Relevant To Life

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11: 36

There are many things that come to mind as the day begins. Some things may be urgent today, or there are issues and concerns that are weighty and complex that demand attention. Some of this even involves the work of the Lord; yet, above all of the rest there seems to be one thing that stands out as most important for me to focus my attention upon. So, here is a truly worthy calling for the day. I should look to God, and listen to His voice in every situation and in all circumstances. Thus, the strength of His truth will overcome all of the wisdom of the world and will redirect my own self-generated logic.

In all of the noise and the clutter of the world around me, Christ is the source that is worth seeking out, and His Spirit is the filter for what I need to know. The Spirit leads me to the truth that is found by listening well to God’s voice as He speaks to my mind and into my heart. He guides me into the center of the Word of Life so that what is true and holy and righteous overwhelms all the other voices that attempt to distract me from God’s purpose. Even the smallest of my activities and the simplest of interaction with others can be carried out in the wisdom of the Lord and for Him. All that I think, say, and do constitutes an act of worship that is consecrated to the Lord.

My prayer is that this day will be lived in a manner that demonstrates my relationship to Christ. Each person that I encounter is precious to Him, and every interaction that I have is one whereby that love, care, and understanding can become central if I subordinate my will to His as I engage with others. During this day I desire to touch the world and in a manner that leaves the fragrance of Christ behind and that leads people to seek out the source of that heady perfume for themselves. I widh to know nothing that He has not given to me; yet, I also know and recognize that the Lord has already given me everything that I will need to take me through this day. O Lord, let this day be one where my thoughts and what I do and say are pleasing to You. So, Lord, I surrender my all to You in the desire that who I am will bring glory to Your name. Amen. 

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15: 20-22

Today, we take the fact of Christ’s death and subsequent resurrection as something that is based upon the testimony of witnesses who were there and saw Him alive that has been passed on from one generation to the next over a long period of time. We also know of the truth of these events because of the reality of their consequences. When we come to that place in life where we turn away from a self-driven existence and yield our mind, heart, and soul to Christ, something profound and extraordinary occurs within us. This something is transformative, and it takes us into the center of the eternal work that Christ accomplished upon that cross. This was God’s determined response to our sinful rebellion against Him, and it was made full and complete when the Father raised the Son back into life after three days had passed.

Jesus, the Christ, in the perfection of God’s will went before us. Later, after Christ has returned to this world and set all that has been corrupted and broken by sin right and made it whole, all of us who have entered into a relationship with God through Christ will, too, be given the renewed bodies that God has promised to us. Until then, our souls do continue to exist in heaven as we dwell with God and with Christ in that place that is just beyond the tangible and seen created universe. So why should this matter? What difference does Christ’s resurrection make for my days upon earth? It is important if we care at all about being truly alive and about the eternal impact of the life that we do live out during those days that have been allotted to us. In Christ, we do continue on beyond the time that we obtain in our original term of existence. In fact, existence is not accurately measured by the passing of days, months, and years on an earthly calendar; instead, it is counted by the inscrutable passage of heavenly time.

Yet, we do live in these original bodies for a time that is played out in the fulfillment of the promise and the potential that has been given to us as a divine gift. What we do in this life should reflect the orientation of our heart and be accomplished in response to the one who we have granted lordship over our days. In this life, we all serve a master. No one is fully autonomous and self-determinate in all ways and in all matters. There is one such master that has conquered the ultimate limitation that is imposed upon all people, that is death itself. This is Christ Jesus, and He is calling to each and every person that draws breath upon the earth to come to Him, to enter into relationship with Him, and to receive the promised redemption that comes as God’s gift to all who believe. Thus, in Christ, we are made truly and fully alive in this life, and we are also granted the promise of life that goes on without interruption from the moment of last earthly breath throughout all time to come. 

