In my daily Bible reading I have been looking at the book of Esther. On one level this story seems like a lovely story about God's provision to take care of His Ancient People. For sure it is that. But it has a very dark side.
God is able to redeem things and make good come out of the most evil circumstances...... but that does not make those circumstances any less evil.
Esther 1:10-13
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.
This scenario is played out millions of times every day. Two covenant partners demanding their own way.
Two people who should be respecting each other and caring for each other to protect, provide and cherish each other fighting over who is the one in charge.
Two people who should be the best of friends acting like enemies.
Oh I know those who support the concept of male headship will go on about Vashti's rebellion. Those who want to make Ahasuerus a male chauvinist will say he wanted to do something sexually inappropriate.
The Bible tells a less sordid tale which nonetheless has catastrophic consequences for thousands of innocent victims.
We don't know why Vashti did what she did. We can guess but we don't know for sure. She could have been acting out of great hurt or rebellion. We simply don't know.
But we can make an informed guess of some of the possiblities from what the book says.
And some of those guesses are what couples today, for same reasons, do as well.
I personally think that Vashti might have felt that she meant nothing to her husband besides being an ornament and an occasional sexual partner. We know that later Esther was afraid to enter her husband's presence without his request. She also commented that he had not called for her for a long time.
I am sure Vashti had the same experience. Perhaps she had spent endless hours alone. Perhaps no matter how she longed for her husband to show some interest in her he was gone like the wind.....
Perhaps when he finally wanted her to come the circumstances only added to her pain. After all he did not even come himself but sent his eunuchs to come after her.
Perhaps in her humaness she was trying to send a message that she wanted him to come and get her.....
But he was busy and taken up with life so he might have missed altogether the needs of the wife of his youth. Maybe he was not such a bad guy but just missed the basics of "Romantics 101." Maybe he was having so much fun being the king it never crossed his mind that she was in a prison of tormented loneliness.
He had his needs met by his occupation and so may have never considered that her needs were not being met by hers.
That is not what the Bible tells us but is an alternative interpretation to the villianization that seems to go on between the male and female camps in reading this passage. And that is precisely what happened in the hearts of the two, who were once lovers, in this story. Both saw the other in the worst light possible. It happens every day.
So what was the cost of this marital disharmony? That is the part that so many do not read. They see the wonderful deliverance for the Jewish nation and in the next years the restoration of that nation to her homeland. As I have said, this is the wonderful aspect of God's redemption. But I think He has another thing to tell us in the story.
The King's anger raged and in that anger he felt something had to be done to avenge his wounded pride. No wonder Esther was scared of him! He could as easily have killed Vashti in her failure to obey him as to have put her away. He could have done the same to Esther.
This is the first thing this story teaches us about marriage. When one partner holds all the power over the other there is going to be terrible pain for at least one or both of the partners - and possibly many other innocent people.
We forget that what happened to Vashti was not a divorce so she could find another husband. She was not thrown out of the Castle to go fend for herself. We know from the practices of the time she was made a household slave.
She never again would know the touch of a man sexually. If she did they would have been killed immediately.
If she had children they would have no longer been considered hers. They would have been raised by another woman.
She would have to serve those who had once served her. She would have most likely been mocked and taunted by the other women in the harem.
Her life would have been one of absolute humiliation on a daily basis -- remembering where she once was and where she had been sent to every single day of the rest of her life.
The King in his rage took the advice of the other men who obviously did not have such great marriages either....
Esther 1:13-20
Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14 and were closest to the king—Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom. 15 “According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?” he asked. “She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.” 16 Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, “Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. 17 For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ 18 This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord. 19 “Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. 20 Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.”19 “Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she. 20 Then when the king’s edict is proclaimed throughout all his vast realm, all the women will respect their husbands, from the least to the greatest.” 21 The king and his nobles were pleased with this advice, so the king did as Memukan proposed. 22 He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be ruler over his own household, using his native tongue.
So the story has been repeated over the centuries and still is today. Someone does something perceived as an offense and a penalty must be extracted in order to end the potential dangers of rebellious hearts..... without even asking if they were rebellious.
Yet the dangers of an overzealous authority are not even considered.
I have fought out this particular battle all my life. How to respond in the situation where you are supposed to be leading but those who are to follow are not cooperating?
