Philippians 3:10, “that I may
know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Yesterday’s post titled “Materialism”
was my longest post to date. I talked of how in my spirit three separate concepts
have come into question within me simultaneously. Those concepts being
materialism, community, and redemption. The tendency is to over complicate
things and begin to wonder how the three are related, is God requiring
something of me? Is He trying to reveal some big secret? Is there some trick of
catch to all of this? And the answer is a resounding "no" to all the questions.
When God is drawing us to
look at anything Kingdom related He is ALWAYS drawing us to look at Christ. Yes
I am learning details about myself as it relates to the three subjects, but
those details at the end of the day will be how I am different from Jesus so
that He can present Himself in a fuller way.
For example, materialism…
Christ in no way was materialistic. He was never motivated by a paycheck. He
was never deterred or alarmed by any temporary lack of anything. On community,
we are the body of Christ. True Christianity as a whole is an inseparable
community, and to want to separate is really to be a cancer within that body. As
for redemption, Christ is the Redeemer.
So everything always comes
back to Jesus.
My mother engaged me in a
discussion the other day about a book she had read and “judgment coming to
America.” The book went into great detail pulling American history together all
the way back to George Washington, and somehow tying it all with the Prophet in
2 Chronicles 7 where He quoted God saying, “and My people who are called by My
name humble themselves and pray and see My face and turn from their wicked
ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
As she went into one event after another I thought, “how complicated.” Who has
time to go and check every detail for facts, because if one little detail is
off, one point of history is made up the whole theory falls a part. Beyond that
what does it have to do with Christ. The very passage screams of Christ. Christ
is how God hears us, Christ is how we are forgiven. And Christ is the door to
an INDIVIDUAL relationship with Christ. We are no longer under judgment as
nations. We are under judgment as individuals because of Christ. If this were
not the case then our redemption would be dependent upon someone else.
If spiritual life were that
complicated then only the intelligent would know God, and that is not true at
all.
Rabbi Lapin said something
that rings so true. “We are spiritual beings in a body. We are not a body with
a soul.” Spiritual understanding, relationship with God is from the inside out,
not the outside in. When we are in right relationship, when we are believing
the truth then there is peace and joy and fruits of the spirit. If something
from the world, from outside our spirit is bothering us it is because we are
not agreeing with the truth that is found in Christ.
For me Christ is
showing me the truth about materialism, community, and redemption. In that
process I am confused because it is different from my current beliefs. Can you see this? But the point
is not to make me a better theologian. The point is the let me see
Jesus more clearly, and to become more like Him.
In the past I would
complicate things. I would assume I am on some path to find some great
spiritual truth, some secret spiritual formula to living successfully, to
achieving my desired results. But God is simply saying, ‘here Jeff, let me show
you Christ; but to see Him we have to change some of your preconceptions that
are not founded in truth.’
My prayer is that as you get
confused in your spiritual growth that you will remember it is not that
complicated. It is all about Jesus and being in right relationship with Him to
see the truth.
For the video below consider the remote control Jesus... what lengths we go to to get to Him when He is just an arms length away.
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