Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and
difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14
{CHAMBERS} “If we
are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts
of worth and excellence are difficult. The Christian life is gloriously
difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us
up to overcome. Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ
enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory? […] If we will
only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will
find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into
practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not
we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and
practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then
when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace
of God, will stand by us. […] God’s grace produces men and women with a strong
family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a
tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a
disciple of Jesus in the realities of life.”
{ELGIN} As I was
reading Chamber’s words I was thinking about the parallel between the health journey
that my wife an I have embarked on and the spiritual journey that we have been
traveling for, now, 41 years. We are on
a fairly Spartan regimen with respect to our eating habits. Very often we are asked the question “Do you
ever cheat?” The thought behind that question is “ I could not live like that,
I love food too much.” The key to
success with the program we are on is structure and discipline. The same for the Christian life. Let me say that we are tempted from time to
time. Like the day that we bought a
pizza for the twins and it sat between Martie and me in the car while we drove
back to the house. That pizza smelled
wonderful. We knew how good it tastes. But that was no longer part of our life. I must say this analogy breaks down at this
point because one day, after we reach our goal weight, we may have a slice of
pizza .. but I will not eat the whole thing by myself!
Our new life in Christ requires that we put God first and
that we pursue the disciplines of the faith to mature in our
faith. It doesn’t just happen. It requires work .. determination … consistency
… accountability. You will not be
successful on your own. Dr. Howard
Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, said every Christian
needs a Paul, a Barnabus, and a Timothy in their lives. A Paul to teach us, to building to our lives,
a Barnabus to encourage us and hold us accountable, and a Timothy into whose
life we can build. You don’t need a
seminary degree to do those things … but you do need to be spiritually
disciplined. You will face difficult
times … but you can endure them … you will face temptations to yield to your
flesh … but you can resist them … God has given you everything you need. You only have to put it into practice. (2
Corinthians 4:8-10) “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but
not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that
the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” The apostle Paul put it this way (Philippians 4:8-10) “Finally, brothers
and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or
heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be
with you.” That doesn’t happen without determined effort, but when it does your
light will shine before all men.
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