The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Moons To the Sun (Son)"
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
"We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).
How can we be assured of ongoing faithfulness in the Christian life? The answer lies in directing our focus onto the One who will be ongoingly faithful to the degree of perfect trustworthiness and unwavering devotion. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is such a one, the only One in whom faithfulness eternally springs forth from the inner fount of His being, character, nature, and way. "God is faithful" (I Corinthians 1:9). To the degree we know His consistency in always being who He is and doing what He does will be the degree to which such trustworthiness flows in our hearts and lives. Indeed, our faithfulness proceeds from His faithfulness known, loved, trusted, absorbed, and assimilated into our knowledge and understanding.
Gaze upon the moon on a clear night as it faithfully shines its light in the darkness. From whence comes such consistency in being and function? A faithful sun provides the answer. The moon has no light in and of itself. It rather exists to absorb and reflect the illumination of another, which it does in beauty and brilliance because the moon knows, far better than do we, its proper place and function. Indeed, if the were the moon a conscious being, it would sound and resound the message over and over again that its faithful shining in the night points to a faithful sun providing its light.
In fact, the moon bears a far greater message of trustworthiness:
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead" (Romans 1:20).
Faithfulness to God proceeds from the faithfulness of God. If we are to walk in the light of consistent response to Him, we must realize that our faithfulness is response. Not one act of obedience to our Lord originates in ourselves. We do not bear the root of the Spirit, but rather "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22). Of course, we play a vital role of response as we freely trust and submit ourselves to God as He works in us. We "work out" that which He works in (Philippians 2:13). Never, however, does our faithfulness independently emerge from within our own being. In fact, the notion of such a false light actually serves as the most devilish of deceptions. "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23).
Confidence in our faithfulness proceeds from confidence in our Lord's faithfulness. Expectation that we will continue to walk with Him proceeds from the expectation that He will continue to walk in us and work in us by His Spirit. No other way exists whereby we can have hope for a trustworthy life that honors the Lord Jesus and bears witness to His faithful grace. No other is needed. We "look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" in order to have the confidence of continuity and consistency (Hebrews 12:2). We are moons to the sun, or rather, the Son, absorbing and reflecting His light as we remember the good work He has begun and will continue in us until we perfectly shine with His light.
"Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(II Corinthians 3:18)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
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