The Blessings of Relationship

The world in which we live has values, which they hold dear. People in our world judge each person according to their worldly standards. However, if we live in order to be accepted and esteemed in this worldly system, we end up as an abomination to God (Luke 16:14-15). If we follow Biblical admonitions, we cannot earn the world’s respect and admiration, although we will earn God’s pleasure (Ephesians 1:6).

There are a few people, like Mother Teresa, who honor God and also manage to earn the world’s respect. She gave up her life for the indigent and abused, making their life better in any way she could. God gave her a gift, and she responded to His call for her life. God has a special purpose for each of us too. It is up to us whether or not we fulfill His desire for our life (Ephesians 2:10). We may not reach world fame, but God will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Our self-righteous attempts to please God with our natural efforts and accomplishments are worthless. They give off the terrible stench of human nature as we offer it to the Lord (Isaiah 64:6). It is not pleasing to Him, because He only accepts the sacrifices of those who rely only on the righteousness of Christ for their salvation (Romans 3:22). In God’s eyes, our good deeds are nothing more than dirty rags (Isaiah 64:6).

We cannot earn salvation or justification by our works (Titus 3:5-7). However, Jesus gives us His holiness as a free gift in exchange for our humanity. He took our sin and nailed it to the cross, triumphing over both sin and death (Colossians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:57). We trust in Christ alone and possess His righteousness as our own (2 Corinthians 5:21). Then, we radiate the love and light of Christ to the world around us.

Prayer:

Father God, we live in Your joy and take pleasure in each moment of our relationship with You. Christ is our only life (Colossians 3:4). Remind us to allow You to use us to bring reconciliation to the world around us (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Many people will reject our message and may even reject us. However, You will delight in our ways. Remind us to use all of the resources You have given us, not for our own advancement in life, but to further Your Kingdom in the earth (Luke 16:1-18).

Thought for the Day:

If I think I am somebody, then God is not everything to me; but when I realize that I am nothing, God becomes my all in all. That is when He fully reveals Himself to me.

God's Glory Revealed

 

 

The Apostle Paul taught us that even though we suffer in our life, the suffering is nothing when compared to the glory, which God is revealing in our life through them (Romans 8:18). Each trial has a specific purpose, a lesson for us to discover. We may learn to forgive, to use patience, to love the unlovely or to walk in peace through the tribulation. Each test is an opportunity for the character of Christ to manifest in and through us.

The more we abide in the Vine of Christ, the more fruit we bear (John 15:5). The nourishment of God’s Spirit flows through the Vine and into each one of us. We are firmly grafted and rooted in Him, with all the spiritual fruit of the Spirit and the Divine nature of Christ dwelling within us (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:4). At times, we go through the same type of suffering more than once, in order to fully imbed that Godly trait in our character.

As we fully abide in Christ our love, witnessing, forgiveness and life imitate His (John 15:9-12). He manifests Himself through us in all of His glory as we walk in obedience to the guidance of His Spirit within us. God’s Spirit transforms us by His fruit into a replica of Christ Himself (2 Corinthians 3:18). His Divine nature manifests in and through our spirit.

If we say we do not have a sinful nature, we deceive our self and make God out to be a liar (1 John 1:8, 10). However, God faithfully forgives us and delivers us from the desire to sin through Christ in us (1 John 1:9). No one who says they live in Christ can continue to sin. If they do keep sinning, Christ does not live in them (1 John 3:9). If the root of the Vine is holy, so are the branches (Romans 11:16). In time, God’s holiness totally manifests through us.

As this occurs, we start to consider others better than our self, because He first loved us (Philippians 2:3; 1 John 4:19). We love as Jesus loved, not caring about a place to sleep (Luke 9:58) or money in the bank, but only about ministering to those at home, work, church and community that He directs us to help. We abide in Christ because He abides in us (John 15:4). In Him, there is no sin, and when we abide in Him, we live in holiness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as we live each moment of our day in unbroken fellowship with You, You replace our carnal nature with Your nature, and then sin does not dominate us (Romans 6:14). Teach us to love sacrificially as You did; but only as Your Spirit leads, and not by our codependent enabling or rescuing. We tend to wear our self out in caring for others; but remind us to live according to Your example, and to take time to get away and to rest in You.

Thought for the Day:

God does not remove our carnal nature, but He does replace each sinful tendency with the fruit of His Spirit through the things that we suffer. - Hebrews 5:8