Just another follow-up to yesterday’s tirade, something that popped up this morning:
We give glory to God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) – for the comprehensive salvation He gives, superior to our compounded hopelessness in this doomed reality.
It’s good for us to know of this salvation that we have; I believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given an innate desire to intentionally know more about why we were saved, how we were saved, what we were saved from, what we are saved to, etc;
In our learning, I believe that it’s integral for anyone who calls themselves a believer to consult the Scripture in its entirety.
In our seeking through the Scripture, I believe that we are drawn more and more into how it’s all connected to Christ and His finished work – His birth, death, resurrection and ascension.
Learning more about our salvation eventually leads us to meditating on the Word – yes, the same Scripture that was breathed and co-authored by the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that leads us to Christ.
Learning more about our salvation eventually means our meditating on the Living Word… or, the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us – Jesus Christ.
It is an absolute privilege and opportunity to celebrate this comprehensive salvation, this absolute salvation that we have through Christ, especially in this hopeless and doomed, time-bound and space-bound reality.
In these recent days, we’ve also been led to take some time to meditate on one aspect of our salvation – a factor which I believe contributed to our reconciliation with God, another perspective of Christ’s finished work: That is, that when we were saved, we’ve died to all that was, and now we’ve been made new creations.
Now that I think of it, last night we’ve done precisely that – exploring more of what it means to be a new creation. I’ve personally experienced it in the recent days and I chose to call it a ‘shift’.
I’ve shifted from regret to thankfulness.
I’ve shifted from thinking about myself to thinking about others.
I’ve shifted my focus from what I don’t have and what others have (and its consequent frustration and anxiety), to what I have here and now.
Right there I was supposed to say ‘what (little) I have’, but I figured, when you really do think more about what you DO have, you will definitely appreciate it more.
So far, I can say it that way, but let’s see how it turns out when I follow the pattern of 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
I am in Christ, and I am a new creation. Regret has passed away, and gratitude has come.
Selfishness has passed away, and selflessness has come.
Frustration of what I don’t have? That’s passed away… and appreciating what I DO have has come.
You know, if I’m honest, I just pulled off a recap there. Sorry, I just wanted to make sure it was all sticking up in my own brain, first and foremost.
Anyway, I was led to pray this morning in between my daily chores. It’s becoming like a (very pleasant) programmed reaction for me to pray whenever thoughts of the past and its related temptations try to win me over.
You know how, in a relationship, you don’t absolutely forgive someone and be done with it? I’ve learned in the Showtime series Billions, of all places, that forgiveness is a continuous process more than it is a one-time deal: You forgive and publicly proclaim forgiveness as soon as a deed is done, but when the thoughts and memories come back, you forgive again.
Repeat as needed – not with the intent of ‘burying’ said memories and thoughts, essentially just ‘ignoring’ the pain. No, you forgive until all that’s left is forgiveness – the memories and thoughts will continue to come, but the pain and bitterness fades away.
I feel as if it’s the same thing with temptations. With food, for example, I try to distract myself during times my mind was programmed to designate as ‘meal times’, by doing something else – reading, working out, etc.
A more excellent way to deal with these past thoughts, this programming, and these temptations is to pray – because in prayer, you’re not ignoring the thoughts and temptations, but you’re taking on them, head-on, involving your Savior.
In forgiveness, and in prayer, you acknowledge God in all your past trauma, memories, programming and temptation… and in the process, it is as Solomon, of all people, writes: your plans and ways shall be established.
So there’s another shift: From trying to ignore temptation, to taking on all of it head on, acknowledging and trusting in God.
Or, we can also say: I am in Christ, and I am a new creation. Self-reliance has passed away, and intentional trust in the Lord has come.
The thing is, I think we can take all of it and put it together, huh?
I am in Christ, and I am a new creation.
Regret, selfishness, and frustration in what I don’t have (envy), and band-aid reactions to temptation have passed away.
Gratitude and consequent selflessness, contentment and generosity, and a more comprehensive trust in the Lord have come.
I’ve been employing the help of ClaudeAI throughout all of this and here’s something that I’ve come to appreciate – yet ANOTHER aspect to our salvation in Christ, ANOTHER aspect to our being made new creations:
We could strive all we want for behavior modification, but it is Christ who brings us true transformation.
