The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(Thanks to Wayne B. for inspiration on this one)
"God Is God (and we are not)"
"We live for the Lord by living from the Lord."
Our existence is a gift. "It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves." The sustaining of our existence also blesses us freely. "He giveth to all life and breath and all things." (Psalm 100:3; Acts 17:25). Upon these two basic realities of God's gracious giving and our necessary receiving, we must establish our thoughts and the course of our lives. God is supplier; we are supplicants.
"In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
Sin deceives us into believing otherwise. Long ago, our original forebears embraced the lie that "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Thereafter, the devilish lie of independence runs deep in Adam's race, dominating the heart of unbelievers, and presently remaining in the flesh of believers. We easily perceive ourselves as the arbiters of our existence, while trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as the Life of our lives often comes as a great challenge. Because God made us to actively engage our spiritual, mental, volitional, and physical faculties in response to His working, we can forget that we "work out your own salvation" only by the promise and power of "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). We will not be beyond the enticement of such temptation in this present lifetime, necessitating that we frequently visit the throne of grace to be reminded that, as a dear friend often says, "God is God, and we are not!"
"Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:10).
Our Heavenly Father purposes that we consciously and decisively arise to walk upon the path of righteousness in this day. We do so, however, in the awareness that before one toe touches the surface, the Spirit of God motivates, guides, and empowers our rising and proceeding. We live for the Lord by living from the Lord. Or, in terms of the most succinctly stated New Testament protocol of life, the Spirit of Christ lives in us so that we may live through Him (I Corinthians 3:16; I John 4:9). This involves perfect faithfulness on God's part, and the determination to grow in His grace and the response of faith on our part. Indeed, to whatever degree we know that "God is God and we are not," we need to know it better. Realization of the ongoing challenge and the remembrance of our Lord's faithful determination to completely redeem us from Adam's deception will go far in establishing our feet on the path we cannot walk apart from the promise of His presence, provision, and working…
"I will dwell in them and walk in them."
(II Corinthians 6:16)
"For 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)
Weekly Memory Verse
We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
(Hebrews 4:15)
7009
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