Good Morning Friends,
Good and evil, light and darkness are opposites. They seem to have nothing in common with each other except that they are examples of what happens in our brain when we are deciding and discerning or even experiencing cognitive dissonance. It is like facing the connection between faith and doubt. A neuron either fires or it does not fire. It is as if there is a battle going on in my brain and perhaps yours too that divides things not so easily divided. So too God’s word judges and divides in much the same simple manner. But then it also redeems and shows forth God’s Grace. Maybe that is why Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Hopefully our mind and body are eventually unified in the truth. Still ultimately, people seem to be either for God or against God. We see this in Jesus’ life. And we may see this in our lives and culture as well. But then we do not see as God sees. Thankfully, if we are identifying with Christ, we can begin to understand how our choices and decisions come together to help us live a more abundant life. We begin to piece things…peace things… together for a purpose more like triumphantly bearing fruit than working and struggling for an outcome. So, Do You Know How To Live Victoriously?
Scripture: I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:19-23 (NRSV)
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Luke 12:49-53 (NRSV)
Message: Just saying that Jesus is your Lord does not make you a follower of Jesus. You must follow Jesus, doing the will of the Father. That is the way of living victoriously. It is not just at conversion but ongoing experience of God. And as with many aspects of our faith, there is a both/and connection we must have toward God that helps us live in the paradox of life. So, we look to God with awe and reverence, and we look to God with affection and joy. We look to God with fear and love. And so too, we are baptized with water and with fire. So, the message here is that we are to experience the fullness of the Gospel in both our conversion and sanctification. And the fusion of these two strands of thought DNA and spiritual DNA is what I am getting at. The whole idea of dividing and breaking and reconnecting into one is at play here. And so, I guess I would count it a virtue this infusion of the Holy Spirit into our hearts so we can think more clearly each day. For this is not a once and done deal but a gift that we are to practice every day as we take what has been broken and reconnect it into a new victory for God’s glory. Though the Bible presents the Devil as a powerful and cunning opponent that lulls us to sleep and enslaves us by anesthetizing us in weak moral systems and a desensitized conscience, it also tells us that Christians can have victory over this enemy. Paul describes it as putting on the full armor of God and fighting the good fight. But sometimes we are our own enemy. That is why it is important to learn who we are and to be intentional about understanding our identity in Christ. We are to awaken to our purpose and mission and commit to growth, seeking wise counsel and choosing to connect with the power of God through our imagination and love. In this regard too few understand that the development of character is more important than achievement. We get it backwards. That is why Jesus flips everything around in the sermon on the mount. Ultimate victory here is in learning the truth about what it means to be human with God’s help.
And So, when we become Christians, we are set free from our bondage to sin, but we must then strive to be slaves of righteousness. Everyone either serves sin or God. And so, we are at war and the battle is inside each of us that is a baptism of fire. Victory is in Jesus and in us if we would just let the light of Christ shine in and through us in the corner of the world in which we live so others might catch fire in the Spirit. Because Jesus is the truth and the war is all about what is true, we are to find strength in shining the light and fire of optimism and cheerfulness while providing a helping hand for those in need. Victory is in Jesus because he was and is the master of Himself, never losing his head. He was and is the master of circumstances and the master of men, teaching each of us how to master our lives with God’s help becoming who we were designed to be.
Pray we live victoriously. Pray we are daily soaking up the truth of scripture. Pray we read scripture clearly and fully. Pray we are real and honest about the experience. Pray we seek God’s answers to our questions and put them into a daily routine in your life. Pray we realize that God’s Word divides believers and unbelievers. Pray we do not delude ourselves into thinking we are in control of our own lives and our own destinies. Pray still that we would make good decisions. Pray that all the factors that influence us converge in a way so that Christ would be glorified in our lives. Pray we are sanctified. Pray we replicate holiness by identifying with Christ at his death, burial, and resurrection. Pray we multiply God’s love for us by taking what is broken and divided and joining it together in a new way. Pray we are living on the foundation of Christ’s faith in a way that helps us to live a victorious life in the Spirit of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 