Monday, March 21, 2016

Making The Choice To Live By Faith And Not Works Is Precious To God

My Utmost For His Highest
 
I have been crucified with Christ… —Galatians 2:20
 
“Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him” —but— “I have been identified with Him in His death.” […] “…it is no longer I who live….” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed. “…and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh— the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God….” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits— a faith that comes only from the Son of God.”  CHAMBERS
 
Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites.  He did because they were living a lie.  (Matthew 23:25-28) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” They believed that what they were doing was what living for God was all about.  The source of their life was not God it was their flesh.  They praised God, but their hearts were not devoted to God.  They could tell others how to live, but they, themselves, were not living the same way.
 
It is easy to condemn them, but it is also very easy to slip into the same way of living.  Being religious.  Looking good – spiritual, to people who can’t see your heart.  Afraid that someone might find out that we are not perfect.  Too late!  Oh how I wish that God had chosen another way for us after we are born again.  How I wish that there was not a continued struggle with my sin nature.  But there is something about our choosing that makes our following more precious to God.  When you were in school, you studied subjects.  Some you liked and some you did not.  But the most important part of the learning was not in the study .. or even in the grade your received … it was in the application of what you learned.  Sometimes it was difficult to see what value the subjects had to living.  But there was actually a great deal of thought that went into the decision to teach certain subjects.  The knowledge was going to be important for living, but only if applied.  It is the same way with Spiritual truth.  The Word is truth.  But, it has little value if not applied to living.  That is where the choosing comes in.  The Pharisees chose to not apply it to their lives but to use it as a club to oppress the people.  The Word gives life when applied to the heart.  Embrace the life that you live by faith in Jesus.  ELGIN
 
"The Love Of God"
 
The love of God is greater far  Than tongue or pen can ever tell  It goes beyond the highest star  And reaches to the lowest hell
 
The guilty pair, bowed down with care  God gave His Son to win  His erring child He reconciled  And pardoned from his sin
 
Could we with ink the ocean fill  And were the skies of parchment made  Were every stalk on earth a quill  And every man a scribe by trade
 
To write the love of God above  Would drain the ocean dry  Nor could the scroll contain the whole Though stretched from sky to sky
 
O love of God, how rich and pure!  How measureless and strong!  It shall forevermore endure  The saints' and angels' song”
 
Charley Elgin

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