[Biblemat] Article - Personal Work Help - Number 1

[GLClair at aol.com]

DESTRUCTIVE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT HINDER A PERSON SEEKING 
RIGHTEOUSNESS IN A GODLY RELATIONSHIP
By Garreth L. Clair
 
The decisions and personal lifestyles of humans in general are dictated to a 
large degree by the characteristics they possess, for both good and evil. It 
is also true that a person’s character is affected through environmental 
conditions as well. The concepts of this dissertation have to do with difficulties 
that Christian personal workers [i.e. elders, deacons, preachers, and all 
faithful Christians] must deal with in this world’ population including America 
today.
 
All Christians will find that many of the qualities that we will discuss in 
our study are prevalent in nearly everyone we know, perhaps even in our family 
or maybe even ourselves. If we possess any of the personal traits we will be 
looking at in this study we are in danger of self destruction in our pursuit of 
truth or of a hope of eternal life. Our study targets everyone including the 
editor as a human with like character possibilities as everyone else possesses.
 
THE FIRST POINT" We ought to recognize that free-moral-agency is a two edged 
sword common to all of us. By two edged sword I mean that our ability to 
choose will condemn us or approve us in God’s sight dependent upon either right or 
wrong choices. Our choices in life will have the effect based on our choices 
regardless of our individual choices influenced by the human conditioning 
during living processes {i.e. environmental, family influences, education 
environments, and personal choices}. This is the first of several factors in life that 
aid or hinder us in our pursuit of and hope of eternal life when this life is 
over. That this matter is factual is attested by the Holy Scriptures in:
Joshua 24:15, “15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you 
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that 
were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but 
as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.” ASV
Proverbs 1:29, “29 for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear 
of Jehovah:”
1 Corinthians 1:28-31, “28 and the base things of the world, and the things 
that are despised, did God choose , (yea) and the things that are not, that he 
might bring to naught the things that are: 29 that no flesh should glory 
before God. 30 but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from 
God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: 31 that, according 
as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.” ASV
 
THE SECOND POINT: We will look at the quality best described by the word 
nonconformist. The definition of the word is non·con·form·ist   (nŏn'kən-fôr'mĭ
st)  Pronunciation Key  n.   1. One who does not conform to, or refuses to be 
bound by, accepted beliefs, customs, or practices. 2. Often nonconformist A 
member of a Protestant church not observing the doctrines, usage, or polity of a 
national or established church, especially the Church of England. The American 
Heritage® 
Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. In secular affairs this 
is a quality that is often applauded in liberal society as desirable. Many 
people for as long as this writer has been aware have been rebellious and 
nonconformists to almost any and all things in their lives. Is it possible to expect 
people with this quality who are unwilling to change their nonconformist 
character to become a child of God [i.e. a Christian]? Indeed, the availability of 
salvation from sin is presented to everyone, including the nonconformist. Yet 
the difficulty of converting such a person is dependent upon the nonconformist 
person’s willingness to give up their innate quality of nonconforming and 
restructure their character to become a conformist to the instruction by God’s 
Written Word that is capable of converting them from sinful condition to forgiven 
sinner. Note the following Biblical reference regarding this matter of change 
and how God is involved in the process if the nonconformist person is willing 
--- cf. Romans 6:16-18, “16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves 
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, 
or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 but God be thanked, that ye were the 
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which 
was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of 
righteousness.” KJV
Notice also that freedom from sin is acquired through the process of 
conforming to truth, cf. John 8:32, “and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
make you free.” ASV
A person who seeks to be a Christian will abandon a disposition that is 
nonconformist in order to be such, they will also permanently abandon this bad 
quality because after conforming to God’s plan for their salvation from sin they 
must continue to develop spiritual qualities rather than fall back to that old 
nonconformist attitude thus becoming a thorn in the side of some good church 
into which they have been accepted as a member.
 
THE THIRD POINT: We will look at stubbornness [i.e. hard heartedness] as a 
hindrance to one’s salvation from sin. This quality was over and over expressed 
by God through His spokesmen about the nation of Israel generally, cf. Acts 
7:51-52, “51 ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always 
resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the 
prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed them that showed before of 
the coming of the Righteous One; of whom ye have now become betrayers and 
murderers;” ASV
There is great difficulty for the person possessing this characteristic to 
come to knowledge of truth because of stubbornness, such a person is a difficult 
challenge for anyone doing personal work with him/her. Yet, if we recognize 
that stubbornness [i.e. stiff-necked] is one of their qualities it will help us 
to proceed with great patience and longsuffering.
Monday, February 05, 2007
END of part 1:
Garreth L. Clair
glclair at aol.com
Web Magazine: considermagazine.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.biblematters.net/pipermail/biblemat/attachments/20070205/9a4a4f65/attachment.html