The 5th Sin Every Christian Must Avoid

A Root of Bitterness

 

Bitterness:  deep seated, often mutual hatred; hostility; resentment. *

 

            Sadly, far too many believers have been hurt by others, including spouses, family members, church leaders and more. They’ve been taken advantage of or flat out lied to and it tends to taint the way those believers may look at God and/or His church. I’ve been lied to by pastors thru the years and totally ignored, though I had valid spiritual gifts to share. While I don’t believe I’ve allowed it to make me bitter or resentful, it has caused me to be distrustful. I wear a shirt that says, “My favorite people are dogs”, and with few exceptions that is a true statement. I’m not overly fond of people in general. Now that may sound like a bold, even unchristian thing to say, but the experiences I’ve gone thru have hurt and shaped the way I view pastors and Christians in general. Generally speaking I love all people, but I have become wary of them. I’m not always ready to trust them at first but knowing that I’m an ambassador for Christ allows me to shift gears and extend a hand of fellowship. I could have become bitter, which would have no doubt stunt my spiritual growth, but I suppose I have matured enough as a believer to know that the offense is against the One I represent and not me. 

            If a person allows the hurts of this life to fester and remain unresolved, then a root of bitterness has a chance to take root in their heart.  Bitterness, resentment, even full blown hatred act like weeds in a garden. It eventually spreads to every area of your life. A bitter person is difficult to be around because everything they think, say, and do seems to revolve around the reason for the resentment. Take heed to the words found in Hebrews 12:15, which urges us to, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Ephesians 4:31 (AMP) also urges us to, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].”

            This is another situation that has everything to do with what your focal point in life actually is. If, like Peter, you focus on the wind and the waves when attempting to walk on the water to Jesus, you will sink, but if your focus is squarely on the Lord, you will be fine. Hurts will still come; injustices, and calamitous events brought on by others will still try to knock you off kilter, but if you are focused on the Rock of your Salvation, then nothing will move you. Sure, being human, your initial reaction may not be favorable, but in knowing the Lord personally, you have the spiritual tools to avoid the root of resentment and bitterness to take hold.

            Next we’ll take a look at course language. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

* bitterness. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved August 11, 2024, fromhttps://www.thefreedictionary.com/bitterness

The 4th Sin Every Christian Must Avoid

Living Fearfully

2 Timothy 1:7 ^{[Amplified Bible]}

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].”

 

            While God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, still man is fearful. Man fears the unknown, which is regrettable because we all have unknown factors in our lives. Regarding the future we have no knowledge. Regarding the present we only know what we see and hear. Regarding the past, we are unfortunately susceptible to whatever others tell us, never knowing if what we’re being told is truth or fiction. Our nerves play a role in our fears. Worrying or fretting over things in the future is foolish because what will happen whether we like it or not. Why is that? Well, look at it this way ... if God knows all that can be known, and He controls all things, then HE is the one who holds the key to future events. God either causes or allows all that takes place on the earth. We can control what God would like us to control, by our thoughts, words, and actions, as led by the Holy Spirit. 

            There are times when what we see frightens us. That is why we must be cautious regarding what we see. We must be careful what TV shows we watch and what movies we go and see. The enemy, who has been given subservient power of this earth by God, is doing all he can to neuter our faith, by steering us into ungodly situations. THAT is precisely why we must draw close to God that He might draw all the closer to us. No matter what the Lord may allow to befall us in this life, we must accept and belief that it is for our ultimate good and not designed to harm us in any way. As believers we’ve been given every tool we need to weather any storm. The devil knows the chink* in our armor. He knows where we are vulnerable. We must stay in God’s Word and be in prayer. 

            Humans are emotional creatures. They can be overly emotional or be rather deadpan, not really showing any emotion at all. But fear always conjures up all sorts of images in our minds. Fear is NOT from the Lord, but from the devil. He will play that card endlessly until he receives the desired result. Don’t give him the satisfaction. Trust God and know that fear is merely passing by us like a sudden storm. Fear should find no home in your heart. Rely on God, trust Him for all things. Living in fear to the point where it overtakes your life and remains front, and center is sinful living. Not going to hell sin; just the type of typical, everyday sin that nibbles at our heels each day. It need not affect us in a negative way. God knows what He’s doing and will lead you away from your fearful situation so that you can see that it was really nothing at all. God is truly greater than anything else in His creation. Trust God in all things.

