Does God do because He is, or is
He because He does? This is not a brain teaser, and when you see the
application, it will cause you to do some deep thinking. This truth may
be the most pivotal though in the transformation of your mind. Does God
do because He is, or is He because He does? Does God Love because He is
Love, or is He Love because He Loves? God is Love, therefore He Loves!
How does this apply to us? Do we do to become something? Do we perform
for acceptance?
Do we conform to fit in? Do we
obey to be Christ-like? Quite simply we are talking cause and effect. So
much of what we do is our effort to be. When we know beyond a shadow of
doubt that God’s Spirit indwells us, we will yield to Him our 'do' ing.
We will then abide in the vine as our source for 'do' ing; we will learn
to rest in Him! Therefore we will do because we are in Him and He is in
us, as He and the Father are one, and in Him we are one with the Father.
God is! Therefore He does!
Think about the cause for the course of your life. Either it is your
relationship in Christ and Christ in you, or it is through your effort
with the help of Christ that signifies what we do or why we do things. If
we believe the second half, we are because of what we do, we will likely
get caught in legalism, performance-based systems, or another trap that
focuses on human effort in order to be what we believe God wants us to
be. God never intended us to live independently of Him.
When understood Christ as our only Source,
then our doing becomes everything that pleases God. Understand this truth
and you will experience the rest that God desires for you. Also, and this
is the pivotal truth, when Christ is your source, you are an expression
and Ambassador of the ‘I Am’, therefore you do! When our ‘doing’ flows
from who we are (Christ in Us) we have God’s total approval. He may not
approve of our behavior or performance. These will improve with time
through transformation as we draw our strength from Jesus.
The following resources come from being
‘in Christ’: Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and
said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may
glorify You, "as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He
should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. "And this is
eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom You have sent. "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished
the work which You have given Me to do.” -- John 17:1,4
"I pray for them. I do not pray
for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
"And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
"Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come
to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me,
that they may be one as We are. -- Jn 17:9-11
"I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; "that they
all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also
may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. "And the
glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We
are one: "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one,
and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as
You have loved Me. "And I have declared to them Your name, and will
declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in
them." -- John 17:20-23, 26
He who does not love does not
know God, for God is love. And we have known and believed the love that
God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and
God in him. -- 1 John 4:8,16
Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a
clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand
all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I
could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. -- 1 Cor 13:1-3
GOD’S
UNMERITED GIFTS OF GRACE
aith comes by hearing the testimony of the
active, living Word of God. By the grace of God we are saved through His
presence in daily lives. Understanding God’s value of us from a biblical
basis and correct theological premise increases our faith. Our need to
recognize God’s holiness and our need for forgiveness came through
someone’s effort. Did we realize our need of total redemption for our
‘being’ at the time was also an invitation to surrender to God’s desire
for Jesus to be the center of our life? Through Jesus’ atonement and
God’s acceptance we come to Him as a child of God who is lovable,
valuable, and capable. In that day of surrender to God’s plan we rejoice
in this: "I am what I am, a person made in God’s image, a Saint, redeemed
from a life once separated from God, and am now a significant part in the
body of Christ, His Church."
The Christian often lacks the
knowledge of what happens to their identity and position in Christ upon
their day of redemption. As God’s children we do not have to rely on
other people’s approval and acceptance. We are alive in the eternal life
of Christ. Christians need not struggle anymore with the issue of their
value. It is God who determined our value and worth by what God in Christ
accomplished. The lack of knowledge of our personal identification and
position in Christ contributes to the problems we face everyday.
One reason for the perception that we need
to grow and build up our self-worth to be acceptable to God is that we
previously were graded for our performance. Instead of simply accepting
God’s view and our true value the Cross declares we struggle for
acceptance, approval, and affection. Many times we base our worth
erroneously on our self-concept. Our self-concept defines the personal
beliefs we have of ourselves which is often the basis for what we say,
think, and act out. In order to mature we need to identify the process
for personal growth and understand the way we process information. We
need to look at the way we talk to ourselves and others, how we view
ourselves and our world, and become aware of and express our feelings.
