LIVING UP TO

LIVING UP TO:

Oswald Chambers said, “We look for God to manifest Himself to His children: God only manifests Himself in his children.” Truly, we are a fickle lot.

Philip had been with Jesus for three years, yet he still had the audacity to say, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus, the Christ, the Incarnate Messiah, the Lamb of God, our Immanuel, King of kings, and LORD or lord’s had cast out demons, calmed the sea, walked on water, healed, resurrected, and ultimately fulfilled every prophecy - yet Philip (just like us) wanted more.

Is there a day that goes by when we don’t repeat with our fickle faith the same sin of unbelief? “Jesus, show me! Then, that will be enough for me.”

The redeemed life is not a half-hearted affair. The Apostle Paul makes us keenly aware that our “old self,” the one full of entitlement, the one of consumer-mindedness, the self that was defined by selfishness, must be buried "with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Many well-intending Christian church leaders and pastors tell people all they have to do is “ask Jesus into your heart,” but that is neither truth nor biblical. Asking is not the road to salvation. Willfully laying down one’s life and yieldedness to Christ is.

Jesus made it unashamedly evident that the old self of autonomy, independence, rebellion, entitlement, consumerism, and selfishness must be willfully surrendered, die, and be buried when He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

It is not merely a matter of asking or saying, but an honest transaction of the heart, which must be done. This is NOT a works-based salvation because God is the one who invites us to ask and who also completes the transaction. It is the biblical mandate for salvation. Jesus made this clear with Nicodemus when He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The “will of My Father in heaven” is not attending church services, passively listening to sermons, or even having a “quiet time.” The Father’s will is our yielded obedience to God as demonstrated perfectly by Christ and our subsequent personal investment and involvement with the promotion and proclamation of the gospel, i.e. the Mission of God.

Mission isn't something new. It's not something that popped up in the New Testament. It's an expression of the eternal nature and character of God. We see it perfected in the person and work of Jesus Christ: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus… he made himself nothing embracing the nature of a servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

Oswald Chambers encourages us to ask this internal probing question, “Am I living up to my belief?”

If our faith is truly a transcendent transaction from God then the only way we can honestly answer “Yes!” is through the indwelling of Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit is forever urging us forward unto maturity in our walk with Christ and intentionally conforming us into His image and likeness with every circumstance, situation, and opportunity we encounter.

It is only through the power and presence of God that we can LIVE UP TO acceptance and holiness in the eyes of God because we have truly died to self, and now Christ reigns and lives in and through us!

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley
aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com