2021-04-23
Good Morning Dear Ones,
There are many facets to being humble. GA 6: 13-14, “Those who choose law over grace want to boast about it. Grace is defined as unmerited favor-in this case from God. Our belief in grace as God’s way, over the lock-step approach which is the law, chooses to boast only of Christ’s cross, for it is the only way to be dead to the flesh and alive in the Spirit.” We’ve been told, in 2 COR 5: 17 and COL 3: 9-10, “Anyone who is joined to Christ, is a new being; the old is gone and the new has come…Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you a full knowledge of Himself.” All we did was to genuinely profess faith in Jesus Christ and enter into the Covenant of Grace. The latter means that we are willing to face all aspects of our sinfulness and confess this sin to the Lord. This is an on-going process as our faith in Jesus grows and matures. He opens justification, eternal forgiveness, and salvation to us, through the work of the cross. Lasting friendships are forged for the sharing of faith, growth and maturation in Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
It follows that we want peace and mercy for all believers. The apostle Paul described himself as “a slave to Christ,” meaning that what he wants to do more than anything is to serve Christ and live by the Holy Spirit. Those who put the law first want to live by the flesh, which we who believe in Christ, know leads to spiritual death. Such a person is proud he or she is being paid in money for doing such things as teaching Sunday school, paying a fee for admittance to the most holy services of the year, and trying to keep up materially with his/her neighbors. RO 7: 6 expresses the key difference between living by the flesh and living by the Spirit. “Now, however, we who believe in Christ are free from the law, since we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of the written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.” As a believer, I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life every day. He helps me with difficult decisions; He leads me to people who can teach me what I need to know to live in Christ; He gives me the courage to take the less traveled, more difficult paths; He helps me to be transparent and not deceptive; He gives me the hunger I have to study God’s word; He helps me to have self-confidence that was missing in my old life; He blesses me with His wisdom and makes me feel loved; He gives me self-discipline I thought I would never have. There are so many ways in which He disciplines me when I need it, or lets me bask in the warmth of God’s love. I am truly blessed, just as all believers are.
Is the Law in itself sinful? Of course not! As a child, I learned the Ten Commandments [EX 20: 1-17]. The problem is the sinful nature of humankind. If you tell someone, “Do not…”, his fleshly self wants to do what he is told not to do. The Laws themselves are not evil, but a fleshly human’s response to them is. For example, King David knew that the last commandment was “Do not covet.” To covet is to want someone or something that belongs to someone else. And yet, this man whom God had called, “a man after My own heart” [1 SAM 13: 14] saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and wanted her for his own. Even the most devout of believers must overcome temptations of the flesh. I believe it is our loving God, Who through the Holy Spirit, gives us the strength to overcome the desires of our flesh. Sadly, in the case of David and Bathsheba, David didn’t overcome, and the prophet, Nathan, made him aware of his sin. There is no question that David, who was a traditional Jew taught the law, lived long before Jesus Christ was on the scene. RO 7: 1, “By means of the law, sin found its chance.”
We, who have faith in Christ, are blessed by God, Who tells us what pleases and doesn’t please Him. An example is found in 1 JN 2: 15-17, “Do not love the world or anything in it, or you do not love the Father. Things belonging to the world, what the sinful self wants, or things of which people are proud, do not come from the Father. They come from the world and are ephemeral. But, those who obey the Father will live forever.” Our loving God (through the Holy Spirit) gives us the wisdom to pray for discernment, so we can see the difference between things of God and things of the world. PS 119: 125, “I am Your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know Your teachings.” We are told, in 1 PET 5: 8, “Be alert and watchful. Your enemy, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” GA 5: 19, “Human nature manifests as filthy, immoral and indecent actions.” The Lord makes it so very clear what is right and what isn’t.
PRAYER: O Lord, earlier in this devotion, I commented on how You bless us every day and make us feel so close to You. PS 145: 17-19, “The Lord is righteous and merciful in all His acts. He is near to those who call to Him, who call to Him with sincerity. He supplies the needs of those who honor Him; He hears their cries and saves them.” Before You came into our lives, we were living in spiritual chaos, and the desires of our flesh led us into sin. Like being swept up in a tornado, we were carried to the place where our sin was leading us to death. Once You came into our lives, the winds and torrential rain calmed, and You began the process of training us to live as Your Son would wish. His atonement at the cross and resurrection to Your side in heaven makes it possible for us to be blessed beyond any measure before possible. Those of us who have matured are joyfully reaching out to carry the saving messages of Your teaching to those who haven’t yet come to faith. We wish to leave a legacy of living in Christ, and Your wise goodness behind for future generations. You are to be praised and thanked for the lovingkindness You bring. In Christ’s holy/mighty name we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to write another devotion that picks up with the issue of human sinfulness vs. the Holy Spirit’s influence over us. All too often we forget to step away from the details of our lives to look at the bigger picture of how the Lord’s love is manifested, why it is, and what it is doing for us. It’s one thing to say, Christ died and was resurrected for those who believe in Him. It’s another thing to constantly look at our lives in negative terms-“I’m too old/young; I’m too fat/thin; I don’t like that person, etc.” Living with such a negative life’s script can and does make people miserable. How do I know this? That was my life’s script before Christ entered it. I went through a period of several years while He slowly but surely changed my outlook. As a student of the Scriptures, I had a lot to learn-both about them and about myself. God builds into us human potential for change for the better. The question is: Will we yield to Him? I chose to do this, and it has blessed me enormously. No one was more shocked than I was that He was calling me to His service. And yet, it gives me joy and inner peace like nothing else I had done in my life. Making the lives of others better by my service to God provides fulfilment like nothing else in my prior experience. Anyone willing can serve God, but it can come as a surprise discovery that one is capable. God often chooses people as His ministers one would least expect as capable of doing that task. No matter what vocation or profession a person does, he/she can bloom where planted. I love the description of Paul’s ministry as a “tentmaking ministry.” Indeed, by trade, Paul and his friends, Aquilla and Priscilla, were tentmakers. That ministry arose within Paul’s vocation, and look where God took it! Yes, these devotions are not about me, but about the magnificent God, Who loves me. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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