There won’t be any cute photos in this post. This is the one where the topic of discipline, to which I’ve pointed in the previous two posts, comes to a conclusion. Remember, this is discipline as in training, not punishment. Happy conclusion? Let’s call it satisfied conclusion. Not much happy in difficulties as that which prompted these past few months of study and tearful prayer.
The idea that God allows opportunities like my recent situation to test my resolve to trust Him, obey what I read in His Word, and truly grow in right living frees me from a degree of anxiety. It answers a bit of the “Why is this happening?” that can plague a heart and mind. I’ve been pleased to consider God is giving me an open door to growing more in love, or patience, or contentment with the opposing frustration that has come my way. I understand that we learn to be more loving when those in our circle are hard to love. We learn to be patient when forced to wait. We learn to be content when we face loss. We learn that the supply of the Holy Spirit’s fruit is truly efficacious and unlimited.
But what about when the pain coming our way is darker, sharper, more debilitating than we’ve seen before? Tears blur the vision both outwardly and inwardly. Our feet feel cemented to the ground and forward motion seems impossible.
This is discipline in the raw. The Heavenly Father is training us, using pain to expose misplaced affections and totally wrong responses. I’ve seen an important goal come more and more into focus as I walk this.
Live as Jesus lived.
That’s it. Getting that simple-sounding goal rooted in my heart and programmed in practice will prompt every necessary change, not only in perspective, but also action.
Let’s look at just three components of how we live out our life, how we relate to those around us and how scripture directs us. My misplaced affections and wrong responses were exposed quickly here.
Christ Himself spoke the words, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you (emphasis added), that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). The disciples knew they were to love others, but do you catch the new thing in those words? Hint: bold print. The “love your neighbor as yourself” has been given a dramatic upgrade. Now love is to be sacrificial, unconditional, because that is how Jesus has loved us. Think on that for a moment. Loving each other sacrificially, unconditionally is how we will be identified as followers of Christ… not by the gold cross around our neck, the bumper sticker on our car, or even the way we dress or how we spend our Sundays. Loving each other well is the sign.
Then there’s forgiveness… Christ has “forgiven us all our transgressions” (Colossians 2:13) and we are instructed to “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32 (emphasis mine). No exceptions noted to the directive to forgive, and that means No Exceptions.
Our third unmistably Christlike trait is humility. Paul describes it in Philippians 2:3-8, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Here, my friend, is the epitome of humility, and we are clearly called to emulate this. Did those words jump out at you as they did to me? Humility is the polar opposite of pride and self-promotion, which are the basic requirements for advancement in our world today. But according to scripture we are instructed to be humble and obedient to the Father’s instruction, regardless of the apparent, potential harm to ourselves. Have we ever experienced that level of humility and obedience?
With Christ as my example, it is crystal clear my version of love, forgiveness, and humility is extremely lacking. Lacking so much in fact, it is apparent my response to that offense was not born of His provision (ie the Holy Spirit’s supply of holy fruit), but born of my own flesh instead.
In writing to the believers in Galatia, Paul gives clear instruction on an important choice to live yielded to the Holy Spirit and not our own flesh.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh… Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:16, 19-21.
Perhaps our day to day life exhibits more sanctified choices than not, but our bent towards responding to offense in any of these ways clearly proclaims to all the world here is a person ruled by her flesh. Deliver snubs or rejections sufficiently beyond our own ability to overlook, throw tumble-causing jabs at the idol we’ve made of our self-esteem, our happiness, our status, and the result could be strife and outbursts of anger to a degree not seen before. Give us a moment and a cell phone with which to share “our side” of the story and soon we have serious dissensions in place with all the ugly, angry, prideful, but “justified” accountings of the terrible wounds.
When we yield to our flesh, oh! the lies we embrace…
God doesn’t see me.
God doesn’t care.
God is unable to help.
God isn’t here,
and the really big one,
God is not enough.
I’ve purposefully left out the details of the hurt behind the discipline event here with me, because the details don’t really matter. Your specifics, mine, his over there will all be different today. Tomorrow I may get a dose of what you experienced last week, next week you may be walking where I am today. The bottom line of it all is that
God is growing us,
and He intends to use everything in our lives to show us His eye is always on us, He loves us with a love deeper and truer than we can ever imagine, He is mighty to save, He will never leave us or abandon us, and He is our ultimate sufficiency, worthy of our trust.
God is growing us. Regardless of which rug you feel has been yanked out from under you leaving you broken and bruised… finances, relationships, health, or anything else… if we have agreed with God on our sinfulness and embraced that beautiful, blood-bought new life Jesus offers, we are safe, loved, provided for, accepted fully by God because of the work of Christ and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We need nothing else.
Our life as believers is NOT Jesus + good health,
Jesus + abundance,
Jesus + community.
Sometimes it requires losing finances, relationships, health, or anything else, for us to realize He is truly all we need.
Let’s embrace the training, the discipline, God is giving us. Let’s live as Jesus lived, demonstrating to our world true love, forgiveness, humility, and resist those wicked, self-focused, destructive tendencies.
This may seem totally impossible. The longer our enemy can keep us convinced of that, the longer we will struggle, and the weaker we will become. The longer our eyes stay focused on our wounds, our pain, OURSELVES, the less we are reflecting Christ… and, the more control our enemy has gained over us.
Listen to me, it doesn’t have to be hard. Make the choice. Thank the Father for His promised help. Step out, believing God is there, even if all is dark and quiet. That’s what faith is and that’s where it grows stronger. Here and now is the training ground and you can believe me when I say, “You are not alone.”
moonbeamsandsalt 