Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, \u201cYou ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?\u201d \u2014 Galatians 5:7<\/p>\n
His analogy to the church at Corinth about living for God is striving for a crown. He compared it to running a race to win it (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). He uses the words, \u201crun,\u201d \u201cstrive,\u201d \u201cfight,\u201d and the statement, \u201ckeep my body under control.\u201d He warns that not to control your body, its fleshly desires that are an enemy to God and godliness, is to become a \u201ccastaway.\u201d Castaway is from the Greek word, \u201cadokimos,\u201d which is the same word translated as reprobate in Romans 1:28.<\/p>\n
If I could identify one thing about Christians today that prevents them from being other than name-only Christians, it is that there is very little striving to be godly, spiritually mature, and productive. Furthermore, if we are not like guppies for God\u2019s truth, we will be gullible for everything else.<\/p>\n
However, the Calvinist and Reformed Theology individual says, \u201cI don\u2019t have to strive because I was chosen for God\u2019s kingdom before time began.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Unconditional Eternal Security (once saved, always saved) says, \u201cI don\u2019t strive because it\u2019s works-based salvation. I can do as I please, even sin daily because I cannot lose my salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Universalist declares, \u201cWe don\u2019t have to strive. Everyone is going to heaven\u2014hell does not exist.<\/p>\n
The New Apostolic Reformation individual says, \u201cBut I\u2019m striving to help conquer the world and give Jesus His kingdom when He comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Charismatic (whatever that means nowadays) declares, \u201cI\u2019m God\u2019s favorite\u2014I don\u2019t strive, I reap the blessings of comfort, health, and wealth, daily.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Seeker-friendly and Emergent ones reply, \u201cWhat kingdom? What do you mean by \u2018crown.\u2019 Who is Paul? Is he on GodTV?\u201d<\/p>\n
The liturgical one replies, \u201cTeach me the ritual. l will light a candle and perform the striving ritual daily. \u201c<\/p>\n
The Roman Catholic responds, \u201cYou must strive, but I\u2019m already in the kingdom because I belong to the true Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New Age Christian says, \u201cI don\u2019t care what you say. I have my own path to God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The legalists replies, \u201cYou need a haircut, you\u2019re wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts, and trying to lecture me about striving. You\u2019ll burn with prostitutes in eternal hell!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
God\u2019s word says:<\/p>\n
\u201cFor they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded (focused on the desires of the flesh) is death; but to be spiritually minded (focused on the Holy Spirit) is life and peace. Because the carnal mind (focused on the things of the flesh) is enmity (an enemy) against God: for it is not subject to (rebellious against) the law of God, neither indeed can be (cannot submit to God). So then they that are in the flesh (focused on the desires of the flesh) cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (is not a child of God). And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.\u201d \u2014 Romans 8:5-10 (parentheses mine)<\/p>\n
The message is not to focus on eternal life by the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is a battle\u2014the great fight of faith. It is not about religion, but a relationship with God. If we love Him, we will love and follow\/obey the Holy Spirit no matter what it costs or requires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, \u201cYou ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?\u201d \u2014 Galatians 5:7 His analogy to the church at Corinth about living for God is striving for a crown. He compared it to running a race to win it (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). He uses the words, \u201crun,\u201d \u201cstrive,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-xu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2077,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2076\/revisions\/2077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}