The Author and Finisher of our Faith

The Author and Finisher of our Faith

Let us read Hebrews 12 verse 2. This scripture has been on my heart for a few days and I pondered on it quite a bit. This scripture first of all explains that Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. Let me explain this to you in a short story. An author writes a book, imagine that your life is the book and that the author is Jesus Christ.
The author writes what He please in the book, a story that is pleasing to Him, so Jesus also writes out our spiritual story or walk with Him, from the day we are saved to the day that we die.
An author orchestrates or brings together the events in the book, Jesus does the same with our lives, He decides what will go on in our lives, our goals, our plans, our way of life, it is all up to Him, just as the events of the story is all up to the Author.
First of all we must allow Him to write the story of our lives, we must be submissive to Him, for He won't write our life story if you refuse to submit to Him.
We as believers must allow Christ to write down every detail of our life story or in other words, we must allow Him to direct our every step in this earthly life.
Now it says in Hebrews 12 verse 2 that Jesus is also the finisher of our faith. This is very important, for just as an Author, when finished with His work, decides whether to publish His work or not, so Christ also must decide whether the story written is pleasing to Him or not. When we refuse to let Christ the Master Author write our life story and attempt to write it ourselves, then it will become a disaster!
It is like letting a five year old child write a novel! The work of a five year old child and the work of a skilled Author cannot be compared!
So Christ as the finisher of our faith must decide whether to spiritually publish our life story.
If it is written by Him, then it will be published, for He is assured that it is up to His Father in Heaven's standard!
By published, I mean, saved from eternal punishment and sent to Eternal Life with God in Heaven!
If it is not up to standard, then Christ will have to discard the story and throw it away!
Just as an Author has to discard a poor story that he has written, in favor of making a new one.
If a story is written by a five year old, then it will be way beyond repair, the whole story is mixed up and put in a way that a skilled Author will never write. His only option is to discard the story, as it is beyond repair.
So also Christ will not give you another chance once you are dead, your chance is here on earth. He has to make a righteous judgment, which is give you the reward  you deserve,
for He has said, " And Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work" (NKJV Revelations 22 verse 12)!
What can we do?
Let Jesus guide your every step for He no longer lives for the lusts of men, but for the Will of God (1 Peter 4 verse 2)! Jesus has never sinned and will never lead anyone into sin, so you can trust Him to direct your steps!
The Will of God is found in Bible alone, God desires that we must live our earthly lives as Jesus has lived His (1 John 2 verse 6).
The first message that Jesus preached was repentance of sin and belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1 verse 15)!
We must be sinless before our Lord, we must be like Him before The Father in Heaven!
Friends, if your life is not right with God, then go and confess your sins to a counselor and pray and trust God that you will not return to that sin (James 5 verse 16)!
We must put all our effort into staying free from the clutches of sin, we must be free from it in every area, in our dressing, speech, thoughts and actions!
If you desire to see Jesus Christ and abide with Him, then you must be Holy as He is Holy and purify yourself, just as He is pure (1 Peter 1 verse 15 to 16 and 1 John 3 verse 3) , for without holiness and purity, we will not see the face of God (Hebrews 12 verse 14 and Matthew 5 verse 8)!

