance into voluntary conformance that makes hope achievable (Romans 8:29-38).
A child of God has a heart transformed by Love and this spiritual transformation accumulates over time in a physical manifestation of righteous behavior motivated by your desire to become a free-will bondservant to the Lord, as a sacrifice of praise to God (Psalm 165:108, 119:165, Luke 6:45, 12:34, Romans 2:5-10, 12:1, 1 Corinthians 7:22-23, Ephesians 5:2, 6:6). It’s this voluntary decision to act consistently with your faith mindset that brings peace to your body and soul, over shadowing your doubts and showing others your confident hope in God. But when you, a Christian, have an unhealthy, worldly, addiction, you certainly don’t feel at peace in hope. That’s because God, a Spiritual Being, has declared you righteous (perfect – no stain of sin) in your spirit only (Romans 3:21-27, 8:10, 10:2-4). The work of your faith is to show your beliefs in physical action and words, showing others that Christians have the power to overcome doubt (Mark 9:24, 2 Corinthians 5:7, James 2:17).
Your faith is birthed Spiritually when you become a child of God - a Spiritual Being on earth. It becomes effective and productive faith as you learn to translate your beliefs into action where the physical law of reaping what you sow governs this life (2 Peter 1:2-10, 1 Peter 2:12, Ephesians 4:11-14, 1 Corinthians 14:20). This a because we are living in a physical world where you are held accountable by the consequence of your physical actions in body and soul (Galatians 6:8). It’s up to you to use your new Holy spirit, empowered by God, to transform your life by physically practicing God's loving and righteous standards, mimicking His nature of Holy love (Ephesians 4:13, 4:22-23, 4:30, 5:1-2, 5:8, Colossians 3:5-10, 1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you decide to do it, time and experience is needed for you to mature, turning your ABC's into C /E .
Philippians 2:5-8 implies that you have a choice when it comes to being Christlike. You can adopt Christ’s standards when you;
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient …”
The goal is to grow your faith, not to perfection or in size, but in maturity (Hebrews 5:12-14). Your spirit is sealed once you surrender your independence to the Lord, God of heaven and earth (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13). After making this mindful decision, it's your soul and body that need to be retrained. Transformation in spirit is automatic but it takes a willful decision and patience to learn to live out Holy love; righteous, loving and just behavior as demonstrated by courageous Christlike habits enacted in public (Hebrews 10:14, Mark 4:14-20, Matthew 25:14-29).
This is God’s will for all of humanity, your "sanctification"; voluntary submission to learning to implement God's Holy standards because of love (2 Timothy 2:19-22, Ephesians 5:5:15-21).
-
Read about the "Phases of Learning Applied to Christianity" in Appendix 1F to realize the time it takes to mature in the faith so you can how a mature faith walks in love with cognitive consistency, not anxiety-in Appendix 2R.
To break secular habits as a Christian you need to choose to leave your old ways of thinking and doing behind you and begin to live out your confession of faith - showing your trust in God. You demonstrate your repentance by following the way of love through Christlike actions (2 Chronicles 7:14, 2 Corinthians 7:1, 7:10). Your free-will choice and God's sovereignty is what makes it possible for you to change the way you live, both intentionally and freely, by choosing to act within the boundaries of love as defined by a Holy God.
-
Read more about the practice of Christian discernment becoming your Godly insight Appendix 2H
-
Read more about how God's love inspires intentional Christian acts in Appendix 2L.
It's a deliberate decision to want to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord but its your willingness to make progressive changes in your behavior that "sanctifies" you (2 Peter 1:5-8, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 2 Thessalonians 2:13). The spirit, soul, and body concept explains the difference between making Jesus Christ your Lord (over soul and body) and not just your Savior (spirit only).
-
Choosing God as your guiding authority in life is a spiritual decision reflected by a heartfelt confession that you believe in Christ as your Savior (1 Timothy 2:4).
-
Choosing to act like Jesus is a physical decision reflected by imitating His standards in your physical body which proves you made him Lord also (John 1:12, Romans 8:15-17).
Have you decided to make Jesus both “Savior and Lord” of your life (Romans 6:12-16, 8:29, 10:4-10, 2 Peter 1:5-11)?
D
2
2 Peter 3:18
The Good News of the Gospel
It takes a decision of your will (your free choice), to become a spiritual Child of God but when you respond to God's mercy with gratitude, you are motivated to show your spiritual condition physically through the attitude of humility and the actions of self-sacrificial love (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 5:2, John 15:13, 1 John 4:7-21, 1 John 3:16). God, the Father sent Christ, the Son, to cleanse us from the stain of sin and show us what love looks like. The Holy Spirit, another gift from God, guides us in our daily walk show we can show this to others (a light in a dark world, Matthew 4:16-17, 1 John 3:9). Christ’s obedience to a Holy God is our grace.
Christ, a sin offering, voluntarily exchanged His perfection for our sins which purified the spirit of all who would believe in the Triune God, removing the barrier to our relationship with a Holy God (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 7:27, 9:22, 2 Samuel 22:31). It was Christ who chose to be obedient to God’s plan for His life on earth (John 6:38). It was Christ who chose to continue in obedience to God’s plan, even when it would lead to the point of “shedding his blood” (Luke 22:42). If you are a Christian, you are the righteousness of God, in Christ (Romans 5:1, Philippians 3:9).
-
Man is not able nor is required to follow God’s law perfectly as Christ did. It is a decision you make to believe and freely accept this as a gift from God; Christ is our righteousness- spiritually speaking (Hebrews 5:8-10).
-
The way you show your belief to others is by physically walking out God's Holy love (loving God and your neighbor because you are secure in the love of God and the imputed righteousness of Christ).