I’m thinking about Jesus and how much different his ministery looks from mine, that the difference is so great I have to wonder if I am a Christian. Oh, I have the theology, but my life is revealing little real compassion for the “harassed and helpless”. How have I responded to the prayer of Jesus for laborers to enter the field with him to labor for lost souls? Why am I not mingling my life with theirs as Jesus has done for me? Why am I so far removed from people who feel their need? How much more time must I spend with those who have the word of God and all his blessings already at their finger tips?

“And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
(Matthew 9:35-38 ESV)

So I have to ask myself again, am I a laborer in the field like Jesus, having compassion on the harassed and helpless, or does his description of Laodicea best fit me? (Rev. 3.14-22)

As I was walking my little dog a few minutes ago I was thinking of how Jesus would minister today in the cities as the “Word of God made flesh” among people.

How can I minister in Louisville, Kentucky like Jesus? Or is it not how, but when? Do I need more “stuff”, do I need more money or someone’s permission? Isn’t it really my desire to have an easy life, a preference, even a demand to be safe in everthing I do? What am I willing to sacrifice of myself to have compassion for those who are suffering in their want and need?

I’m reminded of what Jesus said through the prophet Isaiah to a self-satisfied Israel. May God have mercy on us, on me, for my selfishness and neglect; may he lead me “in paths of righteousness for his name sake”.

    “Is not this the fast that I choose:
        to loose the bonds of wickedness,
        to undo the straps of the yoke,
    to let the oppressed go free,
        and to break every yoke?
    Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
        and bring the homeless poor into your house;
    when you see the naked, to cover him,
        and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
    Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
        and your healing shall spring up speedily;
    your righteousness shall go before you;
        the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
    Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
        you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
    If you take away the yoke from your midst,
        the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
    if you pour yourself out for the hungry
        and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
    then shall your light rise in the darkness
        and your gloom be as the noonday.
    And the LORD will guide you continually
        and satisfy your desire in scorched places
        and make your bones strong;
    and you shall be like a watered garden,
        like a spring of water,
        whose waters do not fail.
    And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
        you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
    you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
        the restorer of streets to dwell in.
(Isaiah 58:6-12 ESV)

“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1.14

 Here is the mystery of godliness, that God should become a man so that he might live among us and save us from our sins by the sacrifice of himself on a cross. Have we who live today seen his glory?  What is the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ? Do we live for his glory or for the glory of another?

Just hours before his trial and crucifixion Jesus prayed, “Father the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” John 17.2-5

This text is supported by John’s earlier statement: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not  receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God”. John 1.10-13

To see the glory of God in Christ we must believe on the name of his Son and be born again. Jesus explained this more fully when he said to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless on is born again (marg. “born from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God….Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’. The wind blows where is wishes, and you hear it’s sound, but you do not know where it comes from or what it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit”. 

We are born again, born of the Spirit when we receive in our hearts the testimony of the Spirit concerning who Jesus is and what he does for us. Jesus said that if he was “lifted up” he would draw all men to himself. The Spirit testifies to the hearts of those who behold Christ crucified that this is the Son of God who the Father sent into the world.This is the Son of God who has authority to give eternal life to whomever God wills, to those who seeing Jesus uplifted on the cross believe on his name.

To believe on the name of Jesus means to accept his character as the Word of God who was made flesh, to accept him as Lord of our life, following him and obeying him in all things. All authority is given him over all flesh. Accepting him means accepting his authority, letting his Word rule in our hearts, shaping and defining our values over and against those of the world. Believing on the name of Jesus means a submission of the life, the whole of one’s life, the whole of one’s being, into the hands of the Son of God. 

Faith in Jesus Christ means trusting ourselves completely to him, believing that his words are spirit and life, that he is the Light of the World, the One who gives his life for the life of the world. Faith means to be so fully submitted to him that his life becomes our life. Jesus used the strongest possible metaphor to teach this truth, saying, “Except you it my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you”. There can be no greater surrender of the self than to say I will not no longer live by my own authority, but will fully accept the Word of God in every part of my being. Along with Jesus, the believer will then say, “My will is to do the will of him who sent me”. 

“Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4.4). Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the Word who was with God and was God from the beginning, is the true life of the world. God has been trying to teach us this lesson from the beginning of creation. There is only life in his Word. To separate from the authority of the Word of God is to choose death. Such was the lesson Adam and Eve learned and it is the lesson every lost soul since them must either accept or reject. 

During his forty days of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus quoted the words of Deuteronomy 8.3 to his tempter. He said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God. This is the central issue in the great controversy between God and Satan. Will the heavenly universe, including human beings, accept the foundation of life in and as the authority of his Son or will it believe the deceptions of Satan?  In the beginning, Lucifer, the archangel of God, the choir master of heaven, the highest angel of the angelic host, he resisted the authority of God and his Son. The spirit that chooses the will of the creature over the will of the creator is the spirit of Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, the accuser of God and his children. The spiritual battle taking place in the world, in every human heart, is over the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Will we accept the reign of God in Christ or that of his enemy who is destined for eternal death?

One of Lucifer’s greatest deceptions today has been received by many in the churches. It is the lie that one can have the forgiveness of sins and remain a child of God without a continual surrender of the will to Christ. We may fall to temptation. All have. However, that does not mean we are thrown out of the family of God. Through repentance and faith our union with Christ can be restored in it’s fullness. But, if we refuse to repent of our sin and sinfulness, justifying our rebellious will, we will eventually believe the delusion that our unsanctified will is in harmony with the will of Christ. As the sinful heart hardens in those who were once Christians, in order to keep the illusion of acceptance with God, they remake Jesus in their own image, the image of a creature. Adopting a lifestyle that glories themselves, they become idolaters. Even their appearance changes as they make themselves the center of attention. 

Evidence of this idolatry in a Christian is manifested in a lost love for the Word of God. The world’s value becomes their morality rather than the Word of God. What was once a hunger and thirst for the Word of God becomes a lust for the things of the flesh. The Spirit of Christ is grieved within in them and if persistently rejected they come to a place of darkness so deep they can no longer find repentance. “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.” (Hebrews 6.4-8)

Our only safety in the war between the flesh and the Spirit, our only hope in resisting the temptations of Satan and the world, our only peace, is in the daily death of self through faith in the Word of God made flesh, who was crucified and rose again for our redemption. Of this kind of discipleship under his authority he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9.23-26)

For a Christian to claim faith in Christ without a full submission to his word is to declare their shame in the crucified Son of God. It is a rejection of his authority, the authority of Christ in his humility and self-sacrifice. Discipleship in Christ means a daily surrender of the whole person to his word, to live as one baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is to take God’s name as taking his character. 

It was the whole person of Christ who was crucified and those who claim his death for their sin must be dead to that sin in their whole person. The body itself remains a “body of death” as Paul said, corrupt in it’s being. Nothing good dwells in us, that is, in the flesh. However, if we belong to Christ we are not in the flesh, but alive in the Spirit if the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. And if we do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are not his (Rom. 8.9). Therefore, the one who trust in Christ will put way the things of the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do….And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5.17,24). 

We see thousands today who profess a love for Christ but do not follow him. Their lives are witness to the authority of Satan in their lives rather than the authority of the son of God. Having a form of godliness they deny it’s power, being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3.4,5). An atmosphere of darkness surrounds them, a darkness they call light, because they have succumbed to the temptations of the devil. “Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Rom. 1.32). Not only in their homes but in their public lives they reveal a lust for the things of this world. Jesus said, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2.15-17). But despite this word, you will see large numbers of men and women claiming a walk with Christ living after the flesh.

What does sin in the flesh look like as a lifestyle? “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” Galatians 5.19-21. You will hear protest from some Christians that they don’t practice these things, but is that true? The evidence is often visible. You will see them at the theater, spending their God given money and time, absorbed in plays or films that are full of immorality, impurity, sensuality, drunkness, envy, jealousy, and other similar sins. If not in public, they use the stewardship of God’s grace to purchase expensive “entertainment” systems, filingl their lives with a never ending round of stories, events, pictures, and sounds that drown out the voice of God. Violence, lust, blaspheme against Christ, cursing, and everything other kind of impurity are filling homes today through commonly accepted media. A constant round of advertisement pummels the senses with a desire for more, more, more, of what the lower nature craves. Sex and the envy of others, touted by the famous actors, celebrities, sports figures, and any one seen as a “star”, are used to sell us all the illicit desire we can hold. 

