God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
Music for today:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3-d_IrMm9A
When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life.
When we are immature believers we are often moved by our circumstances. We can let the circumstances dictate our feelings of being connected to God. We can let external things dictate our walk….JD
The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God.
Can we say that our circumstances do not change our internal distress? Perhaps our internal visceral tension tells us that we are not connected to the cross, perhaps our tension reminds us that we need to be led to the cross. The place for all our answers..We have agreed in our study that visceral tension and emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, and others can represent “idiot lights” on our dashboard of life to remind us to reconnect with the Spirit of God…It is not so much that we have been disconnected from God because that is not possible, it is that we have taken over from God and we stopped accepting His gift of the cross in that circumstance…JD
Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.
The cross of Christ provides the answer to every question that is formed in our lives. It is the underlying answer for all things….JD
State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “. . .
Could it be that when we “live the cross” day by day, hour by hour the energy of God is also released? When we live the cross, we are transformed and we become a living Gospel?..Could it be that when we “live the cross” we are transformed and energized by God to energize and transform the lives of others.?……perhaps the prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assissi is significant here..”Spread the gospel at all times, and use words only when necessary.” JD
it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. . . . we preach Christ crucified . . .” ( 1 Corinthians 1:21, 23 ).
Click Image for John White's Original Vision For CO2's