            Hebrews 13:5 ^{[Amplified Bible]}

“...for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” If the Creator of the universe is with you wherever you go in the Person of the Holy Spirit within you, then wouldn’t it be an insult to Him if we still became fearful. (I know that easy to say and not so easy to do, but wouldn’t it be nice to be able to relax and know that God has got things completely under control ... so there really isn’t any reason to become fearful. We need to talk ourselves into believing that.)

            Next we’ll take a look at avoiding bitterness. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

* A narrow opening, such as a crack or fissure.

 

The 3rd Sin Every Christian Must Avoid

Practicing Prayerlessness

 

                                    I’ve been walking with the Lord for 45 years. I tell you that because there was a time in my Christian walk that I didn’t see the need to pray. I felt that God already knew what I was going to pray before I even said the words, so why bother saying it. Shortly after that the Holy Spirit revealed to me something I hadn’t thought of. He said to me that prayer wasn’t for God’s benefit, but mine. Huh? He continued. We pray and whenever the answer comes my faith and trust in God would be bolstered. So I pray so that my faith and trust in God is elevated. Then I wondered about when an answer doesn’t come. What then? The Spirit showed me that there is YES, NO and NOT YET.  Yes, because our request falls within the parameters of His will for either us or the person we are praying for. No, not because He doesn’t care, but because for all we know God may be planning to give us something far greater as our answer. Not yet, because pray is an exercise in patience. 

            We shouldn’t pray just once for something or someone and when we pray we need to ask that God’s will be done. This way when the answer DOES come you can be assured that it is according to His will for you. We must be persistent with our prayers. We needn’t beg or plead to God, but rather, pray with a calm confidence that God hears you and will act at the appropriate time.

            To NOT pray is to rely on something or someone other than God to solve your dilemma or simply provide what you are seeking. It’s like shopping at a Dollar Store when you could be shopping at a high end department store or eating fast food when you could be eating at a fancy steak house instead. Once again, too many people see prayer as an unimportant part of their life, while social media, work and recreational events take its place. Many of us promise to pray for someone else who needs it only to forget later what you promised them. What’s wrong with praying with them right then and there? The Lord will enable you to pray appropriately by His Holy Spirit. 

            Some folks see prayer as a genie in a bottle type of scenario. God is there to do our bidding. NO. You’re wrong! We are to do what He knows is the right thing to do. Scripture explains that God always does that which is most beneficial to His children and will bring Him the most glory. Someone I know once said God is an egotistical tyrant who must be stopped. Hmmm! Smacks of someone who doesn’t get the whole God thing. You’ll believe all sorts of lies if you don’t invest the time it takes to actually KNOW God. He’s there, what are you waiting for?

            Some folks quit praying because they aren’t convinced that it works. You can rest assured that God hears and will act according to His will and His timing. Philippians 4.6-7 explains that prayerfulness leads to experiencing God’s peace. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            To NOT pray is to not have trust in God. Pray is a powerful tool we have at our disposal. Our prayers can stymy the works of the devil. Our prayers can bring hope where there is none. Our prayers can encourage. They can reveal truth. Prayer is communication into the spiritual realm where God resides. To NOT pray neuters our spiritual walk, leaving us vulnerable to all sorts of things that can thwart our efforts to grow and mature in the Spirit. Pray. 

