Qualified

Aren't you glad Christ came to save sinners and not the righteous? I confirm my eligibility every day. To be the worst of sinners doesn't disqualify anyone; in fact, it makes them the most eligible. We need to see all sinners--and treat them--as prime candidates for sainthood--the very people for whom He willingly died. Just like us. Aren't you glad that God has more grace than all the sin in the world?

 "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Not might be--will be. All the other "stuff" is extra. Not that obedience is unimportant--it's the only way I can show Him how much I love Him--but it is not what saves you. And, yes, growth is evidence of life. But no one is saved by works of righteousness.

Mindset

The Modern Mind:
"The fool has said in his heart that there is no God."
"The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him and he is powerless to understand."
"They become futile in their speculations. Professing to be wise, they become fools"
"Ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth"
"They walk blindfolded in a world of illusion. and are cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitivity. They have stifled their consciences and then surrendered themselves to sensuality, practicing any form of iniquity that lust can suggest."
"And every man did what was right in his own eyes."

The Challenge to us:
"But you have learned nothing like that from Christ, if you have really heard His voice and understand the truth that Jesus has taught you. No, what you learned was to fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living, which were rotted through with lust's illusions, and with yourselves mentally and spiritually remade, to put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life which was made by God's design for righteousness and the holiness which is no illusion."
"Be careful that nobody spoils your faith through intellectualism or high-sounding nonsense. Such stuff is at best founded on men's ideas of the nature of the world, and disregards Christ."
"May your spiritual experience become richer as you see more and more fully God's great secret, Christ Himself. For it is in Him, and in Him alone, that men will find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

So:

"Dress" right. Don't wear the world's "emperor's new clothes." Live right.

Develop a world-view based on God's ideas--and they are not God's opinions--of what man and world are really like. Guard your mind. Think right.

Focus on Him--the Author of the written Word and the perfect example of the Living Word--"full of grace and truth." Immerse yourself in the study of the life of Christ. Lay up the right treasures. Serve the right Master. Be an example of the believer in word and truth.

We have the mind of Christ.

A Hundredfold

The Christian walk: Total dependence on Christ, submission to all the other members of His body and bride--the church, a daily, willing death to self. To act independently of Christ's loving claims on one's life, to forsake the fellowship of the body, and to live for self leads irrevocably to spiritual disaster--for the believer and for all those he or she claims to love. The sorrow caused by those who deny His Lordship, despise the church, and make choices to please themselves indifferent to whoever the hurt caused by their selfishness is heart breaking. And do not those who love most deeply suffer most deeply because of those choices? Starting with Him whose heart is love.

:"Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that will he reap." And the harvest produced by the sowing of one seed can be a hundredfold.

Pressing On

Reflecting on 69 years of life can be instructive. How many days, hours, minutes, seconds has that been? Lots--I think that should be the answer to most math questions. And yet, most of the time it doesn't seem like "lots." A "time for everything" as Solomon puts it. Good, bad. Exciting. Mundane. Clear. Muddled. Empty. Full. Right choices. Wrong choices. Success. Failure. Yes. No. Breakthroughs. Frustrations. Faith. Doubt. Laughter. Tears. Energized. Exhausted. Calm. Seething. You get the idea. One truth I have found out about Him over and over again--a truth that always keeps me pressing on: He cares.

A Daily Prayer

A daily prayer:
Lord, help me to love You with all my heart today. May my one desire be to do Your will in all things. May I love to do Your will--nothing more; nothing less. May I give thanks in all things for You have chosen me to be Your follower, Your disciple, a doer of Your will. May I do always those things that please You.
Lord, help me to love You with all my soul. May I surrender every part of who I am to Your transforming power. May I hold nothing back. May I surrender all. Search my heart; try me; change me. May each day there be less of me and more of You shining through my life.
Lord, help me to love You with all my mind. May Your presence be always in my thoughts, Your Word my meditation. May Your truth sanctify my heart, purify my love, deepen my understanding. May I embrace that You are the Logos, that knowing You--the Word in Whom resides all wisdom--I can see the world and the people in it as they really are--as You see them.
Lord, help me to love You with all my strength. May I not grow weary in doing well. May I give You my weaknesses and my perceived strengths so that Your grace can be made perfect in me, so that by the power of Your strength, I can do your will, surrender all that I am to You, know You and the power of Your resurrection in my daily walk..
And Lord, help me to love my neighbor--family, friend, and stranger. No, not as I love myself for You through the example of Your cross have given me a greater, new commandment. Help me to love them as graciously, kindly, sacrificially, and unconditionally as You loved me. May I die to myself and take up any cross in order to show the world Your love.

Amen.

Losing the Battle

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

The enemy is not humanity--not human beings. Ever. When I lash out at flesh and blood, not only am I not fighting the right battle, I am fighting for the wrong side. To fight the battle I must daily, prayerfully, put on the whole armor of God. I must daily pray for all those in authority that they might encounter Christ. I must daily submit to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that I might resist the conforming power of the world system and thus worship God with my life. I must take every thought captive to obedience in my life. 

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."

Wrong enemy. Wrong weapons. Losing battle.

Glory

"The earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord, as the water covers the sea,"

"Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

One day His glory will fill the earth. Today His glory should fill the space you and I live in. Every second of the day.

How? "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law." That is God's description of a beautiful life--a Christ-like life. A praise-worthy life--His praise, not mine.

Did everything that I said and did today reflect those things? Everything. It does not say be sure that everybody else is demonstrating those things. You and I should be so glorifying God in all those ways. And not one at a time--all of them in all that I do and say--regardless of what others may do or say. Regardless.

The question I should ask myself at the end of each day is "Did I glorify Him today by making Him visible in all that I did? In all that I said? Was Christ seen in me?"

"Breathe on me Breath of God. Fill me with life anew. That i may love what Thou dost love, and do what Thou wouldst do."