From the Inside Out

Matthew 18:4, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

“Whoever then humbles himself…”

Have you ever meditated on these words of Jesus? Where is humility? Is it in the spirit, the soul, or the body? Who is responsible for creating humility in us? Is the scripture saying that we ourselves must search, and strive for humility?

Why do we as Christiandom at large continue to rely on, put faith in, and promote the external? Why do we as human kind believe there is some will power, God power, or exterior help that can change our behavior so that the outside is clean enough to come into relationship with God? Or as my friend George pointed out to me the other day, "When has philosophy or theology ever solved evil?"

“Whoever then humbles himself…” whoever digs deep in the recesses of the soul and acknowledges the truth. The truth that we all fail dramatically in comparison to Christ… he is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Christianity is an inside out, not an outside in kingdom. Christianity is not a top down organization. It is a Christ in everything, not above everything. Jesus said, “I am the vine.” All that is in His kingdom is connected to Him.

The kingdom is a seed sown Jesus tells us. We are the ground in which it is sown, therefore where is the kingdom and where does it grow? Inside of us.

“The kingdom suffers violence,” Jesus said. Where is that war, where is the violence? It is inside of us.

The kingdom is like a mustard seed, it is like leaven… all growing inside the soil or the flour which is us.

The kingdom is like a merchant, a dragnet, a man casting seed… it finds us. God is responsible. Our responsibility is to look within. To look deep within and find that place in the soul that has come into relationship with Christ and to explore, enjoy, develop that relationship.

The kingdom is not the vineyard, it is not the work of harvesting the vineyard. It is not the worker, the work day, or the wage. The kingdom is the owner of the vineyard. The work and reward come after the relationship to the owner. 

Do you see?

The still small voice of God is inside you. The work is inside you. The change that needs to happen is inside you. Christ is inside you. Turn inward. Stare at your heart and see the truth of who you are. It is humbling when you admit it. It is more humbling when you live it.

I do not have it right. You do not have it right. Only Christ has it right, and you will only see that perfection in relationship. Then, God willing, after the relationship grows to a daily, even constant awareness you may somehow live a portion of it. 

Perfect?

Christ on the Cross - Rembrandt

Hebrew 10:14, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."

No sooner do I write It's a Process, and the Holy Spirit confronts me with Hebrews 10:14. How can we be in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ like Romans 8:29 tells us, and already be perfect? Is this a contradiction of scripture?

Of course scripture talks about dying with Him and being raised in Him, and so far as He is perfect and sanctified then we are too... or at least that is how the Father sees us. How confusing it all can be until we obtain the mind of God in a matter. I for one know that my actions, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and more are far from perfect. So I defer to T Austin-Sparks for a little enlightenment on how we as imperfect in our flesh are made perfect in spirit by Jesus.

He says, "The calling and position of the Lord’s people as set forth in this letter (Hebrews)and elsewhere, is shown to be heavenly not earthly, and that from the divine standpoint is final. That is God’s conclusion, that is God’s settled mind: the church is heavenly and not earthly. The church is not becoming heavenly, it is not going to heaven. From God’s standpoint it is now heavenly, utterly and finally. But we are not going to stay with that for the moment."

As a result this perfection and sanctification that God sees, He sees within the confines and definition of the kingdom of God. We walk on earth, walking out our sanctification, that in the spirit is perfect, but in the flesh a weak example. So the progression, the process if you will, occurs on the level of spirit ruling over flesh. The spirit is reborn, it is perfected, it is sanctified, it is the image of Christ, but it is not in charge immediately at salvation.

So the progression is the process of that spirit being in charge of our soul. The soul being that which knows good and evil. The soul makes a moment by moment choice between flesh and Christ, and the progression is that the soul is constantly presented with receiving the kingdom of God or forfeiting it. This is in part the violent confrontation Jesus spoke of when He said, the kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force. This war on the border of good and evil is every present in our soul.

So we are perfect in Christ. We are perfect in spirit, and God judges entrance into the kingdom of God based on this spirit. But so long as we walk on earth, and in its dying imperfection, the perfect will be at conflict with the imperfect in us, until we obtain unity, and until we attain a life marked with the image of Christ.

As I looked for an image to go along with this post I was searching for something that signified perfection. As I looked through the images under than search term I was not shocked, but perhaps thankful that what I saw is no longer my definition of perfection. Instead I picked Perfection in the position to bring perfection to our spirits.