that I may know Him
and the power
of His resurrection,
and the fellowship of
His sufferings,
being conformed to
His death,
if, by any means, I
may attain
to the resurrection
from the dead.
Philippians 3: 10 --
11
Oh! How many people try to be a spiritual saint
and in, striving to be a saint, the initiative to be a saint is towards
self-realization, rather than in knowing Jesus Christ. We live in a world that promotes self
--realization, finding ways to meditate, to look deep into your inner core, to
find some worth of yourself. People are
running off to such things as yoga, and as an exercise may not be all that bad
but far too often inculcated in the yoga is nothing more then Eastern religion. Too often, a spiritual saint looks too deep
and hard into his/her life as being secular and even to be sacred. Far too often, people are seeking and even
by, at least at times, a reckless abandonment they are seeking to become a
saint. A true and Authentic Christian
seeks to secure the knowledge of Jesus Christ's and their abandonment is all
about Him, and not about themselves.
The Holy Spirit given to all Authentic Christians upon their conversion
find that the Holy Spirit is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in
every domain of our life. What we must
come to realize is; self-realization leads to the enthrallment of work. This is that which was happening in the
Corinthian church, whereby they put as the priority of their life the exercise
of spiritual gifts, and this does happen in our modern day as well in those
churches whereby to have spiritual gifts seem to have priority over their
knowledge of Jesus Christ. A true
Authentic Christian, a saint, enthrones Jesus Christ in their work. No matter what we do in this life, secular
or theological work, whether we are eating, or drinking, or whatever it is that
we do we must realize that Jesus Christ is in everything that we do and
say. Is it not true that the Holy
Spirit resides in all Authentic Christians?
Yes! The aim of a Christian, to
be an Authentic Christian is to have the aim of knowing Jesus Christ and if
this is not the case then you are failing Him.
We are not here to realize ourselves, but to know Jesus Christ. Yes, there is work to be done in the church,
and in this world, and often we feel as though this work must be done so you
are I must do it: this is not the priority of attitude of a spiritual saint for his
aim is to secure the realization of Jesus Christ in every circumstance of life.
Returning
back, to the theme of the Bible, that is what Paul had preached and taught to
the Corinthians, and by his writing teach us, that it is the gospel that must
take the priority in our life.
Hallelujah! For an Authentic
Christian, one who has read and studied and prayed and have converted to Jesus Christ
know without a doubt that Jesus Christ died upon the cross, laid in a tomb for
three days, resurrected Himself, and ascended into heaven bodily to make
intercession for all those that God had given Him (John 17). By a man came death Paul then reminds the
Corinthians, and us: "And if Christ
is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in
Christ have perished. If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most pitiable! (1 Corinthians 15: 17 -- 18). Please!
Do not miss this point! Far too
many people have simply a hope in Jesus Christ and all they do is to attempt
in some way to feed that hope. It is
not simply our hope in Jesus Christ.
It is a fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and resurrected Himself
paying the debt owed to Himself, as God incarnate, the very Wisdom of God
clothed in flesh, and by His resurrection, all of those chosen by God to be
given to Him have the assurance of their resurrection: "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first
fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ all shall be made alive. But
each one in his own order; Christ in our first fruits, afterward those who are
Christ’s at His coming" (1 Corinthians 15: 20 -- 23). And the beginning of our study in this
letter to the Corinthian church Paul wrote:
"But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God --
-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -- -- that, as it is
written, ‘He who glories, lets him glory in the LORD" (1 Corinthians 1: 30
-- 31; Jeremiah 9 -- 24). As Paul
had written in his letter to the Roman Church where he spoke about men
exchanging the natural for the unnatural, exchanging the glory of the
imperishable God, to the representations of perishable man. They had exchanged the truth for a lie, and
by this they were giving reverence and worship to the creature in preference to
the creator: (Romans 1:21 -- 25). Is
this what is being done when our emphasis is upon signs and wonders, is signs
and wonders that which will convert people to Lord Jesus Christ? No!
Matthew wrote the words of Jesus for us: "But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign
of the prophet Jonah" (Matthew 12:39). Too many people try to imitate Jesus Christ by means of going to
and fro to somehow heal people, or in other ways to give them aid by special
prayers or revelation, but this is not what Jesus did what he did such things: "But that you may know that the Son of
Man has the power on earth to forgive sins" (Matthew 9: 6a). Yes, it is true that when Jesus sent the 12
out into the cities they were given the power to heal the sick, to cleanse the
lepers, to raise the dead, to cast out demons.
For they had freely been given and they were to freely give, but this
was not the norm for the church for there is no other command for Christians to
do that same things. Yet the most
important part of that passage, the context of that passage is that they were
to speak about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. People were to hear and believe their words,
not their signs, in their words: (Matthew 10:14).
Stop! Quit! Trying to be holy
and saintly! Live your life according
to the commands of God and be the shining light of the Gospel to whomever, and
in what ever circumstance you find yourself be obedient to God.
Behold, this is the
joy of His way,
and out of the earth others will
grow.
Behold, God will
not cast away the blameless,
nor will He uphold the evildoers,
He will yet fill
your mouth with laughing,
and your lips with rejoicing.
Job 8: 19 -- 21
This is a promise
of God
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