Post by 4him on Oct 19, 2009 17:10:13 GMT -7
Recently I feel like God has been challenging me to rediscover a truth from his Word. It’s one which I’ve been aware before, but it’s a truth that he seems to be leading me to dig deeper into-like breaking open a chunk of rock to extract the gold within. Here’s the truth; “Christ promises us resurrection life-his new life”, but in order for His life to flow through us, we need to die. I’ve been mediating recently on those words Jesus spoke that are recorded in John 12:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” So here he reveals that the key to the abundant ‘life’ that brings lasting fulfillment, is tied up with our experiencing the ‘death’ that must first take place in order for Christ’s life to reign in us. Just as a seed, when it is planted into the ground loses itself, and the ‘seed form’ gives way to the ‘plant form’, so it must be in our lives. We must experience ‘death’ in our lives, in order to see Christ’s new life taking shape in us. Sometimes in the past, when God’s brought to my mind the need to consecrate myself more fully to him, my ‘flesh’ tends to be repulsed by this idea. The flesh likes to protect itself; it doesn’t really relish death. I was thinking of how God’s workings in the life of a Christian are often presented in scripture, as being like that of a refining fire. Sometimes the trials which God deems necessary in our lives in order for more of Christ to be formed in us, are not pleasant.
There’s also another metaphor that could be used to grasp how God’s refining fire brings about ‘new life’ in us. It’s the image of what takes place in an area of land such as a forest, after a fire has devastated the area. First of all, it’s interesting to consider the fact that it is only the most hardy of plants, which tend to survive a fire. Furthermore, in the area where a fire has taken place, it’s often the case that after a fire, the number of species of plants that remain and continue to thrive is small, compared to the number existing before the fire. So this lines up with the truth that the work of the Spirit in our lives always serves to uproot and do away with those things that impede God’s ability to use us and flow through us. God wants to reduce all the things in our lives that compete with him for time and attention, and wants to establish godly priorities in our lives. That way, He takes preeminence in our lives, as our rightful Lord and master. There’s that compelling question he always seems to be challenging us with, ‘What’s competing with Me for being number 1 in your life right now ?”
I remember the first time God really drove home to me some of these truths about the spiritual connection between our ‘death’ and Christ’s resurrection ‘life’. I was in high school, and was dating my first girlfriend. At the time, I was full of a sense of promise and excitement, thinking about how this girl, this new relationship, could make me happier, more popular etc etc. However, the thing was that despite all the promise that this new relationship held, a few months into it, it wasn’t bringing me all that I thought it would. Instead, I felt dissatisfied in it. I believe there were a number of reasons for this, but one of them was that the expectations I had for the relationship were rooted in ‘self interests’. For this reason, this relationship was destined never to satisfy, because it was taking the place which God alone was meant to hold in my heart.
I remember clearly how God brought this dating relationship to a conclusion. I had been aware of the fact that ‘things hadn’t been working out’ and yet my understanding of ‘why’ this was the case was incomplete. I remember at the time having thoughts go through my mind like, ‘What if Keith from my youth group becomes interested in Christine and starts showing an interest in her ?’, and that sort of thing. My ‘self life’ was holding on to what it thought was rightfully mine, and whenever the self life dominates, our lives are bound to be marked by insecurity. However, praise God, he brought about a resolution to this situation ! Feeling a lack of peace about my relationship with this girl, I prayed to God for help. His spiritual solution for my problem came about when he brought to mind that great Old testament story of Abraham offering up Isaac on the altar.
This story is such an amazing one, and can teach us so many powerful lessons about how God wants to operate in our lives. When I reflected on this story, one burning question filled my mind. ‘Are you willing to put your Isaac up on the altar ?”. I took this to mean, “Are you willing to not have a girlfriend at this time, if that’s what I think is best ?” At first I wrestled with the idea, but finally I found myself willing to have whatever God thought was best for me. When this happened, I felt a huge sense of peace flood into me. Later, I felt like God confirmed to me that breaking off the relationship was indeed his will for my life. The way this came about was when my mom, who is a godly woman and has always been one of my most trusted advisors, approached me to share some concerns with me. She said that ‘it had seemed like I had been feeling unhappy lately and maybe this relationship with this girl was not what God wanted for my life’. Despite the sense of loss I felt in the short term, God soon brought about a realization that this was for the best, and years later when I would meet my wife-to-be Janelle, I came to understand more fully the purposes that God had for my life in the dating process.
One final thought on this whole area of Christ wanting to work his resurrection life into us : a man on a cross is never able to bring about his own crucifixion. Someone else always needs to put him to death ! If we imagine a man trying to put nails in his feet while his arms are already fixed to a tree, this makes the idea of bringing about our own crucifixion unimaginable, and downright ludicrous ! However, I do believe that we need to cooperate with God’s Spirit in the work he is wanting to accomplish in our lives. Thinking back to the metaphor of putting ‘our Isaac’ on the altar , in addition to committing Isaac’s life into God’s hands (remarkably) Abraham was even required to carry out the actions of preparing the wood on the altar. This was wood that was to be set on fire which would consume his life’s most cherished possession. I believe that as difficult as these actions must have been for Abraham, when the provision was made through the substitution of a lamb for Isaac’s life, how much greater must have been the sense of joy and gratefulness that followed. So it is that in a similar way God calls us ( in Romans 12) to offer our lives a living sacrifice and then Christ, the ultimate lamb, graciously exchanges his beauty for our ashes.
In Jesus,
John
