So You Think You Are Following Jesus

My Utmost For His Highest

“Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” —Matthew 5:41

“Our Lord’s teaching can be summed up in this: the relationship that He demands for us is an impossible one unless He has done a supernatural work in us. Jesus Christ demands that His disciple does not allow even the slightest trace of resentment in his heart when faced with tyranny and injustice. [..] Only one thing will bear the strain, and that is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ Himself— a relationship that has been examined, purified, and tested until only one purpose remains and I can truly say, “I am here for God to send me where He will.” Everything else may become blurred, but this relationship with Jesus Christ must never be. The Sermon on the Mount is not some unattainable goal; it is a statement of what will happen in me when Jesus Christ has changed my nature by putting His own nature in me. Jesus Christ is the only One who can fulfill the Sermon on the Mount. If we are to be disciples of Jesus, we must be made disciples supernaturally.” CHAMBERS

So you think you are a follower of Jesus.  In each of us, we have a sense of what is right and what is wrong.  Setting our own fallibility aside, which we are very good at by the way, we look at those who do what is wrong with indignation and maybe even contempt.  Especially if that wrong was directed at us, directly or indirectly.  The truth is that the wrongs others do toward us are no different than how we treated God before our conversion.  Yet, He showed grace and mercy to us.  Jesus died for us and did not treat us with indignation or contempt.  That is the attitude we are to have toward others.  How we respond reveals the depth of our faith and the quality of our relationship with Jesus.  When we are told to do something in the Bible, the Bible is never saying “Do this in your own strength”.  The only thing that we can do on our own that pleases God is to lay our lives down.  Everything else requires the power of God the dwells in you. 

So here is the deal.  As you live your life and things happen. (insightful huh?)   Some good, some bad.  Those things typically involve the choices and actions of other people.  The question is, are you going to respond with your old nature or with  your new, spiritual nature.  Jesus is saying, respond with your spiritual nature.  And when you do, God will be glorified through you.  When you are provoked, the flesh says “punch him in the nose”.  The Spirit says, “forgive and walk away.”  You think, I can’t forgive and walk away, I’ve tried.  Now you are getting the idea.  (Galatians 5:16-17)  “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other….”  Think about it.  ELGIN

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)