01/19/2018
Listen... do you hear Jesus’ voice? Are you hearing Him calling you to “come”, or is He calling “come back!”? When Jesus first calls us He gives us incredible peace, rest, and lives, but over time those things might subside; why is that? Why have we lost the intensity of joy and faith that our initial answer to His call brings?
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28 ESV
When we first answer the call to faith the experience is intense, and the rest it provides is deep and nourishing, but as time goes by the fullness of this feeling might subside, and you are left asking yourself “is this normal?” The answer is that too many people feel what you are going through, and although it happens so frequently that some would say it is normal, it is not. It is not what was promised, nor intended. You haven’t been given a piece of spiritual food to lure you into a relationship only to have it taken back once you have tasted it and had it substituted for something less.
“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”
John 15:7 NLT
The key to our faith isn’t in finding it, the key is to remain completely in it; to possess it as our own from that moment of awakening and realization forward. I used the New Living Translation of John 15:7, but in many others the word translated here as “remain” reads “abide.” Both words convey a sense of permanence. We are told to make this our primary residence... not a vacation home that we visit on occasion. Or a small portion of our meal of life.
The sad truth is that many of us treat our faith as though it were not permanent, that it wasn’t the main course of our meal, but just a spice or perhaps a wonderfully tasty side item. We revel in Christ and the life He provides, and then we busy ourselves at trying to make it fit into our prior world... our meal plan. We take the bulk of our old life and put it central on our plate then place a dollop of belief beside it, and sprinkle a little prayer over it. Then we wonder why we don’t feel the same way we did the moment we believed.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Our faith isn’t meant to be secondary to the world around us. We are told to become new beings, a new creation, and yet here we are... trying to place a dab of our belief beside an entree of our old life and wondering what happened to the wonderful meal we had tasted during our conversion. The richness of our spiritual meal has now been watered down and our spirit’s palate is unsatisfied.
This isn’t new today... Jesus saw it happening during His lifetime. He spoke to this in no uncertain terms. Are you familiar with His words that relate our faiths to taste, and to one of the most basic flavorings?
“"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”
Matthew 5:13 ESV
When we take our faith (our salt) and make it conform to the life we are living we are taking the saltiness out of it, and what we are left with is bland and useless to God. We are given another such scripture to reinforce this notion and once again the mouth becomes a means of conveying the message...
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelation 3:16 ESV
So when we accept Jesus as our savior, and God as our Lord, and the one True God, then we are to change completely and permanently. Our faith is not an experience, and it is not a part of the world and life we have been living... it has become who we are, and the complete meal of which we partake. We are to remain in Christ, and the world we once knew is meant to go away. Listen to a John as he writes:
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:16-17 ESV
When we come to realize that the feeling of our first encounter with Jesus and the Peace, Joy, and Rest we felt in Him has subsided, then we have placed Him somewhere other than first in our lives. We have become lukewarm, lost our saltiness, placed our old lives back in the center of our plates, taken our old lives and attempted to sprinkle a little salt on them, and wrongfully called the old man righteous.
But we can return to Him. We can hear Him call “come back!” And scrape the tainted food from our plates and go home; we are prodigal sons and are hungry for our Father’s table. Is this you today? Are you ready to humble yourself and return home?
“"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
Luke 15:17-18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for making me new, and for the wonderful meal you set before me. I thank you for the Peace, Joy, and Rest that I feel when I abide in your Son Jesus Christ... and He in you. Never let me lose my saltiness Father, or become lukewarm in your mouth. Let the taste of my faith please you always, and may I likewise dine at your table forever. Teach me Lord what it means to place you before all things, and chide me when I glance back from whence I have come, or attempt to hold onto those things. You desire that I become a new creature so I ask that you keep me in your forge until I am pure and acceptable to you... beaten into a shape that is useful to you and your table. Let me be smooth in your hand and incapable of tainting even a grain of salt on your plate. Holy Father I long to join you, and to dine... but even if I must take the crumbs that fall, I will praise you for them, and savor their goodness. Great are you Father, and sweet is your mercy and grace that called me come.
Rich Forbes