I see in this story the terrible consequences of a failure in leadership. Personal as well as for others.
So we begin with the King.
He put his wife away in a tantrum of bruised ego.... Like most of us a few days later he was rethinking his actions but not well enough.....
Esther 2:1
Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.
The King has a moment of vulnerability and potential regret but instead he filled the empty place with pride.... like we all tend to do.
And what grew out of that pride? Consider this carefully. The King filled his ego needs with every beautiful virgin in the nation. Perhaps they, like him, were, for a moment, captured by their ego for being chosen. No matter what they thought, it was not their decision. They were compelled to join the beauty pageant. It was not just a pageant. The consequences were tragic if a girl did not win.
After a year of preparation the girl was taken to the king and had one night of intimacy. After that she went into the harem of the concubines and lived as a household slave for the rest of her life. The king might ask for her for sexual purposes but unless he did she would be left without the care of a man forever. She most likely would have never even had children.
Every beautiful girls in the land ended up in the king's harem. All the men who should have had those girls would have been left alone as well.
See what a terrible consequence grew out of this marital disharmony?
Perhaps, on not as grand a scale, this is what still happens. Our failure in marriage still causes terrible consequences.
So what could have been done differently?
That is my great quest. How do we lead those we love without sacrificing our leadership nor entering the terrible place of pride?
Well one thing the King could have done is to have sincerely asked the question, "Why does Vashti not want to come to be with me and my guests?"
And so I find that when my heart begins to see those I lead as offending my place of authority.... or my pride..... and as I start to feel the anger rise in my heart and I begin to think of how I can fulfill my mandate of leadership by punishing the offender so that others will not follow their example of rebellion..... I have asked the Lord to remind me to ask why.
This is a place of great vulnerability. It means I have to be ready to find out it is actually me that is the problem.
If the King had gone to his bride and asked her, maybe she would have angrily told him exactly what she felt. If he had responded with love and compassion perhaps her hurting heart would have begun to heal. If he continued to spend time with her and to ask her to share her heart with him maybe in time he would have recaptured her heart. And if he had won her heart he, as well as Vashti and thousands of young people, would not have suffered as they did.
When I think of how Jesus leads I believe this is the way he would have done it. I have sought to do as well.
But what of Vashti? What about her actions? What if she had left her pain or rebellion, if it was that? What if she had thought of the need of her husband to find honor?
In keeping her autonomy she lost her true authority. She did not submit herself to her husband's demands but in doing so she lost the chance to help him become the man God wanted him to be.
This is the difference between Vashti and Esther. This is why Esther's wisdom will always be met with authority based on influence rather than coercion.
John Maxwell has rightly said that all leadership is based on influence. And so it is.... Vashti gave up her chance to win the heart of her husband. In losing his heart she lost herself as well. We were created to help each other. When we lose sight of this for protecting ourselves we those we lead and we lose ourselves.
Vashti kept her autonomy but opened the door to pain for so many.
Esther gave up her autonomy yet gained the life of a whole nation.
Sounds like the story of love that the Son of God showed to the world....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Divine Exchange - part five
John 18:36-39
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.
I have found many people do not understand the practical way to receive the life of God and make it manifest in their lives.
When I first became a Christian I found the same problem.
I overheard some one just a few days ago saying to someone who was telling them how they had fallen into sin, "Don't be so hard on yourself, God has forgiven you and you need to forgive yourself." This was what I was told all the time when I was a new believer. But the problem was that in spite of being forgiven I did not know how to live out my salvation.
As I was listening to the conversation I wondered if he would be telling the fellow who was struggling not to be so hard on himself if he had said, "I messed up. I murdered your child."
Forgiveness is the first step in transformation. But I found there were very specific acts I had to do to find the transformation that I was longing for.
The exchange of my life for God's required something from me as well as something from God - my part, God's part.
I gradually learned ways that broke the outer shell of my life and let God come forth. One of the most important was honesty.
2 Corinthians 4:1-7
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
After a while I saw that what was happening was replacement. This was the wonderful thing that Jesus taught me. It is never possible to drive out darkness without turning on the light. Scream at the darkness all we want but it will not go. Quietly go over and turn on the light and the darkness flees.
