... by whom the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14
{CHAMBERS} “If I dwell on the Cross of Christ, I do not simply
become inwardly devout and solely interested in my own holiness— I become
strongly focused on Jesus Christ’s interests. Our Lord … did not physically cut
Himself off from society, but He was inwardly disconnected all the time. He was
not aloof, but He lived in another world. In fact, He was so much in the common
everyday world that the religious people of His day accused Him of being a
glutton and a drunkard. Yet our Lord never allowed anything to interfere with
His consecration of spiritual power.[…] The Spirit of God has set a great many
people free from their sin, yet they are experiencing no fullness in their
lives— no true sense of freedom. The kind of religious life we see around the
world today is entirely different from the vigorous holiness of the life of
Jesus Christ. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but
that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15). We are to be in the
world but not of it— to be separated internally, not externally (see John
17:16).
[…] Consecration (being
dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from
sin and being made holy) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination
to be interested only in what God is interested.”
{ELGIN} I have known a good
number of Christians who have made tremendous errors in spiritual judgement. Those errors have derailed their lives and
brought grief and heartache … sometimes that lasts a lifetime. And yet, they persist in making the same
choices based upon their emotions … their desire to “fix the problem themselves
or satisfy the need that seems to dominate their lives. Although they may sing “Jesus loves me this I
know” … time and again they choose their own path and solutions over the path
that God has laid out for them (Proverbs
16:9) They quench the Spirit and listen to their flesh. They ignore the Biblical counsel of their
friends and family … and repeat the same mistakes that they have made in the
past with, predictably, the same result.
When I see this happening, my heart breaks because I know the joy they
have rejected for the trouble that they will inevitably embrace as they meet
the consequences of their choices. Does that
sound dismal? That’s because it is. God
has called us out of that life. But our faith
must be more than a philosophy … a “get out of hell free” card. The great gift we have came with a price ..
Jesus on the cross .. yet even that is a distant thought. That truth is not enough to motivate us to
choose God .. to follow the Spirit .. to sacrifice the flesh.
So why does that happen? For
one reason, most of us do not separate ourselves from our old life. It’s one thing to be in the world as a
Christian. It’s quite another to participate
with the world. To embrace what we know
to be sin in an effort to secure the world’s substitute for God’s will and
way. The interesting thing is that although
I might speak to the wayward Christian to encourage them to draw close to Jesus,
only the Spirit of God can bring conviction to their hearts and only they can yield
to that conviction and turn to God in repentance. So what to do. Well.
Be an example. Love them .. not
their sin … like Jesus. Pray for them. And bear the hurt in your heart as you watch
them struggle with the impossibility of the life they have chosen. Jesus spoke to the problem … the Apostles
wrote about the problem to the churches .. it is not a new problem in our generation. It is the struggle between the flesh and the
Spirit natures. The nature that you feed
is the one that will dominate.
After I got out of the Army,
I stopped exercising. While I was in the
Army, exercise was part of my daily life. So, not surprisingly, taking in more
calories than my body needed .. I started packing on the pounds. Before I knew
it … I weighed 298 pounds .. unbelievable but true. But then I came under conviction. First from my doctor who was watching my weight
gain and said “You are going in the wrong direction.” Then there was the associated medical issues
derived from being overweight. I saw a friend,
one day, who had lost weight .. a lot of
weight and I asked him how he did it. He told me and encouraged me to do the
same. Nine months later, I weigh 199 pounds.
I repented. Stopped making the wrong choices and disciplined
myself. I needed encouragement .. but I
also had to choose to go another way.
Well, that is the way it is with our Spiritual, emotional and relational lives as
well. The Spirit will bring a dissatisfaction
and we must be willing to repent. Today
.. choose Jesus. He is the Way and the
Life and the Truth. (John 14:6) Stop doing what you know is wrong for you. The only way you can do that is by the
Spirit. “It’s not by might or by power but by the Spirit”(Zechariah 4:6) You
might say “It’s not by MY might or by MY power but by HIS Spirit”. You can do it! With His help. Do it today.
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