Did not our heart burn within
us…? —Luke 24:32
“Much of the distress we
experience as Christians comes not as the result of sin, but because we are
ignorant of the laws of our own nature. For instance, the only test we should
use to determine whether or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course
in our lives is to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be.
Think it through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something
that God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion
that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to have its
way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level than God intended.
That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional people are made. And the
higher the emotion, the deeper the level of corruption, if it is not exercised
on its intended level. If the Spirit of God has stirred you, make as many of your
decisions as possible irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will.
We cannot stay forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light
of our mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9). But we must obey the light we
received there; we must put it into action. When God gives us a vision, we must
transact business with Him at that point, no matter what the cost.” CHAMBERS
Thinking something through to
its conclusion before we do it. That is
a good thought, but most of what we do is a little more spontaneous than
that. What Chambers suggests requires
self-control. Our problem is that we
lack self-control. The self-control I am
referring to is a result of the Spirit controlled life. (Galatians
5:22-23) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” That is contrasted with (2 Timothy 3:2-4) “For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving,
irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Those verses present a sharp
contrast. You are either one or you are
the other. As a Christian, once you
could only be the latter but have been called to a new life in Christ,
reflecting Him, which is seen by the fruit of that new life. In one case, your life is under control and
in the other your life is out of control.
The quality of our Christian life is totally dependent upon our devotion
toward God. If you choose to ignore the
spiritual disciplines, don’t expect to see spiritual fruit. You will never be able to “think your actions
through” if you are being driven by your flesh and not led by the Spirit. Our flesh is in partnership with Satan. Writing to the Jewish Christians who had been
scattered, Peter encouraged them in (2
Peter 1:5-7) “Now for this very
reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and
in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness,
brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.” What was the reason he referred to? We are “partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
When we hear or read
spiritual truth, our tendency is to think … “I need to do that.” Forgetting that our new life is spiritual
and, just like before we were born again, the spiritual life is impossible in
our own effort. We can live it only by
the power of God in us. (Galatians 2:20) “I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” You will find self-control only when you are
Spirit-controlled. It all starts with the
heart. Being devoted to God and not
yourself. ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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