It was amazing that I never heard this from anyone. It came as I was reading the Bible and listening to Jesus. I am so grateful I found this simple truth.
John 3:30
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
Here is the core truth of the Exchanged Life. More of Jesus means less of me. I find that it is exactly like this. The more His life fills me the less my life does. Just like the light and the darkness. He must increase is first. As He does I naturally decrease.
So what things release His life and make Him increase?
I related how baptism was the first step. We release His life by doing the things He says for us to do. That is simple and straightforward. As we look into His teachings in the New Testament what He says for us to do is very clear. I have spoken of this in several other blogs.
What I want to focus on today is the extremely practical issue of truth. Jesus said he came into the world to bear witness of the truth. He said all those who were of the truth would hear (listen to) him.
That is because he is the truth.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is that simple. When we live in truth Jesus lives in us. We release Jesus into the world through our lives when we practice telling the truth continually and consistently.
This is not truth in an abstract, theological understanding. It is just plain truth living and telling.
As I have applied the standard of absolute truth to my life I find that Jesus is always manifested in and through my life. When I walk in less than absolute honesty I align myself with the devil.
John 8:43-45
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
This has so many aspects to consider. Too many for one post. Today I am thinking of the personal element of truthfulness.
We cannot expect that God's life will ever come forth in our lives until we have made a absolute commitment to walk in the light. When we walk in the light of truthfulness we find the life of God and the path to full relationship with each other.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
This commitment to truth begins with what the Bible calls confession. We tell the truth about our actions and condition in regard to wrong actions towards God and others. This is the first step in repentance.
1 John 1:9-10
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
This is the place of humility.
Luke 18:10-14
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I try to keep this picture in mind continually. It tells me that one of the greatest places of deception can be when I think I have gotten my life all together. It tells me I need to remember that all that I ever will be that is any good at all comes from Jesus. I have never really left the place I was when he found me. It is just that his life has brought new life. Without him I am no different than I ever was before. So the first truth of my life is that it is Jesus' life and nothing else that has brought about a change.
Though I have walked with Jesus for over forty years today I still say with the tax collector, "have mercy on me... a sinner......and let me have that same mercy on all those who share this life journey with me.....
I think it is no mistake that the most successful program for helping people get free from addictions has twelve steps most of which deal with this aspect of truth:
1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Seven of the steps directly deal with honest confession about and making restitution for wrongs we have done.
Why would that be so important? The life exchange between Jesus and us happens when we let Truth take hold of our being. He is Truth. His life flows into ours and our life diminishes as we simply tell the truth. His life not only touches our life but also everyone we live with on the planet.
I find that often when people start their lives in God they are much more willing to admit their faults and sins. They are much more honest. Somehow as we grow in the culture of the faith we tend to demand of ourselves and others a place of silence regarding such things. This silence leaves us cut off from the life of God. We act like we have arrived at full maturity. But when we do not confess our faults one to another we begin dying.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Yet I find as I open my heart to wolk in the light, confess my continuing need to grow in grace and ask for and receive prayer my reputation is damaged but my heart is set free to once again marvel at his amazing life giving grace.
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." 38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.
I have found many people do not understand the practical way to receive the life of God and make it manifest in their lives.
When I first became a Christian I found the same problem.
I overheard some one just a few days ago saying to someone who was telling them how they had fallen into sin, "Don't be so hard on yourself, God has forgiven you and you need to forgive yourself." This was what I was told all the time when I was a new believer. But the problem was that in spite of being forgiven I did not know how to live out my salvation.
As I was listening to the conversation I wondered if he would be telling the fellow who was struggling not to be so hard on himself if he had said, "I messed up. I murdered your child."
Forgiveness is the first step in transformation. But I found there were very specific acts I had to do to find the transformation that I was longing for.
The exchange of my life for God's required something from me as well as something from God - my part, God's part.
I gradually learned ways that broke the outer shell of my life and let God come forth. One of the most important was honesty.
2 Corinthians 4:1-7
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
After a while I saw that what was happening was replacement. This was the wonderful thing that Jesus taught me. It is never possible to drive out darkness without turning on the light. Scream at the darkness all we want but it will not go. Quietly go over and turn on the light and the darkness flees.
It was amazing that I never heard this from anyone. It came as I was reading the Bible and listening to Jesus. I am so grateful I found this simple truth.
