The Spiritually Vigorous Saint

July 11th, 2012 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

 . . that I may know Him . . . —Philippians 3:10

 

A saint is not to take the initiative toward self-realization, but toward knowing Jesus Christ. A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestrained abandon and total surrender about him. The Holy Spirit is determined that we will have the realization of Jesus Christ in every area of our lives, and He will bring us back to the same point over and over again until we do. Self-realization only leads to the glorification of good works, whereas a saint of God glorifies Jesus Christ through his good works. Whatever we may be doing— even eating, drinking, or washing disciples’ feet— we have to take the initiative of realizing and recognizing Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our life has its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized His relationship to the Father even in the most menial task. “Jesus, knowing . . . that He had come from God and was going to God, . . . took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet . . .” (John 13:3-5).

 

The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him . . .” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.

____________________________________________________

July 11, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, thank you for the reminder that life is so much better when I can see You in every circumstance and situation. Thank You for lifting me up yesterday when I started to slip into a “pity party” and started the “why me Lord” sniffling.   Even in that circumstance You showed me that You were inside the broken situation as well. I ruined the canvas I was painting, and You showed me how easy it was to cover it up and start over. Thank You for allowing me to start new again, over and over and over.

And God says…”So very often you want to first know the positive outcomes and all the details so you can believe more strongly, but that is not the way of it. You will never understand the outcomes, positive or negative, and you can never completely know or understand the details. Therefore you must simply trust Me. Trust Me to be God and trust Me to love you beyond comprehension. I gave you my Son as proof of My love. If you need reminding simply recall that if I gave you my Son how could I withhold any other good thing from you? Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and I will give you the desires of your transformed heart.”

Posted in Uncategorized

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 Feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.