Friday, July 15, 2016

You Will Never Be Care Free - But You Can Be Free Of Care

My Utmost For His Highest
 
I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians… —Romans 1:14
 
“Every tiny bit of my life that has value I owe to the redemption of Jesus Christ. […] I am not a superior person among other people— I am a bondservant of the Lord Jesus. Paul said, “…you are not your own…you were bought at a price…” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ and he said, in effect, “I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the gospel of Jesus; I am free only that I may be an absolute bondservant of His.” That is the characteristic of a Christian’s life once this level of spiritual honor and duty becomes real. Quit praying about yourself and spend your life for the sake of others as the bondservant of Jesus. That is the true meaning of being broken bread and poured-out wine in real life.”  CHAMBERS
 
What a strange life we have been reborn into.  We are to care nothing for ourselves and instead devote ourselves to God and others (Matthew 22:37-39).  That is clearly not our natural inclination but it is our super-natural privilege and purpose.  There is nothing more difficult, nor amazing to the world,  than denying yourself in the face of personal need.  Fear and doubt drive us to the natural side and then we worry about and plot ways that we can be satisfied, sustained, secure; and once we are taken care of, perhaps then we can think about other people. Listen, you will never be care-free, but you can be free of care.  Many people have marveled at what Martie and I “gave up personally”, but what was the true marvel was that God supplied our need.  People tend to focus on what is lost and not what is gained through obedience. CHARLEY
 
(Philippians 3: 7-14)  “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
 
Pressing On – Bob Dylan (sung by Alecia Keyes)
 
Well, I'm pressing on Pressing on
Well, I'm pressing on To the higher calling of my Lord
 
Many try to stop me, shake me up in my mind Say, "Prove to me that He is Lord, show me a sign"
What kind of sign they need when it all come from within
When what's lost has been found, what's to come has already been?
 
Well, I'm pressing on  On and on and on and on
Pressing on, oh yes, I am  Pressing on
To the higher calling of my Lord

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