Sports and other contest are also a lust of many today. Though Christ condemns by his word and example the spirit of, “rivalries, dissensions, and divisions”, men and women not only dedicate their time and talent to activities that are driven by these desires, by a lust for competition and dominance over others, but they pass these passions to their children almost daily. Being “better than” another is counted for more than the humility of Christ, who “did not come to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many.” The pride and ambition of the games in bringing glory to the players through, “team work”, in a spirit of rivalry is claimed as, “character building”.

Of course, team work is approved by God. Jesus defined it by calling twelve disciples to himself and showing them how to work together for the uplifting of fallen human beings. However, God means for his church to use their talents, not in glorifying themselves, not in a race to see who is the greatest among us, but in building up the body of Christ through a union with God and his Word. It is unity, not division that God commends. 

The deception in professional sports today is that unity is achieved through division, that a “team” of human beings are promoting something good, while in reality they unite to war against each other. And for what? A trophy or award or some other recognition that says, “We won. We were better than you. Our skills, our ‘team work’ was greater than yours. We are the greatest”. If you doubt this spirit, watch the celebrations, the drunkeness that follows, the excess, the parades of human pride, even rioting and death that follow the, “Winners”. The fruit of the competitions are orgies of human pride that have nothing to do with the Spirit of Christ and his authority in the earth. But such sports and games are baptized by ministers and Christians alike as the ideal way to spend an afternoon in the presence of God.  Time, money, talent, and life itself are wasted in the glorification of the creature over the Creator. 

Far more could be offered as examples in the apostasy of Christianity as it follows the Beast prophesied in Revelation instead of the Lamb of God. All one has to do is measure the activity, the sentiment, the value against what we see in the life of Jesus. Does it bear the fruit of the Spirit? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control; against such things there is no law. Is this what we see in our lives, in our homes, in the lives of our children, or our church? Or is a lust for the pleasures of this world? God wants us to enjoy life, to enjoy his pleasure, the fruit of his creation. He longs for us to enjoy the pleasure of his holiness as revealed in his only Son. Is that our longing? Is that what we live for? Would we sacrifice anything for him who sacrificed all for us? Do are activities lead us to a deeper consecration to God in prayer and his Word? Is Christ the center of our thoughts and affections hour by hour? Whom do we love, Christ or the world? 

The Christian is called to “walk as he walked’, a walk in union with him through his Spirit, not in works of the flesh. Such walk is not hidden but evident to everyone around us. When Christ is the light of our life he cannot be hidden. Our thoughts, voice, and actions will be in harmony with him. Filled with his Spirit, we abide in him and bear fruit for righteousness, being sanctified by the truth that is in us. If Christ is our life our life will witness to the fact. We will hate sin and love righteousness, not merely in words, but with our whole being. Others will know without a doubt that we have been born again, not of a corruptible seed, but by the incorruptible, living Word of God. 

Christ is calling for repentance today. He calls those back who have fallen from grace into the practicing and approving the vilest sins. Despite the evil promoted in his name, just as he did with Isarel in their apostasy, he pleads with his church today to return to him with repentance, confession, and faith in his blood for the forgiveness of their sins. 

Some are responding, a few here and there. Before Christ returns more will hear his Word of repentance and return to him in loyalty to his broken law. A remnant of this earth will be harvested for eternal life by Christ and his angels when he returns. Will we be among the saved or the lost? That is the question we must ask ourselves each day. Does my life reflect the life Christ gave for me? Those who say yes will give evidence of their new and renewed faith by taking up their cross daily and following him. 