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15: 4

God must have an amazing drawer filled with His writing tools. There would be a stylus for etching stone, some quills for dipping into ink, fine and broad tipped markers, and all manner of electronic devices. He also uses His breath to speak His Word into existence, The Lord employs the softest touch imaginable to write love onto our hearts, and Christ came out of eternity and into my life to scribe my tale of salvation.. 

The Lord did not want any of us to miss what He has to say. So, He wrote it everywhere. God’s truth is found in the light and the darkness of every day, it can be seen in the power and the subtlety of nature, it is written across the pages of the bible, and it is spoken from the mouths of God’s people. The Spirit of Christ reaches into the depths of the human heart and implants the literal presence of God within us. We frail and sin weakened humans are lifted out of the darkness of this world and into the glory of Lord’s presence by the work of a word.    

The thing that God wants me to understand is that there is no obstacle, no fear, no insecurity, no pain, and no condition of my heart for which He does not have a perfect and a timely answer. If I will continue to seek him and desire to know Him ever more intimately through the word of truth with which God has literally surrounded me, I will find the deep joy and satisfaction, and the undeniable hope that Christ desires for me to dwell within.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5: 6, 7

There is an almost wildly crazy aspect to the way that God designed us humans, for we have this strong, independent streak that runs throughout our nature and that affects almost everything that we do. As elements of this characteristic existed in Eve and Adam from the first accounts of their existence, it seems that this was something that God designed into them. Yet, it is this same independence that leads to the sort of self-sufficient arrogance that got them and that gets me into many of the situations that cause us so much grief and worry. Then, for me, the worry, concern, and stress drive me deep inside myself. They close me off to engaging in healthy and helpful dialogue with other people, and they cause me to hide out from God. In the end, the situation just gets worse.

So, in trying to resolve this mystery of my Creator’s design for me and my relationship with Him, I have come to this understanding. God wants me and everyone else to desire to be involved in the relationship with Him. The Lord is first and foremost my loving Father. He wants to guide, nurture, counsel, and empower me to live a life that is full and joyous. God delights in the things that we do and in the way that we grow in our understanding of His righteousness. Recognizing my own need for the Lord’s continual guidance and wisdom is the first step toward living in the freedom that God intends for me to enjoy. Then, the next step is the hard one, for I must take my controlling hands off of the outcome and humbly allow God to take charge of the direction that I go in all aspects of my life. 

There is no instantaneous or miraculous cure for a lifetime of practicing the form of self-directed thinking that results in the type of isolation from God that I have experienced with its attendant anxiety and loss of peace and joy. Yet, the Lord provides me and all of us with great hope, for He is gracious with us. He places no restrictions or preconditions on His acceptance of the desire of our hearts to embrace His truth. As I yield myself to Him, God gives back to me and blesses me in ways that are far greater than I could have imagined. As we turn over everything, each and every challenge, worry, concern, struggle, and uncertainty to our loving Father; we can expect the miraculous, for He will provide the answers to it all while allowing that created independence and drive to flourish in ways that are made possible by dwelling in the center of the Lord’s will. 

When Jesus saw the man lying there (by the healing pool) and knew that he had already been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

John 5: 6 

This is the question that God asks people every day. These words are the opening of a dialogue that has been going on between the Lord and us since the beginning of time. We often respond by telling Him that we are completely healthy and that there is nothing that we could possibly need that we don’t already possess in ourselves. Sometimes we say that we are too far gone to be worthy of the effort to heal us. Then others say that we’ll check back later, you know, go to the doctor if we decide that the need is great enough or the symptoms linger for too long. 

These can be adequate responses when we are dealing with something like the flu; yet, even then, waiting to allow the physician access to our illness can be catastrophic or even fatal. How much more do we need treatment when the illness carries an absolutely fatal prognosis? 

The man that Jesus came upon waiting by the spring was just like everyone else in this world. He was ill, crippled by the effects of disease, injury, and neglect. He knew that he desired to be made whole, and he had no idea about how that was truly possible. Hopeless, helpless, and beyond desperation, he waited for the miracle but didn’t trust that there would ever be one. He dreamed of walking upright while knowing that this would never be his waking reality. 

