Shortcuts and hacks reflect one’s
exposure and contempt over a certain process. I should not be content in one
place. In Christ, the revelation of His grace continues to renew our minds, and
we are transformed more and more by the renewing of our minds – it is natural
that we see that in Christ, our boundaries are expanded, our opportunities grow
bigger.
In Christ, the results prove to
be overwhelming, each and every time. No matter where we are in the walk and
life with our Savior who never leaves us, He never fails to (1) overwhelm us
with His grace and mercy, and (2) humble us with His great wisdom and power.
And in the overwhelming, and in the humility, there will always be peace – we
are not shaken.
Yes, we will not be shaken when
faced with the intimidation and the humiliation that is of the world, for we
possess (and are in the possession) of a Savior who is incomparably amazing,
overwhelming to the point that we are brought to sincere humility.
I find myself in a point where
indeed, His grace and peace endure and burn ever so brightly within, and I am
brought to discipline and self-control, not to be any closer (as Christ is as
close to me, and I am as close to Christ as we would ever be), but to focus.
In the past, I have been
enraptured by being in the flames and not being burned or singed; I have been
amazed, as a toddler who sees the sea and immerses in the ocean for the first
time. In the same spirit of wonder, I am brought calm down, and to listen to
the beautiful Fourth man, who spoke to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the
great Babylonian furnace; and instead of waddling around as a baby in the
water, I am brought to learn how to appreciate the deep even further, by
learning how to swim.
Rather, I want to focus. I want
to calm down, and learn from Christ. I want to learn how to swim. I desire all
this, while remaining in the wonder which captivated me and brought the Gospel
from my head to my heart years ago.
“..count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved
brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in
all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things
in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to
their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless
people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:15-18
--
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all
people, training us to renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and
godly lives in the present age, waiting for our
blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us
from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who
are zealous for good works.” Titus
2:11-14
“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make
you obey its passions. Do not present
your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your
members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over
you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:11-14
So I’m in quite the bind here.
There’s discipline, and there’s the new creation. The way I see it now, we are
new creations, like it or not. We are new creations, regardless of what we do,
and what we don’t do. We are identified as new creations, even if the world
denounces our actions.
Then there’s discipline. I asked
my mom a couple of minutes ago what word came into her mind when I mentioned
discipline, and she quickly responded, ‘punishment’. Now that I think of it,
the word discipline is associated to ‘training’ for me. It’s not delayed
gratification. I see it now as intense appreciation of who we are and what we
have. It’s not delayed gratification. It’s intentional gratefulness.
I discipline myself, not with my
focus on what not to do, but what to do. And what, pray tell, is there to do?
There is intentional gratefulness: I take out the gift wrapping of who I am,
open up the box, take out the gift, and take time to read the instruction
manual, looking every now and then at the actual gift, all this time being
absolutely thrilled and excited at what I have.
Can we look at self-control the
same way? Can we say that by the power of Christ, and by the grace of God we
control ourselves, not by keeping ourselves from doing things, but changing our
minds to enjoy what we already have, and to appreciate what we can do? So
instead of expressing self-control in finances by holding our money with an
iron fist, we are actually calculating when and where our resources can have
the greatest impact?
Clearly, it’s becoming more
apparent to me that though I am here, a new creation with all the bells and
whistles, that this life I live truly is no longer for myself but for everyone
else. For when I serve others, I serve myself in the most efficient way. I can
enjoy life, but life is more enjoyable if the people around me enjoy life as
well. So the gospel ought to be preached – not just by our words, but by our
unspoken acts of love to one another.
The way I see it Christ could
have just stayed in heaven. He had all He needed and wanted, but we were still
considered by God as His prized possession. As a result, He gave everything up
to have us, because we were His everything. This, this PROFOUND love is
something I ought to be eating and drinking every day… because this life has no
meaning if all I have to live for is myself… Again, I enjoy this life, but I am
beginning to believe that this life would be so much more motivating and
inspiring if I thought of the enjoyment and needs of others as well.
It certainly helps to type all of
this down. It certainly helps to have all of this on paper, because if it was
just brewing in my mind, it would probably never leave there. I thank God for
all the senses we have and the capability we have to infuse what we are led to
think in our actions… indeed, let all the world see and know His goodness
through our literal lives.
Our confidence and dependence is
on Christ. The life we live is not one of living out a doctrine, but living in
partnership with a living Savior. This is Christ, who saved us by uniting
Himself with us; and therefore, as He is fully equipped for every good work, so
are we. As God’s mercies for Christ are absolutely new every morning, so are
we.
Here, yes, here we see that we
are fully equipped, fully restocked each and every day – our past successes and
failures can stay in the past because we are presented with new life and love,
we are rendered overflowing not just as a one time deal, but on a sweet, daily
basis! Indeed, we have all we need because Christ, who is alive in us, and in
whom we move and have our being – we have all we need because He is alive in
us, and we are alive in Him!
The moment that we realize that
the Word of God which washes us and sanctifies us is not a set of words and
doctrine but and actual Person, an actual Life that is Jesus Christ, this is
the moment which Andrew Farley describes as the moment we say ‘Wow’, and ‘Thank
You!’; As Timothy Keller would describe, these are the moments we begin, not to
produce awe and admiration, but to just… wonder.
Worship follows, absolutely.
_________________________
jb.redeemed
email me at jibee@rocketmail.com.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26