Clothed with Christ

It has been over a year since I last posted. God has been working in my life, growing me, and I have not been led to post anything. I am learning more to pursue God, and it is both trying to self and yet exciting to my spirit.

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"The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." (Romans 13:12-14)

I am struck by the fact that wearing deeds of darkness is contrasted with putting on Christ, NOT putting on good deeds. This indicates not subjecting myself to a law resulting in slavery, sin and death but to the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, a relationship with Christ (Romans 8:2,15). I could be tempted to turn to good deeds when "casting off" (ESV) the evil deeds of darkness, but good deeds are to be an outflow of my relationship with Christ (Romans 8:3-4).

Therefore, above all, to cast off my deeds of darkness I must maintain my personal relationship with God through Christ. I have been learning and proving the necessity of this in my own life the past couple of days. It is only by being clothed by the sacrifice (Gen. 3:21) that my sins are atoned. It is only with the blood of the lamb the high priest could enter God's presence. It is only by coming to God in the name of His Son--the Lamb, the Sacrifice on my behalf--that I can come to Him at all! And so I must come to Him very CONSCIOUS of the fact that I come only because of my position "in Christ," and not by my own merit.

Being thus conscious before God of my own WORTHLESSNESS without Christ and my redeemed position IN Christ is to "put on" Christ.

This is not limited to prayer, the allocated time when I "come before God," but ALL THE TIME. For all my life is lived before the Lord (Gen. 17:1).

Starting by remembering my relationship with God "in Christ," this becomes practical by the doing of the opposite of those deeds of darkness. In Ephesians 4:21-32 we see this very thing: put off falsehood, speak truth; cease stealing, work and give to the needy; speak not what is unwholesome, but edify with your speech. I must consider the specific sins, the "deeds of darkness," that I myself have indulged in, and ask the Lord, "What is the opposite of that sin, that, clothed with Christ, I may do instead?"

It is also important to note that verse 12 says I am to put on the armor of light. I have heard it explained that part of this is bringing my sins into the light, exposing them. Sin thrives in secrecy and darkness, and if there is any hope of being set free from its hold, I must confess it.

The Greatest Challenge to Doing What Is Right...

...Is doing what is hard."

This quote is from an article by Mark W. Gaither, published in Insights (Sept. 2007, p.2), the monthly newsletter from Insight for Living. I found it challenging to me, for, like in the life of King Saul, I find myself often doing what's right as long as it aligns with my comfort—or put another way: doing God's will when it happens to be mine as well. This is dangerous dealing and must be abandoned posthaste!

"Generally speaking, people have two important values they hope to preserve: comfort and integrity. And, more often than not, right choices are the best way to preserve both. Obedience to the law and honest dealings are not only right, but they pay good dividends—usually. However, doing what is right often requires as step of faith, and it may include a measure of suffering. That's when we come face-to-face with an ugly truth: We typically make decisions that preserve our comfort and then feel relieved when they also happen tot maintain our integrity. When doing what is right requires us to choose between comfort and integrity, the resulting crisis can be debilitating. Because the instinct to safeguard our comfort is so powerful, we will have to be deliberate about making integrity the primary value in every decision—even the easy ones."

Meditations from Chambers

My brother got me my own copy of Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest for Christmas, and the Lord has blessed me with very relevant meditations from the book every day.

January 28 — All I do should be based on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly.

January 29 — Have I been persecuting Jesus by an eager determination to serve Him in my own way? ...My way will not be to foster a meek and quiet spirit, only the spirit of self-satisfaction. We presume that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord— "I delight to do Your will, O my God . . ." (Psalm 40:8).

January 31 — Our calling is not primarily to be holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the gospel of God....And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. "Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes." ...There is no reckless abandon to God in that.

I have been distracted by pursuit of holiness to the point of forgetting knowing God. After all, redemption is all about knowing God. Jesus said in John 17:3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." And redemption involves the fact that we are utterly sinful and helpless without Christ. No amount of satisfaction should be gained by how well we are doing or how mature we are growing in Christ. Focus should be on the Lord alone—His love while we were sinners, His grace in supplying salvation, His grace every step of the way.

Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!

Acceptance Is Not By Condition

First of all, we must consider the area in which we are not accepted by God, nor ever can be. It is only natural for us to feel that our spiritual walk and service make us acceptable to our Father. We imagine that it is our responsibility (with His help) to live and serve so faithfully and fruitfully that He will approve of us, and therefore continually and abundantly bless us. We are making the natural mistake of depending on condition, instead of position, for our acceptance.

Important as it is, service is often a condition-centered detriment in the lives of many zealous believers. When service is given predominance over fellowship with and growth in the Lord Jesus, doing, instead of being, takes over in the life. Fellowship and growth must ever take precedence over service and activity, otherwise spiritual declension sets in.

In this reversal of God's order for us, the heart seeks satisfaction and a sens of acceptance through production (law), instead of reception (grace). Bible study and prayer, as well as one's outlook, become almost exclusively service-centered. Instead of life bringing forth service, service becomes the life. Thus, as long as the service goes well, the servant is happy and feels accepted. But once the service wanes, or fails to produce results, all else falls with it. We are to be sons, not servants. "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son..." (Gal. 4:7).

In time, we begin to realize that there is something very wrong with this entire concept. We become aware that our walk and service are less and less acceptable, even to ourselves. In seeking to do rather than to be, attempting to give out more than we take in, our condition becomes barren and carnal. We have been depending on self to do what only Christ our life can do; the farther we move on this tangent, the more active and malignant the self-life appears to be.

What the condition-centered believer does not realize is that God Himself is causing this shattering revelation of self. He takes us into situations and relationships that finally cause us to face up tot the fact of our failure as Christians—our nothingness, our total unacceptability in ourselves. Not until we understand that in our flesh there "dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18), can we rest in our position of complete acceptance in the Lord Jesus, just as we are. To abide in Christ, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the believer's positional privilege and responsibility. Love functions according to its nature, not according to the quality of its object.

The believer who is not abiding by faith in the acceptable One, but who is relying on his personal condition for acceptance, is hopelessly handicapped in the matter of fellowship, growth, and service. He is entangled in the self-effort of working to improve his condition, and is inevitably cast down in utter defeat. How can a defeated, depressed, self-centered Christian enjoy fellowship with the Father, or be at peace with Him? Yet, devastating as this Romans 7 trek is, it is our Father's preparation of us in order that we may shift our reliance and faith from our condition in ourselves, to our position in Christ. "...not I, but Christ..." (Gal. 2:20).

From The Complete Green Letters by Miles J. Stanford; Zondervan Publishing House, 1983; pages 91-92.

Abba, Thou Art There

While meditating on Psalm 139 and Psalm 63:6-8, I was moved to write a song. I believe it is from the Lord, for I have never found it easy to put together words that rhyme and convey the desired message.

Abba, Thou Art There

All my thoughts Thou knowest, all my ways canst see
Whether walking justly or full selfishly.
Thou, my Father guardest with Thy hand so strong
With wonder I will praise Thee as I walk along.

Whither from Thy Spirit can I ever go?
Furthest, deepest reaches—Thou my place dost know.
Though the billows hide me, cause me to despair,
Still Thy hand doth hold me, reaching even there.

Abba, Thou art there so close beside me!
Though the night surrounds me it's not dark to Thee!
I will Thee remember in my darkest hour,
Think on all Thy goodness and Thy loving pow'r.

Search me in my heart, my anxious thoughts please know;
Often they're not proper, faithlessness they show.
Lead me in Thy truth and guide me in Thy way
Till I'm come to glory in Thine eternal day.