Even the most passionate pursuit of Christian fellowship and
ministry does not produce heaven on earth but it will change the world! That’s my take-away today. ‘Living the abundant life’ Jesus provides
means we are God’s in totality: no
excuses, no limits, no compartments, no entanglements with that which is unholy
or unrighteous. Christianity is not a
passive lifestyle; there are choices to make.
But praise God, the power of the Spirit will bring us through if we choose
to receive His grace.
Paul reiterated that other people are letters from God
written on our hearts. The Spirit writes
those ‘letters’ with a purpose we should embrace. TOGETHER we can learn to die to self and live
to Him! Uniting our hearts with others will
create tensions and hurts and demand sacrifice.
Living as His means every involvement we have with others will aim at
the purpose of revealing this: God cares.
Our words about and to one another must meet the same high
standard. This quote from Spurgeon
pierced my own heart today:
No one should ever imply that living the victorious
Christian life means there is no pain or sorrow. Even Paul—the Bible Great—says
he felt
those external conflicts and felt
fear within. We will too. Though we live
the God-life when we accept Christ as our Savior and ask the Holy Spirit to
live within, we physically remain in a sin-filled world. We are still prone to temptation and the
‘sensation’ of hurt; Christians are not immune to suffering.
The ingredient in Christian suffering, though, that changes
the world is GRACE. Receiving the grace
of God in trials creates a generous heart that shows the world what the heart
of God looks like. His grace allows us
to serve others even in pain (they cause) with joy! The message of grace-filled lives is this:
God cares! Every action we take in this
world is to reveal the love—pure, holy, challenging LOVE of God. That only happens when we meet needs—and
allow our needs to be met—with the grace of God Himself. Experiencing the totality of God requires
relationship—with Him and others.
“The reputations of the Lord’s people should be very precious in our
sight, and we should count it shame to help the devil to dishonour the Church
and the name of the Lord.”
God spoke this world into being. Our words matter immensely. God desires to use us to bring comfort and
blessing to one another. Silence may be
the greatest sacrifice God calls some of us to give.
Living as His—without limitations—means trusting Him to give
us His grace to pass along to every person He brings into our heart—our lives. When His grace abounds….oh, my, the world is
changed! Let’s world changers and show
the world God cares.
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