The daily devotion (Grace for the Moment) quoted Hebrews 12:1 for today, so I ended up reading the whole chapter. It talks about the Christian race, and gives us guidance on how and why to run it.
It gives us the Method to beginning and being successful during the race
A. Set aside the sin that easily besets (1. To attack from all sides. 2. To trouble persistently)us
B. Run the race with patience
It gives us Motivation to keep running
A. Inspiration - Look to Jesus, who both created and finished the race.
- How can we be weary in the face of what he endured such contradiction of sinners against himself (v.3)
- for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame (v.2)
Joy and enduring in the same sentence. If he could find joy in His physically and spiritually demanding sacrifice, how easy should it be for us to face the small trials and temptations here that we face?
B. The goal - He endured, and it pleased God and He was set back to be in God's presence
It gives us the Means that God provides to teach us throughout the race
A. Discipline
- v. 11 - now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised [trained] thereby
- self-discipline guided by God's word is something I've found very difficult. There
are so many things I've grown to desire that the Bible tells us is wrong. There are so
many split second emotions that seem impossible to control, that the Bible reminds
us are not Christian reactions.
It is hard to have someone else tell us what is wrong and what we shouldn't do,
especially when we feel a strong desire, or a lack of control for whatever it may be. I
have found however, that when I give up or change those things because I feel
guided to, and not just because someone said so, there is a peace and a change in my
desire that eventually settles in.
Instead of giving up something, you've gained a sense of peace and accomplishment
for God's glory and growth toward Him.
Then I realize that is was God within me making the changes, and there is a sense of
peace and relief to realize I am not in control, and that He is present - and it makes
it a lot easier to hand it all over to Him when I realize He was in control in the first
place.
B. Repentance - Pastor Mike did a whole series on repentance, and it really gave me a lot to think about and to grow on spiritually. Being saved is not just about saying some words,
reading some verses, and claiming to be saved.
Repentance, defined (thanks to Wikipedia)
In Biblical Hebrew, the idea of repentance is represented by two verbs: שוב
shuv (to return) and נחם nicham (to feel sorrow).
In the New Testament, the word translated as 'repentance' is the Greek word
μετάνοια (metanoia), "after/behind one's mind", which is a compound word of
the preposition 'meta' (after, with), and the verb 'noeo' (to perceive, to think,
the result of perceiving or observing).
In this compound word the preposition combines the two meanings of time
and change, which may be denoted by 'after' and 'different'; so that the whole
compound means: 'to think differently after'.
Metanoia is therefore primarily an after-thought,
different from the former thought; a change of mind accompanied by regret
and change of conduct, "change of mind and heart", or, "change of
consciousness".
Repentance is a gift from God upon true salvation, and it results in a visible and real change
in a person. There were many times I cried for mercy from God, asked God to change me.
I believed I was saved since the age of 7 because I had read some verses with a
preacher when I raised my hand in response to "is there anyone here today who has never been saved?". I don't think that there was not a reason I raised my hand that day, and I do believe it had God in it - but I think that sometimes it is dangerous to have a hand raised when the mind doesn't fully comprehend, or when it is just in response of "I don't want to go to Hell".
Through life, I justified my actions by negating how important certain words were to our
times today, but it was a change from within that really showed me right and wrong.
It takes a desire from within to make it easy to change - changing the outside before the
inside just seems difficult and makes us defensive and apprehensive of church and all the
things of God - and works are nothing without meaning behind them.
I am thankful that Jesus was willing to be our mediator (v.24), and thankful for the Word that God gave us to show his example, and pray for the guidance to live by that example.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Salvation is always the ending of the minds fascinated identification with the dead and unchanging image of what it was. It is the complete reversal of the
"natural" order of things a METANOIA - the Greek word for repentance, meaning precisely a turning around of the mind, so that it no longer faces into the past, the land of the shadow of death, but into the Eternal Present.
So long as the mind is captivated by memory, and really feels itself to be that past image which is "I" it can do nothing to save itself; it's sacrifices are of no avail, and it's Law gives no life.
After years of therapy, I had a metamorphosis - I asked Jesus to have mercy on me & forgive me my sins. He delivered me from my inequities. Praise the Lord!!
Peace Be With You
Patrick
Post a Comment