Stop Doing And Start Being

Most times it is hard to tell who the Christian is in the crowd. We may have a different vocabulary and we may have a few different activities but much of our thinking remains the same. We have gotten so use to it we don't even see it. Unfortunately in the Church today, God no more leads us than he does a person who doesn't call on the name of Jesus.

Honestly, consider your day for a moment. Do you feel directed by the Spirit or are you doing what you want to do? Consider your life goals. Are they your goals or the direction the Spirit is moving you in? We have this insane notion that whatever we think must be from God. We don't even know the difference any more between our own thinking and the conviction of the Spirit. There is a whole generation being lost to the Spirit.

Again and again we hear it and read it, people making excuses for themselves, "No one is perfect". Our failure is only due to one thing because God overcame everything else. That one thing is simply our decision not to choose Jesus in every situation in our life. We fail when we choose to do what we want instead of what the Spirit is directing us to do. In many ways, we still think we are responsible for our own salvation.

Yesterday we considered a list of things that warn us when our relationship with Jesus is off. Today I want us to consider the good signs that we have a healthy relationship. I word it this way specifically because many of us are trying to live this list externally. We actually think we have the ability to live this holy life but our part is nothing more than surrender. Surrender to God's power and will in us. We are to surrender, lay down our will and desire and allow the Spirit to change us.

If we are getting up in the morning and saying to ourselves, "Today I am going to be more loving", we will fail. But if we get up in the morning and say, "To you Jesus I surrender this day and I am determined to follow the Spirit all day long", you will find yourself being more loving. Most of us do not understand the difference.

Here is the list of the signs of a healthy relationship with Jesus:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14)

For those who are confused by the wording "clothe yourselves", "put on", I remind you how Paul said we are able to live these things:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (vv. 1-2)

Again I tell you, these are not "to do" lists but rather signs that tell us our relationship with Jesus is healthy. When we have a growing and vibrant relationship with the King, serving him, learning from him, submitted to his will, we will discover ourselves clothed in compassion. Kindness, humility, gentleness and patience will be evident to everyone as the character of Jesus shines through. We will understand the need to bear with those who are not as mature and forgiveness will be the most natural thing. And we will have a greater revelation of love, deepening every day.

These are all things that we fail at because we are the ones trying to do it instead of allowing the Spirit to do it through us. The only thing we need to put effort into is our relationship with Jesus. As others have said, you can't spend two hours in prayer with Jesus without being changed. You can't follow the direction of the Spirit and remain as you were. You can't have a deep fellowship with God and still decide your own course. We can't call on the name of Jesus and live like our neighbour. There is a difference when we learn to walk with the Spirit who lives in us.

Stop doing and start being.

The Problem With Lists

Today we are looking at something that makes everyone feel comfortable: Lists. For some reasons lists bring a comfort and give the sense of life being achievable. If we have a lot to do we make a To Do list. Grocery shopping is made so much easier with a grocery list. A list is a must during Christmas as we keep all our gift buying organized. So there is a place and a purpose for lists. But not all lists are to be done. Sometimes they are simply for the purpose of comparison.

When it comes to our relationship with Jesus many of us find it easier to have lists. We especially like it when we find lists in the Bible to tell us what to do and what not to do. The only problem is that this is not the purpose of these lists. Consider Colossians 3:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Sounds good; these are the things we are not to do. God is not pleased with this kind of behaviour. Paul explains:

Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. (vv.6-7)

Okay, so this is the stuff that comes against God's holiness, that separates us from him, that belongs to our former life, before we met Jesus. Paul adds a bit more to the list of the things we must not do:

But now you must rid yourselvesof all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. (v. 8)

Sounds like a list we should write down and carry around with us. Yeah! That's a plan!

It might be a plan but it is not the purpose of this list. If that was the intention then why are we told we are no longer under law but under grace? Why does the Word say that Jesus took the law and nailed it to the cross? If we could just follow a list of commands why did Jesus have to die?

Our life with Jesus is all about a total surrender to him. It is about our death and our new life which we only have in Jesus. It is all about loving Jesus and being totally captivated by him. This list presents to us what no longer is part of us so that if we recognize any of this in us we know that there is something wrong with the relationship.