Jesus walks into the lives of everyone, everywhere. Christ’s Spirit is resident in the souls of each person who has allowed Him to heal us; thus, Jesus goes with us through every day that we live. Sure, there are still symptoms of the illness, and there are days when these relatively minor ailments get us down, but the fatal disease, the heart infection of sin has been permanently conquered. Each of us who knows Jesus as the healer of our souls needs to share with the fatally ill who surround us daily the joy of getting up off of the sick bed to which evil tried to tie us 

Jesus allows us the privilege of walking into the lives of others and of inviting them to do as He said to the sick man, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” (John 5: 8) In fact, Christ commissions His people to do this. He commands us to go into the world and to live in a manner that brings His glorious presence and His loving grace into its darkness. We are to take the message of healing to the fatally ill in our lives. We should carry the simple yet profound truth of God’s perfect love to each and every person that we find waiting for the miracle by the side of the pool, for Jesus wants us to bring His message of faith, trust, and hope to all of His beloved lost sheep. He wants us to do as He continually did and walk into people’s lives with the question whose answer brings eternal life. “Do you want to be healed?”

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.

Romans 6: 13

Now make no mistake about this, the work of transformation in our bodies is done by Christ. However, we are willing participants in this process of change. God has never wanted people to enter into a relationship with Him through compulsion or by means of coercion or force. There are beneficial consequences that come about when we do surrender ourselves to Christ, and there are also correspondingly negative ones if we reject or deny Him. Yet, even these earthly and eternal out workings of our relationship with God do not carry with them the idea of force or of compulsion. Just as we will live throughout our days here and on through the expanse of eternity with our decision regarding the person and the nature of Christ, so too we are allowed to freely choose to follow Christ or to not do so.

This is not just a singular or momentary choice, either. We will continually encounter decisions that involve our desires and will and their conformity to or deviation from God’s Word and His will. For, in all honesty, most people want to think, say, and do things that are pleasing to ourselves but not so to God, that are momentarily pleasurable for our bodies but are contrary to God’s law of truth and grace, or that satisfy inner desires and fill voids within our hearts that would be better filled by Christ and by His redemptive love. Some of these choices are small and the outcomes have limited impact upon the conduct of life; yet, they all matter for even these small things accumulate and grow in their aggregate into systematic ways of thinking, and they become wedges that drive us ever farther away from God’s heart and from serving His gospel. Other decisions that we can encounter in our journey are large and impactful at the level of reshaping the course of life, itself. 

As we are in Christ, all of the process of living belongs to Him. We have been purchased away from slavery to death and ownership by Satan and his worldly forces. This transaction was entered into by God, and the price that was bargained and sealed was the death of the historically singular innocent one, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As God’s great love for each of us was poured out in the form of sweat and drops of Christ’s blood that thus formed the medium for our baptism of grace, we are called upon to fully commit our hearts, minds, and bodies to following Christ and to serving His will throughout the moments and the years of our lives. This is a decision that we are given to make continuously along the way; do I surrender my flesh to Christ to be consumed upon the holy altar of service to the Lord or do I hold onto those aspects of it that make me feel safe or that bring personal pleasure and temporary fulfillment? Holy Spirit, inform and guide my choices today so that they will be pleasing to you, Lord, I pray.  

We were buried therefor with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6: 4

The idea of baptism, as it has been practiced as a right and a sacrament by the church since days before Paul, is certainly being discussed here. Yet, it is not this act that brings about the important result that is mentioned. Without contemplation of means or of method, that is absent discussion of immersion verses sprinkling and babies and/or adults, the act of wetting down a person does nothing beyond announcing and proclaiming the reality of a relationship that is formed in the heart and is made real by virtue of the work of the Spirit of Christ within a person. Thus, the real baptism into Christ’s death takes place in the realm of the mystical and carried out by the Spirit. This is a work that is done as a part of that wonderous event that we often call conversion or new birth in Christ. In fact, this death of the old self is an essential part of the life-long journey of faith that is commenced when each of us surrenders our life to Christ.

