For as long as I can remember I have longed for so much more in my walk with the Lord. And I am learning so much of what I have known in my walk with the Lord has been based on experiences and how Jesus Christ makes me feel. Or what He can do for me. Or what He can free me from. You see I love Jesus but its a puny love compared to how much I have loved myself. I have cared more about my failures and concerned more about my succeeding than people dying without ever knowing the great love that is found in Jesus Christ and what He actually did for mankind. I have been more concerned in what I can do for people for them to hear about Jesus than knowing Him for myself. I have jockeyed with the Lord for the glory that has always and only belonged to Him. My mindset is still one of Jesus help me to do great things for you.
The gospel of Christ is not for the faint hearted. Its not for goose bumps. Its not for what I can get out of it. Its not about what feels right in the moment, or what gives me peace. Its not for my gain. Its not about Jesus being in my life. Or how He can make my life better. He is not an accessory. I can't have God's life and keep my own.
The gospel of Jesus Christ will change the lives of individuals that want a new life that is only found in him. The gospel has nothing to do with me... my desires, my thoughts, my aspirations, my wants, or my future. My whole view of Christianity has been a little... or rather a lot skewed. The Bible talks about daily dying to self. Pick up your cross daily and follow me. I was given a great analogy yesterday about what this would look like. In roman times the cross was a horrific way to die. You could easily invision yourself picking up your cross and carrying it daily. What would happen to my reputation? What would people think of me as I am walking down the street with this huge cross dragging behind me? Even in those questions, its still about me. Today we wear crosses around our necks and get them tattooed on our bodies. The cross doesn't so much embody a brutal death much in western cultures. It would more likely be today, waking up and sitting in an electric chair and turning it on and frying ourselves until there is nothing, until we have no input apart from what Christ would think. This is the key to salvation. Sin has no power when we are dead. The Bible says that if we want to actually identify with Christ we MUST die to self daily. We must partake in His suffering. We must live by the spirit. If we walk from the inside out we will not walk contrary to the will of God. But if we walk according to what our 5 senses are craving, we honestly cannot be saved. There is no victory. We will be slaves to money. We cannot please God. And our circumstances will dictate what we do.
What does it really mean to be saved? Salvation is a very dramatic thing. It should shift things. There is power in Salvation. There is no power in Religion. We know longer think for ourselves, but we have the mind of Christ.
Christianity doesn't look like religion in any shape or form. Christianity starts with self-denial not self-benefit. Religion is the biggest obstacle to Christianity. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 4, "Come follow me." The first thing we see is following Jesus, and Jesus did what He saw His father doing. If we live by the spirit, we won't gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
I don't know about you, but I can't picture living another minute with this mentality. I think that Paul says it best in Philippians chapter 3:12-14, "Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the great prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I am thankful that it is a new day. I am thankful for God's unmerited favor. I am thankful that the Lord is beginning to take the blinders off my eyes. I pray that He continually gives me understanding how to walk and understand everything that I have already been given. As followers of Jesus we have been given everything we need to live like Christ.
Lord help me to do die to my self-fulfilling ways. Help me to press on toward the goal of having your mind and being one with you. I want more of you Jesus. Transform me by the renewing of my mind. I choose to flip the switch today Lord, to sit in that chair, to give up all my rights. I choose today, Lord, to die. Have your way Lord. I will lose my life so I may be found in Christ. Please Lord, remind again tomorrow. And then please remind me the next day and the next. Teach me a lifestyle of self-denial, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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