Then we can act on what God says, rather than the senses we use that
affect the way we see ourselves and those around us. We are free to view
life through the grid of God’s Word more clearly - day-by-day.
God describes our value as being
in the finished work of Christ and being a joint heir with Jesus Christ.
Biblical self-esteem must frame our worth within God’s view. An accurate
understanding of God’s view will fundamentally change one’s spiritual,
emotional, and social health, which will lead to improved physical health
as well.
The basis for healthy Christian
self-esteem consists of: the confidence of being made in God’s image,
being restored to God’s image, and being equipped by his Spirit. These
are unchanging virtues. When we see ourselves as God does, we are
lovable, valuable, and capable since we know God created us, redeemed us,
and empowered us.
The concept of who we are is
revealed by God through His inspired Word. Who we perceive ourselves to
be is the foundation for living the Christian life. We should only live
according to God’s perspective. What we believe to be true should come
from: His feelings, His Word and His actions toward us. Understand this!
Our relationship in Christ establishes the value that God puts on us and
nothing else.
We express an image of ourselves
directly through the affection, care, and commitment we give to others.
We are called to serve others in His confidence since we are to rely on
His promises to fulfill their needs. The basis for the confidence we
express should hinge on the level of trust (faith) that we have in God who
provides for all of our needs. The relationship God established for us in
Christ will reflect the security we have through our relationship with God
and throughout our friendships. The absence of trust (faith) is the basis
of our insecurity. Our total acceptance by God should result in respect,
dignity, and approval of our personhood for He is our Maker.
Our joy in life comes from
accepting ourselves as God’s creation in Christ: loved, capable, forgiven,
and redeemed. When we willingly give up being the center of our world, we
can then find our security in Christ where it originates. A spiritually
healthy understanding bases our worth on God’s command to ‘love our
neighbors, even as we love ourselves.' If we do not love ourselves, we
cannot love one another. When we dare to love ourselves we find the joy
of Jesus’ eternal life effectually working in us. Only by resting in
Christ do we eventually find the peace that surpasses all understanding
that guards your heart and soul.
To receive the peace that
surpasses all understanding we need to apply both grace and truth to love
and accept ourselves. This is the example Jesus gave us. If we only
apply the Word of God to our life without receiving Him, the grace of His
presence, the result will be unrealistic expectations and a feeling of
inferiority. If we only apply grace, we will become puffed-up through
vain imagination, the sin of pride, and have unrealistic expectations of
others. When we apply both grace and truth, we become compassionate and
vulnerable. God’s love will always motivate us towards Himself through
growth and maturity rather than to have us measure our failure against the
Law and our performance.
God does not base our relationship on our
performance; God establishes us 'in Christ' solely on the completed work
of Jesus’ Cross and prior sufferings. God approves of and totally accepts
us since it is through His effort alone that He placed us ‘in Christ’.
People who do not allow the
grace of God to be the motivating factor for change will create an
atmosphere of rejection for themselves and others. Our spiritual growth
and maturity do not occur in relational vacuums. The criteria for growth
is normally in relationships. Serving involves other individuals at some
point in time. Relationships should always seeks to draw the people
involved closer to God and benefit each other.
When another person's friendship
is based on their relationship with Christ, we do not need to compare them
to others. We know them by the fruit of His Spirit. Our relationship 'in
Christ' to other believers rests on the mutual kinship that we have in
and with His Spirit. It is God’s desire that we become One in Him. When
we determine to know others according to their spiritual kinship, the
nature of our relationships will change. When our attitudes and actions
witness to His fruit our lives will reflect our mutual relationship with
Christ and then we do not worry about being rejected.
The need to compete for the approval and
acceptance belongs to the false identity or our self-life, which feeds the
sin of pride. Another way we might convey this, it is the residual affect
from remnant memories of the carnal nature.
