Make me increasingly like Jesus.
If you stay too long in the shallow water that hugs the shoreline, you will soon be saying – I’m saved and going to heaven so I don’t need to know or do anything more. I can just get on with my life. – You can never read that in your Bible.
An old hymn says:
“Launch out into the deep,
Oh, let the shoreline go,
Launch out, launch out in God’s mercy Divine,
Out where the full tides flow.”
If the light of your conscience that is within you is ignored or disobeyed and becomes darkened (Matthew 6:23) it is dense darkness. Light obeyed always brings more light. The depth of God’s mercy and grace is heart-to-heart oneness in continual unbroken communion with Him. It is intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. It is the holy privilege of obeying such a God and being involved in His glorious enterprises throughout the world. Such a life has no darkness but makes us God’s light in our desperately needy world, which is trapped and bound in satanic darkness.
Read and meditate on (Ephesians 3:16-19). For sinners who have become saints by redemption through the poured-out Blood and Atoning death of Jesus. God grants us, out of the rich treasury of His glory, to be what he created and redeemed us to be. No sense of competition, no comparing ourselves with others. Nobody else can do what you can do because God has uniquely designed us each one individually by the Holy Spirit Himself, indwelling our innermost personality. Through our faith, Christ Jesus will actually make His permanent home in our hearts.
We can experience personally the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. That we may be strong and empowered to comprehend the greatness of God’s love and be filled through our entire being with God Himself. The Holy Spirit (Romans 8:2) is the Spirit of the Spirit of the Life, which is in Christ Jesus and His desire is to reproduce that very Life in us and make us representatives and ambassadors for our glorious risen Lord Who is the King of all kings.
Oh the depths (Romans 11:33 not the shallows), of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. If we want (Ephesians 1:17) a spirit of wisdom and revelation into the mysteries and secrets of the deep and intimate knowledge of Him, we cannot stay in the shallows. We must launch out, go deeper into the unfathomable riches of God’s Word and be committed daily to a life of obedience.
Are you dabbling your toes in the shallow water by the shores, refusing to be immersed? You refuse to (Romans 13:14) clothe yourself with Jesus Christ if your decisions are based on the dictates and cravings of the flesh. We have (1 Corinthians 2:16) the mind of Christ. What do you fill your mind with? (Dr. Stanley) “The mind of Christ is our ability to choose what we will think.” Our minds and thoughts should be filled with grateful wonder as God continues (Philippians 1:6) the good work He began in us through the ongoing process of sanctification. Just to be willing clay in the loving hands of the glorious Master Potter. I can accept the ‘inevitables’ of my aging body of crumbling dust in this fallen world because I know that God uses those things in the “all things” of His purpose (Romans 8:28-29) to make me increasingly like Jesus.
If we continue in deliberate sin God will (Malachi 2:2) curse our blessings. (Gideon Lavatam) “Cursed blessings are blessings which have been reversed and replaced with judgment.”
Our impossibilities (Joshua 6:16) are God’s opportunities - - - “The Lord has given you.” They are also our opportunities to strengthen our faith and confidently trust God that the most impenetrable walls will fall.
The Lord waits (Isaiah 30:18) longing to be gracious to them who trust and wait for Him. Be patient, confident and wait for God’s perfect timing. Irritating frustrating things in life are God’s teaching tools so that we will learn patience and the great gain (1 Timothy 6:6) of godliness with contentment.
God so loved - - -
Listen! I hear a voice from the Cross, “My God why have You forsaken Me?” All the loneliness of hell and the full indescribable torment of holy wrath was in those words. How painfully those words which He expected pierced the Father’s heart but there had to be Justice before there would be Mercy. The Worthiness of the Lamb of God (John 1:29) produced Grace that is greater than all the sin of all the world. Jesus as Man became everything that He as God hated, so that (2 Corinthians 5:21) we, you and I, would become everything that God loves. Mystery! Everything we have in Christ required the heartbreak of our Triune God. We could never fathom the horrendous agonizing cost Jesus paid to purchase our redemption and salvation. God Who so loved - - - that He gave – Not I but Christ. My will and desire can come together with God’s plan and purpose because of the WORTHINESS of the victorious Lamb of God.