Can I Trust Myself? Written by Jerry O'Donnell
Allow us to be a little more specific with this question. Can I trust myself in spiritual matters? To answer with YES is to declare oneself as being perfect in knowledge and wisdom, yet we are told in Proverbs 9:9 “Give [instruction] to a wise [man], and he will be yet wiser: teach a just [man], and he will increase in learning.” We will always need to study, to receive instruction, to be taught. Also, to answer question with YES is to say that one either makes no mistakes or is willfully disobeying God because all of us have sinned -- sometimes in ignorance (which is not sin) while other times out of selfishness. What does Bible say about trusting our own decisions? Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We can actually deceive ourselves. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but end thereof [are] ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25). It may look and feel right, but it may not be right.
| | Great SeatsWritten by Paul Griffitts
And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: We are seated together with Christ Jesus in greatest luxury box there is Heaven. What a triumph we have is Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in God. Our seat with Christ gives us righteousness, sanctification, redemption and citizenship in Heaven. We cannot but be in awe of gifts our Heavenly Father has given us. The verb "made us sit together" is in aorist tense. The aorist tense is characterized by its emphasis on punctiliar action; that is, concept of verb is considered without regard for past, present, or future time. There is no direct or clear English equivalent for this tense, though it is generally rendered as a simple past tense in most translations. The Greek word for 'made us sit together' is sugkathizo {soong-kath-id'-zo} literally means to cause to sit down together, place together. How about that for great seats we are placed together with Christ Jesus.
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