"Am and Do"

    

    As we often suggest, God's doings always perfectly align with His being.

    "The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

    This is not the case with His trusting children in our present existence.  Thus, the Apostle Paul found it necessary to command, "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8).  The New Testament declares many truths about born again believers established in us through the new birth and the heart-changing entrance of Holy Spirit into our innermost being.  "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).  We still live, however, with earthly faculties and components yet to enter into the direct union with God as already constituted in our spirit.  "The flesh lusteth against the spirit" (Galatians 5:17).  We can therefore still think, feel, speak, act, and relate in opposition to who we are.  Christ is "made unto us righteousness" and we are "justified by faith" (I Corinthians 1:30; Romans 5:1).  But we are not righteous in all our ways.  We belong to the Lord and "are holy and beloved" (Colossians 3:12).  But we are not holy in our our works.  Unlike God, our doings do not yet perfectly align with our being.

    It is vital that we understand that just as our actions do not always originate in who we are in Christ, neither do they change who we are in Christ.  The "new creature" birthed when we trusted the Lord Jesus eternally abides as a "new man, created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).  Our "walk" does not alter our "am".  Understanding this truth, and particularly, discovering the many "am" truths of the New Testament, helps to establish the proper awareness of who and what we are in Christ for the holy purpose of more consistently enabling us to think, feel, speak, act, and relate in accordance with the reality of our newness in Him.  Again, Paul affirmed, "now are ye light in the Lord."  He also commanded, "Walk as children of light" (emphasis added).  Unlike our perfectly righteous and holy Lord, our being and doings often fail to align as we make our way in a fallen world.  A better understanding of the "so great salvation" provided in the Lord Jesus illuminates the truth of our "am" in order to correlate our "do" in the light and power of reality…

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."

(Galatians 5:25)

Weekly Memory Verse

    In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me.

(Psalm 86:7)