Why?

post 125

Why do some rare people seem to find that secret place in God, enjoying overwhelming peace and rest, while most spend many years diligently reading the scriptures, praying, and begging God to respond, but hear nothing but their own thoughts?

Some claim diligent prayer is the key, others declare a committed life of service will do it, and still others are sure it can be found only with a diligent study of scripture. Then along comes the crowd that says A life of clean abstinence of all that is bad is the only way, and opposing crowds that cry We can do nothing but live in grace alone.
Yet in all these groups the majority is as tormented as the rest; “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision:…” Galatians 4:6a

"Now wait just a second!
It sure seems like an either/or situation with circumcision!
What else is there?"

The scriptures explain it but somehow in reading it we cannot understand it, though we are sure we do. Only when we earnestly see our own life from an objective point of view can we admit that clearly we have not figured it out yet. Of course we can all see this failure in each other, but we can’t seem to see it in ourselves. This is not seen so much because of a stubborn heart, as just self-preservation.
Usually at first the failing is not willful, or from a lack of trying. But after wearing ourselves out with poor results, we resort to using our imagination and fill the gap to convince ourselves we are acceptable, then in weariness we settle into a lack of trying, while blaming ourselves for not trying as hard as we should.
This is the same thing the Jews have been doing for 2000 years by banging their heads on the Wailing Wall, but they don’t seem to be any closer to the answer than when they started!

"So what gives?"

The answer is actually really easy, simple and clear. But we refuse to accept the answer because of the ridiculous cost, and so continue the search looking for an easier answer we won’t refuse.

But there isn’t one.

The only way to get to where you actually want to be in your faith, is to return to the basics and ask yourself, What will you exchange for your soul? (Mark 8:36-37)
So far, you have in your possession what you chose in exchange for your soul, but you are still unsatisfied. So isn’t it time to re-evaluate this exchange?
So I ask again, What will you take in exchange for your soul?

The correct answer is; “NOTHING!” “I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING FOR MY SOUL!”

If this is really now the answer of your heart, I have good news! The transaction you made previously can be annulled! You can buy back your soul and it can again be yours to use in surrender to your God who values it. But what do you have to use as exchange? Certainly not what you were willing to take for it, that’s why the buyer made the deal in the first place!
You have nothing worth the exchange.

Enter the buyer who can! Jesus Christ. This is called salvation: becoming a purchased slave of God.
This is the secret you need to know, in order to find that secret place with God. Only those whose souls are dedicated to him can rest in that secret place. But you gave yours away for something worth nothing.

So what did you get for your soul?

There is a wide variety of token items accepted as surety, but the tokens are not the actual agreement. Money and popularity are quite high on the token list, but so are much smaller items such as that boy that catches your eye, or the friends you want to be with. That jet-ski that will make you cool, or…
And amazingly many people exchange their soul for nothing more than the movies or magazines they want to view, or the club they want to frequent.

You see the tokens you get in exchange for your soul are just the visible trinkets showing you the transaction has been made, but these are not the transaction.

Mark 8:35 comes closer to explaining it;
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.”

But what does that mean? We all know we are not supposed to kill ourselves! So are martyrs the only ones who are saved?!
Of course not, we leave that to the religion of Islam. But don’t miss the obvious. I said it was very simple, I didn’t say it was a cheap price!

If you are martyred for God, what is left of your life?
Nothing.
What is left for you to aspire to?
Nothing.
What is left for you to defend?
Nothing.
Where are your rights to a happy family, or a nice car, or a good job, or a steak dinner out on the town once in a while? You are dead. You have no rights. You don’t exist. You have been martyred.

Right!

Now go up one verse and read Mark 8:34 “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it….”
What does it cost to follow Jesus?
Only everything!

EVERYTHING!

E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G !


You are dead in Christ! Not metaphorically or temporally, but practically:
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,…?” Colossians 2:20

Why is it so hard to grasp? If you sell yourself as a slave, then what rights do you retain? NONE.
You no longer own your own life.
It belongs to another.
You have no right to pride, or a good image, or a respectable status among your neighbors.
Yet you are still among the living so how do you reconcile that you are alive but have no rights to live it? By turning your heart toward the will of the one that owns you now. This is nothing new, you have already done this with a previous master and are now a slave to that master who owns your soul. Yet somehow we just can't see our way clear to recognize the same process might work with a different master ending in the spirit of that master.
If you do this with Jesus, you will find yourself happy, if not you will find yourself miserable.