John 3:30
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
Here is the core truth of the Exchanged Life. More of Jesus means less of me. I find that it is exactly like this. The more His life fills me the less my life does. Just like the light and the darkness. He must increase is first. As He does I naturally decrease.
So what things release His life and make Him increase?
I related how baptism was the first step. We release His life by doing the things He says for us to do. That is simple and straightforward. As we look into His teachings in the New Testament what He says for us to do is very clear. I have spoken of this in several other blogs.
What I want to focus on today is the extremely practical issue of truth. Jesus said he came into the world to bear witness of the truth. He said all those who were of the truth would hear (listen to) him.
That is because he is the truth.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is that simple. When we live in truth Jesus lives in us. We release Jesus into the world through our lives when we practice telling the truth continually and consistently.
This is not truth in an abstract, theological understanding. It is just plain truth living and telling.
As I have applied the standard of absolute truth to my life I find that Jesus is always manifested in and through my life. When I walk in less than absolute honesty I align myself with the devil.
John 8:43-45
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
This has so many aspects to consider. Too many for one post. Today I am thinking of the personal element of truthfulness.
We cannot expect that God's life will ever come forth in our lives until we have made a absolute commitment to walk in the light. When we walk in the light of truthfulness we find the life of God and the path to full relationship with each other.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
This commitment to truth begins with what the Bible calls confession. We tell the truth about our actions and condition in regard to wrong actions towards God and others. This is the first step in repentance.
1 John 1:9-10
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
This is the place of humility.
Luke 18:10-14
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
I try to keep this picture in mind continually. It tells me that one of the greatest places of deception can be when I think I have gotten my life all together. It tells me I need to remember that all that I ever will be that is any good at all comes from Jesus. I have never really left the place I was when he found me. It is just that his life has brought new life. Without him I am no different than I ever was before. So the first truth of my life is that it is Jesus' life and nothing else that has brought about a change.
Though I have walked with Jesus for over forty years today I still say with the tax collector, "have mercy on me... a sinner......and let me have that same mercy on all those who share this life journey with me.....
I think it is no mistake that the most successful program for helping people get free from addictions has twelve steps most of which deal with this aspect of truth:
1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Seven of the steps directly deal with honest confession about and making restitution for wrongs we have done.
Why would that be so important? The life exchange between Jesus and us happens when we let Truth take hold of our being. He is Truth. His life flows into ours and our life diminishes as we simply tell the truth. His life not only touches our life but also everyone we live with on the planet.
I find that often when people start their lives in God they are much more willing to admit their faults and sins. They are much more honest. Somehow as we grow in the culture of the faith we tend to demand of ourselves and others a place of silence regarding such things. This silence leaves us cut off from the life of God. We act like we have arrived at full maturity. But when we do not confess our faults one to another we begin dying.
James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Yet I find as I open my heart to wolk in the light, confess my continuing need to grow in grace and ask for and receive prayer my reputation is damaged but my heart is set free to once again marvel at his amazing life giving grace.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
The Divine Exchange - part four
Romans 6:1-11
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The Exchanged life begins with Baptism. It is the clearest Biblical picture of what happens to a believer when he or she identifies themselves with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
Baptism is the first command Jesus gave to us after we have turned from following our own ways to following Him.
Mark 16:15-17
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Acts 2:38
Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
I could fill another page of biblical references to the fact that baptism was not considered optional to following Jesus in the first century.
But why was it so important? I believe that the passage we started with tells us. It is because of the absolute necessity of identification with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection.
Many say it was a public declaration of faith. It most certainly was that. When someone was baptized they stepped into a new relationship with Jesus, the church and the world.
Colossians 2:12-13
having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
The act of baptism is more than a symbolic gesture. The Bible indicates that what is signifies happens when we do it. We are buried with Him in baptism. The identification with His death causes it to happen. We die when we follow His first command to be baptized.
I am always amazed at how the symbolic understanding of what are rightly called sacraments has destroyed their meaning.
The word sacrament is not one which the catholic church has full claim to. It was not an invented word by those three or four hundred years after Jesus' death. It is the Latin word sacramentum which was used to translate the Greek word mysterion.
