If we live life with one foot on the
dock, and the other foot in the boat, we will end up getting dunked, once the
boat moves from the dock for any reason. The slightest turmoil in the water
will cause us to lose our balance.
God says that lukewarm people - those
who live with their feet in two separate places at once - make Him sick to His
stomach! He would rather that we live up to our convictions and either follow
Him wholeheartedly or not at all.
To live any other way is hypocritical
and smears the name of Christ in front of the world. Even unbelievers know how
Christians are supposed to act, and they lose respect for us and for God if we
are hypocrites with a split personality.
God prefers that we live in total
surrender to His will and way. He knows that Biblical principles allow us to
reap only good things in life. If we have a mixture of both secular and
Biblical ideals in our world view, we end up reaping the negative consequences from
the corruption we sow.
God wants us to follow Him completely,
and to give Him His rightful place in our life. At the center of complete
surrender we realize that we no longer live for our self, but Christ lives in
and through us (Galatians 2:20).
Our obedience proves that we actually
know God (1 John 2:3). He circumcises our heart, cutting away the flesh from
our life, so we can live in harmony with His Spirit and one another (Romans
2:29).
We walk in the fruit of the Spirit by
the power of the Spirit, and Christ's divine life replaces our carnality and
worldliness (2 Peter 1:4).
Sanctification has various fluctuating
tempos in our life. Sometimes, the process is fast; at other times, painfully
slow. It is constant, however; and God gives us His patience and fortitude to
press on through this cleansing process until our personality and goals reflect
and are focused on Christ alone (Colossians 3:3-4).
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for making us a
new creation by Your Spirit - with the mind and divinity of Christ abiding in
us. Keep us in union with Your Spirit and hold us close to You as You use us to
further Your Kingdom in the earth (Galatians 5:15-25).
Our spirituality is not complete
until You give us our glorified, immortal body when we see Jesus. We need You
every hour, every moment of our life. Teach us not to speak with words of carnal,
mortal wisdom, but to utter only the Words taught to us by Your Spirit and full
of Your glory (Philippians 3:10-12; 1 Corinthians 2:13).
Thought for the Day:
Our goal in life is to bring God
glory through our every thought, word and deed, living in the fullness of His
Spirit by the power of His resurrection; a surrendered life of one who is born
of the Spirit and will never perish. - Peter 1:3-4
