Heart Tracks - Two Ways

    In John 1, two former followers of John the Baptist, who had been told that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah, asked Him "Where are you staying."  In reply Jesus said to them, "Come and see."  Note something in that reply.  He didn't say "Come and do."  In effect, He was telling them, "Come and be."  They thought that following Him would involve the usual role of a disciple in that day; imitation of the life of the teacher.  Christ was not calling them to an imitation of His life, but of a partaking of it.

     A friend said not long ago that there are two ways in which a believer may live.  The first is to seek to conform outwardly to His word and life.  That is, trying to mold our actions and behavior according to the actions and behavior of Christ that we see in His Word.  In effect, we try to live His life, the life we see in His Word in our own strength rather than in His power.  We have words, language, but we don't have life.  The second way, His way, is for His Word to be literal life within us, inwardly transforming us, not by our conscious effort to "do better," but by His active life and power within.  As T. Austin-Sparks puts it, "He doesn't give us a standard to be lived up to, but a Person to be lived with.  The first is rooted in self-effort and results in eventual defeat.  The other brings the enjoyment and joy of knowing the reality of 'Christ, the power of God.' "   As I heard someone put it, He is not looking for followers alone, but for living sanctuaries of His life.  A life that transforms not from the outside in, but the inside out.  We don't conform to His way, but are transformed by it. 

    Everywhere in the church today are people who are miserable in their walk with Him, mainly because it doesn't seem to be a walk in Him.  We live more as orphans than as sons and daughters of the King and His Kingdom.  We may "go boldly to the throne of grace," but we go most often with the mindset that when there, we need to plead, cajole, manipulate, and persuade the Father that He must give us what we need, all the while oblivious that in so many instances, He has already given it.  We see this so clearly in the scripture, "My grace is sufficient for you."  He does not say "has been," or "will be."  He uses the simple word "is."  So often we ask for what in the end is simply grace, missing completely that He has already given it in Christ.  We don't need to ask for it, we need only receive it.  His word tells us that He has given us "all things in Christ," yet we spend so much time pleading for Him to give us something He has already given.  Amidst all the pleading, we live in defeat, discouragement, and despair.  So many lose hope and just give up, but perhaps that's the key for us all.  To stop "trying" in our own strength to live His life, and yield to the power of His life, and experience that life to flow into us, through us, and out of us on a moment by moment basis.  This is the life Paul speaks of in Romans 8, a life "led of the Spirit."  The life he also writes of in Romans 12, a transformed life that renews both mind and spirit.  We no longer live always trying to do or become like Him.  He makes us like Himself by the power of His risen life, from the inside out.
   Each day, the two ways of life lie before us.  Which will you choose today?  The exhausting way of self effort, and eventual and sure defeat, or the true way of life, His life.  No longer seeking to "get" from Him, and instead "receiving" all that He has given us, in Christ, now, today, and everyday.

Blessings,

Pastor O