God has spoken and is speaking through all of creation, time, and eternity, through His Son. He is the language we all can comprehend. 'I love you so much, I will lay down my life for you' is not hard to understand nor easily rejected. That very sentence God spoke is yet to crescendo and is about to transform the whole of what can be known and experienced into a visible, experiential expression of His Son.
If you haven't realized it, I love the Bible. Holy Spirit within echos the heart of each prophetic scripture declaring the Son of God. Jesus said, "You search the scriptures because you think that you have eternal life in them, and it is those scriptures that point to me, the One who has the life you seek. 40 But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have that life." John 5:39–40 (DLT emphasis mine) Like them, I, for years, sought that life in the scriptures when it had always been in His Person ready to take residence in me. Think about it. God's very Person of love seeking to both invite and animate you in such a way that the scriptures become visible. Yes! So much so that when you act out His loving He is speaking through His person. Many can trust God for eternity but have no trust in His present abilities for the here and now.
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 because his divine power has bestowed on us all things that are necessary for life now and godliness now, through the knowledge of the one who called us through his own glory and excellence of character, 2 Peter 1:2–3 (DLT emphasis mine) There is no help needed from you, concerning either life or godliness. Standing totally dependent on Him and enabled by Him we live an unbalanced life. It is not God and me, or Jesus, God and me, nor any other mix. It is just JESUS! Even though I had, with alligator tears, fallen before God innumerable times with fear, guilt, and shame for my thoughts, behavior, and missed opportunities to do it right, there was no lasting change. Yes, with a surge of energy and a momentary sense of safeness, I ventured again into the fray against sin and properly lost. I proved inadequate but read the Bible which seemed to say at every reading to repent and, like the horse in the book Animal Farm try harder. Just like he did, in the end, I died to trying for I had nothing else with which to try. Bankrupt of a righteousness that could please God I, in fear and self-loathing, basically said, 'I quit!' You want an exhausted nothing, go for it! You have me, I QUIT!
He took me, transformed my heart by taking up His residence within, and in a flash fixed my wrong thinking. I now both trusted Him and agreed with Him, but gave up trying to be like Him or qualify for His love. Ever since that evening, August 10, 1974, at 6:30 PM the only sin I have had of which to repent is not trusting Him and jumping back into the forefront by trying to be like God or qualify for His love. Where I started is where I will live in eternity. He is enough! Yes. I agree with God, Jesus is enough. Now that is a bold statement. For Christ to be anointed King of Kings and Lord of Lords He had to obey Father by suffering the cross, all its shame, AND taking on all our sins and Mr. Sin himself. When received in the heavenlies and given right to sit down at the right hand of God, it was proof of His anointing.
Several days later, here on earth, bound in time and space, Holy Spirit (the very Spirit of Christ) took residence (not a visit) in but 120 people. As the Spirit of God hovered over the water and created all we experience, as Holy Spirit took residence in Mary and created a body for Himself for some 33 years, even now, first in those 120 disciples, He has taken residence again to continue His work, but now through all those who trust Him. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, in order that he may be with you forever--17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see him or know him. You know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. John 14:16–18 (LEB emphasis mine) There is a work of God, like His creating the universe, working itself out through you right now. Yes, I said God is at work in you to produce an event that will change the universe into His likeness.
"This is the work of God, that you trust Him the one whom He has sent." (John 6:29b, DLT emphasis mine) Yes, the answer to every problem and promise is trust Him. Have you ever heard of friendship evangelism? You know, act as if you like someone until they become a Christian and believe just like you do. Well, there is a better way. Just love them as God does. How is that? Perfectly. What does that look like? You must love everyone totally and equally, "in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." and this is how "...you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:45, 48, NAS77)
I shared that idea with a friend some years back and he retorted, "I do. I hate everyone equally." Well, I guess that is a start but there is a way to be a much better friend to your-self. Your 'self' is the Spirit of love within trying to get out. Just step back and let Him out. Watch the Perfect One do His perfect thing through you and you will see that same one loving you back through those who hated you. HOW?
19 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself except what he sees the Father doing. For whatever that one does, these things also the Son does likewise. John 5:19 (LEB) 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. John 15:5 (LEB) Notice anything similar in these two verses just quoted? That's right. Apart from...just like He, you can do NOTHING! Be like Jesus and be nothing so Father can be everything. If that gets your goat let it go. Do you want to be saved? Not all do but do you?
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks at the Son and believes in him would have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40 (LEB) Okay. Two things need to be done. 1. Look to Jesus. 2. Trust Him. That leaves out reading self-improvement books and trusting yourself. Awesome. God is my want, my prize, my pearl beyond price. He in me has every intention of getting us to where we are going. And the code (program) is simple, love God with all you are and you will also love your self. Then show as much compassion for your neighbor as yourself (love).
I love my Roomba. It is made to do one thing, vacuum. When it has energy to do so it vacuums, if not it stops. It goes anywhere and goes until it bumps into something. When it bumps into something it does not stop and start praying to ask for a new program. It simply turns a bit and drives ahead. Sometimes it will bump more than vacuum but it vacuums the whole floor. When finished it heads home and recharges itself. Now isn't that the Christian life concerning guidance? Christ in us is our program. He is out to love our neighbor. When we bump into a wall we turn and start again. After a while, we are free of the wall and loving freely. Then comes another obstacle. Where does guidance fit in? The program in us says, "DON'T DO THE FLESH!' What is the flesh? Whatever is not 'vacuuming'. All we have said is wrapped up in Galatians 5:16-26. 5 And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness (at the same time), we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 John 1:5–6 (LEB emphasis mine and comment in brackets) Often I am tempted to demand a person seeking God to fall on their knees, look to heaven, and proclaim, 'Jesus, I receive you as my LORD, Savior, and God.' After that, I would proclaim something like, 'go your way your sins have been forgiven'. Now, even for me, that is bold. To all of us, it seems foolish. We have been taught that there are certain things we are to understand before we 'ask Christ' into our lives. In reality, He is screaming, 'I am your Life, let me out.' A friend of mine wrote a book titled "Once Caught No Escape". That says it all. The reason people do not want to 'give their life to God' through Jesus is that they intrinsically know He will take it. Yep, they will lose control of their life and destiny. So, instead, like Ananias and Saphira, they want the right to claim that they have given it all to God through Jesus but retain enough of it to remind God what He has promised and tell Him when to deliver His promises. Well, that is trying to be God, isn't it? Instead, you died with Christ way before you were conceived and when you ask Him to take over He simply reminds you He did, except one thing has changed. Now you know He is LORD and there is no escape. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called to fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9 (LEB) 9 Do not lie to one another, because you have taken off the old man together with his deeds, Colossians 3:9 (LEB emphasis mine) |