Monthly Archives: August 2008
What Happens When We Surrender?
It is a great moment when a soul surrenders to Christ. But the road does not suddenly become all sweet and nice. The fact is God begins to work in us now if we don’t resist Him. Yes, we can resist Him even after we give ourselves to Him. Because our free will is always there. God does not bring us into bondage. After we see how Christ suffered for us, we are now called into the fellowship of His sufferings. Christ suffered pain, rejection, humiliation, sorrow, and separation. We are called to suffer and experience His sufferings. It may not be appealing but this is the way we become like Him. The disciples counted it worthy to suffer for Him. Now our lives are not our own. We should not resist the dealings of God in our lives. Nothing happens to a Christian except what God allows. All things including persecutions and trials are for our good. We have to co-operate with Him to accomplish His will in our lives. The scars of Christ have to be planted in our lives. The Apostle Paul said, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” These were not just physical marks but the marks of the sufferings that Christ suffered. We can know him only by sharing in His sufferings. It is not imagining how He suffered for us but in reality experiencing how Christ suffered for us. Christ died on a cross and He gives us all a cross to pick up and follow Him. It is a path of pain but the joy of knowing this Person far exceeds all the pain that we might suffer. Therefore the Apostle James says, “Count it all joy…” When hardships and trials come our way we count it all joy. It may not be joyful when we are going through it but we know God will fashion us in the image of His Son as we come out of it by His grace.
And What Does God Require Of You?
When some people asked Jesus what they must do, the only reply they got was, “Believe in Me.” We are not only justified by faith but we are also sanctified by faith. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Having begun in the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh” Gal. 3:3. The path to sanctification is believing that ‘Christ has been made unto us sanctification.’ Christ is our sanctification. We have to only believe that and rest from all our labors. Good works are produced by faith. James says, “Faith without works is dead.” Sincere faith produces godly works. The works that you are trying on your own strength will be possible only when faith is applied first. We do nothing to attain holiness. God does everything. Our part is to believe that. He has said, ‘I will give them a new heart and a new Spirit’ We hinder God when we try to do things with our own strength. Initially it may seem that you have to be passive. But when you receive from God in that way, He breathes his life and his holiness in us which stimulates us to good works. The working comes only after believing. We have to let go off our hands from ourselves. That is the only thing that God requires of you.
Tagged holiness, sanctification
The God of Love
God is so much greater than our mistakes. He is a God of infinite love. His love makes him patient towards us. God is longsuffering and full of mercy. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. And the blood of Christ still washes us from all our sins. It is not that God gives up on us. Most of the time it is us who give up on God. We cannot imagine a God who would love us so much despite everything. But God works slowly on us and in us Every prayer that we breathe takes us closer to Him. Every day we are drawing closer and closer to Love. The writer of Hebrews tells us to run the race with patience. Setbacks and failures should not let us down. God is always there to reach out His hand and pick us up again. If we could only believe in Him and His love. God is a God of Restoration because He is a God of Love.
Tagged love