Ephesians 5:31-32
FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery (mysterion, sacramentum) is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
The word sacrament was used for biblical acts of covenant commitment from the first century. It simply means an outward act that actually imparts an inward grace to bring about a spiritual change.
The word "sacramentum" came from the initiation rites of the Roman Army. When a soldier took oath when he joined the army he became the property of Caesar. He was branded behind his ear and was considered "sacred." The whole rite was called a "sacramentum." - the act of initiation that the soldier went through made him a soldier. Before he went through it he was a civilian. When he finished it he was a soldier for life. It was not just a claim on his life but a claim on Rome as well. Both entered into the covenant. Both were bound by the conditions of the covenant. The only way they could be freed from it was by death. The act of sacrementum caused it to happen.
Lots of people have asked me what is the point of marriage? "It is just a piece of paper," they say. But marriage is not something done by the state though they have taken over the administration of it from a legal perspective.
The act of marriage is meant to be an intentional making of a public covenant to live together in a life long union of mutual care, provision, protection and presence. In the act of marriage something happens spiritually. It is not just symbolic (and therefore in modern thought meaningless). The act does spiritually what it does externally. That is the meaning of sacrament.
When we are baptized something actually occurs that could not have happened without being baptized. Our identification with Christ's death, burial and resurrection causes us to die and be raised to His new life.
Baptism is the door to the Exchanged Life.
It is not the end but as we live each moment of our lives considering ourselves "to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" the life of Jesus will naturally flow into our lives and our self life will be constantly put to death. This is the Exchanged Life. His life taking the place of our lives. The Life of Heaven putting the life of earth to death. Our lives being filled with the new life of God and as a natural consequence the old life no longer being able to exist.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The Exchanged life begins with Baptism. It is the clearest Biblical picture of what happens to a believer when he or she identifies themselves with Jesus in His death and resurrection.
Baptism is the first command Jesus gave to us after we have turned from following our own ways to following Him.
Mark 16:15-17
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Acts 2:38
Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:12
But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
I could fill another page of biblical references to the fact that baptism was not considered optional to following Jesus in the first century.
But why was it so important? I believe that the passage we started with tells us. It is because of the absolute necessity of identification with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection.
Many say it was a public declaration of faith. It most certainly was that. When someone was baptized they stepped into a new relationship with Jesus, the church and the world.
Colossians 2:12-13
having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
The act of baptism is more than a symbolic gesture. The Bible indicates that what is signifies happens when we do it. We are buried with Him in baptism. The identification with His death causes it to happen. We die when we follow His first command to be baptized.
I am always amazed at how the symbolic understanding of what are rightly called sacraments has destroyed their meaning.
The word sacrament is not one which the catholic church has full claim to. It was not an invented word by those three or four hundred years after Jesus' death. It is the Latin word sacramentum which was used to translate the Greek word mysterion.
Ephesians 5:31-32
FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. 32 This mystery (mysterion, sacramentum) is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
The word sacrament was used for biblical acts of covenant commitment from the first century. It simply means an outward act that actually imparts an inward grace to bring about a spiritual change.
The word "sacramentum" came from the initiation rites of the Roman Army. When a soldier took oath when he joined the army he became the property of Caesar. He was branded behind his ear and was considered "sacred." The whole rite was called a "sacramentum." - the act of initiation that the soldier went through made him a soldier. Before he went through it he was a civilian. When he finished it he was a soldier for life. It was not just a claim on his life but a claim on Rome as well. Both entered into the covenant. Both were bound by the conditions of the covenant. The only way they could be freed from it was by death. The act of sacrementum caused it to happen.
Lots of people have asked me what is the point of marriage? "It is just a piece of paper," they say. But marriage is not something done by the state though they have taken over the administration of it from a legal perspective.
The act of marriage is meant to be an intentional making of a public covenant to live together in a life long union of mutual care, provision, protection and presence. In the act of marriage something happens spiritually. It is not just symbolic (and therefore in modern thought meaningless). The act does spiritually what it does externally. That is the meaning of sacrament.
When we are baptized something actually occurs that could not have happened without being baptized. Our identification with Christ's death, burial and resurrection causes us to die and be raised to His new life.
Baptism is the door to the Exchanged Life.
