Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Orange Moon Tuesday, October 22, 2024 "Like Him" Part 2 - Acknowledge and Appropriate

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…



(Thanks so much to Fred C. for inspiration and insight on this one).



"Like Him"


Part 2 - Acknowledge and Appropriate

  

   

      To become like the Lord Jesus Christ does not simply mean we seek to imitate Him in how we live.  No more impossible quest could present itself to our hearts and minds.  


    "The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).

    "We have not a 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).

    "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).


   If the Christian life merely involved imitation of the Lord Jesus, the first sin we committed as believers would end the attempt.  Perfection would be required of our imitation, a standard of life not possible in our present imperfection.  This does not suggest that it is inevitable or excusable that we yield to any specific  temptation to distrust and disobey God.  His grace always abides in us for overcoming.  "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (I Corinthians 10:13).  However, sin does occur in our current state.  Thus, imitation of a perfect Christ cannot serve as the means whereby which we seek to "walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6).


     Wondrously, our Lord Himself serves by His indwelling presence in our spirits as the means of a consistent, growing life of Christlikeness:


    "Christ in you, the hope of glory… Christ the power of God" (Colossians 1:27; I Corinthians 1:24).

    "I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16).


    The Spirit of our Lord not only dwells in us, but also walks  in us so that we may "walk even as He walked."  As a dear brother and friend blessedly commented after considering yesterday's message, "Our failure is in our failure to acknowledge and appropriate His work in us."  This beautifully reflects another brother's affirmation of long ago:


    "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).


    Forget, neglect, or disbelieve the inworking of God, and the outworking of our response to Him will not consistently and increasingly occur.  "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).  In fact, the Apostle Paul communicated to the Colossians that the same dynamic grace whereby relationship begins with God serves as the same means whereby the believer lives the Christian life:


    "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Colossians 2:6).


    Paul suggests that whatever happened in the first twinkling moment of salvation received by grace through faith must continue to occur in order to bear "the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:11).  We came to God helpless and hopeless in absolving ourselves of our own sins, changing our own hearts, and living in a manner that honored Him, blessed others, and filled our own being with peace and joy.  In some manner, we all cried with the heart, and from the heart, "Christ only is my hope and salvation!"  Thereby, our living relationship with God began.  Thereby, our living fellowship and response to Him continues as we "walk" in the same manner we initially "received."


   "Heavenly Father, the simplest act of faith and faithfulness to You in this day requires the presence and power of the only perfectly faithful One who exists.  You direct in Your Word that we look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  We choose to do so in response to Your Spirit's ongoing promise of revealing the character and nature of Christ in us, and His ongoing mandate that we avail ourselves of the grace of our Lord's indwelling presence.  Lead us to acknowledge and appropriate so wondrous a gift, provided at so high a cost.  For the glory of the Name of the Lord Jesus we ask, and in His Name we pray, Amen."


   We possess no innate character or ability to live as does the Lord Jesus.  "Without Me, ye can do nothing." Believers do possess, however, His indwelling presence as the very Life of our lives.  We "live by faith" just as we began by faith, trusting Christ as our singular hope for the next step of obedience, and all to follow (Romans 1:17).  The Lord Jesus alone is glorified in this marvel of grace, and the gift of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" made possible by how near He has drawn to all who believe.  



He lived a life of grace and glory,

God in man, the wondrous story

of Heaven and earth bound in One,

the son of man, God the Son.


 Now He lives in us, the hope of glory,

to write upon our hearts the story

of Heaven dwelling in earthly frame,

for those who trust and bear His name.


Nothing without Him, all things through Him,

this is the life we live,

through the Christ who dwells within,

God's grace He ever gives.


A life of grace and glory,

and now… our story.



Weekly Memory Verse

  "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."

 (I John 3:2)


       

































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