'The cross which
condemned sin to death is an accomplished fact: all which remains for us to do
is to acknowledge and receive it. But the cross through which we forfeit our
soul life is different. Self-denial is not a matter already and completely
accomplished; this we must experience daily.'
The Spiritual Man-
Watchman Nee
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.
Luk_9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
The power that
enable us to choose God not once, but daily- hourly, minutely, is the same
power that leaves us room to choose otherwise.
Think about it for a
moment. If in a moment of -once and forever choosing - your choice was sin and
you were never able to find forgiveness after that, how horrific would that be?
We long to be able
to choose to follow Christ once and forever never to sin again, never to leave
His path, never to lose Him. We wish the power of choice was taken away after
we make that choice so that it'd be impossible for us to ever stray from Him.
Yet in desiring that
choice as long as sin exists is also desiring that once and forever choice to
sin. We can't have one without the
other.
We can't have our
power of choice stripped from us.
The angels had to
make a choice- a once and forever choice without chance of any change once that
choice was made. They had their moment of decision and 1/3 chose to leave God,
and 2/3 chose to remain with God. Those
1/3 who chose to leave God made that forever choice and have no chance at all
whatsoever to be God's again.
We all have a choice
to make, and in making that choice we then have a daily choice to live by. And
as long as we live and have our faculties of discernment we must make that
daily choice. The daily choice consisting of living each day by taking up our cross
no matter what that cross may be. Taking
up that cross and choosing the path God that lays before us -over the path that
satan invites us to walk down. Ours isn't an angel choice but a human choice
given to us by God made flesh. Our power of choosing comes with choosing to
live in Christ, surrendered to Christ.
Satan will lay out
traps for us on a daily basis using all his wiles to do so. The first trap of
the day could be as simple as finding a piece of dirty laundry on the floor
instead of the hamper- something that has been known to irritate you into
lashing out at the laundry offender.
So there you have
it, a cross to pick up or ignore. Do you
deal with the laundry situation in a way that you imagine Christ would have you
deal with it, or do you choose to use a way Satan would enjoy witnessing?
You say you have a
right to be angry, upset, or generally miffed at the offender. Yes, there is
such a thing as righteous indignation- a right to be angry, but how often does
that righteous indignation lead us down the path of unrighteous action?
Ask yourself why you
are angry? Is the offensive piece of laundry defying God in any way? Probably
not. Is the dirty laundry offending you? If you answer yes, how is it offending
you? Do you instantly think that you
should NOT have to pick up someone else's dirty laundry? That the offender
should pick up after themselves? That by leaving the laundry right there on the
floor where it doesn't belong you are being shown a lack of respect? Is your SELF offended by the laundry
offender? It could be any number of these reasons, or all of them, right? You
want dirty laundry in its rightful place - the hamper. It's your desire for it
to be where you've determined it belongs.
Do you happen to notice the number of the word 'you' being used?
Is it a fact the
dirty laundry belongs in the laundry hamper? YES.
Is it a fact that
not everyone feels an inclination to be tidy? YES.
Is that laundry a
deciding factor on Your eternal life? Maybe.
What? Maybe? Why-
maybe? Because you could let that irritant infuriate you into acting completely
unloving towards another person.
Is there a way to
deal with that dirty laundry without letting yourself get caught up in going
overboard and being hurtful towards another?
Yes. You could be a matter-of-fact in asking the person to pick up the
laundry, without any judgment on their lack of respect towards you. You could
pick up the laundry yourself- it is after all only a piece of clothing out of
place for whatever reason the offender had. And I'm sure there are even more
ways to deal with the situation.
The point being made
here, or trying to be made, is satan using our lives to get us to focus on
ourselves so that we become easily offended by any number of things. Whether it
is dirty laundry strewn about the floor out of its proper place, or dirty dishes,
or an unwashed cupboard after a very messy bout of snack making, truly no
matter what the situation- when we perceive we are being disrespected, used,
not taken into consideration, overlooked, and so on and so forth we are
focusing on OURSELVES and esteeming ourselves into a place where we can be
offended, hurt, hurtful and more.
THESE are some of
the crosses we must bear and if you think I'm kidding, I'm not. SELF focus is feeding the soul NOT the
spirit! SELF focus on many levels is feeding our natural man, our flesh nature.
I've heard it said
and I believe it, we are living in the generation of the easily offended. We
are so easily offended because we've esteemed ourselves into positions much
higher than every intended.
Satan is HARD at
work putting obstacles in our way. We have many chances to pick up our daily
cross and bear the MANY, MANY undeserved OFFENSES just as Jesus endure
UNDESERVED offenses in a way we can't begin to fully fathom. And every time we
get it in our heads that we do NOT deserve to be treated in any certain way, we
MUST consider how Jesus was treated- DID HE DESERVE IT? Never, in absolutely no way did Jesus deserve
any of the many abuses He suffered yet He ENDURED all the way to the
cross. He had more right, more
justification than any of us ever could have to be offended by the abuse, yet
He chose a different way and He showed us that way- through HIM.
By HIS AMAZING
GRACE, HIS LOVE! In the name of our
glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, our LORD forevermore!
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