Father, I am grateful for Your Comforting Holy Spirit. There is so much pain, suffering, and heartache in the world and You are with us in ways we cannot even begin to fully understand. May we come to You and may we bring others to You, as well. Amen.
Luke 3:7-9 (<<click to read the passage)
Growing up it seemed that there were many examples of people coming to Jesus and having their lives radically changed because of their newfound relationship with Him. Habits and lifestyles of their past were greatly impacted. The Apostle Paul’s proclamation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP) was truly fleshed out!
Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].
Maybe I’m just not mingling in the right circles, but I don’t seem to see that kind of thing anymore. I tend to interact with those who already know Jesus and, like me, they are just trying to follow Him as best they can.
God is most definitely still in the life-changing business! But what do I need to do to be a part of it? Part of the solution is to abide by John’s commands here in the first part of Luke 3:8 (AMP)
…produce fruit that is worthy of [and consistent with your] repentance [that is, live changed lives, turn from sin and seek God and His righteousness]
We must first, with the Lord’s help, get ourselves where He needs us to be. Human nature has this nasty tendency to encourage us to live a multiple-personality kind of life. We have our “Christian” selves that we hold forth when we are around other believers. But that part of who we are can easily be shoved down out of sight so as not to embarrass us when we are out in the “real” world.
Our “real world” selves, though not necessarily worldly through and through, has the tendency to go the easiest route possible. It just gets too difficult to use the plumb line of God and His Word every time we want to do something. We just do it and ask for forgiveness later if we need to.
If we are true followers of Jesus, we must be determined to live changed lives all the time, not just when it is convenient to do so.
Instead of yielding occasionally to the many temptations around us and then asking for God’s forgiveness again…and again…and again, we must be determined to turn from sin. We must pray that God will make us uncomfortable with it anywhere in our lives. We should avoid letting sin get its toe in the door of our lives at all costs!
And one of the most important actions on our part is to seek God and His righteousness. It might be a challenge, but we must be determined to use the plumb line of God and His Word every time we want to do something. That is the only way we will find God and the more time we spend with Him the more like Him we will become.
Well, that’s a start but, Lord Jesus, I feel that this line of thought needs to be delved into quite a bit more. Help us to grasp the importance of our relationship with You in every aspect of our lives and then we can honestly pursue sharing You with others. Amen.
Nov 14th, 2019, Thurs, 7:46 pm
