Yesterday I shared that I ran a chain of passages that I really did not like.
Why?
Well, they tell me to do things that I really do not want to do, and further, at which I am not really very good.
Bottom line those passages tell me that I am to put other people’s needs ahead of my own. The instruction does not seem limited to Sunday either. Seems like the expectation is it should be a way of life for me. To add insult to injury the chain seems to be saying this behavior should extend to my speech. I am to say only things that build up other people.
Boy!
So the reality is if I am following Christ aright, all my consideration should be what is best for all of the other people in my life and my words toward them should be calculated either to draw them to the Lord or else closer to Him.
Makes me tired.
I can’t do it.
The only hope I have in this is that Christ lived this way. Colossians 3:1 – 3, Romans 6:3 – 11, and Galatians 2:20 tell me that the life I now live is His life. That means that through Him, I should be able to do what He says.
I fail. I am weak.
So glad that 2 Corinthians 12:9 is there and true.
Well, they tell me to do things that I really do not want to do, and further, at which I am not really very good.
Bottom line those passages tell me that I am to put other people’s needs ahead of my own. The instruction does not seem limited to Sunday either. Seems like the expectation is it should be a way of life for me. To add insult to injury the chain seems to be saying this behavior should extend to my speech. I am to say only things that build up other people.
Boy!
So the reality is if I am following Christ aright, all my consideration should be what is best for all of the other people in my life and my words toward them should be calculated either to draw them to the Lord or else closer to Him.
Makes me tired.
I can’t do it.
The only hope I have in this is that Christ lived this way. Colossians 3:1 – 3, Romans 6:3 – 11, and Galatians 2:20 tell me that the life I now live is His life. That means that through Him, I should be able to do what He says.
I fail. I am weak.
So glad that 2 Corinthians 12:9 is there and true.
I must add to the list at least one more, 2 Cor. 5:21: "For our sake he (the Father) made him (the Son) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
ReplyDeleteIf any man could wear out a verse I would be the one to exhaust this one.
John MacArthur wrote, "On the cross Jesus wasn't a sinner but God treated Him as if He were, and you aren't righteous but God treats you as if you are. On the cross God treated Jesus as if He had lived your life, so He could treat you as if you had lived His."
I can only struggle on against the rebellion in my flesh because I am forgiven already, and every moment is a new moment of His life longing to live in, and through, me.