I heard that question recently in an interview I was listening to, and it caught my attention. The speaker went on to say that the way to know the difference was if you were willing to suffer for Christ. An admirer admires Jesus but a disciple follows Him, obeys Him and is willing to suffer or die for the sake of Christ.
I think it’s a timely thought given the world we are living in now. We are seeing more persecution of Christians, not just in other countries but also starting to see glimpse of it in our own country.
To follow Jesus and the Word of God means that we don’t pick and choose which part of the Bible we trust, believe and obey. It means that we follow it all. And that’s not popular in a society that says, “if it feels good, do it” and “you do you boo”.
God’s word and His commands aren’t to take the fun out of life, they are to guide us and protect us from so much harm and heartache. There is a reason for them. God is a loving Father that does not want us to experience unnecessary heartache and heart break. That goes for sex outside of marriage because the we give part of ourselves away to another person and if we are not in a covenant relationship with them through marriage, there will be an emptiness, a conviction and many times regret that comes from that encounter. God isn’t saying no to sex. He is saying no to the heartache and pain that comes from sex outside of marriage.
The same is true of envy. He wants us to find contentment in what we have and more importantly in Him. As I tell my kids, there will always be someone with a bigger house, a better car, a nicer body and a more beautiful face, but what matters more than any of that is our hearts. Are our hearts pure before the Lord and do we find contentment in Him – the provider of all of our needs?
What about our thoughts? I would guess that the majority of us struggle with our thoughts – whether that be what we dwell on, what we lust after, how we judge others, what we watch in movies and on TV and so on. That’s why the scriptures say, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8
If you are filling your mind with trash, you are going to dwell on trash – and that includes the movies we watch, the music we listen to and the language we use. Am I perfect in all of the above? Ha! Far, far from it. I struggle too but I am so thankful for a loving God who tenderly convicts me when I stray into an area that will cause me and my heart harm.
He is for us and He is worth being a disciple of that is willing to lay his life down. I want to be a disciple of Christ, not just an admirer. How about you?
AMEN, amen, A-MEN Mrs. Pyle! I commend you for coming out and speaking the TRUTH, especially since it seems like you have a lot to loose running your own business! Now that shows me you are the real Disciple of Christ you write about. Whenever I’d visit my ex-boyfriend, he’d have the Netflix going while I was doing something else since I couldn’t bear it-I’d get a HOT FLASH just overhearing what was being said. (Don’t get me started about Game of Thrones-more like soft core pornography and all the other similar spinoff shows). The variety of “original series” that come out on Netflix, HBO, Apple TV, the like, etc….are just so fallen 99.9% of the time. These entertainment companies are not even lukewarm, I’d say more like cold blooded-it’s time to pray over them to close shop and for viewers to get more busy in their individual lives, by getting off the couch, and really start LIVING in the real world-the time is short folks!! I know I’ve prayed at least two POWER PRAYERS interrupting his Netflix viewing in recent months, raising my hands towards the television commanding it in the name of JESUS that their stock crash, writers get “writer’s block”, the creative teams eyes start hurting looking at their computers from blue light exposure, their spouses demand they leave and find employment elsewhere because writing and directing is a HUGE mental & emotional time suck and drain on what’s left for their families, and decide to pursue careers in nature, building church communities, marriage ministry, that CGI is stupid, partnering and playing for our Lord to glorify Him! I truly believe my prayers are a huge part of the reason Netflix stock is crashing by the day, haha!! Thankfully he ended up canceling his subscription to quell my evening rants, lol. He just switched over to using his brother’s Netflix account so it wasn’t truly a heart change but it was something. He also received a subscription of the Wall Street Journal newspaper weekend edition for Christmas, I have come across at least three articles since then where fashion designers and celebrities, identify themselves as “good witches”-out in the open!-describing their ritualistic spiritual belief of worship including using scented candles, a variety of tarot cards, angle guides, transcendental meditiation (I’d personally include all meditation-just talk to God in your head and leave it at that) etc. I wish I had the newspaper in front of me right now to start quoting names-it’s everywhere in your face, all over society, and most people aren’t even aware of it-they gloss right over these details and shrug it off like, pffff….on to the next thing that pleases me. Time to start reading the Word everyday and living it, it’s the only way to make the world a better place one individual at a time.
Until next time, I look forward to you getting back up on your soapbox and preaching us a good word. Blessings to you, your family, and business…..by the way because of you, I landed my best job yet in life during the worst of times in 2020. Thank you for all you do and continue to be the blessing that you are!
Thank you Allison for your kind comments. I love your prayers over the evil that is out there and how we are seeing the answers to those prayers!! Keep up the great work Allison!