The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
Being.. Doing
God does what He does because He is who He is.
“Thou art good and doest good” (Psalm 119:68).
The sequence never reverses. The Lord’s doings never contribute to His being. He does not become something new or improved by His actions. This constitutes a primary definition of Biblical holiness, namely, that God is forever sanctified to His own character and nature. He can only be who He is, which forever results in every perfection of thought, attitude, word, and deed. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” (Psalm 145:17). Few, if any, understandings and beliefs about our God must more be established in our minds in order to make possible our proper response to Him, based on our knowing Him as He is, and as He does.
Interestingly, this sequence of being and doing also applies to born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, albeit presently in a far more limited measure. That is, when we trust and obey God, we are being who we are.
“That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
“Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:9).
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
(Ephesians 5:8)
The flesh of believers no longer constitutes the essence and selfhood of who we are. Our spirits now comprise this core reality and identityof our being. United to the Holy Spirit, this part of us - the very heart of us - serves as that which not only desires and does the will of God, but literally loves to fulfill it. “I delight in the law of God after the inward man” (Romans 7:22). Thus, when we trust and obey God by the power of the Holy Spirit, believers join our Lord in doing what we do as the expression of being who we are. Of course, we still live in the yet to be glorified flesh of our human faculties that “lusteth against the spirit” (Galatians 5:17). We can think, speak, act, and relate in accordance with who we were without Christ, rather than who we are with Him (I Corinthians 6:11). This constitutes a serious aberration regarding our walk in truth, and makes sin far more inexcusable and consequential. Indeed, had God left us as we were before the new birth, we might find at least somewhat of an excuse for sin. Because He changed our very being by the entrance of the Holy Spirit into our spirits, however, all rationalizations melt away in the light of His living and vital presence…
“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).
The day will come when our every thought, word, and action will perfectly reflect who Christ is - and who we are in Him. We cannot imagine the peace and joy of such perfect godliness, holiness, and the fulfillment of the reason for our existence. Presently, we seek growth in knowing the being of God, our own being as united to Christ, and the doing that can and must proceed from such sacred awareness. We look to the great I AM for this discovery and realization, seeking to heed Paul’s admonition that shines with so much promise regarding our own I am in Christ…
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
(Romans 6:11)
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
(Galatians 5:25)
Weekly Memory Verse
Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”
(Romans 8:9)
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