The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"In the Way."
"God does not annihilate us when we come to Christ, but rather changes the very core of who and what we are, and then works to enliven our circumference by His Spirit."
I once knew an acquaintance who often prayed, "Lord, get me out of the way so You can work through me." I have no doubt the man meant well as he sought God's grace to overcome human failings by Divine enabling. However, the prayer actually involved a contradiction. Indeed, if God gets us out of the way, how can He work through us?
"Yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:13).
For born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father actually purposes to get us in the way of His presence and doings. Note that the Apostle commands we acknowledge ourselves in terms of being united with the Spirit of the risen Lord Jesus - "alive from the dead" - and our earthly faculties as being the Lord's "members" whereby He reveals His righteousness. No "get me out of the way" exists in this calling. We rather acknowledge our Heavenly Father's purpose to administer His will within and through our selves and human faculties. God does not annihilate us when we come to Christ, but rather changes the very core of who and what we are, and then works to enliven our circumference by His Spirit:
"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).
"Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Corinthians 6:20).
"If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11).
Believers are living spirits, united to the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in natural bodies that also belong to our Lord, and which require the enabling of His life to empower godliness. Who and what we are as human beings, subject to temptation as we are, can beautifully serve the Lord as we trust and submit to Him. Indeed, the Christian life is not simply Christ, and it most surely is not simply ourselves. No, the Christian life is Christ dwelling within our spiritual selves, and working in the entirety of our being to progressively redeem us into serving as "a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet (useful) for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (II Timothy 2:21).
"Heavenly Father, left to ourselves, we would be helpless and hopeless to live lives as a 'vessel unto honor.' You have not left us to ourselves, however, but rather birthed a 'new man, created in righteousness and true holiness' when we believed, and now work to enliven our members and faculties by the power of Christ's life. In this sense, Father, get us in the way of Your doings. Yes, may we serve as moons to Your sun (Son), absorbing and reflecting the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are Your's, Father, in the entirety of our being for the fulfillment of Your honor, purpose, will, and the blessing of others. In the Name of the Lord Jesus we pray, Amen."
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."
(II Corinthians 4:6-7)
Weekly Memory Verse
Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else."
(Deuteronomy 4:39)
7191
No comments:
Post a Comment