Matthew 23: 4 - 11 NKJV
We all have bad habits that we wish we could break. Lately I've been making a concerted effort to go to the gym on a more regular basis. See, I had gotten into the habit of putting it off. It's easy to get sidetracked by something we seem to enjoy more than what is right for us. They say that it takes but thirty days to form a habit. Thirty days to get into the habit of doing something beneficial. Or, thirty days to set ourselves into yet another destructive habit. As I was going through Matthew 23 the other morning my thoughts turned to a friend of ours. Our friend, despite his growing knowledge of Christ Jesus in him, is seemingly finding it difficult to overcome the teachings of the catholic church of his youth. I get it. My own feelings for the catholic church aside, I can sympathize with my brother in Christ. I mean, it must be hard to overcome all which you have been taught about God and religion and embrace a new concept of Jesus. A Jesus who you've been taught was so far out of reach of any mortal man. A Jesus who you have been taught could never be in the presence of such a sinful man as yourself. Knowing this, how is it possible that we can ever embrace the truth of Christ in us which Paul relates in Galations 2:20? Can it be as simple as changing that habit which we have formed? Perhaps, but I feel that it goes deeper than that. I believe that the more that we see Jesus as being in us and not aprt from us then we have taken a huge step in overcoming centuries of teachings. I believe that this is the place my brother now finds himself in, torn between two competing teachings. Thankfully, he seems to be begining to see who he truly is in Christ. I guess I can relate, for I traveled this same pathway to my understanding of Jesus in me. I've sat through many a sermon preaching the seperation of God and man. I don't fault the church in this. As I've said, we all choose which path we follow. I'd like to believe that sooner or later God will whisper into our own hearts just loud enough of the truth we have in His Son.
15But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Galations 1: 15 - 17 NKJV
I was told this week that our friend had phoned one of our brothers to inform him that he had "ruined his prayer" which we had prayed over him this past week. I got a laugh out of that. See, he had come into our weekly gathering seeking prayer for a friend of his in her dealings with government agencies. I guess I should mention here that our friends idea of prayer and our own differ in a few ways. To him, prayer is a request for protection and provision, of his love, grace and presence. Well, we already have all of that. I look back to the conversation (prayer) which Jesus shared with the Father in the garden. What is it that Jesus sought from the Father? Grace? Provision? No, what Jesus asked from the Father above all was that we (you and I) would be one with the Father as He and the Father were one. Think about that for a minute, Jesus could have asked for anything but He chose to seek only that we would be one with He and the Father. Sort of like a homecoming if you will. Of course, this might just fly in the face of what our local pulpit pounder has been speaking on lately. Again, this is that habit we follow. In this case, a centuries old habit. Of course, that does ot make it right. It only means that it is something we have chosen to follow on our own. I hate to use the term blindly follow, but if the shoe fits. Remember, I was once among that crowd that took each sunday sermon to heart. I had to perform my best in order to be that christian that God wanted me to be. Of course, I eventually realized that I was chasing something I could never achieve. Not only that, I din't need to pursue a relationship with my heavenly Father, I already had that. We can look at our prayers as Jesus did, as simply conversations with our Father in heaven. I can also say that that prayer of Jesus for me in the garden has already been answered. For that I am thankful. Another habit broken.
20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who jwill believe in Me through their word;21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.25“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26“And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
John 17: 20 - 26 NKJV
~Scott~
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