You are those who have
continued with Me in My trials. —Luke 22:28
{CHAMBERS} “It is true that Jesus Christ is with us through our
temptations, but are we going on with Him through His temptations? Many of us
turn back from going on with Jesus from the very moment we have an experience
of what He can do. Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you
are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil. We
wear His name, but are we going on with Him? “From that time many of His
disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66). […] Are you going
on with Jesus? The way goes through Gethsemane, through the city gate, and on
“outside the camp” (Hebrews 13:13). The way is lonely and goes on until there
is no longer even a trace of a footprint to follow— but only the voice saying,
“Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19).”
{ELGIN} Who do you identify with? I mean, when you describe
yourself, how do you describe yourself?
By your occupation, what part of the country you live in, your family
name, your ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, or some other earthly attribute? “But if anyone is in Christ, old things have passed
away, all things are becoming new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Can you get your mind
and life around that? You are a Jesus
follower and a God “truster”. You are a
child of the Creator God. Your citizenship
is in heaven. “You have been crucified
with Christ, nevertheless you live, but not you, Christ lives in you [in the
form of the Holy Spirit], and the life you now live in the flesh, you live by
faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself up for you.” (Galatians 2:20)
So I suppose the more appropriate question
would be, “How should you describe yourself in light of whose you are?” You see in the first case, all of those
adjectives describe worldly attributes.
But that was the “old” you. The
you that went their own way. Trusted in
themselves. Defined what to do and when and
how to do it. But not so for you,
Christian. Not so for you. The disciples that stopped following Jesus
had a problem with a divided heart. They
still trusted in the natural even though they were witnessing the supernatural.
They had a divided heart and found it difficult to follow Jesus. If you are not
totally devoted to God you will have a problem identifying with God and following
Him when the way proves difficult. (Romans 12:1-2) “I [Paul] appeal to you therefore, brothers,
by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your
mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.” And I appeal to
you as well. Follow Jesus and let your light shine.
No comments:
Post a Comment