by RobertCummins | Oct 26, 2015 | 43. Questions
Questions – John 1:35-42
After the two heard John identify him as the Passover Lamb, they left John’s company and began following Jesus. As Jesus became aware he was being tailed, he turned and asked …
What do you seek?
These two men had already crossed a line. They were hanging out with John the Baptist – a man at odds with the religious establishment. John was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The citizenry had concluded he was, at the very least, a great prophet and possibly even the Messiah.
What drew these two original disciples away from John? I believe it was this; they knew the Law but they wanted to know God. The Law and its stewards, the Pharisees, guaranteed the former; their hearts were being drawn to the latter. The Law without grace was a massive burden to their hearts, reminding them they were the types of persons requiring law-upon-law to save. They knew about God and they knew they were sinners but these things had not liberated their hearts. This accounts, at least in part, for their association with John – one who was announcing forgiveness. How sweet that must have sounded!
The Law and the Prophets had awaken man to the chasm existing between God and themselves. The ancient scrolls had also hinted of a bridge to come and the reunion that bridge would facilitate. Perhaps the Psalmist’s candor had also awakened a liberty within them, bold enough to ask …
Is there not more?
In their search for more the two found themselves in the company of others at odds with the religious status quo of their day. Following Jesus was dangerous! Yet, something about him made the risk worth it. What was this something? Somehow, Jesus himself, was the answer. Without them knowing it, the Master Teacher was making his primary point: One could stand clean and unburdened in God’s presence.
For these men, a plant had pushed up through the soil, presenting itself in the form of their questions. It had been germinating in the soil of religion. It had produced a sacred weariness and an attendant hunger for reality and relationship with God.
The questions our hearts ask are provoked by the Spirit of Truth. They are signs that God is drawing us. However, we must learn from the original disciples – trouble awaits question-askers. In the context of transformation (the very nature of God’s expanding kingdom) Truth predictably leads men outside the boundaries of establishment. Truth is bold and will challenge the underlying assumptions driving performance religion. He does so, because He came to set us free to soar at higher altitudes than form and tradition could take us.
For followers of Jesus, tensions within and without, are inevitable. Establishment (aka; old wineskins) don’t respond well to questions. They will quickly withdraw the right hand of fellowship from anyone disturbing what they believe God has established. Question askers will either be censored or ushered to the back door and shown the broad opportunities that await them outside. In extreme situations, they may be crucified.
If God is transforming his Bride from what she is into what she shall be, change is inevitable. Questions precede transformation and the big question remains …
What do you seek?”
I watched a Russian film called Stalker. A stalker leads men into a place where their innermost desire will be met. It reminded me that our innermost desire is also the main thing with God. This thing, whatever it is, will be revealed when we ultimately stand before him – when nothing that was hidden will remain. Therefore, why we do what we do is a big deal. This is why God keeps asking, “Really children, I’m serious …
What is it that you want?”
If we find that following Jesus has created tensions between us and the keepers of tradition, lets quickly give thanks to God’s for the excellent soil and his gardening skill. Let’s also avoid pointing fingers at the establishment for its shortcomings. Instead, let’s listen to the questions God is asking us. This way, when he asks us why we have done what we have done, our answer can simply be …
Father, you know I have done these things because I have loved you and simply could not bear the thought of our separation.
In the School of Christ, which meets continually in our hearts, our Teacher, the Holy Spirit is tutoring us into an experiential love affair with God. Our current relationships and circumstances are our curriculum. If we are attending class, we are discovering that his kingdom is inverted and foreign (at least initially) to our natural minds. Example; In the kingdom, longing, disorientation and questions are not signs of failure; instead, they indicate we are attending class.
I am so looking forward to commencement. Aren’t you?
Father, may your Spirit succeed in His re-education of our hearts. Exposing us where we are doing right from wrong motive. May we see the test at hand. May we give thanks for its content. May we all graduate with flying colors. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 26, 2014 | 43. Questions
Mark 10:46-52
The story of Jesus and a disabled outcast has provoked my imagination…
If my kids were interviewing me for posterity and they were to ask, “Dad, why do you believe that Jesus still heals people?” I would first say,
“Kids, thank you for not making a patent understanding of God’s mysteries (which include healing) a basis for our love for each other. Our unity of spirit is larger and stronger than any bonds that intellectual synchronization of doctrine could ever create. Trust me, I appreciate and respect your question. It is one I have asked myself often. In all honesty, for many years, the question haunted me.”
“Why did it haunt you Dad”
“I suppose, putting it bluntly, it is because deferred hope (in regard to healing, – especially my own) had made my heart sick. As I have told you, my life in Christ began in 1976 like being shot out of a cannon. Because of the immediate changes Jesus did in my heart and the love that He inundated me with, I had every reason to believe that He was the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13:8). I had every reason to believe that what I read in the new testament was a baseline of what God’s will in heaven looked like when it was done on earth. I had every reason to believe that God was still in the business of healing people.
As I told others, the story of my transformation (and I could not shut up) and my expectations to see this awesome Jesus setting other captives free and restoring sight to the blind, I noticed a cloud forming between myself and other (more mature?) Christians. What’s up with this!? Upon hearing my story, some abruptly walked away. Other mentor types seem to try and gently break the news that Jesus really isn’t doing that healing thing like that anymore. Really?! This was quite disorienting to me as a young impressionable Christian.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had stumbled out onto one of the larger fault-lines that separate believers from each other in the body of Christ. On one side of the divide there were those very composed Christians who believed miracles and the gifts were dispensed with after the death of the apostles. Sola Scriptura was there mantra. The bible was the only source of divine inspiration for them. The Holy Spirit’s job seemed to be solely to interpreter the scripture.
I sincerely didn’t want to be rude to this segment of my new found family but I knew God was still revealing Himself to men and personally speaking to them because I had encountered Him (or He had encountered me) and I had heard His voice. As I would attempt to explain what I meant, I watched the cloud that had formed frequently become stormy and even threatening. The right hand of fellowship had been withdrawn. When this happens in your family, it creates a sick feeling. At least it did to me.
Then, on the other side of the fault line there were those who seemed a bit less composed, especially when they expressed their worship in song. This group appeared to be excited (like myself) that Jesus was the same now and forever and they were zealous and engaged in exploring (with the gifts of the Spirit) new testament expressions of life together. Although there were plenty of things to raise an eyebrow about (or even a scripture-based question), this was the context where I first encountered Christ. And,..since it seemed this tribe was pursuing a biblical reality (and that they were the only ones who would accept me) I threw my lot in with them.
However over time, my heart became a bit sick in this context as well after I saw hundreds of prayers for healing go unanswered (many of which were prayed in behalf of my body). I believed I also had good cause to loose faith in the character of many charismatic leaders. Who is steering this ship?! That was not only disheartening; that felt scary.
Eventually, I became so disheartened theologically that I could not pick up either Charisma magazine or Christianity Today, which generally represent the views on either side of the divide. Each seemed to write with smug satisfaction that theirs was the only spiritual reality. The more prideful and insecure would even aim their gospel guns across the line in attempts to pick off those they believed to be the more obvious heretics . I have been caught in many a crossfire and, to be honest, doctrinal arguments whizzing through my brain and over my head have effected my heart in a sickening way.
As I have continued to trek along the fault lines, how often I have thought I would love to have a systematic “air tight” theology that removed the mystery and answered the myriad questions that presented themselves to me. But, the Lord, I believe, has prevented that. It seems that “mystery” is the context where faith, hope and love must grow. In my personal experience, the absence of certainty is the odd yet fertile place where faith grows best.
I have made a choice in my walk with Christ that I am not going to be offended when I do not always see healing how and when I want it. I am going to live presumptuously that Christ is still a healer and pray accordingly as opportunities present themselves. I am going to persevere through the barriers that suggest Jesus no longer heals and that the gifts of the Spirit no longer exist. Just because I, or others, haven’t experienced something does not prove it no longer exists. Who Christ is, in the essence of His Being – a healer, is not altered by our incomplete embrace of His ongoing ministry. We want outcomes to hedge our faith bets. God wants faith to precede outcomes and says that “faith” itself is the assurance of these things we hope for.
Faith has always been about laying hold of unseen things, things from another more enduring reality. I believe the One who “did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many” is still asking, “What do you want Me to do for You?”
Perhaps, like Bartemaeus, we too have issues with our vision. Perhaps, the cry from our hearts should be the same as his, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us !” If we feel some heartache in regard to the divisions within the Body of Christ or we find a longing for a deeper reality that includes miracles, perhaps in the midst of our deferred-heart pain, if we will bear it for a while, we will hear Jesus asking us, “What do you want me to do for you?”
It is my belief that the spirit of this prayer for His intervening mercy is growing in the Body of Christ and its many expressions are reaching our unchanging God who touched Bartamaeus. I believe we too, if we will persevere and not feint by giving into disappointment, will one day, perhaps very soon, hear Jesus say to many, “Go your way; your faith has made you well“.
Kids, thanks for permitting me to tell my story. I know I tend to ramble on.”
Father, open the eyes of our hearts. Grant us the spiritual courage to ask questions and the intentionality to lay hold of that for which we were laid hold of – things which eye has not seen nor ears have heard – these good works that You have prepared for us to walk in. Lord, may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 25, 2014 | 43. Questions
Mark 8:1-30
This passage is laden with questions such as; “How many loaves do you have?” “Why does this generation seek a sign?” “Why do you discuss the fact you have no bread?” “Do you not yet see or understand?” “Do you have a hardened heart?” “…And do you not remember…how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” “Do you not yet understand?” “Do you see anything?” “Who do the people say that I am?” “But who do you say that I am?”
We might be thinking, “Wow! For an omniscient Being, He sure asks a lot of questions!” Since He suffers no knowledge deficit He must have been using His questions to stimulate their (and our) thinking toward some good end. Since he doesn’t need our input, perhaps God likes to watch us use our brains. Perhaps he knows we need to use them since they are connected to our hearts.
Often a Christian is thought to be maturing by their ability to hear God’s commands and to heed them. I definitely wouldn’t discard this idea. However, I do want to consider another way God interacts with us. Beyond giving commands to would be obedient servants I believe to sons and friends, he is apt to ask questions.
I am a grandfather to 4 (at this counting) amazing little grandkids. Its the best show in town for sure. While their parents do give them commands, they also ask them questions. I am far more interested (and entertained) by watching a question engage their brilliant, agile and creative minds. I love watching their wheels turning, assembling from their limited experience and knowledge, answers which make perfect sense to them. It seems that their learning is accelerated more by questions than commands. Perhaps this is so because they have to take some ownership of the problem solving process and then live with the outcomes of their precious half-baked little ideas. “OK Mommy, I won’t cut my sisters hair again.” (a recent half-baked little idea)
Thinking is often viewed with suspicion in circles where God is expected to speak with regularity, clarity and detail. It is presumed in some circles that this is “the” prerequisite to God’s will being accomplished on earth as it is in heaven. For me, I believe that approach is only one of the ways God speaks and gets things done. I also believe He is sufficiently in control of human affairs to ask us how we would approach a situation and give us the latitude to explore and experiment in finding answers.
I believe he knows this way, the lesson learned becomes a part of us. I also believe God is quite entertained as we endeavor to follow Him and answer His questions from our very limited thoughts and experiences. Is God big enough to accomplish His will while allowing us to grow as children best grow – through exploration and experimentation and failure? I am betting on it. This way his truth become enfleshed by our lives. The Word becomes flesh again; the light shines from the darkness; his children are transformed into the image of his Son.
Perhaps the reason we are frustrated in hearing His voice is that we are listening for commands when He is in fact asking questions. Perhaps the reason our progress is often limited is that we are speaking when we should be listening. Questions provoke thought and dialogue; they create connection between us and God. Questions are appropriate for us as His agents of free will and those who are learning to walk in His ways. Questions reveal humility and hunger therefore questions become us. And somehow, our conversation with Him bonds us more meaingfully to each other.
Unless you become as little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Father, permit that our hearts would become childlike yet mature, flexible yet resolute, meek yet courageous, humble yet bold and innocent yet wise. Help us to hear the questions you are asking us. Help us to ask the right questions of You. Help us to ask the right questions of each other. Raise up an army of people whose childlike, brilliant, agile and creative minds function in harmony with the Holy Spirit within them. May we hear in our spirits both Your living commands and Your questions. And….may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 24, 2014 | 43. Questions
John 21:1-19
Jesus had come and gone. His life on earth had begun as a divine embryo and concluded at His ascension as a glorified resurrected human. The offering of His sinless life met the demands of God’s justice, giving any human being who would believe in Him the power to also ultimately become, like himself, a fully realized human being. John, the disciple of whom it was rumored Jesus especially loved, explains his motives for recording his account;
…these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and in believing you may have life in His name.
So, the first question God asks us is, “Do you believe in me?” An honest “yes” reply is our modest contribution to the laying of the foundation stone; the human spirit is awakened (regenerated) and the possibility of spirit to Spirit communion with God is restored; eternity is entered into for those born anew. The next question however will determine what gets built on the new foundation, “Do you love Me?”
How do you respond to this question when He asks? For many years his question deeply troubled me. I wanted to say with Peter, “Lord, you know that I love You” but that response would get hung up somewhere in my conscience which was incorrectly informing me that my life did not meet the criteria that would permit such a reply. My foundation was in place and I enjoyed God’s favor in many ways but I was still troubled because I believed nothing was being built on that foundation. I believed construction delays were being caused since I was not feee to honestly say, “Lord, I love You”.
During this season I was dogged by a sense of not measuring up. I was devout; reading, praying, studying, serving, etc., holding out for myself a faint hope that one day I might get it together, that I might somehow qualify, turn that corner and break into that place of abiding, freedom, intimacy and power.
Ultimately God, in His kindness, which felt severe at times, led me to repentance for my works– oriented heart. He had heard my repeated cry to “search me and know my heart; to try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way“. (Psalm 139:23,24) Here is the real question – How can the idea that we are not measuring up – that there are unmet criteria in our lives, even exist along side our stout confessions of having received the gift of salvation?! It is because we are not immune from the lies that have been planted in our hearts.
Whether you call it discipleship, transformation, spiritual formation, spiritual warfare or sanctification, there is an ongoing relationship between us and God. Since its spread out over our life time we can think of it like the process of constructing a building. The project has an architect, a general contractor, a location, a plan, a foundation, a superstructure, a general contractor and at least one very important manual laborer; us – that party that can show up for work and participate in the process and who also has the option of sleeping in, going on strike, calling in sick or retiring.
Not participating is just insane because if we are not on the job, the enemy is going to sneak into the project and steal materials, vandalize whats being built, scribble on the plans and disrupt the process however he can. And he is a master disrupter and destructor. My point is that there is an ongoing process. Call it a battle or a building; its simply our cooperation with the Spirit of Truth who sees our hearts, who knows where the hurtful ways are where the enemy is exploiting us. The Spirit simply invites us daily to reveal to us these areas where the hurtful ways have bound us and restricted the liberty and animation that we were destined for as inheritors of abundant life.
The hurtful way the Holy Spirit revealed in me which was delaying construction was the lie that I had to measure up. It was hurtful because it undermined all that Grace had planned to build in my life. It turns out this was not a part of the contract provisions.
Today, because God exposed and dealt with my heart which had become conditioned to laboring in a vacuum of grace, I freely can say back to the Lord, “I love You”. This is a new and beautiful part of the structure for sure! Today my conscience informs me correctly that I am God’s possession and He is mine. We are each other’s treasure! More has been built on the foundational reality of Jesus Christ as my savior since this change than I could have ever imagined possible. It really IS FINISHED! Jesus’ sinless life met all the criteria for acceptance that I would ever need to concern myself with! Compliance, believe it or not, as a criteria for relating to God is a nonsensical and ultimately destructive notion.
My guess is that John not only out-raced Peter to the empty tomb but he also was the first to personally find rest in God’s love. Recall he rested his head on Jesus chest as a friend who did not labor for His approval. He was just enjoying God’s immediate company. I do not believe that Jesus had any greater love and preference for John than He did for the other disciples or us for that matter. I believe John’s confidence in God’s love simply allowed him to enjoy what has always been available to all. His presumption naturally set him apart and the rumors followed.
My walk with Christ began with a literal inundation of God’s love after I first believed; then I alienated myself from that place of rest – compensating for deep-seated insecurities by attempting to meet what I believed was the criteria for discipleship. For some that criteria may be the observance of religious rites or rituals; it may be the disciplines you have subjected yourself to; perhaps it is adherence to a code of life you have constructed for yourself. Well then… congratulations for your compliance efforts! Enjoy the brief applause (even if its only your hands clapping) because you have just received your reward in full.
If we insist that we must have something to comply with, I would suggest a simple something – a heart that is steeped so thoroughly in God’s grace that it is privately and continually saying to Him, face to face, “Lord, I love you. I love you!! I love you!!!” Our declaration would not be made because we think we have been scoring relatively high in regard to compliance, production or performance (easing our consciences) but because we have finally realized experientially in our hearts that God has loved us first. With His cross (the demonstration of this love) he has permanently and totally demolished the basis for our guilt-laden introspection and activities. This is the really good news about the Good News!
Note; I can testify that a heart laboring for approval paints a huge works-shaped bullseye on us for the enemy’s fiery missiles. When the missile hits, the result is initially condemnation, then our response follows – either depression or more typically (for the devout) a redoubling of religious resolve that is driven more by fear of God than love for Him. Working without resting produces religion – perhaps the most hurtful way that could ever be nurtured in the heart of a man. Religion (based on the idea that something we can do could ever win God’s favor) might look impressive but it will just add to the horribly loud and discordant noise religion has made and is making in the world – driving people away from the Father instead of toward him.
Father, we pray that you would assault the strongholds of religion in our hearts – these places that are always teetering between either self- condemnation or self-congratulations, these places where we measure our worth by our compliance to human standards of moral performance. Destroy this type of “religion” and teach us to instead rest our head confidently back onto Your chest and live in rest and serve You out of an authentic love. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 23, 2014 | 43. Questions
John 13:1-15
Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world -and-
“….the devil having already put into the heart of.…..
Coupling the light in these two verses can shine an intense beam on our lives if we will allow it. The reality this light exposes is that we live temporarily in a world inhabited by the devil. The wisdom we might gain from this revelation is to live daily with 1) the knowledge that our hour too will one day come when we will depart out of this world. And 2) While we are in this world there is a devil whose mission is to plant lies into our hearts.
It is often at funerals that we get an inkling of our transient existence. This solemn assembly provides an hour of long overdue reflection on the pain of others and our temporal state. We may be at our very best in these moments – closer to truth than at any other time. Then, we step outside and back onto the treadmill of a world that is busy dying and trying hard not to think about it.
I’m sure the devil meets us at this door and happily assists us in our denial. Has it occurred to us that many, if not most of the lies he has planted in the hearts of men are designed to aid us in avoiding, as long possible, the fact that we too will be departing out of this world? What lies do you see at work in society (and in yourself) that might be promoting this delusion?
So, what can we do if we are surrounded by lies and immersed in a world that is asleep at the wheel? We can follow Jesus example;
“If I then, the Lord and The Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
I have friends who engage in spiritual warfare at high levels. They are conscious of the battles, like the one between opposing spiritual powers, where Daniel’s prayers hung in the balance for 21 days. These are people who wage war as intercessors in prayer. I am grateful for their faith and their prayers. Even though they are heavenly oriented, I believe they would agree with me that we are also called to a primary battle where we are walking out our brief lives on this earth in the company of others.
Where our feet come into contact with the wounded and defiled earth and its masses living in denial, we too, as agents of free will, are at risk of contamination. As a primary form of spiritual warfare the Lord said,
For I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you…If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
The funeral home experience gave us a brief glimpse of the pain and loss that are all around us. If our eyes could remain open a bit longer after the last respects have been paid, we would discover we are surrounded by lonely, hurting and confused people – most of whom are pursuing the American dream as their means to happiness and mode of denial. Jesus would have called them “confused and aimless, sheep with no shepherd.” And He would add, “What a huge harvest!” (from Matt 9:36 MSG)
While the American dream has been lauded as the hope of mankind it is at best, in light of eternity, a temporary arrangement. One of the problems with the American dream is that it breeds independence. While the teamwork of capitalism and democracy, at least so far, has generated more material blessing than any other team it has also proven without a doubt that it does not insure peace and happiness. Sadly, most use their wealth to create additional space between them and their neighbors. It is very difficult for us to serve each other as the Lord has instructed if we are isolated from each other. I know the religious right will try me on counts of treason here but I believe there are some lies embedded in our utopian American dream. It would behoove us to identify them and root them from our hearts.
Ours may be the best ideology so far in world history but it is not the Kingdom where God has called us into community and connectedness and serving one another. The New Testament is absolutely crammed with instruction on being together. Even this very moment you and I are connected to various networks of people at work, in leisure, and family. Someone right next to us is needing us. God’s Kingdom will one day displace the temporary reign of the “father of lies” as we connect with our networks and our networks connect with each other. Momentum and growth in the Eternal Kingdom will be fostered as we identify the lies Satan has planted in our hearts and in society and we repent of our association with them. Then our minds will become renewed and we will prove the will of God – that which is good acceptable and perfect.
So, let’s look around. Let us find the soiled feet nearest us. Let us gird ourselves with our towels, and let us begin to cleanse things down here on earth in the lowest places, knowing that we are fighting the good fight at a very high and strategic level, one that, because of God’s unique design and placement, can only be reached by you and I. Remember Jesus promised;
If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
Father, we pray that You would awaken us from our slumber. Expose the enemy’s stratagems and trump them with the Eternal Seed of Truth that You have planted in our our hearts and are nurturing for a day when the Word of God will cover this earth as an ocean – displacing every lie that has held humanity in bondage since the Garden. Beginning with us today, connect the army you have strategically located for the great and final battle. Teach us to number our days that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom and help us to resist the devil that he might flee from us in terror. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 22, 2014 | 43. Questions
John 11:17-44
Beyond all the essential, troubling and preparatory questions the Lord provokes within a soul, probably the most important question a person will ask in this life is, “How can I become a Christian?” I hear this question answered frequently this way, “You just have to ask Jesus into your heart“. Even though the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” is not even in the Bible, I believe many have actually come into the kingdom through this recently fashioned door. But…, the ones who continue to walk with Him, either on the front end (which I think was the original idea) or in their experience along the way, discover and adjust to the fact that the One they invited into their hearts is a relational, loving, jealous Lord who aspires to expand His rule (his kingdom) into every aspect of their lives. The ones that follow Him discover He is definitely not a just-on-Sunday (and maybe Wednesday) kind of God.
If someone were to ask me this important question today, “How can I become a Christian?” I might just refer them to John 11:25-26 and let Jesus tell them spirit to spirit;
I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.
I might invite them out for coffee in a week or so and follow up with the same question that Jesus used, “Do you believe this?” If George Barna, the author of Revolution, were given permission to look into the spirit realm and poll all those who have ever been authentically “born again”, I think his research would reveal that all authentic rebirths shared this one simple common denominator, “THEY BELIEVED IN HIM”.
After we follow Him for a while, more challenging aspects of having a Lord living in the center of our being, vying for our hearts, enter into play. We learn that we have our opinion on how things should transpire in our lives and that God has His. In three different places in this passage this inevitable impasse is seen. (Check out 11:21, 32 and 37.) The opinion and pattern of reasoning, even by Martha and Mary, who believed He was the Messiah and had inherited eternal life, began with: “IF ONLY ……..”
That innocent sounding phrase, “if only”, betrays their dissatisfaction and ours. We must listen for it, in its different forms, as it surfaces in our thoughts and words as, “Oh man!” or “That’s not fair!” or “What’s the deal!”. Isn’t our sarcasm, “Oh, that’s just perfect!” also just another thinly veiled form of “if only” (it was handled as I believed it should have been)? I heard a very wise statement to this effect, “As those who are filled with His Spirit, we are no longer obligated to react to our circumstances, rather – we are invited to respond to a Person”. That is a nice restatement of Hebrews 4:13;
“…..it is with Him whom we have to do.”
This is what all who learn to follow Him discover; it is every aspect of our life He is interested in. He has a way that is better than our opinion. Learning that the Holy Spirit is indwelling us and has actually become our life is the essence of relating to Jesus as our Lord. Walking in the Spirit (living out of His Life) involves the ongoing experience of repentance – the laying down and exchanging of our opinions for his truth. This is also called discipleship.
Tragically though, in our Have It Your Way-culture, discipleship somehow became an optional track within Christendom for those “called” into ministry. (I am sure one of Hell’s grand prizes was awarded to the demon that crafted this whopper.) From this lie a hundred more have been spawned, such as; “discipleship” (which is nothing more than the process of learning to daily live out of His life) has been easily sold as an excessive burden that only the “called” are equipped to carry. We know this is an outright lie because Jesus said, “My burden is easy and my yoke is light”.
Will there be an award ceremony in heaven where Truth and Reality Awards will be handed out to those who overcame and displaced speculations and demonic strongholds with living truth? My hunch (not nearly as impressive as exegesis I know) is, probably not. The banquet is going to be all about Jesus – the Truth – who, by His initiative and strength, came to live in (and through) a body of people whose lives and teachings, among many things, saved salvation itself from the bifurcating lie that had neutralized so much of the army for so long.
I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.
However….if I am wrong (it’s been known to happen) and we do (either individually or collectively) stand before Jesus and give an account of our lives, I could imagine the King of Kings handing out those white stones to those he calls Overcomers in Revelation 2:17. I confess I have allowed my imagination to run a while on this track. This part of my brain (whether it has been sanctified or not I cannot say) dearly wants (imagines?) to be a part of this division of the family-army. I would love to approach the throne on that great day and hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant. I shall call you “Hoss”. If that name is already taken and I looked down and my stone read; “R.D. (Real Deal)”, that would be equally tremendous.
Father, thank You that you persevere with us even in our insistence on living our lives on our own terms. Let this folly run its course and let us be those who truly walk in the Spirit. May our lives serve as living proof to those around us that You indeed have sent Jesus – One who is not only worthy of our belief as Savior but worthy as well of our dependency on and submission to as Lord. Amen.
Note: Salvation was never meant to be just an event in time – something that happened way back whenever. To those who have cooperated with the Spirit, processed the questions he plants in the heart and have consequently received the grace and chosen to believe, a rebirth occurs. Jesus – the Resurrection and the Life invades the still-born spirits of man and children of God are born. Salvation is meant to be the fearful and wonderful outworking (aka;discipleship) of this inner miracle. No we shall never die because in Christ we are already dwelling in eternity.