            Next we’ll take a look at living fearfully. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

 

The 2nd Sin Every Christians Must Avoid

Walking in Unbelief

 

            If you say you believe in the existence of God, how deep does that belief go? Do you believe in Him as the scriptures portray Him or do you believe based on tradition or your parents values and understanding of God. Perhaps you have done a personal search to satisfy your own thirst for knowing. Christianity is NOT a religion, per se, but more of a relational thing. Christianity at its core is based on an intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe and man’s first breath. To believe in God is to embrace all that He is. Those whose belief is shaky probably have yet to truly meet Him. Many say they believe in God but have never made Him an integral part of their life.  The Bible tells us to simply believe in God and Jesus and you’ll be saved. While that is inherently true, belief is so much more than that. Salvation is designed to revolutionize one’s life. It’s like receiving a transfusion of new, fresh, clean blood into your veins. You are alive, as opposed to being a walking, talking dead man. Your soul is now alive. You’re lone desire now should be to please the Lord with your life. To neglect that part of your Christian experience will leave you walking on a tightrope of indecision. To keep at a distant from the intimacy God offers is to invite doubt and unbelief to creep into the recesses of your mind. You then become easy prey for the enemy.

            As Hebrews 3:12 addresses, “See to it, brothers, and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.” If unbelief is allowed to fester, it will begin to eat away at your faith in God. Allowing unbelief to grow will cause you eventually, if unchecked, to open the door to apostasy, which is the falling away from one’s faith. Don’t let this happen to you. Too great a price was paid to save your soul from the pits of hell. To disbelieve is to make Christ’s death nonessential, while the reverse is true. Without Christ’s death on the cross there would be NO HOPE for mankind, for they would die in their sins and be destined for an eternity in hell.

            Know what you believe and be able to back it up with scripture. The world is attacking the church in their attempt to crush it. Too many churches are straying from key doctrines in the bible. Shame on them. God is not pleased with what is taking place in the churches throughout the world. To those who believe and stand strong in their faith to the very end there will be a reward in heaven. To those who alter scripture to support their own personal theology or ideology, their only reward will be hell fire. It is incredibly important to know WHAT you believe and WHY you believe it. Start searching right away. Stay strong in your faith, for persecution may very well come knocking on your door in the future.  Remember, the Lord offers you eternal life, the enemy offers you NOTHING but shiny baubles that have NO value. Don’t allow yourself to be duped. Trust God and live what you believe.

            Next we will look at practicing prayerlessness. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

The 1st Sin Every Christian Must Avoid

Failing to Love God

 

Jesus instructs us in Mark 12:30 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.” Loving someone you cannot see based on what scripture tells us about Him is a different kind of love. It’s love based on something we CHOOSE to believe. It’s a love that has been established before time itself began. It involves a divine spiritual entity that has always been, is and always will be. But is it possible that we can fall into the trap of “outta sight, outta mind”? Is it possible that our lives being encumbered by the responsibilities of life, have caused us to put God on the back burner, so to speak? He must be in the forefront of our lives. He is the reason we live and breathe. He mustn’t end up being an afterthought.

Christians, yes even Christians, become prone to letting our daily schedules dictate what we do and where we go on any given day. Many of us act as though God understands that we’re busy and imagine that He is happy with whatever time we’re able to spare for Him. In that event our priorities are skewed. Yes, we’re busy. Yes, we have families, and careers and social lives, but are these reasons or excuses for not spending time with God? All the things that eat up our time are typically necessary and spending time at them is necessary and of course, there is nothing wrong with that. I suppose it all depends on what your focal point is.

What is the focal point in your life? Is it everything but God or is it God? Is He your first thought or your last resort? To place God in any position in our lives besides the top priority is wrong thinking. Jesus DIED in your place. Don’t be like the 9 lepers who never returned to thank Jesus for healing them. Be like the 1 Samaritan man who came back, knelt before Him, and praised God for his healing.

God loves us. Every last one of us, whether saved or not.  He doesn’t wish that ANY would perish, but that ALL would come to the saving knowledge of Christ. To fail to show Him the love and respect He deserves is tantamount to sinning. Don’t let the Lord get the leftovers of your time. Make Him preeminent in your life. 

            Next we will look at walking in unbelief. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

10 Sins Every Christian Must Avoid

            Does it seem odd to you if I say that all Christians sin? Based on our free will, we can think, say, and do whatever we please, but should we? There are certain sins that we need to avoid as believers in Christ. Oh sure, we can always point our finger at those in the world, but honestly, can we expect those who don’t know God to actually live by His statutes laid out in scripture? Frankly, that would be pretty bold of us considering the fact that we aren’t always following them ourselves. We are to be the example. We are to be markedly different than the world. Mimicking the world can only bring us pain and confusion. Living for Christ may bring about the pain of persecution, but at least what we think, say and do is for a reason; an eternal purpose.

