The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"To Continue As We Began"
What is the first thing we should tell someone who has just believed in the Lord Jesus Christ? While many possibilities present themselves as viable and heart-establishing answers, one seems most in line with what has just occurred.
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).
The Apostle Paul declares that every step taken after salvation should be journeyed in line with the first step. We realize and affirm that our hope for "the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" flows with the same current of having been freely "made the righteousness of God in Him" (Philippians 1:11; II Corinthians 5:17). We trust solely in the grace of the Lord Jesus for the power to live the Christian life, just as we trusted Him for the entrance of His redeeming life into our spirits. Thus, we might say to the new believer:
"What just happened will happen forever, over and over again. Just as you looked to "the Author of your faith," now plan on looking with the same view toward "the Finisher of your faith" (Hebrews 12:2). You trusted the Lord Jesus to be and do for you what you could never be and do in and of yourself. You cast yourself upon His grace. He thereby cast upon you and within you "the exceeding riches of His grace" as a free gift (Ephesians 2:7). "So walk" then as you have "therefore received." Or, as the writer of Hebrews commanded, 'Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear' " (Hebrews 12:28).
Our spiritual enemies ever seek to move us away from the dynamic presence and enabling of the Spirit of Christ. They tempt us by distraction, discouragement, and deception to forget the standard of life to which our Heavenly Father calls us, and to ignore the "power of an endless life" that alone enables us to consistently and increasingly fulfill the standard (Hebrews 7:16). Indeed, the reception by faith that began our relationship with God through Christ paves the path for a life that reflects our having received the gift. Our enemies well know this. We must know it also. We must ever "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18). Thereby we "fight the good fight of faith" as the first step becomes the herald and harbinger of every step of trust and obedience we will ever tread with our faithful Lord (I Timothy 6:12).
Whatever each new day holds, the path of righteousness beckons us to continue as we began. We can tell the new believer nothing better, nor anything more invigorating and enabling. Paul confirms with another pronouncement of a faith begun by the Lord Jesus, and a life filled with love and light as we continue to trust Him and Him alone as the Life of our lives…
"We are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
(Philippians 3:3)
Weekly Memory Verse
Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
(Psalm 90:1)
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