Lincoln Forlong

I wish to encourage you not to hide Christ

It’s all too easy to hide what should be the most obvious thing in our lives, Jesus Christ.  Slipping into the Christian incognito mode only shames Christ, and reveals the darkest side of your fleshly character which the enemy loves.

I’m sure most believers would identify with the self-evaluation of the apostle Paul. We would concur that “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15-16 NIV). Our lives are to be a transparent display cabinet, visually presenting the patience of our Saviour to the watching unbelievers. And, according to the Lord’s will, some of those watching will one day believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour through repentance.

God’s Purpose for you

As Christians, our Christ centered lives are public testimony that the Lord “…is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16; “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

No matter how feeble you may think your faith is, God wants to use you as the vehicle of His glory so that other’s will praise Him. This is a most humbling and challenging part of being a child of God. In spite of your many inconsistencies, the Holy Spirit yearns to expose Christ to the world through you. Consequently, you don’t want to obscure the Christ who redeemed you from those God has brought into your life for this very purpose.

Therefore, realise that it is “God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). That being the case, “be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).

Personal Involvement

No matter how hard-done-by you may feel, no matter how offended you may be, regardless of the injustices done to you, you will experience the peace of God and the joy of your salvation in surrendering them to God. Do as Christ did, relinquish your desire for justice to the will of God – and live Christ! Otherwise, you will be a most effective tool in the hand of Satan for dishonouring God, for shaming Christ, and for discrediting the Body of Christ. It is this easy to hide Christ from the world.

I encourage you, be proactive today in exposing the world around you to the loving Saviour, Jesus Christ. Speak well of the Saviour today. Be reconciled to those who have offended you. Forgive and love your enemies, praying for their blessing in Christ. In this way, we will NOT conceal Christ.

 

 

 

I wish to encourage you to live selfless lives for Jesus Christ.

It’s an indisputable fact, we live in a self-consumed society. Every form of selfishness pervades society’s values so much so, that it has become the norm for worldly morals. However, this is not true of those who live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

One of the most significant and publicly noticeable character traits of any Christian is that of selflessness. Jesus taught selflessness when He proclaimed the second most important commandment; “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31). The depth of God’s salvation is experienced “according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). One of the many visible evidences of genuine spiritual rebirth is that you will desire to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

You see, when Jesus Christ moves into a repentant sinner’s life as Lord, there is radical change, beginning with their own view of self. The world will observe you as a new believer putting “off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). This is what it means to be a Christian, a lover of Jesus Christ, a willing servant of the Lord.

Jesus manifested the greatest degree of selflessness when contemplating the sacrificing of His own life on the cross by praying; “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Likewise, we are to “have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

While selflessness is counter to our culture, it is central and intrinsically the desire of trustworthy Christian character. This is to be the deepest of our heart’s desire as those who dare to claim we love Jesus Christ as personal Lord. Having surrendered all your internal attitudes of indifference to God, the authentic Christian desires to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

I wish to encourage you to have the courage of faith to be different to the world, be selfless by extending the love of Jesus Christ to others for the glory of God. Remember, that when you put trusting faith in Jesus Christ, you were saying, like the apostle Paul; “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Together, let’s live selfless lives for Jesus Christ, and for the benefit of others.

I wish to encourage you to keep your faith in Christ simple and clear.

Mankind has a terrible habit of over engineering things that God has made remarkably simple. For example, the gospel is very simple, yet man has tampered with it and made it complex and vague. Humans have turned salvation around, attempting to make it all about us, instead of all about God. The world has exchanged the biblical decision of repentant belief in Jesus as Saviour and Lord to a journey toward Jesus that is so mystical that you most likely will never know for certain if you are saved or not.

The apostle Paul explained in Ephesians 1:12, that those who “hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory”. The simple fact is; “when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him (Jesus Christ), were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). Salvation, the gift of eternal life, is intended by God to be the thing that we speak well of for His glory. End of story! In fact, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit energises the believer for this very purpose.

Explanation

Now, when I speak of simple, I do not mean without intelligence or clarity of thought. No, I mean without complication, and without complex frills that add nothing to your faith relationship with God that you do not already possess through His Son, Jesus Christ. I’m referring to a pure focus of your faith upon Jesus Christ as the sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, taking your place, to pay the penalty for your sin in order to satisfy the justice of God (Romans 3:21-26; 5:1-11).

Jesus clearly stated; “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). Jesus did not come to earth for the purpose of political reform, or to heighten man’s inner awareness of self. No, He came to deal with the matter of yours and my sin. Paul told the Corinthians, that he “delivered to you as of first importance what I (Paul)  also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Everything is of secondary importance to this simple and clear truth!

