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.