A small but loaded phrase from the booklet I am reading...
'... it is always best to postpone negative reactions under the government of grace...'
Why? We have redemptive motivations.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another." - Galatians 5:22-26 ESV
Patience, long suffering and self control are really thing God does in us and through us. We often have a moment of decision... a moment when we can look into the future instead of having a present reaction. A moment when the lit match that would ignite us is being held between our thumb and index finger. Will we drop it into the kindling or blow it out?
I want to keep in step with the Spirit. I choose to let the mind of Christ dwell in me richly and look to a redemptive future.
We all can have sore spots that cause us to flinch if touched but the choice to bare our teeth or not is ours. Mercy gives what isn't deserved and grace assigns favor based on God's value system. Reacting isn't going to ease the pain and God has healing in His wings if that is where we choose to dwell.
"Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities." - Isaiah 53:11 ESV
"For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering." - Hebrews 2:10 ESV
Jesus came as a servant and learned something from it. He was perfected through the suffering of his passion (his journey to the cross). That is baffling to think about but it is true. The God-man learned something this way?
He came into the journey to the cross with redemptive knowledge and a redemptive attitude and He came through it 'perfected.' Wow. God can do that for us also... on a different scale but it is the same dynamic.
Are we available for that? Perhaps our rights and opinions mean more to us than they should.
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Showing posts with label Reaction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reaction. Show all posts
Monday, February 13, 2017
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Finding His Voice
"From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force." - Matthew 11:12 ESV
Some very interesting stuff in the Greek for this passage. 'Suffered violence' is biazō (Strong's G971) and it could be translated 'crowds into' like shoppers streaming into a store for a sale.
The same word is used here...
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it." - Luke 16:16 ESV
John came on the scene and God used him even before he was born to stir things up.
"But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.' And Zechariah said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.' And the angel answered him, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.' And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute." - Luke 1:13-22 ESV
It makes me think of how God invades people's lives with divine ideas and those ideas displace something which causes discomfort. The angel said, 'You will be happy when the boy is born.' and it was a prophetic statement. But that man was old in his thinking and the kingdom of God was rushing in all of a sudden. He became mute but the muteness was an external manifestation of his internal state. Later he recognized God's work.
"And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, 'No; he shall be called John.' And they said to her, 'None of your relatives is called by this name.' And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they all wondered." - Luke 1:59-63 ESV
Naturally speaking things were about to happen but Zechariah suddenly found his voice. It took time but it happened.
That is happening all around the world today. Seeds have been planted that are suddenly sprouting. We can plant more today. The Gospel is a forceful seed that declares God's love and invades a person's life.
I remind myself because I want to be conscious of it. What we see by sight at first isn't the end. God has a plan. We carry the Spirit and the Spirit carries us. If we are Spirit filled then the Spirit Is rushing into the room when we walk in. If that is true then wonderful things are about to happen because of the message we convey. There will be reaction but in the end there will be joy and laughter.
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Some very interesting stuff in the Greek for this passage. 'Suffered violence' is biazō (Strong's G971) and it could be translated 'crowds into' like shoppers streaming into a store for a sale.
The same word is used here...
"The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it." - Luke 16:16 ESV
John came on the scene and God used him even before he was born to stir things up.
"But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.' And Zechariah said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.' And the angel answered him, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.' And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute." - Luke 1:13-22 ESV
It makes me think of how God invades people's lives with divine ideas and those ideas displace something which causes discomfort. The angel said, 'You will be happy when the boy is born.' and it was a prophetic statement. But that man was old in his thinking and the kingdom of God was rushing in all of a sudden. He became mute but the muteness was an external manifestation of his internal state. Later he recognized God's work.
"And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, 'No; he shall be called John.' And they said to her, 'None of your relatives is called by this name.' And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' And they all wondered." - Luke 1:59-63 ESV
Naturally speaking things were about to happen but Zechariah suddenly found his voice. It took time but it happened.
That is happening all around the world today. Seeds have been planted that are suddenly sprouting. We can plant more today. The Gospel is a forceful seed that declares God's love and invades a person's life.
I remind myself because I want to be conscious of it. What we see by sight at first isn't the end. God has a plan. We carry the Spirit and the Spirit carries us. If we are Spirit filled then the Spirit Is rushing into the room when we walk in. If that is true then wonderful things are about to happen because of the message we convey. There will be reaction but in the end there will be joy and laughter.
--
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