Gaining salvation through His mercy and grace and growing in Faith means turning away from the sins of the flesh and this world. Following is a guest post from a dear friend and brother in Christ. Pastor Harry Connor earned his Masters of Theology from Andersonville Theological Seminary.
These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous . 1 John 2:1 The Christian’s goal, John says quite frankly, is total sanctification complete victory over sin in our own life .John is not satisfied, and neither is the Holy Spirit who inspired him to write these words, with a half-way Christianity.
It is not good enough to live a more holy life than your next-door neighbor; it is not good enough to simply avoid the “big” sins like murder or adultery. No, John insists, my goal for you is for you to completely mortify the sin that so easily besets you. Pride, gluttony, worry, fear, selfishness, lying, and lust should all meet with a zero-tolerance determination in our spirit. We should never be content to allow any sin to set up camp in our heart without consistent opposition and a concerted effort to root it out.
But almost in the same breath John also gives us this blessed reminder, knowing that sin will never be completely defeated this side of the grave: if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Although we are not righteous, Jesus Christ was perfectly righteous on our behalf. When we sin, we have an Advocate with our heavenly Father who pleads his righteousness on our behalf. The Christian life, then, is a mixture of dissatisfaction with sinful self and complete satisfaction in the righteousness of Christ. It is striving and resting, improving and perfection.
Grow Stronger Roots 
We are living in an a society where being “good enough” is enough. There are schools in california they agree to pass students on the idea that they at least tried. We are taught short cuts and taking the easy way out and that mind set very quickly will sprinkle into the church. From there…we have a watered down gospel filled with political correctness. Jesus didn’t just get a slap on the wrist. He was tortured before dying on the cross. If we are to take up our cross and follow Him, then we need to follow the example of Christ to the T with all the negatives that come with us. We need to remember that Jesus they don’t hate us, but they hate who we come in His name. The world doesn’t hate Christians, they hate the Christ!
God bless your post!
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Excellent points. I agree that P.C. has made too many churches stay away from the truth because it offends those who are supporting the church in their pews. Thus the growth of the “Progressive Christian”. Its the same with most things now days-Less people are reaching the standards(whether that be athletic, academic, or religion), so the best thing to do is LOWER the standard! I THANK GOD for our church and leaders who refuse to bow down to the status quo and preach the truth from the pulpit every time, without worrying if someone will get their feelings hurt and not come back. Funny thing is preaching the truth every day and our church is growing! People are HUNGRY FOR THE TRUTH.
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