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price”. Rev. 21.17

The gospel is the good news of salvation (Isa. 40.9-10) fulfilled according to the Scriptures, “in Christ”, “in the Lord”, “with Christ”, “in him”, and, “through him”. He who the prophets proclaimed as the Messianic deliverer of his people, a Savior from sin, was now manifested in the flesh as Jesus Christ, Son of man, Son of God. The promises has purpose and is is fulfilled, “in Christ”, the Messiah. As Peter also said, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Pet. 1.3-4, emphasis mine)

The root of the gospel, according to the Scriptures, is Christ “for us” (Rom. 5.8) in his historical acts; the fruit of the gospel is Christ “in us” (Rom. 8.9-11; 2 Cor. 13.5; Gal. 4.19; Col 1.27). 

We are naturally led to ask, How does Christ dwell in us? How are we in Christ and he in us? Through his word: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…(Col. 3.16); “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8.31). The word in us and the Spirit of God in us agree. Word and Spirit abide in us and we in God by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit God has “breathed” into us when he speaks to us. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4.12).

And,

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him…It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6.56, 63)

As did his Lord, Paul did not preach Christ crucified only as past event, but his death and resurrection as present within his own life (Gal. 2.20; Rom. 6). I don’t mean in the mythic or kerygmatic sense, i.e. Bultmann, but as a union with the living Christ who makes us a “new creation” in himself. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESV

It is by incorporation with the risen Lord, (i.e. Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Church), that we show his death “till he comes”. The cross is as much an existential (existing in life now) and eschatological (last day) experience as a historical past because Christ is risen. He is the Living Word made flesh then, the Son of man even now. We are united with him in both his death to sin and life to God by faith in is action for us.

However, since we are still corrupted with sinful flesh, living in what Paul called the, “body of death” (Rom. 7.24), the body that waits along with the whole creation, groaning for redemption (Rom. 8.34), his death must become ours daily through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we are no longer debtors to the flesh under the law but are free in the Spirit to bear fruit for righteousness and the glory of God. All of which is by grace through faith in his propitiation.

That is the theology I’m expressing in simpler terms in many of my thoughts here and in other places, in writing, preaching, teaching, and counseling. It is the understanding of the gospel I seek to live by.

I do not accept any hyper-Calvinism that restricts a definition of the gospel to a past forensic event that is solely defined by justification and only for the “elect” who God (not according to Scripture) has preordained to be saved. My understanding of the gospel today is based on a soteriology that grows out of Christology. The person as much as the work of Christ is proclaimed as good news,“…which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 1.2-4, emphasis mine).

As Philip Melancthon said during the Reformation, “We know Christ by his benefits”. The benefits of his death are meant to bring us into relationship with him, to reconcile us to God, not to separate us as has become the case in popular Christianity, where we often see a dominance of the cheap grace Bonhoeffer decried, a grace that justifies the sin rather than the sinner. The gospel is a call to discipleship, “in Christ”, a proclamation of the good news that in Christ, God is with us, so near with us the church on earth can be called the “body of Christ”.

Our incorporation is so close in our identification with Christ that the many become one in him. The church is the group which becomes one with him as he is with his Father, thus fulfilling his eschatological prayer in John 17. 21-22:

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Such a theology, such an understanding of the gospel is implicit in the apostle Paul’s prayer for the church, “…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3.16-19)

God is calling us in Christ to a higher, richer, fuller spiritual life with him than we have had. His call is always, “much more”, to his children. We have this calling made sure in Christ when we receive his Word as our flesh and blood, as that living power which recreates us into the image of God, the image of God that is the image of Christ and him crucified (Bonhoeffer). In Christ we are dead to sin and alive to the righteousness of God. Love fills the heart (Rom. 5.5). Unity in diversity pervades the incorporated body of Christ, the church that is made the church through a baptism in one Spirit by her one Lord (1 Cor. 12.13).