            The church, generally speaking, has pastors who seem to be more and more reluctant to bring up the topic of sin in their sermons. We discuss our mistakes, but still balk at calling them sins. We are all coddled on a lot of fronts regarding spiritual things. Far too many churches want to make their Sunday message palatable ... as in easy to accept and easy to digest, without controversy. 

The days of unintentionally offending someone with the Gospel appear to be over. If we believe scripture is truth from God, then why should we be shy about sharing it. Personally, I’m not the greatest one-on-one witnesser, but I can speak the truth in front of a group (regardless how large or small the group is) and share the truth via the written word thru books and blog posts. We all have different gifts; we just need to use them for the glory of God and not ignore them.

The study I’m currently embarking on is revealing the 10 sins that Christians should be avoiding. Things like failing to love God, allowing the root of bitterness to bloom, or walking in doubt and unbelief will be addressed briefly. This will not be a lengthy, in depth study, but one that touches on each topic in short, yet concise posts. Heed the words of the Apostle Peter when he says in 1 Peter 4:17 ... “And, if it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”  How does a person survive in this life without Jesus? Frankly, I have no earthly idea. That is precisely why we mustn’t shy away from sharing the gospel. Speak about it, write about it, whatever way you are gifted in, but just go about doing it. The Holy Spirit will help you if you ask Him and then allow Him to. Spreading the word isn’t about gaining notoriety.  If no one knows my name after I’m gone that’s just fine, as long as they know the name of Jesus Christ.

I will start off tomorrow taking a look at our failure to love God. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

 

BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS

The Roman Period

63 BC thru AD 135

 

            It was during Roman rule over the Jews that God broke His silence. 400 years of turmoil and unrest were behind them. Currently, the Jews were unwilling subjects to the Roman Empire. They were permitted to worship their God and were given partial authority over their own affairs; however, they sought more. They were familiar with the OT prophecies of a Messiah who was promised to them by God. They dreamed of the day when Israel would once again be a great nation. While waiting their coming Savior they worshipped under the guidance of the high priest, disputed religious matters before the high council and struggled under Roman rule. The Jews were expecting a mighty warrior king, like David, but instead received an infant king. This was God’s plan, a plan the Jews did not accept. It was quite apparent that the Jews would NEVER accept Jesus as their Messiah, for their expectations were grounded in a dream. 

Both religious factions (the Pharisees & the Sadducees) disapproved of Jesus. The Pharisees were the legalists of their time. They were devoted to the law of Moses and the strict enforcement of it. They believed in the supernatural, in angels and bodily resurrection. They took their traditions very seriously, so they were totally incapable of accepting Jesus, who showed no regard for their rules and claimed to have the ability to forgive sin.

The Sadducees were the rationalists of the day. They were skeptical of religion; however, they believed in the literal interpretation of Moses’ law, though they didn’t allow it to permeate all areas of their lives. They denied the supernatural and resurrection, focusing rather on the temporal, political concerns that existed. Both groups saw Jesus as a threat to their way of doing things. They were concerned that Jesus would stir up trouble which Rome would notice and that had the potential to imperil the nation.

In the end, both the Pharisees and the Sadducees did actually agree on one thing; Jesus must die. The Jewish religious leaders stirred up the crowds, pressuring Rome to crucify Christ. Once crucified, the Jewish leaders felt they had won, but in reality they had lost in a big way. God allowed their plan to succeed and as a result Jesus’ death ended up being our payment for sin. When he rose again from the grave Christ became the hope of all the world. 

By now it should be pretty obvious that God sent His Son into the perfect setting for Jesus to operate on the Father’s behalf. What took place as chronicled by the Gospels, began a series of events that changed the world for the good. Since Greek was still the language of choice, the New Testament was written in a language that could be understood by all. As Paul wrote in Galatians 4:43... “When the time was right, God sent His Son.”

This ends our look at the years between the Old and New Testaments. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries