This morning I am taking a look at how God calls us ever forward in our faith. We aren't meant to be stagnant creatures in our faith, nor in our life in general, but to remain constant travelers along a way that is taking us ever forward as it perfects, and increases us as we go.
My thoughts this morning are on purity. What does it mean to be pure of heart, and how is it possible to reach this state of righteousness? By becoming pure we know that we will see God, so let's explore this subject.
Yesterday we spoke of being the friend of Jesus in the context of placing him before us in all things, but today we look at what kind of friend the groom has chosen for His best man. What kind of friend should we truly be?
This morning I am mulling over the fact that we should always put Jesus ahead of our own wants and interests. My mind wanders to those times when I became first and didn't allow Him to take the lead in my life... or worse. Jesus has been declared by God Himself to be above all, and yet we take it upon ourselves to subvert His rule and pursue our own interests as if we held a higher office. We don't do this so much in coup as we do in our own weakness and selfishness.
Do you move along in your life of faith and feel like you are making great strides in sanctity only to have some trivial thing reawaken the old sinful person you used to be? Well, we all do, and our lives of faith are a constant struggle against our natural selves... so what can we do to overcome this?
I really love the story of Jesus appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. This morning I am concentrating on what those disciples said after they finally realized that the man they had been traveling with was actually Jesus; "did not our heart burn within us."
This morning I am dwelling on a single phrase in the King James translation of the Bible... it is written by Paul to the Galatians, and in Galatians 2:20 it reads like this..."by the faith of the son of God." This is opposed to some modern translations which interpret it as "by the faith in the Son of God." So the question boils down to one word and two very different translations... "In" or "Of", and the implications are great.
Does God lead us in the way we should go, and if so, what awaits us at the end of our journey? This is what I ponder this morning. Do we know the Person of the one who leads us and if so, do we need to fully understand where He is leading us before we follow Him?
How do we reconcile our physical and spiritual selves so that they both mirror Jesus? Sometimes we are so wrapped up in conforming our physical selves that we forget the spiritual side of who we are... or vice versa.
When we perform our works of faith or even kneel to pray, who are we attempting to please? Are our eyes on Jesus and our hearts longing for God, or is there something or someone else who has captured the glory of our efforts? I am exploring the motivation behind our acts of faith this morning, and how we can keep them directed towards the glory of God.
Do we know the sins we commit? Are there things we do, or thoughts we have, that are sinful without our acknowledging the fact, or even being present in what we have done? This morning I am considering my life and the very real possibility that there are indeed sins I am guilty of that I haven’t realized, or that I committed in absentia. To remove sin requires that we face it, ask forgiveness, and then, as Jesus said, "go, and sin no more." Are we harboring sins that we are unaware of in our lives today? Are we courageous enough to ask that they be shown to us?
Although we know Jesus for His love and mercy, and are overcome by the thought of His suffering and death for us, there was a time in which He was preparing to do battle with the sins of the world, and at that time even His disciples were amazed and afraid. At that moment Jesus was like us... struggling with a determination to defeat sin.
In the time of Jesus, not all slaves were taken in war, or against their will; some sold themselves into slavery for one reason or another. I am not talking about indentured servitude here, but slaves for the rest of their lives. Have you sold yourself as a slave to something or somebody? Before you answer no, are you sure? Do you have an addiction or some sin you keep hidden?
Today let's think about how completely God gave of Himself that we should find forgiveness of our sins and an everlasting life with Him. Then, let's ask ourselves if we are willing to give ourselves to Him just as completely and with the same abandon.
This morning let's consider the abandonment of things and people for Jesus. Is it a requirement of salvation, and if not, why do we abandon at all? So let's look at the things we give up along the way of faith and why we do so.