| Dear One,
Before my feet ever hit the floor this
morning, I had a conversation with God. It was relatively one-sided; He
did a lot of listening. But I thought you might be interested in hearing
a condensed version of that monologue, so here goes.
[ACTION - stretch, wiggle feet, rub
both eyes] "Good Morning, Lord. Thanks for keeping that dog across
the street quiet last night so that I could sleep with my bedroom window
open. Boy, I had forgotten how much fun it is to sleep this way! From
the sounds outside my bedroom window, seems like it’s going to be
another beautiful day. I can hear your birds singing and I can hear the
wind blowing every so slightly through the trees. I can see thin rays of
light hitting the chest of drawers across the room and every now and
then I can feel that cool breeze across my covers. [ACTION - snuggle,
snuggle] Oh, and thanks so much for this fall weather...I love it!
Now before I begin my day, Lord, I want
to let you know that I want to act female today. I want to walk like a
female; I want to put on my lipstick like a female; yes Sir, and I even
want to express my thoughts like a female. But, I know that the only way
that will ever happen is if I depend upon you. So, I’m putting you on
notice that I’m with the program and am dedicated to reminding myself
over and over again to act female..."
Okay, okay. You caught me - I’ve set
you up. I never had that conversation with God. But I’m very
interested in your thoughts about it. Do you think it’s up to me to
make choices throughout the day to act female? No? Oh, I see. So,
because you know that you’re female, you just "female". In
other words, you’re convinced of your physical identity so the rest
just takes care of itself. Hmmmm. There’s something very familiar
about all of this, don’t you agree?
So, here’s the question - if you and
I are convinced of our physical identity (female) then why aren’t we
convinced of our spiritual identity? Now what in the world would make me
wonder such a thing? Well, I guess it’s the fact that we seem to need
concentrated and repeated reminding of who we are in Christ. Okay, if
you’re not buying that, then tell me why would we choose a pattern of
reminding ourselves over and over again to depend upon Christ throughout
the day if we’re convinced that we have no other life than His?
That’s like asking a man who is being kept alive by a respirator to
remember to depend on the machine rather than his own inability to
breathe. What would be the point? The machine is his only means of life!
It’s the same thing with the Christian life. Why are we not just
resting in who we are and letting Him take care of the rest? (HINT: This
is a good question for those who are especially tired and frustrated.)
Now I know that there are those people
who would say that dependency upon Christ is kinda like a light switch.
It can be turned off and on. And, so goes our choice to turn Him
"on" as our source of dependency throughout the course of each
and every day. From the insignificant moments of our day to the most
difficult challenges - it’s up to us to remind ourselves to choose to
be dependent upon Him. Matter of fact, I would say that until recently,
I’ve embraced that kind of teaching. But there has always been
something in the back of my mind that didn’t quite settle right.
Somehow it still seemed that there was an element of the abundant life
or walk of faith that was dependent upon me – I was on the hook to
repeatedly choose Jesus throughout the day. Well, let's take a look at
what Watchman Nee says about maintaining dependence upon God’s
presence in his book, "The Release of the Spirit":
"Two years after a certain brother
trusted in the Lord, he read The Practice of the Presence of God by
Brother Lawrence. After reading it, he felt grieved at his failure to
abide unceasingly in the presence of God like Brother Lawrence. At that
time he had hourly appointments to pray with someone. Why? Well, the
Bible says, ‘Pray unceasingly,’ so they changed it to ‘Pray every
hour.’ Every time they heard the clock strike the hour, they would
pray. They exerted their utmost effort to retreat into God because they
felt they could not maintain themselves in the continuous presence of
God. It was as if they had slipped away while working and thus needed to
retreat quickly back to God. They prayed often... Nevertheless, the
trouble remained; in withdrawing they enjoyed God’s presence, but in
going forth they lost it. Of course this is not their problem alone;
such is the experience of many Christians. It indicates we are trying to
maintain God’s presence by our memory. This is sheer
foolishness..."
Foolishness – I know that I’ve
heard it before. Matter of fact, I’m pretty certain that I’ve seen
that word directed towards those in Galatia who were also trying to add
their own spin to what He had already begun (Galatians 3:3). So, just
like those foolish Galatians, if you and I are not convinced of our
right standing before God, we may try to add something to what He has
already done on our behalf by assuring and re-assuring ourselves that we
are right with Him...right?
Enter the prevalent pattern of
reminding ourselves over and over again that we need to depend upon Him.
Listen, if there is any dependency needed in our walk of faith, it’s
being able to depend on the liberating truth that He has done it all.
Just like the man on the respirator - it isn't about remembering to
depend on the machine - it's about the dependability of the respirator.
Doesn’t it stand to reason that if
you’re convinced He has done it all, you can be assured that there
isn’t anything that you can add to His finished work? And, if you’re
convinced that He is dedicated to willing, working and completing the
work that He began in you, don’t you think He’s quite capable of
doing it without your acts of dependency? To put it rather bluntly –
if it’s all about Him (past, present and future), where do our choices
of dependency fit in? Could it be that it’s not about our displays of
dependency, but rather it’s all about His act of faithfulness by the
cross? It’s His faithfulness that provided everything that we already
have in Christ and it will be His faithfulness that wills, works and
completes His good work in each one of us.
So, rather than reminding yourself to
be dependent via choices throughout the day, how about just resting in
this one choice? Do you choose to believe that you are in right standing
with God and that there is nothing that you can do to add to your right
standing with God, there is nothing that you can do to diminish your
right standing with God and there is nothing you can do to maintain your
right standing with God? If so, please be encouraged - that’s the only
choice that will permanently satisfy – no repetition necessary.
And, then the Good News begins to look
even better and better - He has given us the total package – all the
options, in every color, with all the bells and whistles! And do you
know what? It’s okay to believe it because it’s true! It’s
incredibly incredible! Not only has He done it all but He is also
committed to maturing us up, too. Now, that’s GREAT news! That’s the
kind of news that I want to wake up to every morning.
Hmmm. Speaking of early morning –
specifically tomorrow morning. If I wanted to start my morning by
talking with the Lord, do you know what I would talk with Him about? I
think it would be a time of worship and praise and it would sound
something like this: "Good Morning, Lord. Thank you for everything
that You have already done on my behalf and everything that You are
going to do! I just want to lay here in bed this morning and praise the
glorious, magnificent name of Christ Jesus! Between me and the birds and
the cool breeze – we’re giving You all the glory! What a relief to
know that it’s You and You alone. [ACTION - big sigh of relief] Thank
you for convincing me because I AM CONVINCED..."
I love you,
Marcy
marcy@gospelfortoday.org
P. S. Take a moment to read through these verses of Scripture.
You’ll see how the written Word always testifies to what the Living
Word has already done and continues to do - Colossians 1:6, Romans 1:16;
2 Corinthians 12:9; Hebrews 1:3; Thessalonians 2:13 and Hebrews
13:20-21.
P.P.S.
Read Part 1 of the Walk of Faith teaching series, "Are
You Convinced?"
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