Jesus Was Not Spiritually Bulletproof And Neither Are You

My Utmost For His Highest

 

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you… —John 12:35

 

“The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. […] If you say you are sanctified, show it. […] Our Lord said, “…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). In other words, you must be more moral than the most moral person you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.”  CHAMBERS

 

Spiritual struggle is something that we will face until we are with the Lord.  The battle that is fought in the heavenlies is also fought in the heart.  I have often wondered why the Lord did not make us impervious to temptation.  Why did He not make us “spiritually bullet proof”?  He could have. But then Jesus was also subject to that same spiritual battle.  We just don’t think  about Jesus in that way.  Oh, we know about His spending 40 days in the desert to be tempted (Matthew 4:1-11), but we don’t think much about His day to day living.  Jesus, the man, did not have a spiritual force field that God switched off when Jesus was tempted by Satan.  And so it is with us.  (Romans 8:29) “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”  We are to be like Jesus .. that is God’s intent .. His design . .His plan.

 

You are faced with the reality of living in this world even though your citizenship is in heaven. (Philippians 3:20-21)  “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”  In the meantime, we must persevere and let the light of Christ shine through us.  Not that we can do that on our own, but by being obedient to His Word by the power of the Spirit as a result of our faith in Jesus.  (Ephesians 6:10-12) “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” And so let your light shine.  CHARLEY