03/22/2018
Do you really live your life for God? Do you order your day to please Him, and follow Jesus with everything that is within you? Or, do you live your life from one repentance to the next asking for forgiveness of sins that you deem to be acceptable and unavoidable wounds that you receive each day as you live life in the world? A price was paid for you, and it wasn’t done so that you should almost accept the transaction; so that you would remain the property of the world.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
As I was growing up and living in my parent’s home I was taught what it meant to be a man, a citizen, and most of all a follower of Jesus Christ. This sounds like the same set of lessons you were probably taught, although if you are a woman you were taught that role instead. Any one of these is not an easy course of instruction, but learning to live as a Christian while perfecting the others is nearly impossible. We find that to be a man means that society will think it owns us in that regard, and sets certain expectations on us. To be a citizen means that we are expected to owe our allegiance to our country, and that it owns that part of us, and finally, we are taught to understand that God owns us in total, and expects us to behave in a certain manner, and love Him with all our heart. This is a broad and superficial picture of a much more difficult physical and spiritual existence that we must navigate, it is an incredibly intricate tapestry, this thing we call life, and weaving it in such a way that it becomes beautiful takes great care, and spiritual wisdom.
We are products of every experience that comes along, and in the course of living we must decide what we allow to become the master of our life, what lesser influence comes next, and so forth. It would be much easier if we could forget all of those things that were mistakes... but we can’t. It would be much less chaotic if our own desires were perfectly aligned with God’s will all of the time, but the temptations of the world are strong. So we carry a lot of baggage along with us, Jesus saves us from sin, but we still remember those sins, and the world is full of temptations that carry such titles as fun, wealth, power, and.... well the list is long.
So how do we choose? How do we live? How do we navigate this minefield of sin? How do we keep from blowing ourselves up when we are burdened by an overwhelming dose of worldliness, and dragging behind us the remnants of a lifetime of sin and low expectation? How do we weave a beautiful tapestry of our life when our hands are full of refuse? This is a problem that has faced humanity since Adam, and many tactics have been tried over the years to overcome it. I read a statement by Andrew Murray today, and it describes this predicament in these words:
“We find the Christian life difficult because we seek for God’s blessing while we live according to our own will! We make our own plans and choose our own work, and then ask the Lord Jesus to come in and see that sin doesn’t overtake us too much and that we will not wander too far off the path.” - Andrew Murray
We attempt to appease society, appease our government, appease business, and even appease our families, yes, we try to serve all of these masters, yet, if we are to succeed in life we must realize that we are owned by just one... God. Even though we have been bought and paid for in total with the blood of Jesus, we tend to live as though we were owned by a consortium, and we try to please many masters... not one, not two, but many. Jesus tried to make this easy for us to understand with these words...
“"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Matthew 6:24 ESV
So here we are, carrying around this burdensome load, and dragging behind us a net full of past sins that we can’t forget, and all the while the temptations keep coming. What are we to do? Well let’s take some profound steps. First we give ourselves TOTALLY to God by accepting His Son as our Redeemer. Then we listen to the voice of Christ as He says:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Jesus will take our load, and as for those sins we have been forgiven, but keep dragging around behind us? Well, we can’t erase them from our memory, or their consequences from our lives and bodies, but we can transform them. We can use what Satan had intentioned to undo us, and recast them as tools for good. One way is to use those past sins as a witness to those still mired down in those sins we defeated. Listen to the words of Paul...
“and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
1 Timothy 1:14-16 ESV
So we have asked Jesus to take the load from us, and we have used the Word of God to allow us to take charge of those past sins, and to bring them under subjugation for His glory... now, how do we begin to perfect that tapestry as we move forward? We place God at the center of our life, and accept Him as the only master we truly serve. All else from this point forward is merely a distraction.
“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
Romans 13:12-14 ESV
And we do this by focusing on what is right and good... on Jesus, and God... set your mind on what is righteous, and not on what makes your body feel good, or tempts your mind.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5 ESV
And train your thinking to transform you from a servant of the world into a servant in the house of the Lord. We do this by redirecting our thoughts in such a way as to transform who we are, and who we desire to own us...
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the ownership you have taken over me, for the redemption your Son Jesus has brought, and for the transformation of my old self, and sins, that you have provided through your Word. Holy Father, I was lost; mired down in a life in which I was trying to serve many masters, but you sent your Son to lift me up, showing me that you are the one true God, and that you are in sole ownership of my life. Help me Father to take that past life and recast my memories of it in ways that can be used to glorify you. Give me the strength Lord to resist the temptations, old and new, that would lure me away from your house. Teach me how to order my days, and to perform in holiness, and righteousness, as I serve in your holy residence. Bring your peace and joy to me, and replace the false and destructive joy that an earthly life lures me with... it is a lie, and filled with false promise, and death. In you I find life Gracious Father, in you I am given eternity, an abundant life forever. I praise your name, and lift you up as my banner before all men. You are my King, my Lord, my Father, and my God. Nothing comes before you, and in you I find completeness. Holy, Holy, Holy, art thou Father, and greatly to be praised. Your name is above all others, and the one name I now bear!
Rich Forbes