If you are having sex with every boyfriend or girlfriend you have then there is something wrong with your relationship with Jesus. If you can't control your anger and end up hitting things or yelling at people there is something wrong with the relationship. If there is greed and filthy language, desires that go against God then your love for Jesus is just not where it is suppose to be.

This list is not a do and don't list but more like a warning label.

You don't have the power to effect change in your behaviour other than trying to conform. But conformity is not an agent of permanent change. Sooner or later the true character of the heart will reveal itself. Only the transforming power of Jesus Christ can make us a new creation and that new creation only too gladly allows the character of Jesus to be revealed in it. It is the daily submission, the resistance to temptation, keeping our eyes on Jesus, setting our heart and mind on things above that allows Jesus to have his way in us.

It is so easy to fall into the mentality of lists, which is fine for the purpose of being organized but is useless for spiritual growth. God has given us road markers so we will understand his progress in us and to help us remember our daily need for submitting to the Spirit. We misunderstand Paul's language "put to death" which is to die with Christ and be brought to life in him, as well as "rid yourself" which happens with daily surrender out of an all encompassing love.

Simply put, pay attention to the signs but don't do the list.

Making Jesus Our Everything

I think many of us want to live a life that glorifies God. It is our desire to know each day that our Father is pleased with us. We long to hear from our King  "Well done good and faithful servant". The only real question is, how do we do it?

It's not as hard or complicated as we make it seem.

There are many lists in the Bible, a number of does and don'ts, a few things that look like we can put them into practical use. You have even probably tried to follow a few of these as most of us have, and failed in doing it, as all of us have. This is the thing to keep in mind: Jesus came to free us from a law we could not live, not to set up another one to replace it.

Jesus took the law and fulfilled it because we couldn't. Then he had the Holy Spirit take the law and write it on our hearts, empowering us through the Spirit to live the law in our new life, not from a list but from our heart. The law is in us, but in a friendly, practical way. As Jesus said it is summed up in two things: Love God with your entire being and love others. If we live this then we will fulfil the law and every list we find in the Bible.

But that brings us back to the "how" question. How do I live this "law"?

Without a doubt we have a part to play in this but the biggest part is God's as he shapes us into the character of Jesus. Our part is to let him to do it and we do this by making sure that Jesus comes first. Well, let's go beyond that. We do this by making sure Jesus is our everything. The only way he becomes our everything is when we make our life and everything in it about him. Let's go beyond that: he becomes everything when we recognize that our life and everything in it is from him and for him.

In Colossians 3 Apostle Paul gives us a few lists concerning holy living. They are important lists but not ones that were intended for us to live up to. That is how the world would perceive them. They are not a list of things for us to do but instead to allow the Holy Spirit to do in us. He is able to do this when we allow him to do it and we allow him when your heart and mind are possessed by Jesus as they must be. Paul starts this section off by the single most important thing we must do (our part) every day. Let's break it into two sections. The first:

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)

The heart is a deceiving thing. Our emotions trip us up every day. From the heart comes jealousy, anger, hatred and many negative things. If we keep our heart focused on how things effect us, how peoples actions harm us, and make everything about us, our emotions will continue to trip us up. But we are instructed here to not make it about us. We are told to set our heart on things above and as we do this the Holy Spirit is able to do his thing in us; the love of God flows through; all the incredible things of God are let loose, and we find ourselves forgiving, having compassion, being tender, understanding other people's actions. The more we set our heart on things above the more capacity we have to love God and others

The second thing:

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (v. 2)

It's not just emotions, perspective matters as well. During Paul's day the heart was the symbol of everything that made us human, including intelligence. The mind was seen as the place where we perceive things. In this case if we set our mind on things above then we will have the right perspective. As long as we are only perceiving in the natural the Spirit will not have the freedom to show us what God is doing. When we get our mind set on Jesus, everything in this world looks different. We can see the ugliness and why the world needs Jesus. As long as we are perceiving with our mind with the perspective of the world we will never fully understand the importance of Jesus to this world or God's will in our life. We will not be able to love God and others, at least not as God defines love.