Our fellowship in Christ will over time
unite us perfectly into one body by the transforming work of the Holy
Spirit. When we experience our Father’s love we gain wisdom, a knowledge
of the truth with understanding, which lends His compassion toward
ourselves and in our relationships. All this, simply because we know God
loves us. Our communion with God through the Word satisfies our need
completely.
Our acceptance of God's truth
did not determine that we are His children. God determined this when He
gave us the gift of faith and eternal life. He is the one who “placed us
in Christ”, (1 Cor. 1:30), after we came directly under the influence of
the Holy Spirit. The administration of God’s will for our spiritual
regeneration, as well as our mental, emotional, and physical health, are
the result of the Holy Spirit working in our life. As we realize our
total reliance upon God’s grace and accept His mercy we may truly
experience the love and see the awesomeness of our God and Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Acknowledging our salvation totally being
the gift of God will normally result in an attitude of repentance and
humility. When we understand that it is God alone that renews our heart
and spirit. Yes, our rebirth or regeneration is God’s doing. He chose
us; there is no reason a degenerate would choose to seek God. Thus, our
humility grows as we recognize and attribute to God who we are as His new
creations. We become less and He becomes more. Humility comes from
surrendering to and knowing Christ alone as our strength. Reliance upon
Jesus does give glory to God. Understanding who we are in Christ sets us
free and ignites our faith to live passionately in celebrating God’s
grace.
Our testimony of who we are in Jesus
Christ gradually transforms and renews us. As we begin to understand who
we are in Christ being content is only the initiation of what we will feel
as we live in truth. The old man is dead and our newly humbled
self-reliant nature begins reveals itself in the practice of knowing,
loving, understanding, and sharing who we are ‘in Christ’. When we
experience life in Christ we recognize and appreciate others for the joy
of our familial relationship in Him. While we see the great unwashed
through the eyes of God as, yet unknowing, potential brothers and sisters
not yet ‘born from above’.
The overwhelming and effacious
grace of God rescues creation from sin and creates in us a gratuitous
renewed heart and spirit. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus! The
key message that needs to be encouraged within the Church and proclaimed
to every person, was addressed by Paul in Ephesians 4:23,24: “...be
renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the
likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the
truth.” This is the Good News for God's creation. He is determined to
and will 'save' transforming the lives of all those who will come to
Him!
We know God’s provision for
redeeming our sinful nature is through the Cross of Jesus. What we need
to know and understand is that God crucified our carnal nature with Christ
on the Cross. Since we are the children of God we must realize the
carnal nature is an identity that is false. The reason for this
co-crucifixion is that we need to live a new life in the power of the Holy
Spirit. It is in Christ that we live and move, and have our being and
anything else is mediocre and a remnant of vanity.
When we accept Christ’s life as our life
we die to the false identity of the carnal nature. Now we can have a
vibrant, fulfilling and abundant life in Christ. The concept of exchanging
our life for the life we have in Christ has its biblical foundation in
Galatians 2:20. “For I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet
not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life I live, I live by the faith of
the Son of God who died and gave his life for me.”
When we accept God plan He exchanges our
life for Christ’s life. This simply means that we agree with God that our
carnal nature need to be crucified on the cross with Christ. Through the
gift of faith we put on Christ; we put off the carnal nature with our
mistaken identity and the power of sin!
God in His mercy gives us Christ’s eternal
life. Jesus lives through us and we receive our power and guidance
through the Holy Spirit’s presence being manifested through the fruit of
righteousness. The evidence of this truth being confirmed through His
Living Word, the Bible and God personally working in the affairs of our
lives.
As we allow Christ to live through us, we
walk in the Spirit, we have the power not do what we did when the flesh,
or carnal nature, desired. With Christ as our life we can put off the
desires of the ‘flesh’. The power of the sinful, selfish, sensual,
impure, and greedy nature is dead.