It is not the end but as we live each moment of our lives considering ourselves "to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus" the life of Jesus will naturally flow into our lives and our self life will be constantly put to death. This is the Exchanged Life. His life taking the place of our lives. The Life of Heaven putting the life of earth to death. Our lives being filled with the new life of God and as a natural consequence the old life no longer being able to exist.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The Divne Exchange - part three
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
I was in a meeting a while ago in which the topic of prayer was being discussed. It was a good discussion and everyone agreed that we should pray.
But I found it very troubling as I listened to person after person say, "I know I should pray more.", "I pray but not enough", "I try to pray daily but sometimes I just don't" and so forth.
What disturbed me most was not the lack of prayer. It was the feeling about prayer that everyone expressed. It was like listening to people talk about the need to go to the dentist...... Yes we need to go but who really looks forward to it?
It kept up until I felt that I needed to at least say something.
I asked the men if someone gave them a ticket to a very expensive banquet hall in our city that promised a multi course meal with everything they loved to eat would they be saying that they knew they "should" go to the banquet but weren't sure if they would? They all joked and asked me if I had the tickets.
I further asked them if they were to receive a hand delivered invitation to spend an evening with the person they would want to be with above any other person on earth would they be saying it was such an inconvenience that they had to accept the invitation?
Yet Jesus said many would feel this way in spite of the great privilege they were given.
Luke 14:15-24
When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"
Parable of the Dinner
16 But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' 18 "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.' 19 "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.' 20 "Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.' 21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.' 22 "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' 23 "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"
I have found that many people, especially those who were raised in the environment of faith from the time they were very young, suffer from an inability to understand the absolutely amazing privilege it is to be even thought of by the Lord much less given complete access to Him twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and fifty two weeks of the year.
I often see intense anxiety and guilt in people around praying. They have been indoctrinated into a thought of duty that has left them incapable of understanding the delight of spending time with God.
As a result I hear so many excuses why they don't pray. And to be honest if I thought of prayer in the way they understand it I would be joining in the chorus of those who "all alike began to make excuses" why they would not be joining in the party.
Forgive me for being so bold but imagine if someone you loved dearly came every day an said. "I'm here to spend some time with you and I know I can never spend enough time with you to make you happy and I really don't want to be here because I am so busy with things that are really important but here I am....." I have the feeling that you would probably find them as boring as they found you!
It was not the wonderful dinner that the people were rejecting. It was that they really didn't understand it as a great privilege and great joy to be invited. And the saddest thing was that none of the invited would taste of the life giving meal that had been prepared with them in mind. They would never know the joy they had been offered.
I actually hear deep sighs coming from people as they describe their experience of prayer. And I deeply hurt for them. It is as if they are weary beyond words and wish they could be released from this terrible burden but can't find a way.
I try with everything that is within me to share with them that what holds them into a bondage of prayerlessness or prayer that lacks intimacy is what they have come to understand prayer as being - a burdensome duty.
I don't want this to be my experience. If God has prepared something for me to enjoy I want enjoy every bit of it! I hope you feel the same way.
When I find the feeling in my heart that somehow what God wants for me is a "burden" I don't let it hold me for a second. I tell myself, God and the devil that nothing God has for me is ever a burden, duty, bondage or lifeless. I then begin to praise Him for the great privilege I have to even be thought of by Him much less to be accounted worthy to share in His life. Soon my heart fills with thanksgiving and I can see correctly what a joy it is to do what He asks.
PRAYER IS THE WAY WE EXCHANGE OUR LIVES FOR THE LIFE OF GOD
Prayer is not a duty. Is the exchange of life between us and God.
Prayer is intimacy with the creator of the universe.
But even the word intimacy has been perverted so it is dangerous to use. I mean that spending time with God is better than the very best of friends spending a day just being together, talking together and immensely enjoying each other's company. Neither having to hide anything. neither having to impress the other. Both feeling that the best use of their time is just to enjoy the companionship they share in those moments.
Exodus 34:29-31
It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. 30 So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
The people were not afraid of Moses. They knew Moses. They were afraid of God. They saw God on his face. That was a different kind of encounter.
For a moment in history God let Israel and us see physically what occurs when we spend time with God. Moses face shone and he did not even know it. Why did it shine? Because the life of God was taking residence in Moses. It is that simple. We spend time with God and He enters more into our being.