Jesus is God

Jesus is God!
Let us read John 8 verse 48 to 59.
In this passage, Jesus claims to be the God of Israel, the only true God. This claim was proven to be true, as He has risen from the dead.
Jesus claims to be the same God, who spoke to Moses through the burning bush (Exodus 3 verse 14). He claims to be the same God, who led Israel out of Egypt and into the promise land!
Though Jesus told the people that He is God, the same one they worship, they attempted to stone Him. Showing that they did not believe His testimony.
When He spoke the words of Life, they claimed that He was possessed and not a true jew, but a samaritan. (John 8 verse 48)
They declared that He was just a man, for only men can be possessed. They declared that He was under satan's control and that He was out of His mind.
By calling Him a samaritan, they were implying that He was of mixed descent, not a pure jew. For if Jesus was a samaritan, then He would not fall under King David's line, He would not therefore be the Messiah, for the Messiah was to be from David's line.
The words of the jews were very insulting, they attacked Jesus's claim to be God.
We read in Joshua chapter 24 verse 14 to 28, that Joshua gave the children of Israel a choice.
They could serve God or idols, the people insisted that they wanted to serve God, even though Joshua warned them that they were incapable of serving God, that their hearts were rebellious and wicked.
They continuously rebelled against God from that moment, until they were sent into exile, most of the old testament tells of their continuous rebellion.
And now when they rejected Jesus as God, they were rejecting God, the same God they had rejected again and again.
These passages made me think, don't we continuously rebel against God?
We think that it is okay to rebel against our Sovereign Lord, that He will always show us His grace.
When Israel rebelled against God, they suffered severely for it, they died from their sins, often dying horrible deaths in foreign lands.
They were given over to their sin and received the reward of sin, which is death (Romans 6 verse 23). This death happened spiritually first, as their hearts were hardened, then it took place physically too.
We also will face spiritual and physical death if we sow in the flesh and not in the spirit.
When we sin against God, we rebel against Him, we are claiming like the jews that God is truly not worth serving. We are dishonoring Him, just as the jews dishonored Jesus with their words and actions.
People often say, " I didn't know I was sinning." That is an absolute lie! If we are truly honest with ourselves, we know that we know right from wrong.
The Bible says that God's laws are written on the mind and heart of the believer. This means that we are now able to tell right from wrong, that the Holy Spirit of God tells us right from wrong.
We however, block out the voice of the Spirit in our minds, we choose to ignore God's voice and to commit sin.
This is what happened to the jews, they chose to ignore the words of Christ and to harden their hearts, that is why they were ready to stone their own God!
Hebrews 1 verse 3 (NIV) tells us that Jesus is the exact respesentation of God Himself.
It makes one think how the jews could not see that this is the same God they worshiped in the temple and synagogues.
The answer is that they did not have a personal relationship with God, it had become ritual to them, they had allowed sin to grow in their hearts.
Jesus told us in the parable of the sower that the worries of this world chokes God's Word in our Life and also that some people allow satan to take away the Word of God from their lives.
This is true of sin in a person's life, for when our lives are not right before God, we allow God's Word to die in our lives.
Once this is done, we are as good as sinners and unbelievers, we then have no fear or respect for God or His words.
The jews tried to stone Jesus, what have you done to Him?
Have you tried to change His Word to suit your lifestyle?
It is as good as stoning Him, when we compromise His Word!
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life (NKJV)"
What we sow is what we will reap. Think of this, when we plant a seed, maybe wheat or corn or something else, when the seed is fully grown into a plant and the crop is ready to harvest, do we go to the plant and find a different plant or vegetable than what we planted?
Of course not, what you sowed in the ground, is what you will harvest or reap from it.
Our lives on earth is like the time of sowing, we by our decisions and conduct (even our thoughts), choose what we are going to sow. We can live sinfully and thus sow a sinful crop or we can live for Christ and sow a godly crop.
On judgment day, we receive the fruit of our sowing on earth, if we sowed to the flesh, we receive death and banishment to Hell, if to the Holy Spirit, then Eternal Life with God.
We can even receive part of our crop, during our earthly life, for the one who sins against others, is at risk of being sinned against himself.
Friends, are our lives showing that Jesus is the true and only God?
Or does the world harden their hearts further, because our proclamation to be children of God and our lives don't meet up!
We say we are Christians, yet we live exactly like the world, most times even worse than the world!
Repent of these sins and turn to God, confess your sins and make right with Him, speak to a counselor, pray to God, do what it takes to return to Jesus and His grace.
Let us not be like the unbelieving jews and attempt to destroy the very God, we claim to serve, for hear now friends, we will not be held guiltless, but will be judged most severely.
Jesus told a parable about a evil servant and a faithful servant, He told how the faithful servant is the one who is found to be doing the will of God. The evil servant is the one who is found to be committing sin and shirking his responsibilities (Matthew
 24 verse 45 to 51)!
They each received their reward for their lives and so will we, therefore live for Christ and sow to the Spirit and not to satan.