I spent time with a good friend in Denver, Colorado this week and was gripped with a fresh awareness of just how good friends are. We are meant to be encouragers in this life rather than consuming our time and energy purely for our own comport. How sad when friends gather together with just entertainment as their main objective. We are called to do so much more if we only would listen to the Spirit of God and surrender our will to the Creator who can make our life count for something other than just being a consumer or just for entertainment.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews closes out his writing on living by faith with the challenge to live a life of wonder by being changed by those who have gone before them. He calls these people a “cloud of witnesses”.
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.
Those who have gone before us are really cheering on each and every believer to life of amazement. Satan, on the other hand, wants us to waste this life on just being consumers and spectators. Satan’s great plan is either to use discouragement or temptation to accumulate stuff and have a life long pursuit that wastes our lives. How easy it is to float down the river of life just enjoying the ride but not realizing we were made for so much more. We were not meant to live aimlessly without an eternal purpose, but to live extraordinary lives of purpose.
This week my friend Russ Frase was talking with me in the church he goes to and a young man walked in and noticed him. He walked right up to Russ and was so glad to see him. Russ’s mere face brightened this young man’s life in spite of having some rough areas he is living through. How amazing that you and I can encourage someone just by the reflection of our face without saying a word. How much more can we impact others lives by being available to give an encouraging word? We may never know how our face may bring strength to a weary soul that felt worn down and unappreciated.
The apostle Paul challenged the Galatian Christians to live in freedom without wasting that precious gift from God. Unfortunately, many believers start using their new-found freedom from their guilt of sin for the purpose of continuing the life of living for themselves. This revives the heart of God after the Lord has blessed us so.
Galatians 5:13-14
For you have been called to live in freedom—not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. 14For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The fact that you and I can live and walk in freedom is a privilege we often take for granted. Once you and I are free it is so easy to forget how miserable we felt before knowing Christ and his forgiveness. It is very easy to take His forgiveness for granted and abuse that grace. How easy to over look how bound people are around us and not have mercy on them like someone had on us. Someone took time to love us, often when we were marred by sin and selfishness, when they witnessed to us about the love of God. Paul says we “ARE” to serve one another. To love others in a way that they know it is God working in us. Paul even goes so far as to say this is the summing up of the whole law of God. Many believers think God did away with the Old Testament when, in fact, Christ did not come to do away with it, but to fulfill it so that our walk reflects how Jesus walked, loving the Father & His people.
Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Again, Paul goes on to identify why we have a tendency to live contrary to the will of God as he further explains the problem in Galatians.
Galatians 5:16-18
So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. 18But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law.
Paul says living this new life in Christ continues to be a choice every day of our lives. When he uses the term “Sinful Nature” he is talking about a life lived and reinforced by choices of the past. It has been said that if you and I can do something for 20 straight days we develop a new “Habit” that then becomes easier to do naturally. Paul says if we listen to the Holy Spirit and follow his voice we will live as we were designed, for the glory of God and not the sinful nature. Simply put, the more we do right leads to it becoming “Second Nature” or, in truth, our new nature. It’s the Holy Spirit that helps us discern when we are acting well and acting poorly. It’s the Holy Spirit that reveals the truth of God’s word so that we can live it daily. Here is the catch. Stop listening and we stop understanding. Stop understanding and we stop living a life of faith – “FAITH” is trust……trusting God more than our desires or fears.
Going back to Hebrews 12, the writer gives us a word about how to “endure” well in our Christian walk.
Hebrews 12:2-3
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven. 3Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up.
We are told to keep our “Eyes” on Jesus. The only way this is possible is with the help of the Holy Spirit. He is the revealer of all the truth of God’s word and God’s Son. The Holy Spirit helps us to finish our race well, living for the purpose of God and the joy of the saints who are cheering us on. We grow weary when we get consumed by life’s struggles and difficulties. We endure when we keep our eyes on Jesus.
Questions:
Are your struggles becoming overwhelming? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus’ face – it will change everything.
Have you found yourself living more for comfort than purpose? Seek the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Jude 24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
Pastor Dale
Leave a Comment