The Reason

You see, God never intended the transition from being estranged from Him, to being a child of His, to be complex, clouded, or vague. Yes, the decision of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is life’s most difficult one. And yes, belief in Jesus Christ as Lord will be your most expensive decision. But it will be a clear cut decision of belief, life changing, and with eternal consequences. Why? Because, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

I encourage you to keep your faith in Christ simple and clear. Be Christ focused, so that His life can be lived through your life, for His glory.

 

I wish to encourage you to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ

For the most part, obedience to Jesus Christ is not a winning theme to write or teach on. The world is utterly disinterested, and God’s people are often so over-whelmed by their struggle against sin, that they say to themselves ‘here we go again, another bashing’.

Let’s face it, obedience is not always the most appealing thing, and it certainly is not always popular with others. In fact, this author knows the struggle between ‘personal want and obedience’ very well. Unfortunately, we believers won’t be set free from this struggle until we are with the Lord. That being said, we need to constantly remind ourselves that the blessings of obedience are many, and the cost of disobedience is high.

The Contrast

The apostle Paul reminds us that “by the one man’s (Adam’s) disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s (Christ’s) obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Obedience and disobedience are at the very core of humanity’s relationship with God. Eternal life, a right relationship with God, hinges on obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). The blessing of obedience to Jesus Christ is eternal life; the status quo of disobedience is wrath and eternal separation from God.

While it’s all too easy to say that we love the Lord, with the words just rolling off our tongues effortlessly. The Lord however, looks for evidence of authenticity of that professed love. The apostle John nails what genuine love for God looks like; “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). Herein lies the truth of the matter, the overarching theme of our lives, the typical pattern of our living, is one of love expressed through obedience to God and not self-indulgence.

The Example

An extraordinary group of Christians lived and fellowshipped at Philippi. Paul had observed of them, and encouraged them when writing to them; “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Evidence of God’s activity in their lives was witnessed by others. Made visible through their obedience, they had a powerful testimony to the world of the reality of Jesus Christ. Their humble reverence of the Lord had tangible expression of the life transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Pleasure of Obedience

For the Christian, obedience is not a distasteful experience as if it were a set of rules that must legalistically be observed. Jesus summed it up perfectly when He said; “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28). Obedience is the appropriate response to Christ as Lord. It’s an accurate expression of love for Him because it should flow from an ever increasing desire to please Him. Obedience fuels the assurance of our salvation and intensifies the realisation of our security in Christ.

Today, be encouraged to honour our Lord Jesus Christ by your obedience. And should you stumble, come before the Lord in confession, realising that there is “now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Get up and walk again in obedience for this is love for Christ.

 

I wish to encourage you to use your tongue for God’s glory. 

The world exercises little restraint, if any, when using the tongue for speaking its mind. The media, entertainment, and the Internet, all serve to normalise swearing, crass humour, lying, anger, unforgiveness, and blaspheming God’s name. Sadly, many who claim to be ‘Christian’ speak with similar irresponsibility as the disbelieving world.

The fact is, mankind is uniquely created in the image of God and possesses enormous potential for glorifying Him. However, sin entered the human heart and unleashed death upon the human race along with the devastating potential for bringing dishonour to their creator. Consequently, the use of the human tongue changed. Now, “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God” (James 3:8-9).

A brother’s perspective

The apostle James, having grown up under his older and perfect brother Jesus, would have experienced the stark difference between what sometimes flowed off his own tongue compared to the faultless speech of Jesus. Therefore, James could rightly say, “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). We hear this daily, in the work place, in education, and even in families where love is meant to the guiding moral. As we all know, “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Our heart fuels the tongue, and usually without any filtration.

So, the problem isn’t so much the tongue, as the heart that drives the tongue. The apostle Paul instructs us believers; “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.” He then immediately tells us how this is made possible, this new self “is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:9-10). The genuine believer is one who surrenders their life to God for the purpose of being changed from within, so that they reflect the character of God with ever increasing intensity (2Co 3:18). Our thinking must be changed in order for the heart to express the Lord’s beauty via the tongue (Rom 12:1-2).

The real need

King David pleaded for the Lord to; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalms 51:10).  Repentant belief in Jesus Christ as Lord is how mankind can be born again spiritually (John 3). This spiritual regeneration of the human heart is carried out by God, placing the repentant sinner in Christ. This means that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new life, energised by the Holy Spirit, is one where we use the tongue to “continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Hebrews 13:15). It also means we “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

I encourage you today, if you have not done so already, hand yourself over to God. Repent of your sin that empowers you to live indifferent to the Lord. Believe with dependent faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. Abandon the emptiness of self, and receive the gift of eternal life through trusting belief in Jesus Christ who died in your place on the Cross of Calvary for your sin. Then, you will be empowered to use your tongue for God’s glory.