Php_2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.
Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and
disputings:
Php 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Php 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may
rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in
vain.
'God’s Word must lay
bare more and more of our natural life so that the work of the cross can probe
deeper and deeper. That is why the cross must be borne daily. To know more of
God’s will and to know more of the self, furnishes the cross increased ground
to operate.' Excerpt from 'The Spiritual
Man' Watchman Nee.
Can you imagine
doing 'all' things without any murmuring (aloud and to yourself silently) and
without any disputing whatsoever?
Seriously. Internal murmuring goes on all the time, doesn't it? We are
filled with this murmuring and disputing- and I'm not talking about riot-like
disputing, but all disputing down to the smallest of disputes. We live day to
day with murmuring and disputing until it has become NORMAL, yet they are far
from normal.
The excerpt above
speaks of our natural life being laid bare and I believe that the above verse-
about doing ALL things without murmuring and disputing- is a huge revelation
for us. We need to recognize the natural
man in us and that natural self LOVES to murmur and dispute- again- I'm NOT
talking about being the loudest murmurer to exist or the biggest disputer of
all time. We focus on ourselves to such
a degree that we are slighted not just by others- but by things that interfere
with our "ME" time, things that mess up our plans (self-made plans or
otherwise.). We go from day to day and make note of most of the tiny irritants
that have affected our well-being. And
our 'well-being' is that state of being which we've predetermined gives us the
ease of life we believe we deserve. We've had a lousy day when our well-being
is disturbed. We've had an amazing day when we've had the least amount of
things irritating us and upset our 'well-being'. From one moment to the next we are in a state
of 'well-being' or 'not quite so well-being'.
We have made our 'well-being' our criteria for our lives. THE FOCUS is
on ourselves!
How are you
today? How is your day going? Having a
good day? All this reinforces our self-focus, doesn't it? How do you feel
today? How is life? Focus on self. Even when we are asking another these
questions we are drawing their attention where? To themselves. I'm not saying we aren't to be polite, I'm
saying society has made it NORMAL for us to focus on our well-being. SELF FOCUS.
We need the many
ways we are self-focused exposed to us so we may pray for deliverance from
them.
Our murmuring and
disputing will often have its roots in our natural self, our flesh nature and
NOT the spirit.
Truly this DAILY
cross we are to carry is our DAILY work towards exposing all that would keep us
from Christ.
We are to live day
to day IN CHRIST- never putting off our Christianity, never setting it aside
for a while as we indulge ourselves in non-Christian behavior.
If HEAVEN and
ETERNAL LIFE with Christ is our HOPE, our TRUE HOPE, then living for CHRIST now
should be our REALITY! If we only hope
for an eternal life with Christ as some sort of reward for our existing, then
we are going to be in for a shocking surprise.
We've made eternal
life an abstract thought, a back burner idea, something to tuck away and think
about from time to time while we live our current life. We don't truly believe that we are STRANGERS
and PILGRIMS here on earth living for a better place, a better home. We believe THIS is our home and we set about
living our lives accordingly. If we
TRULY believed we were strangers and pilgrims here, would we do so much to live
for here and so very little for our eternal life?
If people live for
eternal life- shouldn't they be active disciples for eternal life?
More on this
tomorrow by the GRACE and WILL of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!!
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