What are you known for?

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34-35 ESV

I've been pondering the Christian's testimony to the world and how we are to reflect our Savior. Thinking in that light gave me a fresh view of Jesus' words above in chapter 13 of John.

All people will know we are Jesus' disciples by the love we have for each other. Conversely, it can be argued that all people will NOT know we are His disciples if we DON'T show love to one another. That means if we don't show love to each other, we damage our testimony with the outside world. We have lost one of the opportunities to witness by our actions.

It must be said that Christian love does not applaud sin, but from fellowship to discipline, Christian love reflects Christ. Our love for believers means more than we sometimes think. It is validation of our words, and Jesus' words of love. It is conformation that Jesus IS really changing us and that we really ARE  now born from above. Let's not miss these opportunities.

What does the outside world see when they look at us as a body of believers? Would Jesus be pleased? What can we individually do to improve that view as ambassadors for Christ?

Keys to our next victory

(Image from Freedigitalphotos.net)

How easy it is to surrender spiritual victories! Did you know that once we have won a spiritual battle, it is not over? In many ways, once the battle is over, a new test begins.

I am reminded of a great battle that Gideon won for the Israelites. It was so great they wanted to make him king. They begged him to rule over them because "he saved them." (Judges 8:22) Gideon passed his first test, answered rightly and said, "I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you.” (Judges 8:23b ESV)

So far so good. What he does next  is a very human thing to do. He commemorates the event.  Gideon asks them for all the gold that was taken in battle and he made an ephod from it. Though we don't know his motivation, there is really nothing wrong yet...an ephod is simply the garment the high priests wear. His next step is where he trips up and takes Israel with him.

There is some discussion whether the ephod was only the ephod itself or a gold idol wearing the ephod. Either way, Gideon sins and leads Israel into sin. Scripture says, "And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family" (Judges 8:27 ESV)

Realize brothers and sisters, we are always being observed - and when we fall into sin,  our sins can lead others into sin as well. Often the very people we care most and want to protect are the ones entangled with us.

How often do we find ourselves in the same position as Gideon? We are powerless in a situation. We are humbled. We cry out to God and the Lord gives us a victory. We do well at first. We give God glory and maybe even commemorate the event somehow. But then, do we take the glory from God? All to often we can find ourselves worshipping the blessing instead of the Blessor. 

Or maybe God's movement in our lives fades into the back of our minds and we begin to believe it was because of our strength or intellect. We slowly begin to reshape history in our mind and little by little take the credit from the LORD.

This is human nature. God knowing His people well, warned Israel of this very thing: 

And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Take care lest you forget the LORD your God..., lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,...... Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:10-19 ESV)

The Bible teaches that, "whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4b NASB)

Let us learn from the past. Our next victory begins with realizing the test continues long after the battle has been won.

Power Perfected in Weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)

"He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of Thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst?"—Judges 15:18.

AMSON was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was totally different from any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! but when the thirst was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so specially been delivered.

It is very usual for God's people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes "halting on his thigh!" Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when he said, "I have slain a thousand men." His boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of humbling His people.

Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he said, "I am this day weak, though anointed king." You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson's thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson's words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long.

C. H. Spurgeon

Which door did you walk through today?

I recently missed a delivery and got a notice to pick up the package at the post office or fill out the re-delivery slip to have it delivered on my chosen day. Trying to affect my schedule as little as possible, rather than picking it up, I dutifully filled out the re-delivery slip and put in the mailbox. The next day, to my chagrin, the postman delivered new mail but left my re-delivery slip in the mailbox right where I put it. I retrieve the slip and call the phone number on the back of the paper and through the automated voice at the other end of the phone, arrange for re-delivery. On the appointed day I wait at home only to watch the mailman drive right past our house. Despite getting a confirmation number, I had not been scheduled for re-delivery.

Strangely, the delivery slip tells me to pick it up not at the post office that delivers our mail, but one about 30 minutes away. In the evening, we muddle through traffic, walk into the building and are greeted by a very long line. After a 20 minute wait, we walk up to the counter expectantly and hand the clerk our ticket. He takes our pink piece of paper to the back. Upon returning he looks at me with compassion in his eyes, hands me back the paper and said, "They gave you the wrong slip." Then he proceeds to tell me that the package is in fact, waiting for me at the post office close to our house.

Thankfully, the aforementioned Post Office was not only close by, but they had not yet returned the package to the sender. Mission successful.

Why do I share this with you? Because, as Christians, many situations we find ourselves in are tests. They are designed to teach us, to make us into "better people", more conformed to Christ's image. They are an opportunity to grow our faith and our character.

The moral of the story: In the end, all I had to do was travel five minutes to the post office near my house to retrieve the package. Yet, that was not the door I chose.  Isn't that often how it is in life? In hind sight we look back on an event in our lives and realize, "if we had only..." or "we could just have..."

Aside from honing my skills in patience, I was reminded that when events happen in life (especially events with real meaning, unlike this one) to pray right at the beginning for eyes to see the door the Lord wants us to walk through. I did not pray for direction at the beginning of this event, but I hope it taught me to pray for direction at the next one - however big or small it may be.

Sometimes the path that lies behind His door will be easy and sometimes it will be difficult, but we can take solace knowing it is the LORD'S path, and we are taking the route He wants us to be on.

Which door did you walk through today? Yours or His? 

I guarantee, if you choose His, while it may not always be less taxing on the flesh, it will always be easier on the soul. Always pray for direction and always take the high road. Sometimes what seems clear seen through our eyes only truly becomes clear when seen through God's eyes.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:1-2 HCSB

Grace, Grace, Grace!

In Romans 6, Paul asks, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" The next verse he quickly answers with a, "God Forbid." (KJV) or "May it never be!" (NASB)

Even Christians that desperately desire to please God,  at times find that their thoughts or behaviors fall short of God's standards. In these times, we praise God for His grace and His forgiveness. His forgiveness runs deep!!

Grace is not an excuse to sin, rather, it is a comfort when we sin. 

Child of the King, if you have strayed, it is never to late to run back into the arms of God who loves you. While you have breath, you can return. Jesus is the master at making old things new and defiled things pure.(Malachi 3:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17) He is also the master of creating something where nothing existed. (Romans 4:17, John 2:1-11, Genesis 1:1-31)

Don't fret because your arms are empty and your heart is drained. Just come home. 

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. - Revelation 22:17

To Live is Christ!

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"For me to live is Christ."—Philippians 1:21.

HE believer did not always live to Christ. He began to do so when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace he was brought to see the dying Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new and celestial birth the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is to believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all that we have. He has so completely won our love, that it beats alone for Him; to His glory we would live, and in defence of His gospel we would die; He is the pattern of our life, and the model after which we would sculpture our character. Paul's words mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ—nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he did eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your business—are you doing itfor Christ? Is it not done for self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, "Is that a mean reason?" For the Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ; how can he live for another object without committing a spiritual adultery? Many there are who carry out this principle in some measure; but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for Christ as the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian—its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word—Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in Thee and to Thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, "Ready for either."

-C.H. Spurgeon