The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"As He Walked"
Every Christian witness, teacher, preacher, author, and communicator of any sort has the experience of knowing we do not fully implement the truths to which we bear witness. The primary reason involves the standard to which God calls us:
"Walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6).
The goal is spiritual and moral likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who so loved both His Father and the human race that He inspired the doxology so beautifully penned by the Apostle Paul…
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:5-8).
All believers desire to serve as a reflection of our Lord's sublime and glorious light, to "let this mind be in you." We all know, however, how far we have to go in the process of walking as did our Lord. Thus, if ever accused of not living out the life we know to be the will of God, we do well to "agree with thine adversary quickly" (Matthew 5:25). "You are absolutely correct, friend, I have so far to go in Christlikeness, it sometimes feels as if I haven't even begun. Thankfully, however, God had made promise to me and to all who believe that "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So, friend, I have cast myself upon Him, and I would encourage and challenge you to the same" (Philippians 1:6). Or, as has been said, "One beggar telling another where to find bread."
A faithful seminary professor was asked at his retirement gathering how he would like to be remembered. He bowed his head for a moment, and then quietly responded in the truest possible manner. "As someone who has had a faithful, long-suffering, and merciful Lord." Anyone who long seeks to walk with God through Christ increasingly discovers the height of the summit to be ascended. "As He walked," that is, as the Lord Jesus thought, felt, spoke, acted, and sacrificed in every moment of His earthly existence. Surely this pauses our ascent to the summit, leading us to kneel upon the steeply upward path as we look to our Lord for a grace far more necessary than we often realize. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" declared the Savior, whose words could be intrepreted, "Without Me, you cannot be like Me" (John 15:5).
Regardless of how far any believer has ascended, the peak of our Lord's sublime character, nature, and way beckons us to come further and ever continue our ascent. Any critic who would tell us we have not fully lived up to what we profess is absolutely correct. Of course, this does not excuse hypocrisy. It rather directs focus to holiness, not our own, but to the wonder of a Christ whose person and way transcends our every concept of goodness, virtue, and morality. Indeed, no matter how good we have discovered the Lord Jesus to be, He is infinitely better. That our Heavenly Father ever works to make us like His Son must overwhelm our hearts with amazement, even as it blesses our communication with the humility that most reflects the glory of our sublime Savior, and our ongoing need to grow in His likeness.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."
(Romans 8:28-29)
"Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."
(I Thessalonians 4:1)
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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