Paul also reminds us why our heart and mind should be set on thingss above:

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears,then you also will appear with him in glory. (vv. 3-4)

Our life is no longer made up of things of this world but instead we are hidden with Jesus. We died. We keep forgetting that. When we accepted Jesus we died to what we were, how we felt and what we perceived, to our opinions. That is how it must be but often today it is more like Jesus just becomes part of our life instead of BEING our life. That's what Paul is saying here: "When Christ, who is your life ..." You died and the only way you can live is in and through Jesus just as he lives in and through us. This is the only way to live a life that glorifies God.

Tomorrow we will look at how this translates in our daily living.

Jesus Threw Away My Lists, part 2

I wrote earlier today about my love affair with lists and how it is easier for me to follow a list like the Law of Moses than it is to allow love to govern me as Jesus taught. However, Jesus has removed any need for lists in our lives because he has revealed to us the greater way of love. In saying this I do want to share with you one list that I find to be amazing.

It is something you have read before and maybe you may have even taken note of it. It is a list that I find sums up so much of what we desire to be and do in our relationship with God. It is a list that can help us with a greater intimacy with Jesus. I don't consider it a law but more the guard rails on this path of love Jesus has placed us on. It prevents us from wandering away from this life of love and dedication.

We find it in the book of wisdom, Proverbs, specifically chapter 3. The pure simplicity of this list struck me the other day and it starts with the most important part of our relationship with God:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 
   bind them around your neck,    write them on the tablet of your heart. (v. 3)

I am telling you the greatest pursuit in our life should be to discover the depth of God's love. There should be no more important desire than this, to learn how to love as Jesus loved. What does God mean by love? How does it impact our living? And as you discover these mysteries make sure you are living it, applying it to everything you say and do. The result is evident:

Then you will win favor and a good name    in the sight of God and man. (v. 4)

If you are honestly spending the quality time with God that you are suppose to be it will have a radical change in your life, how you see things, how you respond to people, the words that you speak. People may not agree with your faith but they certainly will not be able to hold anything against you when love is written on the tablet of your heart.

With love firmly fixed in place we are ready for the rest of the list. In fact the command to love makes everything else possible. Item number two:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
   and lean not on your own understanding; 
in all your ways acknowledge him,    and he will make your paths straight. (vv. 5-6)

This is a huge stumbling block for most people and I could devote an entire book to this subject of trust. Love leads us to trust, to letting go of what we think we know and acknowledging that God knows far more than we do. This is where we falter in our relationship with Jesus and things begin to unravel. You know what I mean. We want something but God seems to prevent it so we fight against him. We want something and God is saying no but we don't want to accept that answer. We are in a situation that only God can rescue us from but we allow fear and worry to propel us into a rash act that only makes things worse. It's easy to say we love God on the sunny days but it is in the storms that our love and trust are tested.

This naturally leads us to the third point:

Do not be wise in your own eyes;    fear the LORD and shun evil. (v. 7)

This is another big problem we have, when we think we know better than God or the godly council he has surrounded us with. We ask godly people, who we trust, for their wisdom and they give us excellent council from the Word of God but then we decide we know better. Every time this mistake leads to disaster. If we hold God's wisdom up to the highest esteem, giving him our respect and turning away from everything that is evil there is great benefit:

This will bring health to your body    and nourishment to your bones. (v.8)

Worry, fear, anxiety take years off of our life. We begin to look old fast and we become feeble quickly. Living by our wisdom instead of God's will lead us into situations that will provoke worry, fear and anxiety in us and we will not be able to see the peace Jesus has given to us. What a foolish people we are.

