Thursday, June 28, 2012

“We” Part 2


      Life as a “we” flows upstream against our normal thoughts, perceptions, emotional and physical sensibilities.  Sight tells us we are alone.  Reason frequently agrees.  Emotion most often feels as if life is solitary, and bodily sensations of God come only when He sees fit to bestow them (and are easily counterfeited by the world, the devil and the flesh). 

    “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17).

     Our Heavenly Father would not have us seek to manufacture conscious experience of Himself by artificial means.  He is the One who ordains the present life of believers in which we do not always or automatically realize His presence with us.  He does, however, impart moments when Christ looms so large in our field of awareness that we may feel as if we can almost touch Him.  He also calls us to “exercise thyself unto godliness” by availing ourselves of the reminders provided in the Scriptures, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and opportunities to trust God in the everyday occurrences of life (I Timothy 4:7).  These gifts frequently wake us up, as it were, to the Life/life wherein we remember and affirm the reality of Christ’s presence.

     If we have trusted in the Lord Jesus, we are always a “we.”  “I am with you always… I will dwell in them, and walk in them” (Matthew 28:20; II Corinthians 6:16).  We may forget the Truth, we may disbelieve or ignore it.  But we are always a “we” in our relationship with God, even as He dwells in the “We” of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26).   One day, the blessed reality will saturate our awareness and understanding as a long eternity stretches forth before us in the immediate presence of God.  For now, we “see through a glass darkly” as we “walk by faith, not by sight” (I Corinthians 13:12; II Corinthians 5:7).  Let us choose to remember, affirm, and rejoice in so great a gift given to our hearts by God, the gift of Himself with us both now and forevermore.

“In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”
(Psalm 16:11)

Tomorrow: the cost of “We.”

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