When God places us in Christ, we receive
His righteousness and holiness, which are in God’s likeness. We exchange
our carnal nature for the new nature we receive in Christ. We exchanged
our carnal nature for a new life in the Spirit, for God has given us a
spirit of love, and of power, and of a sound mind. Amen!
When we respond to the call to
salvation accepting Christ as our Life does not annihilate the
personality. Denying oneself and taking up the cross does mean that we
became free from ‘the power of sin’ that so easily reigned in life. It
does mean that the Holy Spirit empowers us learn ‘how to’, and, ‘to’
represent His redemptive presence in our life.
When we deny the desire to rely on the
false identity of the flesh we have the means to overcome the remnant
voice of our still corrupt nature with its tendency to sin. Taking up the
Cross means to deny our self-reliant nature and live by the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit, through the means of grace and agreement with God’s
judgment, transforms the mind. God the Holy Spirit exposes corrupt nature
and stills its voice when we approach His Throne of Grace through prayer.
When will we allow God to bring us to the
end of our false identity or self-life? He has already paid the price to
redeem us from the remnants of the false identity with its sinful, selfish
desires. For our benefit and His Kingdom’s purpose we need to be
transformed so God will exchange our hearts desires for His. He wants to
set us free.
We need to carefully represent and teach
the biblical view of the crucified life, the Way of the Cross. When
Christ comes to live through us, He replaces the ‘crucified self’ or
‘carnal nature’ with the “resurrected self.” This is the reality we must
emphasize when we reflect on Galatians 2:20. Although the “old self” has
died with Christ, we need to affirm that we still have a personality, an
identity, and personhood. Jesus does not reclaim, renew, or resurrect the
'old man'. Christ puts the 'old man' to death. God gives us His victory
over sin (by the Cross) to live an abundant life ‘in Christ’. His Victory
enables us to overcome the temptations of the flesh and to gain further
victory. We have eternal life which is the victory over ‘the power of
sin’ that belonged the ‘old man’ or carnal nature. We now have the
eternal life of Christ since God placed us in Christ. We are free from
the power of sin, death and hell since Jesus took away the keys.
There is one voice of the flesh or corrupt
nature. It is the voice of a false identity. The corrupt voice is what
remains from our memories. They are the remnants of the deadness we once
lived in. Our past deeds need to be dealt a death blow too. Through
forgiveness, our past deeds were dealt with, now our need is to be
transformed and sanctified through the working of reconciliation. The
grace of forgiveness can reconcile our past memories and relationships to
the benefit of everyone involved.
Our growth and maturity continues in the
process called “sanctification”. With our new relationship in Christ, we
became worthy of God’s love, mercy, and grace. The Bible clearly teaches
that we are of immense value and worth to God. He was willing to
sacrifice his Son for our salvation. We were “bought with a price”, 1
Corinthians 6:20.
With the knowledge of God’s value of His
people in mind, we can be what God wants us to be. Set free to witness to
the Truth to the glory of God’s salvation in His Christ. Now His Son’s
life is free to shine through us so that we reflect His love, light and
glory to draw His own unto Himself.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER, EVEN AS I HAVE LOVED YOU
To love ourselves began with
understanding God’s love for us. Now God can reflect His love through our
renewed heart and spirit to give others a new birth. The Holy Spirit’s
work changes our attitudes to reflect God’s love. God’s Spirit produces
godly behavior. Through His witness in us we grow in grace. We begin to
consider that the needs of others are to be as important as our needs,
wants, and desires.
When we consider that our needs and
feelings are as important as others, only then can we freely give them up,
and do so voluntarily and graciously for someone else’s benefit. Our Lord
Jesus Christ modeled this concept in Philippians 2:4-7: “Do not merely
look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of
others. Have this attitude (mindset) in yourselves which was also in
Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped (hung on to), but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men.”
Paul reflected this same attitude in Ephesians 5:28, “So husbands ought
also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own
wife loves himself.”
