The cares of life will choke the Word of God.
In patience (Luke 21:19) acquire, win and come to possess the true life of your soul. This does not refer to the natural reasoning of the old life. (Oswald Chambers) “We have to make our expression of the new life now form the mind of Christ. Because Jesus lives within us, we have the (1 Corinthians 2:16) mind of Christ which is (Ephesians 6:17) the helmet of salvation to protect our thinking,” (Oswald Chambers) “We must put Jesus first or there will be confusion in our thinking.” Infidels worry. Are there Christian infidels? Where does God come in? Jesus warned us (Luke 8:14) that the cares of life will choke the Word of God. Worry says that we do not believe that God can take care of us. Infidelity is disobedience. We have the Mind of Christ to instruct us, to give us spiritual knowledge and enable us to hold the thoughts, feelings and purposes of God’s heart, just as we are growing in the Christian life by converting the natural to the spiritual through obedience, we can patiently and obediently instruct our soul in accordance with the new life which God has put within us. This is the spiritually healthy soul we will possess.
If we have two minds about anything, deliberately relinquish, surrender your thoughts, ideas, opinions and reasonings and choose to form and submit to the Mind of Christ. Take more time to meditate on Jesus and in the Word of God. Then we will learn more and understand more about having the Mind of Christ. Why would any of us foolishly let the old nature dictate when we are (2 Peter 1:4) partakers of the Divine Nature? I was thinking about the man who was (Numbers 15:32-36) stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. Picking up sticks seems like a small sin but we need to grasp that the size of the sin is not the main issue. But it is the magnitude and the majesty of the terrifying holiness of God and His incomprehensible supreme power, control, authority and final judgment in all the universe, His shining breath-taking splendour. Christians never need to be afraid of God but we do need to have such reverential awe and purifying holy fear that we would never choose to disobey Him or even desire to disobey Him. God has cautioned us (Numbers 15:39, Romans 8:1) against the dictates of the flesh. When my will is surrendered, all liberty of choice (Genesis 13:9) is gone. God chooses for me.
Some things are necessary but always secondary as Jesus told us (Matthew 6:33-34) in His revolutionary Words. (Oswald Chambers) “The great concern mostly, is for our own lives and what we do to fit ourselves to live and is not for the Kingdom of God”. What Jesus said reveals how much we need the Mind of Christ. The Lord is not telling us to be careless about food, clothes, finances, etc. We represent the Master and therefore we should eat in moderation, never be sloppy or disheveled in our own attire and pay our bills on time. If we are willing the Holy Spirit is willing to bring us into harmony with these and all scriptural principles.
At the time of animal sacrifices, the sinner would (Leviticus 3:8) put both his hands on the animals head as a symbol of his sin being transferred to the animal which would make atonement for him by dying as a substitute for him. But when God (2 Corinthians 5:21) transferred my sin to Jesus, there was nothing symbolic about it. It was real. Jesus actually became my sin in His death and through His victorious resurrection (1 Corinthians 1:30) I became His righteousness. Jesus did not die for me just to keep me out of hell. I was not worth it.
Jesus died for me in order to reproduce His Life in me and make a difference in the world. At Calvary my sin was transferred to Jesus and His righteousness was transferred to me and brought me into right standing with God. I am accepted in God’s beloved Son (Ephesians 1:6) and the Lord loves me with unchanging love. I want my love for Him to be life-grooming top priority which only changes by increasing. If everything I do is because of my love for God, then everything I do (1 Corinthians 10:31) will glorify God.
We know that the Bible is true, but when it becomes ‘Living Truth’ to us – everything changes. I’m so thankful that the words I write are not just words to be written but God-given reality to experience. I remember something the Lord said to me some months ago, actually it was over a year ago. I was walking to the elevator to go down to the dining room for lunch. The Holy Spirit gave me this wonderful sentence. He said – “Bible meditation is spiritual medication to nourish and maintain a healthy soul.” Without daily feeding on God’s Word, our souls will be miserable. malformed, starving. wretched specimens of a human soul, which is being brutally neglected. We are responsible and accountable for the neglected condition of our souls. The Bible records the vocal, eternally alive Words God has spoken. They are the Living Words of the eternal God and they have (Psalms 33:9-11) self-fulfilling power. The self-fulfilling power of God’s Word is meant to be effective in our lives as we nourish and feed our souls on God’s Word. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself. If you are a stranger to the Bible, God will be a stranger to you. May you keep well (3 John 2) and be in good health even as your soul prospers.
What a privilege and relationship we enjoy as we approach the Throne of Grace with confident assurance that we are welcomed, listened to and loved. God listens to (John 9:31) those who obey Him.
Precious Master, glorious Sovereign Lord, I want to be so completely abandoned to you that I am just a vessel You will fill with Yourself and You will Yourself shine out into my world.