Feed My sheep. —John 21:17
“This is love in the making.
The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of
Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is
demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite
us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in
exactly the same way Jesus was. And what kind of oneness did Jesus Christ have
with the Father? He had such a oneness with the Father that He was obedient
when His Father sent Him down here to be poured out for us. And He says to us,
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). […] Beware of counterfeiting
the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or
understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God.” CHAMBERS
I don’t believe that most Christians
think of themselves as being “sent”.
They think of “sent” as leaving one place and going to another. Jesus “sends” all Christians into the world
for the purpose of bringing glory to the Father and light to a dark, sinful
world. The only way we can do that is by
the power of the Spirit in us. Feigned
spirituality does nothing for the world or for God. Feigned spirituality is purely for the
benefit of the one doing the feigning.
Putting up appearances so we will feel better about ourselves and
hopefully so other people will credit our behavior to righteousness. Can you see the futility .. even the insanity
of that thinking and doing? It is purely
a result of trusting in ourselves and not in God. It is
not the life we were reborn to live. It
does not fulfill God’s purpose that we were re-created for. This is how the Message paraphrases 2 Timothy 3:1-5. “Don’t be naive. There are difficult times
ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed,
money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents,
crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage,
cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and
allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re
animals. Stay clear of these people.” Wow
– difficult words. What that describes
are Christians who are living in the power of their flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) and not the Spirit. People who are feigning a love relationship
with God. That is not what Jesus sent us
to do. Be on your guard, Christian. That way of living is not that far away from
any of us. Perhaps you know someone who is there today. Encourage them .. pray for them. Could be, you have been “sent” to their side
to the glory of God. ELGIN
Charley Elgin
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