Christ will bring this about before he returns. The remnant of the Apocalypse will follow the Lamb wherever he goes, a guileless group, undefiled with a false gospel, as pure in faith as virgins, a faith purified as gold is tested in the fire (Rev. 14.1-5). These are the days. These are the days of the Mighty Conquerer who, “rent the veil in two”, who removed the wall of hostility between God and ourselves and one another,  making peace by the blood of his cross (Eph. 2.14; Col. 1.20).  These are the days when the call of the everlasting gospel (Rev. 14.6) will go out to, “every nation and tribe and language and people” (Rev. 14.6), saying, “Come out of her my people” (Rev. 18.4-5). The chaff is winnowed from the wheat (Matt. 3.12; Rev. 14. 15-16), the grapes are crushed in the press (Rev. 14.19-20), and the saints are seated with Christ on his throne at the right hand of God. (Rev. 3.21). In these days the old covenant promise, integrated with the new, will be fulfilled, “…and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth”, and, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Rev. 1.6; cf. Ex. 19.6; Rev. 21.3,7; cf. Ex. 6.7; Lev. 22.33; Deut. 29.13-14)

At that time, in these days, the cry will go up to meet Christ in the clouds, “ It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9 ESV)” And we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thess. 4.17).

For many reasons, a good number of people around and close to me have lost hope. Hopelessness can be seen on their faces, heard in their voices. The weight of loss sits on their slumped shoulders and is seen in their sad eyes. A variety of weighty matters fuel their loss – bad economic news, dismal job prospects, family conflict, deteriorating health, broken relationships, and failed dreams. The people, places, and prospects that once filled their lives and gave them purpose have collapsed beneath them. These friends now drift on a sea of hopelessness, not sure of where they are going or what is beyond the horizon. Their loss of hope is more than a funk or a phase. It is a deep malaise that engulfs and rules. read more 

“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. “Father, glorify your name”. ~ John 12.27-28a

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

~Philippians 2:5-11 ESV

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

~Galatians 6:14 ESV

Postmodern Christianity is epitomized by it’s spiritual synchronicity. Jesus is merely one of many ways to God or he is tolerant of conflicting moralities or spiritualities because he puts human need, human demands above the holiness of his Father. I reject that. It is not the Christ of Scripture, the Christ who came to me in my sin. Nor is this the Christ I depend on for his continual ministry of forgiveness for my inherent corruption. It is not the Christ who gave all of himself for me then and continues to do so now. 

It is all or nothing in the Christian life. We cannot follow him at our leisure or by the dictates of our feelings. I expect much from Christians because Jesus expects much. If a disciple cannot take up his cross and follow Christ he has no part in Christ. So said the Savior. So it is. 

We will certainly have differences of opinion, difference of theology, and different levels between us in our spiritual growth. But that is not the same as differences in loyalty. To honor Christ, to love God in Christ with all the mind, heart, feelings, and strength means much more than many suppose. It means giving the whole heart, all of our time, talent, energy, education, and will to him. He is to be the center of our dreams, the hope of every desire, the one and only way of eternal life. 

I have joy, hope, faith, and love living in me. Mine is a serious joy, not the hilarity of a fool or a giggling superficiality. And I do get angry. I live with intensity, yet I enjoy deep periods of peace. I do get sad. Sometimes I am simply sick at heart. The complacent compromising of Laodecean Christians sickens me. How can it not if I welcome the abiding spirit of Christ who himself says such self-satisfied Christianity sickens him? I make the call to repentance he makes because I am yoked with him. I have no options to choose from. I want none. I have tasted the sin of this life, far more than many imagine or have heard. Christ paid a terrible price to save me. He labored long and hard, “even unto death”, so that I might be saved. I owe him everything. Nothing about this life is a game to me, a pleasant aside while I wait for his return. My life is “a battle and a march” (White).

March with me, war with me, but don’t ask me out to play. I am about my Father’s business as Christ, my Master, commands. 

       “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

      And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

(Colossians 1:15-23 ESV)

       As you meditate on this passage would you say that today your life reflected the preeminence of Christ or of Satan? What have your thoughts, your words, your actions said about your devotion to one or the other? Whose character did you reflect today? Do you have room for repentance or are you hardened in your sin? Did you, today, live to proclaim the “unsearchable riches of Christ”? Today is the day of salvation in Christ. What have you done, what will you do?

       I ask myself these question today and everyday. When I find sin in my life, when I have betrayed Christ ignorantly or stubbornly went my own way, I have, to this point, returned to him with repentance. Christ himself reveals my sin, as the darkness has blinded me to the way home. This is his glory, not mine, that he would love me and delivery me from my enemy, even from myself. He is truly all in all.