G - Gone With the Wind - "and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
R - Reservation Undeserved - "not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."
A - Atonement Accomplished - "Who loved me and gave Himself for me."
C - Called Without Repentance - "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."
E - Eternally Secure - "And they shall never perish."
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Nothing But This!
"That I may know Him."
What else matters but knowing Christ? We are not simply talking about being saved. There are myriads of people who claim that the Christian life is not a religion but a relationship. Then, these very same people spend their lives proving the very opposite. It is these who know so little of Christ. They make their religion a matter of being in church every time the doors are opened, giving the right amount of money, praying in the right way, taking part in every ministry of the church, dressing right, wearing their hair in a certain way, and listening to the right kind of music. Nor is this the nature of one kind of church only, but all are afflicted with it. The rules change from church to church, but they are there in all of them. But in all of this, these people do not find Christ, but only an uneasy satisfaction that they are righteous before God. I say "uneasy satisfaction" because, if they are truly God's children, they will not ever be really satisfied with these outward trappings of religion, such trappings that even the worst of reprobates can observe.
True Christianity is a religion, which, simply defined, is the worship of God. Christianity is the only true religion there is. But it is never made of only that which we see outwardly. The heart of Christianity, the heart of religion, the heart of the only true worship of God is Jesus Christ, and knowing Him. Christ is our religion. The sun of our day rises and sets upon Him; the center of all we do is Christ; He is our very life, and the reason we are so dead in our devotion and service for Him is because we do not know Him as we ought. The psalmist cried "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!" and we must do no less. When we come to the end of the rituals and rites and endless service in the flesh, we still find ourselves dry and empty. There is no life in these things. Church does not make us Christians - Christians make the church! Our churches are dead because we are practically dead in our spiritual lives on an individual basis. We are called to build up the church, not the other way around. We don't go to church to get a blessing, but to give one. We are called to share with the body what Christ is to us, and to encourage others that He is everything He says He is, because we have tried Him and found Him faithful; we have tasted and seen that He is good. But if we have not seen Him in our homes, as we have opened the Word, sitting at His feet, how can we come to church and have anything to share? How can the church grow as we ourselves are feeding upon the husks of the world, drinking water out of broken cisterns, spending money for that which is not bread, and, even in our religious activity, seeking some magic formula that will be our spirituality, and satisfy that thirst within that only Jesus Christ Himself can fill?
I don't know all that it means to know Christ, but I do know that there is a lot more to it than I have experienced. Knowing Him as I ought, my heart will be so full of His glory and beauty that sin will appear as it really is, a horrible enemy that is to be hated and found hateful. I won't have to follow some plan or program for resisting evil: His grace is sufficient. Knowing Him as I ought, it will be a delight to speak of Him everywhere. He is so lovely, so wonderful, and it will be my joy to tell others of Him. I won't need a soul-winning class, for He Himself will make me a fisher of men. Every little problem that we come to grips with in the Christian life will not be solved by focusing on those problems. Only as we turn our eyes upon Jesus, will all that is wrong in us be made right. We are so often running here and there, trying to put out the little fires that break out in our lives, and we have no peace. Frenzied activity is not the way. If we could just get away from all of that, and sit at Jesus' feet, look at His wonderful face, then, then His glory would subdue our sinful desires; then His beauty would make us beautiful; then His holiness would make us holy.
The psalmist who cried that he thirsted for God, looked for God's light and truth to lead him back to God. We too must cry out to God that He would send out His light and truth to us as well. Through His Word (as we seek Him in it, not through merely "reading our Bibles"), we will come to the holy hill of God's dwelling, to His tabernacles, to the altar (don't stop yet!) and to God Himself, through Jesus Christ. This is where the psalmist was longing to go, even beyond the veil, into the holy of holies, into fellowship with God Himself. Why cannot we all be as John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, leaning upon the breast of the Saviour? What? Shall we be content with hearing about the goodness of the Lord, and not tasting Him for ourselves? Let us not be content to simply be in the place where God is proclaimed, although that is good. Nor shall we stop at the altar where the sacrifice is made, but let us go on into the most holy place, that secret place of sweet communion with God!
I realize that I don't know even the smallest part of what I am saying here, but I do know that our religion has to be more than its outward dress, or we are no better off than any of the false religions in the world. There has to be more to it than this! Christ has to be pure joy, love, glory, holiness and so much more to us, or all of our religion is vain. There is that fellowship with Him that makes our afflictions seem light and our troubles seem small compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is my conviction that, although Heaven is still before us, it is not yet, still:
the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets.
There is more, Christian, there is more than you have seen yet! He is more glorious than you know, and He is yours! He is yours! There is a taste of Heaven on earth, if we will only come to Him, for He is Heaven!