Unfortunately, many spouses do not love
themselves much. And in not doing so reflect the pain and anger in their
marriage relationship. When we surrender our life to Christ we increase
our ability to nourish and cherish ourselves while increasing our capacity
to love our spouse among others. There are minimal resources for loving
ourselves outside of being in Christ, and therefore minimal resources for
our family and friends. If we live consciously in Christ, we have
unlimited resources to nourish and love each other since God is and wants
to be our sole source for our self, the ‘real’ child of God. This is a
gift of God to us - the ability to be the real ‘I am’ He meant us to be.
“I can do all things in Christ
Jesus!” To know that we can do all things in Christ is affirmation.
Recognizing our spiritual life with its gifts and abilities is important
as we participate in the body of Christ. To downplay or refuse to
exercise our God-given talents is to rob others of the benefits Christ
gave through his sacrifice. When our confidence and recognition are from
God for what He does through us, we can love others, be spontaneous, and
confident thanking God giving Him all the glory. If we are also willing
to suffer for the sake of the cross God is able to do all things through
us.
A Christian should base his
self-worth on his value as a redeemed creation of God. In other words, “I
have value because of Who created and redeemed me, not because of who I am
and what I do.” God’s Word affirms our significance as ‘children of God’
and clearly states our importance to the Kingdom of God
because ‘He chose to use us’ in His plan. We can clearly see, hear, and
feel God’s love in action through our relationship in Christ. Therefore,
we can worship our Creator and Savior as a people God values.
Since we are ‘in Christ’ we can know that
we are being conformed into the image God has destined for our life.
Through our obedience and service to God, we can know we accurately
reflect Christ through God-given talents and know through our clear
conscience we have confidence as we approach God in our time of need - for
anything.
Love is a verb so it is our actions speak
louder than words. Or, to rephrase, ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’.
The outward expressions, our behavior, reflect the nature of our inner
man. Yes, it is our actions that are a direct reflection of whom we
perceive ourselves to be. If we believe that we are truly the children of
God then we will behave like them. No one will consciously behave
differently than whom they perceive themselves to be for too long a period
of time. Sinners, sin; while true saints, obey God.
We all need to be aware of who we are and
what we feel, believe, value, perceive, say and act if we are going to
obey God habitually; Christianity is a lifestyle. We are to called to be
responsible and constructive contributing to God’s kingdom. We need to
know oneself in order to be true to ourselves. Let’s call this awareness
of self, ‘who I truly am’, ‘consciousness’. God commands us to love
ourselves, however, to be aware of only myself is obsession, which is
characteristic of immature personalities. If I only learn to be aware of
my own needs this is disobedience. This is how the ‘flesh’ acts out. The
flesh, the corrupt side of human nature, tries to remain independent of
God and cannot please Him while the spirit wants to be dependent upon God
as our source. The flesh and the spirit are constantly vying for control
of our choices.
When we are aware of God, we become aware
of the needs of others. We begin to grow in ways that will enhance our
relationship with God and in doing so we easily begin to fulfill the law
of love. Being aware of my spiritual or emotional immaturity and
self-life should make us realize our need for continual growth and
change. Without the awareness that we still have a corrupt nature, we
have no chance to grow or to let someone fully into our life. When we are
self-absorbed, people can knock on our door, but they may get either no
answer, or perhaps rejection.
To see and accept ourselves as God sees us
is difficult, but it is crucial to growth and to have satisfying
relationships. The awareness of the flesh patterns in our life is
essential to healthy relationships. We cannot value ourselves or others
from the Lord God’s viewpoint without an acute awareness of who we are in
Christ. We must understand how the old flesh patterns negatively affect
life and be transformed daily. To live out our identity and remain
attached to the Vine sustains our growth in the image of Christ. When we
surrender to God as our sole source we receive the key to the kingdom and
walk consciously in the Spirit of grace and truth without effort. We rest
‘in Christ’.
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