Rather, in the same way that we do not do good works FOR salvation and FOR faith, but FROM salvation and FROM faith, so we try to ‘get better’ with our behavior (among other things), not FOR transformation and FOR Christ to perfect us but FROM true transformation we have in Christ, and FROM Christ perfecting us forever (Hebrews 10:14).
Faith without works is dead. It’s controversial for many… but through this dialogue we’ve had here, I see how we can simplify it all:
Works unto faith is false.
Faith without works is a shallow grave, a dead knowledge, even a dead ‘belief’.
Faith inspires, motivates, ultimately produces works.
Works come FROM faith.
When temptations come, respond with faith and pray. Give thanks, and trust in the Lord.
When unforgiveness comes, respond with faith and rejoicing. Forgive, as you have been forgiven.
You can keep lifting your desires to the Lord… But you can also delight in the Lord, and trust Him to give you the desires of your heart – what you REALLY want, and not what the world insists you ought to have.
Gosh, look at the time. I need to work out – FROM God’s blessings, not FOR it.
Okay, here’s the thing. I was going to post whatever I had above this line and be done with this line of reasoning when I thought I should at least end this ‘full-circle’; or, end at the beginning.
I’d like to acknowledge, here and now, that yes – I HAVE been doing things for the wrong reasons.
First, I’ve been very aggressive with my trading to get out of the ‘red’, and I’ve been very reckless with my calls, my longs and shorts, to get back to the additional digits of savings. What’s even worse is I thought this was pretty noble in the sense that I wanted more back in my bank account, and this time I wanted to say it wasn’t inherited, but earned. Wrong Reason: Arrogance.
Second, I’ve been very aggressive and arrogant in my pushes for ‘innovations’ in ministry, whether online or face-to-face. I was driven by (a) resentment over what I perceived as poor leadership and (b) the need to assert that I can do all this on my own without anyone’s help. Wrong Reason: Resentment.
Third, I’ve realized how I’ve been very negligent with the relationships that I have here and now, spending way too much time pondering on the ‘what ifs’ and ‘if onlys’ of what and who I had in the past, coping by way of temporal pleasures, and essentially ‘cancelling’ any virtue present in my lamenting. I’ve been frustrated over what I could have gotten, over an actual relationship. Wrong Reason: Selfishness.
It’s funny that today, of all days, I’ve been directed by the Daily Bread to a HUGE supplementary verse to 2 Corinthians 5:17:
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:17-24
We’ve talked in length about how, by the grace of God, I’ve shifted from arrogance, resentment and selfishness, to gratitude, generosity, and selflessness.
We’ve also talked about how the old regret, selfishness, and envy have passed away, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, gratitude, selflessness, and contentment have come.
Finally, we’ve put it all together, and I’m more or less saying now, that we’ve shifted from / died to the flesh (works to attain faith), and we’ve shifted to / been born again to true faith that produces the works.
We see here yet another comprehensive list of what we’ve shifted from, and what we’ve shifted to; what has died and passed away, and what is new and has come.
We’ve shifted from being futile in our minds, from being darkened in our understanding, from being alienated from the life of God …Wait, all this sounds familiar! We’ve shifted from being blind all the way to our hearts, to being renewed in the spirit of our minds!
We’ve also shifted from being corrupted through deceitful desires, to being created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness!
I’m looking at all of this now, and I feel as if I’m just beating around the bush. It just feels very valuable to me personally, how, even with so much we’ve seen and celebrated, that God’s grace continues to minister to us – to me, in such a deep way.
While we are in this world, temptation abounds, torment does not relent, and we are either struck down, or we bring ourselves to stumble.
What I’m saying in all this is that our God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is and will continue to be absolutely faithful to us, even when we find ourselves in the darkness.
By the grace of the Father, the finished work of the Son, and the power of the Spirit, we will not remain in the darkness, but our path will grow brighter unto the new day.
Our Salvation in Christ is a total shift – we are dead to sin, out of the darkness, and the old self has been put away; We’ve been made righteous to eternal life, into the kingdom of His glorious light, seeing and enjoying who we truly are – and what we truly are is holy and acceptable to God!
I’m a new creation who contends with persistent regret, selfishness and envy, through celebrating by way of thankfulness, selflessness and contentment, prayer and forgiveness!
I’ve shifted from fear to perfect love. I’ve moved from works and self-reliance, to faith and trust in the living God!
Oh, God be praised! I think I’m happy with all this now… May it continue to develop in my mind, but this is good for now.
Until the next post, God bless you!
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