My deep, supreme desire is not simply that I may be like Jesus, or that I may know more about Him, but
That I may know Him.
What else matters but knowing Christ? We are not simply talking about being saved. There are myriads of people who claim that the Christian life is not a religion but a relationship. Then, these very same people spend their lives proving the very opposite. It is these who know so little of Christ. They make their religion a matter of being in church every time the doors are opened, giving the right amount of money, praying in the right way, taking part in every ministry of the church, dressing right, wearing their hair in a certain way, and listening to the right kind of music. Nor is this the nature of one kind of church only, but all are afflicted with it. The rules change from church to church, but they are there in all of them. But in all of this, these people do not find Christ, but only an uneasy satisfaction that they are righteous before God. I say "uneasy satisfaction" because, if they are truly God's children, they will not ever be really satisfied with these outward trappings of religion, such trappings that even the worst of reprobates can observe.
True Christianity is a religion, which, simply defined, is the worship of God. Christianity is the only true religion there is. But it is never made of only that which we see outwardly. The heart of Christianity, the heart of religion, the heart of the only true worship of God is Jesus Christ, and knowing Him. Christ is our religion. The sun of our day rises and sets upon Him; the center of all we do is Christ; He is our very life, and the reason we are so dead in our devotion and service for Him is because we do not know Him as we ought. The psalmist cried "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!" and we must do no less. When we come to the end of the rituals and rites and endless service in the flesh, we still find ourselves dry and empty. There is no life in these things. Church does not make us Christians - Christians make the church! Our churches are dead because we are practically dead in our spiritual lives on an individual basis. We are called to build up the church, not the other way around. We don't go to church to get a blessing, but to give one. We are called to share with the body what Christ is to us, and to encourage others that He is everything He says He is, because we have tried Him and found Him faithful; we have tasted and seen that He is good. But if we have not seen Him in our homes, as we have opened the Word, sitting at His feet, how can we come to church and have anything to share? How can the church grow as we ourselves are feeding upon the husks of the world, drinking water out of broken cisterns, spending money for that which is not bread, and, even in our religious activity, seeking some magic formula that will be our spirituality, and satisfy that thirst within that only Jesus Christ Himself can fill?
I don't know all that it means to know Christ, but I do know that there is a lot more to it than I have experienced. Knowing Him as I ought, my heart will be so full of His glory and beauty that sin will appear as it really is, a horrible enemy that is to be hated and found hateful. I won't have to follow some plan or program for resisting evil: His grace is sufficient. Knowing Him as I ought, it will be a delight to speak of Him everywhere. He is so lovely, so wonderful, and it will be my joy to tell others of Him. I won't need a soul-winning class, for He Himself will make me a fisher of men. Every little problem that we come to grips with in the Christian life will not be solved by focusing on those problems. Only as we turn our eyes upon Jesus, will all that is wrong in us be made right. We are so often running here and there, trying to put out the little fires that break out in our lives, and we have no peace. Frenzied activity is not the way. If we could just get away from all of that, and sit at Jesus' feet, look at His wonderful face, then, then His glory would subdue our sinful desires; then His beauty would make us beautiful; then His holiness would make us holy.
The psalmist who cried that he thirsted for God, looked for God's light and truth to lead him back to God. We too must cry out to God that He would send out His light and truth to us as well. Through His Word (as we seek Him in it, not through merely "reading our Bibles"), we will come to the holy hill of God's dwelling, to His tabernacles, to the altar (don't stop yet!) and to God Himself, through Jesus Christ. This is where the psalmist was longing to go, even beyond the veil, into the holy of holies, into fellowship with God Himself. Why cannot we all be as John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, leaning upon the breast of the Saviour? What? Shall we be content with hearing about the goodness of the Lord, and not tasting Him for ourselves? Let us not be content to simply be in the place where God is proclaimed, although that is good. Nor shall we stop at the altar where the sacrifice is made, but let us go on into the most holy place, that secret place of sweet communion with God!
I realize that I don't know even the smallest part of what I am saying here, but I do know that our religion has to be more than its outward dress, or we are no better off than any of the false religions in the world. There has to be more to it than this! Christ has to be pure joy, love, glory, holiness and so much more to us, or all of our religion is vain. There is that fellowship with Him that makes our afflictions seem light and our troubles seem small compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. It is my conviction that, although Heaven is still before us, it is not yet, still:
the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets.
There is more, Christian, there is more than you have seen yet! He is more glorious than you know, and He is yours! He is yours! There is a taste of Heaven on earth, if we will only come to Him, for He is Heaven!
My deep, supreme desire is not simply that I may be like Jesus, or that I may know more about Him, but
That I may know Him.
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