We are allowed to experience the shame of the criminal’s death on the cross through Jesus’ literal pain, agony, and death there. He was innocent and undeserving of that fate, and we are each guilty and have more than earned the punishment that Christ endured. More so, the shame of this torturous implement is also ours as our sinfulness is viewed in contrast to God’s standard of holiness and righteous living. So, God requires that we surrender ourselves in full and total submission to Him; thus, we do place the comforts, the selfish pleasures, and the defining compulsions of our prior lives upon that altar of redemption. We undergo the process of dying to self with its literal, if spiritual, burial of who and what we were in a grave that also leads to our spiritual union with Christ. From this earthy and darkened place, we are raised up into the light of new life, and this is also something that is accomplished by the work of the Spirit alone.

From this point forward, we are called upon by Christ to seek to live out our days as followers of God’s way and doers of His will. Although this is something that we participate fully in as we are asked to set our eyes on Christ and ground our minds in God’s Word while surrendering our hearts to the leading of the Spirit, the strength needed and the power that living out this transformed life requires is provided by Christ through the presence of His Spirit. So, this is how we walk in the newness of life, and this is what it means to live in the fullness of the kingdom of God as it has come to be our own reality. In Christ we are made new, and through Christ’s work, as it is carried out in our bodies, the world that we touch is also transformed into a place where the Godly characteristics of love, justice, mercy, and peacemaking are tangibly present. Although this walk in the newness of life in Christ will never be easy as it operates in direct opposition to the ways of this world, it does place us in the center of the redemption that Christ has caused to exist here as a result of His resurrection in which we have now been joined.           

But let justice roll down like waters, 

   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5: 24

When the prophet Amos looked out upon the world around him, he saw a really troubling and darkened place. There were nations all around that were engaged in various forms of idol worship, violence against their neighbors, and the oppression of the weak. Things did not get any better at home, either. Both Israel in the north and Judah to the south were engaging in similar practices. It seemed as if following God had become an outdated and forgotten aspect of living. The Lord’s provision in the time of the exodus, His victory over the powerful inhabitants of the land of Canaan, and all of the intervening years of care and protection had just been erased from their collective memory. So, God’s heart of loving kindness and desire for justice to rule the day were set aside in favor of doing whatever seemed most profitable at that time.

So, God spoke to and then through people who loved Him and who had continued to remain true to His Word and to its intent. The Lord gave such people a vision for what was to come and for why it would be so. God interrupted the routine of their lives and sent them into the world to speak about the painful reality that would come if repentance were not the response to the message. The Lord also made it clear through these visionary speakers that condemnation and judgement were to be applied universally to all people regardless of nationality, race, or other distinctives. The concepts of mercy, care for the weak, and justice are universal truths that God pours out upon the earth and that all people are required to observe. Amos promised a day of reckoning when everyone would be called to account for how they have lived and for what they have done by way of bringing about peace upon earth or in the propagation of violence and suffering. There were direct and verifiable outcomes for the people that Amos addressed. The events that are called out in the text did come to pass. But I doubt that this is the end of the story. 

God always looks ahead and takes a very long view regarding His interaction with His creation. The events that we read about in these ancient histories have application and purpose in our world and during our days. When the Lord speaks about His heart for justice and the relationship between being a just and living as a righteous people, His message was not directed at the mere thousands that would have heard Amos. He is warning and instructing us regarding what matters to Him. God speaks about people, nations, and a world where justice is the stream that washes away the pain of violence, poverty, and oppression. Christ gives us a picture of a world where wealth and power are tools in the hands of righteous people that are used to bring the needy into places of provision, safety, and respect. God’s perspective on what constitutes need and on who suffers from lack is much broader and wider than mine. His concept of what is wealth and regarding its righteous use is also far superior to the one that I perceive. In response to my lack of understanding today, I pray for Christ to open my eyes and redirect my heart to love justice and to seek to live righteously as a follower of His perfect and eternal will.   

