2012-10-26
Good Morning Dear Ones,
In the previous segment on “Selfishness to Unselfishness,” we saw a shift that comes in the life of a believer from the beginning, assuming this person is living in Christ. The shift is from a life of “what’s in it for me?” to a life that balances his own needs with care/ consideration for the needs of others. COL 2: 11-13 expresses the notion that we are freed from the shackles of past sin when we have faith in Christ and have repented, and that we are now with our individual lives buried in His baptism and resurrection. What this means is that we are saved from spiritual death and that He is in leadership of our lives. We are now alive in Christ and can anticipate eternal life with Him, i.e. we are eternally forgiven. For as long as we are willing to submit to Christ’s leadership in our lives, we will no longer be entirely selfish.
This week, we begin looking at the next segment of “Our Covenant,” which is “Natural Desire to Holiness.” In previous devotions, I’ve discussed COL 3: 9-10 at length, so I’ll just paraphrase here. This is where we are told not to lie to one another because we have put on the new self when we became in union with Christ Jesus. When this happened, we became aware that that God is constantly renewing us in His own image, so that we might have a better knowledge of Himself. But let’s look closely at COL 3: 11-14, which gives us advice on how to live in Christ. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Let me add (15) to this, which gives us not only the small picture, but the big one. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as a member of one body you were called to peace.” While these words are easy to read, they are sometimes hard to live up to.
There are few people who test my patience in the way one close family member does. Since I am no expert on anyone else’s life, I’ll use an example from my own. It just so happens that through no fault of my own, this person is not a believer. Others had their way in damaging my relationship with him. The circumstances of our past family life weren’t my choice. But I’m sure God uses this person’s thoughts and behavior toward me to constantly test whether I’m giving my faithful obedience to Him lip-service or living up to the model Christ has set for us. Whether we are together in person or on the phone, this relative’s very strong personality tests my patience and willingness to be kind. He is a person who has been given reasonable boundaries, but who ignores them. No amount of wisdom or love that I have given him has made a difference in how he behaves or in the lack of respect he has for me. God is giving me a real lesson in applying forgiveness to someone, who makes it very difficult. And yes, I’m hanging in there, but there are times when I’m doing it by the fingertips.
We must be careful that we don’t allow ourselves to indulge in complacency and self-satisfaction. The moment we forget we are sinners we are in danger of this. Perhaps on the day when the temperature is above 100 degrees F, the air conditioner isn’t working well, and I’m top-heavy in workload trying to meet a deadline, isn’t the right day for me to be writing about this relative who calls and won’t get off the phone. But that conveys some of what my problem is like. God’s way of looking at this is for me to be grateful this relative cares enough to want to talk to me in the first place. And so, that is the gift that my Lord Jesus Christ gives me-His perspective on what bothers me. My job is to stretch for that perspective and to treat this relative with patience, kindness, and gentleness. Goodness knows we have been asked to be Christ’s “ambassadors” in 2 COR 5: 20, and He is giving me a chance. We who believe are sons and daughters of God. GAL 3: 26-28, “You are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” If we are to be considered Abraham’s seed in this way, surely our behavior toward the unsaved needs to reflect the fruits of the Spirit- even if the other person doesn’t know what that means. Going back to 2 COR 5: 20, we have been called to be God’s ambassadors, who are being implored to make the appeal: “Be reconciled to God,” to unsaved people with whom we are in contact. For me personally and for all of us collectively, this is huge! It means the other person who isn’t being likable is still a subject of God’s appeal being made through us. His appeal is represented by the example we set. And yes, I haven’t gotten off the subject of our covenant relationship with God, because this is a responsibility we have agreed to when we first professed our faith in the Lord Jesus. We are told, in the Great Command of MT 28: 19-20, to “make disciples of all the nations” [including the subset of people who are unsaved] in the names of the members of the Trinity and to “teach them to obey everything Christ has commanded us.” I am reminded that the example each of us sets really matters in this pursuit.
PRAYER: O Lord, there are many things that interfere with the emotional and spiritual health of some relationships. These can be either within or outside of families. By ourselves, we can’t resolve such problems, and we appeal to You for the sake of Your Kingdom for help with them. You gave Your Son, Jesus, the words to say in MT 5: 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Dearest Father, only You have the power by the Holy Spirit to help us understand our need to be dependant on You. More than anything, we want to inherit Your Kingdom and to be obediently faithful to You. These outside things that interfere with relationships can pull us away from keeping our covenant promises if we allow them to do this. That is why I appeal to You to give us the strength to bear the fruits of the Spirit [as mentioned in GA 5: 22-23] even when sorely tempted not to do this. Without Your intervention, we are not strong enough to do it on our own. The Paradigm that You gave us in Christ’s behavior is strong and, if we allow it, a viable example for our lives. EZRA 7: 28, “I was strengthened, as the hand of the Lord was upon me.” You gave this notion repetition when You had Paul say, in PHIL 4: 13, I can do everything through Him [Christ] Who gives me strength.” We learned that when something is repeated in the Scriptures, it is important to You. So, we proclaim our belief that You keep Your promises; we will be wise [reverent] and turn to You. We thank and praise You for always being there for us and for any help You give us in moving from being led by our natural desires to be led by Your holiness. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will begin next week with a quote from Andrew Murray’s book, Two Covenants, on being holy and go on to a discussion of what we must do internally to live up to Christ’s example. Believing in God’s power to answer prayer, even to impart strengths we didn’t know we had, to us is key to making it happen. What we are looking at here is the mechanics of how God gradually matures us. This is heady and exciting stuff, because it tells us that if we are in a pit of despair, we don’t have to stay there. PS 40: 1-2, “I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a Rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” He pulls us out of the quicksand of being led by natural desire and places us on the firm foundation that is Christ’s teaching. We can’t do this for ourselves without His help, and we must be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings, so that we will have the sense to turn to Him when help is needed. If we will do this, He will give us encouragement and strength, courage and self-control. And there isn’t a person in the world who can’t benefit from this! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24:15
© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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