The next point should be a natural out pouring of our love but you would not believe how many people try to get out of this. They lie to themselves, they use their own wisdom, they try to argue the point but in the end they are only robbing themselves of a greater freedom and intimacy with Jesus:

Honor the LORD with your wealth,    with the firstfruits of all your crops; (v. 9)

It is amazing how people allow money to separate them from the Lord. It becomes their stumbling block but they are only robbing themselves. They forget who the Provider is and how we honour him in this matter of the first fruits. It is something that love provoked long before the Law of Moses was established. We can read about it with Cain and Abel and the fact that Abel gave his best and was blessed by God. It led to the first record of jealousy and murder in the history of man. When love provokes a cheerful giver there are results:

Then your barns will be filled to overflowing,    and your vats will brim over with new wine. (v. 10)

The last point in this list has to do with keeping a proper perspective in our walk with God. So often we accuse God of being mean and unfair because we are looking at it from the perspective of a comfortable life in this world. We need to understand that God's perspective is one of eternity and he is preparing us for it:

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline 
   and do not resent his rebuke, 
because the LORD disciplines those he loves, 
   as a father the son he delights in. (vv. 11-12)

Discipline is not punishment in the same way that correction is not punishment. I do not punish my children when they do wrong because punishment has to do with vengeance and there is no lesson and improvement in vengeance. No, our role as parents is to correct our children, to teach them from their mistakes and to reinforce that lesson so they will not forget it. God disciplines us because he loves us and he wants to make sure we will be prepared for eternity. So instead of weeping, wailing and complaining, look around and see the lesson at hand, learn it quickly and move on.

The items in this list in Proverbs 3 are great guardrails in our daily walk with Jesus. They will make sure that we do not wander off of this narrow path to the narrow gate. They will help us stay in that place of intimacy and growth with Jesus. However, these things are absolutely useless if our great pursuit is not growing in the love of the Lord. Like all lists there is a danger that we will seek our salvation in it instead of in Jesus Christ but understand that in this list you will find a great summary of the elements you are responsible for in your relationship with Jesus; love, trust, honour, giving, and submission.

Jesus Threw Away My Lists, part 1

Are you a list person? I am a list person. I love my lists; my to-do list, shopping list, prayer list, project list. Anything I can write down in point form makes me supper happy. I love PowerPoint; organizing my thoughts in such a concise presentation, making everything clear and clean for understanding. Yeah! That`s why I have to be so careful when it comes to God and the Law.

The Law of Moses is pretty simple to understand: Do not Lie, Do Not Steal, Do Not Murder. A nice list, easy to understand but not so easy to follow because of our sin nature. But Jesus came along and he is not so keen on lists. In fact, he has taken us much deeper than the list and causes us to look at our motivation; what we are plugged in to that provokes us to do the things we do. He showed us the greater way. When asked about the greatest law Jesus took us to the deepest place:

Love God and love your others because everything hinges on these two commands.

Now instead of following a list of does and don'ts we are governed and guided by God`s love which provokes us to greater things than the Law of Moses ever could. He also taught us that there is no formula for knowing him and obtaining things from him and there are no special holy places on this earth where must go to have a deeper experience of God. He moved us into a new plane of understanding. When it comes to our relationship with him he took us to a much deeper place:

True worshipers worship the Father in Spirit and truth. These are the worshipers the Father seeks.

No lists here, just freedom in the Spirit to go to the deeper spiritual places with God. To worship God in this spirit opens our eyes of understanding to the depth of his love. Spending time with God in this manner changes us completely and fills us with such an overwhelming love that we begin to appreciate how everything in the universe hinges on the command to love. Our lists begin to look like a pathetic attempt to get close to God as love is the deeper place of motivation.

The Word tells us that what matters to God is a man`s heart. Jesus does not improve our heart condition but he replaces the entire thing with a new one; a new creation. This heart is capable of containing God`s love but we must be willing to completely die to ourselves, our opinions, our thoughts, our desires and allow the Spirit to take us to the depths so we may drink in that love.

Yet I do have a list that I found in the Word of God that will help you in your walk with the Lord. If you can keep this list in mind during your daily walk it will improve your intimacy with God and your service to man. However, before I share this list with you I encourage you to ponder the freedom we have been given in Jesus, the freedom from laws and lists. But also ponder the great responsibility found in love that has been given to us. Re-read 1 Corinthians 13 and begin to appreciate that most of us have yet to come to grips with what Jesus meant when he told us the greatest of the commandments is to love God and others.

I`ll be back with the second part.