What a wonderful thing that is.
Jesus showed us the same thing again when he took his disciples up to a mountain.
Matthew 17:1-2
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
The light that shone through Moses and Jesus was the light of the Father and represented the His life in their lives.
We want people to know God.
We want Him to make us able us to reveal Him to them.
When we understand what transpires when we spend time with God we will find the way to make it happen. Moses did not have to strive to make it happen. When he spent time with God it happened by the exchange of life that occurred in those meetings. It is the same with us.
Exodus 33:9-12
And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshiped, every man in his tent door.
Years ago I came to realize that it is only God's life in us that gives an authoritative witness. All Israel saw the evidence of the relationship Moses had with God. Moses did not have to tell them.
But sadly even Moses succumbed to the pressures of ministry and so in order to make sure no one noticed that the light of God was no longer on him he covered his face.
2 Corinthians 3:13
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
Joshua had a better idea. Later the young man who stayed in God's presence even when Moses left would see miracles beyond imagination and would never falter in his faith. Why? Because he understood the wonder of being in His presence continually.
Exodus 33:11
Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
This is why Paul encourages us to "PRAY WITHOUT CEASING." The secret of the exchanged life is to continually set our minds and affections on God. To live our lives at all times in a precious communion with God. He is always with us but our part is to remember and consciously keep His presence in our minds.
In that continual remaining in His presence His life is imparted into ours and our life is continually given to Him.
I have found this to be the central way I become like Him. It is being with Him face to face.
Moses went out of the presence of God and the glory faded. Instead of going back to spend time with the Lord he put the veil on so that no one would see the fading.
We all have veils that we put on when the glory is gone. But they will never bring forth life. In fact the veil serves to keep us from finding the very transformation we desire.
When we take off our veils and just spend time with the Lord in face to face encounter we are changed.
2 Corinthians 3:13-20
and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
The Exchanged Life is the life that Jesus imparts to us as we are with Him. In the end we will be so identified with Him that we will look just like Him.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Divine Exchange - part two
Matthew 13:44-46
Hidden Treasure
44"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.A Costly Pearl
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.One aspect of the great news Jesus brought to us was the priceless value of the treasure He is. Yet He assures us the requirement to have Him is to "sell all that we have" to purchase Him.
It is interesting that most of the present day proclamations of this truth stop at the treasure. Most presentations of the gospel require nothing more than an acceptance of the treasure "by faith."
In all of my early experience of evangelism or the sermons I heard at church or elsewhere I was never told that I needed to sell all that I had to purchase the treasure. I was never told that to have His life I would have to give up mine.
In all of my early experience of evangelism or the sermons I heard at church or elsewhere I was never told that I needed to sell all that I had to purchase the treasure. I was never told that to have His life I would have to give up mine.
It is strange how a certain theological understanding can literally blind us to the clearest statements of the Bible. But when Jesus first discussed these things everyone knew what He meant.
Jesus Counsels the Rich Young Ruler
17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” 20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” 21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
This does not seem to fit our modern presentation or understanding of the way of salvation. If we actually ever had someone come desperately begging us to know what it would take to gain eternal life we would probably say, "Receive Jesus as your personal Saviour." We would then lead him in a prayer that had the basics of what they used to call the sinner's prayer. Then we would assure him he had been saved and had eternal life.
Jesus took an entirely different approach. He talked first about his morality. When the man replied that he had kept the law from the time he was a child Jesus did not say it was untrue. Instead he brought in focus the real issue we all must face if we are to find salvation.
Jesus touched the one thing that stood in his way and challenged him to do the only thing that could bring him to eternal life.
Jesus touched the one thing that stood in his way and challenged him to do the only thing that could bring him to eternal life.
"Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor....." sound familiar?
The rich man did not understand Jesus to be speaking spiritually. He thought, correctly, that Jesus actually wanted him to sell everything he owned. And Jesus did in fact mean exactly what he said. He literally was asking this rich young man to sell everything and give it away to the poor.
The rich man did not understand Jesus to be speaking spiritually. He thought, correctly, that Jesus actually wanted him to sell everything he owned. And Jesus did in fact mean exactly what he said. He literally was asking this rich young man to sell everything and give it away to the poor.