For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm therefor, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5: 1

Almost all people desire to obtain freedom. It doesn’t really seem to matter what the circumstances of life may be, either, for freedom’s opposite, slavery or possession, is also commonly perceived. We are all owned by something or by someone; so, everyone experiences what it is like to be held against our wills. Most people actually volunteer for some of the tours of duty as indentured workers that play out over the course of life. It is the nature and the character of this world to attempt to control people and to hold us away from the full potential that was given to us in God’s design and plan for our lives. However, slavery is not the true nature of life, and bondage is not the condition that God desires for us to experience.

Jesus left the absolute freedom of heaven in order to live in our enslaved world so that people like you and I could experience the sort of freedom that God intends for us to know. The form of freedom that God desires for us to have does not operate as license to think and to act in any manner that we might choose to do. Instead, it is a form of freedom in which people willingly submit to God’s authority and rule. This freedom is restrained and it is self-sacrificing in that its primary purpose and use is for the benefit of others and for the glory of God’s name. The highest expression of this freedom is found as we yield our wills and subordinate our desires to God’s will as expressed in His Word and to the leading of His Spirit in its implementation.

So, this is the strange freedom that Christ leads us into. He sets us free from earthly bondage in its many forms, but He also asks that we submit to His will with all of our minds and hearts. Yet, this is not the same as being purchased by one oppressive master from another. The Lord does allow for us to make choices in all of this, and we are granted the free will to submit to God’s leading and desire for the conduct of our lives. For turning over control and guidance of life to Christ is the most freeing thing that anyone can do. He knows the gifts, talents, and skills that we were given when we were created, and the Lord directs us onto a path through life that sets all of that potential free for us to use. Thus, Christ provides us with opportunities to have an impact on our world that are such that we can touch the enslaved around us with the breath of true freedom.    

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Revelation 21: 23, 24

This is a dream, an aspiration of the imaginations of people that love God. There will be a time when the darkness of strife and the cloud of death will no longer exist on the face of creation. That day has not come, but it is promised to us by the Lord, and He is more than good for His word in matters both small and great. In that glorious day when redemption has been fully deployed and sin and rebellion against God have come to an end, whatever stands as national distinction will cease to be a cause for separation. Instead, it will probably be a source of beauty in the sense that the aggregate of human difference and variety are all a part of a grand tapestry that in its summation fleshes out a picture of the fullness of humanity. 

Imagine with me, if you would, the world without strife, absent violence, and void of all forms of anger and distrust. Consider what it would mean to never fear of anything or anyone again. Then contemplate how it might be if love, respect, and acceptance were the singular vocabulary of all interaction and the language of formal and informal discourse. This is the work that Christ’s blood will do upon this broken world. This becomes the final and total outworking of the torment that Christ endured upon the cross, for the redemption of creation is God’s final and ultimate objective. That redemption brings about the restoration of the perfection of God’s original handiwork, and it is the world where all that follow Christ will dwell as God’s glory fills every aspect of the visual space in the universe.

Yes, this is a promise and a hoped for future, but I think that it is more than this. The glory of the Lord is not absent from the ground that we walk and the air that we breath today. Christ is considerably greater than just a once and a future king. He is alive today, and His Spirit is very active in our world. Each of us that call upon Christ as our Savior and Lord is an important part of the God’s redemptive work in this place where we walk today. He desires to shine forth the light of love and truth into every corner of the world, and this work of bringing light into dim and darkened places is something that all of Christ’s people has been granted to do as a gift and as a responsibility. We are to live in the comprehension of the light that was granted to us by Christ through the work of the cross, and we are given the privilege of living out the presence of the Lord in all that we think, say, and do. In this way, we bring the light of eternity into the reality of the places where our journey will take us this day.