‘One of the greatest hindrances in coming to Jesus is the excuse of our own individual
temperament. We make our temperament and our natural desires barriers to
coming to Jesus. Yet the first thing we realize when we do come to Jesus is
that He pays no attention whatsoever to our natural desires. We have the idea
that we can dedicate our gifts to God. However, you cannot dedicate what is not yours. There is actually only one thing you can dedicate to God,
and that is your right to yourself’
CHAMBERS
I have heard Christians talk about themselves or
others in the context some trait or tendency saying “That is just the way that
I am.” As if to say … there are some
things about me that I am satisfied will never change … I can’t change them ..
.God can’t change them … you will just have to accept me as I am. Now I can accept the fact that you are from
Oregon … that you are a certain height or weight … but when you tell me that
there is something about how you treat others, or talk, or lose your temper, or
some such thing that and it is unchangeable. I must, on that point, disagree. The truth is that you have limited what you are willing to give
to God. Let’s not confuse this with some
issue in your life that has you bound up .. that spills over into your
relationships .. that wounds others and frustrates you to no end ... that you are taking to God and seeking His strength to release you and cahnge you … No… this is
about those things that you are content to carry around with you .. they make
you who you are … distinct … memorable … ‘Oh you know how they are!’ people might say ….
In the Celebrate Recovery ministry, they use a
play on words and say DE-NIAL (denial) is not a river in Egypt. We deny that the trait or our temperament is
in fact sinful … it misses the mark … the mark of our high calling …
Philippians
3:13-19 ‘Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are before, (14) I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
(15) Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God
shall reveal even this unto you.
(16) Nevertheless, whereto we
have already attained, let us walk by
the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
(17) Brethren, be followers
together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (18) (For many walk, of whom I have told you
often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of
Christ: (19) Whose end is destruction, whose God is their
belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)’
(my
frustration) One thing I have to be careful of when writing these devotions is
that each day I could easily write volumes on the issue because there is so
much the Word says about the issues of life.
But I catch myself, lest you stop reading what I sense the Lord is
guiding me to share with you.
1
Corinthians 6:19-20 ‘Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you
have from God, and you are not your own? (20)
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are God's.’
As Christians we often live as if we have the
right to decide how we will live .. how we will act .. how we will treat other
people … we are double-minded … missing the point … our lives are to be a
testimony to the power of God to salvation .. redemption .. transformation …
not just a proclamation that we possess a ‘Get Out of Hell Free’ card …
Romans
8:5-8 ‘For those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
(6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So
then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.’
Take some time today to examine what you might be
clinging to .. what you have accepted as unchangeable .. the way you are and
will always be .. too bad if it has a negative impact on other people … Rather
let your life be a living testimony of God’s transformational power .. Let your
light shine before all men …
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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