I joined the Marine Corps back in 83. Whether I understood what I had done or not, my life was no longer my own. I had sold my life to the United States of America, to use me in its defense. It didn’t take long for me to figure out I was no longer in control!

Yet as modern Christians we have allowed ourselves to believe we can sell ourselves to God but still do as we please! But God says otherwise;

“And you hath he made truly alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins; before this, you lived according to the course of this world, according to the way things are done, the spirit that even now works in everybody else:
Among whom also we all had our lifestyles in times past in the desires of our everyday life, fulfilling the wants we have in this life and the things we think we need; and were by nature the children of sin, even as others.” Ephesians 2:1-3 paraphrased

“But God...” and then it goes on to tell all that God has done to change all that for us.
Ending with “For by grace are ye saved though faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10

Say what?
Verse 8 tell us we are saved by grace without our works, but verse 10 tells us we were made for the purpose of doing good works.

"What gives? That seems like a contradiction!"

But the topic is not ‘works or no-works’; the topic of this chapter is our being quickened, or truly alive.
When we surrender our lives to Jesus in salvation, we are literally selling ourselves to him as servants. This is represented in our baptism; we are reckoned dead with Christ and dunked, then we are reckoned risen in new life with Christ as we are brought out.
We loose our right to run our lives according to our desires, and now allow him to live his will through us as he desires. Romans 6:11-13 *1
But being hard of hearing, we listen for a moment and get nothing, so go about running our own lives as we figure he wants it run, and like all servants who run themselves, we unknowingly remain self-serving just as congress does and find ourselves again conducting our own lives just as we did while serving a different master and doing different things.
And in so doing we fail the whole spirit of grace.

The answer is to intentionally seek to turn our full attention onto Jesus.
That’s it.
Nothing extra.
No complication.
As a servant we tune our ear of attentiveness to our master.
When our full attention is turned on him, we forget ourselves. We forget our desires, we forget our needs, we forget to make a mess of things. We forget to get frustrated, and we forget to whine. We are just focused on Jesus.
Now we read our bible to let him speak to us, we pray to converse with him, we spend our time contemplating life from his perspective and the more we get to know him, the more like him we become. We find ourselves thinking and then acting like him, because imitation is the purest form of admiration. But we don’t do it to better ourselves but to do his wishes. If he wanted us to eat dirt we would gladly do that too, but that is not in his nature to direct.
But we are naturally doers, we don’t have time to sit around and wait. Yet that is exactly what the apostles were also told to do:

“and, (Jesus) being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Acts 1:4-5

A servant of God running around without the guidance of the Holy Ghost is like congress forgetting who they work for. They pass all kinds of laws they think is good for us in spite of our complaints. They have forgotten they are supposed to be working as we see fit!

The cost of salvation is the voluntary surrender of our right to run our own lives, but we can’t pay that if we have traded our soul to someone else for the things we think will make us happy. It can’t be both ways, either we run it, or he does.

The secret then is to literally die to your selfish will, and let God fill you with a new life entirely to be lived for him alone.
It is a life of sacrifice, a life of service though not with a focus on works but on serving Him. Nothing less will do. Much like what is expected in the Corps.
Are you up to the challenge?
* * * * * * *

*1
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:11-13

The tripping stone that gets most of us is the assumption that little sins don’t matter.
But it is the little ones that do us in.
While you are proud you didn’t fall to the temptations of that beautiful blond on your work trip, you have no problem watching movies that you know are not good but you have grown accustom to, or indulging in your secret vise when you can sneak it in.
After all, everyone has besetting sins that we all manage secretly.
Really?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:1

“…Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doeth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith:…” Hebrews 12:1-2

IF you will just accept the truth that you cannot indulge in milkshakes and expect to win the Triathlon, you should also be able to accept that you cannot indulge in small sins and expect to win the spiritual race.

If you stand firm on this conviction and then go about seeking God in honesty, you will find the scriptures really have all become new to you!

From the beginning:
You are a sinner.
You realize now that you really are a sinner.
Cast off this waywardness as unacceptable for a Christ follower.
Go to God in humility for a good scrubbing of all your ways and thoughts.
Then begin to seriously seek his heart as you read your scriptures.
I promise you will be amazed!