Jesus continued the literal application of what He taught by telling the rich man that after he sold everything and gave it away to the poor that he would, "have treasure in heaven."
He then told him the "one thing" that he was lacking in finding eternal life. "come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
There it was and still is.... The Golgotha road to salvation is very different than the Roman Road. It does involve recognition of the failure to keep God's commands. But it does not stop there. It moves in on the core issues of our lives.
For the rich young ruler it was his wealth.
For Peter it was his work as a fisherman.
For Thomas it was the easy wealth of tax collecting.
For a nameless one it was waiting to bury his father and mother.
For the rich young ruler it was his wealth.
For Peter it was his work as a fisherman.
For Thomas it was the easy wealth of tax collecting.
For a nameless one it was waiting to bury his father and mother.
It is no mistake that Jesus went after the core issue of a man or woman's life before they started following Him. It is even less of a mistake that he said the "one thing" was to take up the cross and follow Him.
Jesus knows what must be given up to do the one thing necessary to find eternal life - taking up the cross and following Him. We must sell it to buy the freedom to follow.
Jesus understood the human heart so well. He knows no matter how we might try we cannot really serve two masters.
" No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth.
" No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other You cannot serve God and wealth."
The selling of everything was not to take something away but to make room for the true treasure to be valued as it really is. It was to free us from the preoccupation with something other than the priceless treasure.
You see I have found what something costs me is the value I will hold it in. I know that is true of you as well.
I know a man who has a stamp that he paid $17,000 for. He protects it ferociously. It is kept in the most secure place in his home. It is a square piece of paper not bigger than a normal postage stamp. I am sure he understands why it is valuable to others but I can tell you why he actually values it. He paid $17,000 for it. It is that simple. If he had paid ten cents for it he would not have had it for very long and when he lost it he would not even care. Yet all the time it could have been the same stamp that he paid $17,000 for. He only recognizes its value as what it costs him.
We do not value that which costs us nothing.
I could go on many paths with this one. It is a fundamental principle of all life.
One specific example of the failure to understand this principle is the way in which people today give themselves away sexually without any requirement of commitment. They give one of their most precious possessions away for nothing and then wonder why the person receiving it afterward treats them as if they were worth nothing.
One specific example of the failure to understand this principle is the way in which people today give themselves away sexually without any requirement of commitment. They give one of their most precious possessions away for nothing and then wonder why the person receiving it afterward treats them as if they were worth nothing.
We place great value on what costs us greatly....
We do not value what costs us nothing....
no matter what its true value is.
So Jesus says we must sell everything to purchase that which cannot be bought. He knows that the only way His life will be valued (as it must be valued if we are to take up the cross and follow Him) is for it to cost us everything.
Matthew 6:20-22
20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
All we have is a paltry sum in comparison to the priceless worth of His life. Yet it is essential we bring all we have and give it to purchase the field that the treasure is hidden in. Otherwise we will never value it at all.
Once the exchange has taken place the treasure becomes more precious with each moment.
But unless it costs us everything it is something that we can easily abandon when a more attractive offer comes along.
Like the rich young ruler Jesus tells us what it will cost us before we will be able to follow Him fully. This clarifies our motives and keeps us, like it did him, from following out of curiosity or thoughts of selfish gain.
He went away sorrowful because he would not place following Jesus as the first and only priority of his life.
He would never have to worry about serving two masters since Jesus would not allow him to.
Jesus loved him enough to tell him right up front that He would not be a part of his life unless he gave it away for Him.
He would never follow Him not knowing that Jesus would be the first allegiance of his life or be nothing.
In the same way Jesus loves us enough not to let us use Him as just another choice in our pursuit of our own ends.
The rich young ruler's heart was crying out for something and Jesus loved him enough to tell him what is was.
But He also loved him enough to not let him just casually try Him out like so many do with each other today..... with the predetermined result that they end up being worthless in each other's eyes.
We will either give everything to follow Him or we will never follow Him.
We will either give up our lives to make room for His life or we will never know His life.
We will either sell all we have and purchase the treasure that cannot be bought or we will go away sorrowfully clinging to that which we will someday lose any way.
Though modern theology may try to tells us differently, Jesus will not let us think for one moment that we can have Him without Him having all of us.
Luke 14:33
33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
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