Laying down your life. Daily.
Continuing in 1 John I have been convicted of quite a few areas in my life that are not in the light of Christ. Areas where I have coddled my flesh or told myself that I had a right to remain mad or bothered, and have kept me in the darkness. It's been a good sort of hurt as the Lord is slowly tugging at the roots of these deeply embedded sins, and I am enjoying a deeper fellowship with Him as He tends the field of my heart.
This past week, while working through some of the homework, we made it into 1 John 2, and looked at the old and new commandment that Jesus gave us-loving one another as I have loved you. Pondering that commandment made me consider a few things. I can be guilty of only thinking of His love in the terms of His ultimate, atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rarely consider the daily denial of self, the flesh and battle with the enemy. He died to Himself daily, moment by moment, as He lived a perfect life so that HE COULD BE the perfect spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
So what are some of the ways that Jesus sacrificed daily? How did He daily lay down his life for those around Him? A simple skim of the Book of Luke gave me quite a few examples.
He chose hunger over temptation. Luke 4
Healing a great multitude of people-many of whom would not follow Him or repent of their sinful ways. Luke 6
Healing a centurion's servant. Remember that a centurion represented Roman authority and rule, so being willing to show mercy to a centurion was amazing. Luke 7
Patiently dealing with the disciples' fears of the wind and waves. Luke 8
Casting a demon out of a scary, strong, crazy man and then letting him sit at His feet and showing grace to him. This demon-possessed man was not someone of prestige or class and Jesus still loved him. Luke 8
Jesus declared that He had no place to lay His head. Luke 9
He called out religious bigots who misrepresented God and His heart, and dealt with being hated and maligned because of it. Luke 11
Healing people on the Sabbath when He could have just walked past them because He came to worship. Luke 14
Healing people with no thank you from them. Luke 17
Being approached and interacting with people who loved other things more than God and then feeling sorrow for them. Luke 18
Loving Judas to the end. Loving him in such a way that no other disciple knew he would betray Jesus. Luke 22
Patiently correcting and guiding His disciples who didn't get the whole servant leadership thing and were concerned with position and power right up to the end of Jesus's life. Luke 22
Is there anything on that list that hits home? There are quite a few that I can play the martyr about. I am often faced with situations where I could easily choose myself and flesh and even be justified in it, but that's not the love Christ demonstrated to us. He constantly chose to love tangibly and chose righteousness always-therefore He could be the propitiation for our sins.
You will not muster the ability to do something great when you have not been daily sacrificing and choosing God's ways above yours. It simply won't happen. So discipline your heart and mind now. Take up that cross and follow Him DAILY. That's where the love He calls us to have for others becomes real. It's in these tangible, aggravating moments when loving as He has loved us gets worked out. Let's work it out. :-)
This past week, while working through some of the homework, we made it into 1 John 2, and looked at the old and new commandment that Jesus gave us-loving one another as I have loved you. Pondering that commandment made me consider a few things. I can be guilty of only thinking of His love in the terms of His ultimate, atoning sacrifice for our sins, and rarely consider the daily denial of self, the flesh and battle with the enemy. He died to Himself daily, moment by moment, as He lived a perfect life so that HE COULD BE the perfect spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
So what are some of the ways that Jesus sacrificed daily? How did He daily lay down his life for those around Him? A simple skim of the Book of Luke gave me quite a few examples.
He chose hunger over temptation. Luke 4
Healing a great multitude of people-many of whom would not follow Him or repent of their sinful ways. Luke 6
Healing a centurion's servant. Remember that a centurion represented Roman authority and rule, so being willing to show mercy to a centurion was amazing. Luke 7
Patiently dealing with the disciples' fears of the wind and waves. Luke 8
Casting a demon out of a scary, strong, crazy man and then letting him sit at His feet and showing grace to him. This demon-possessed man was not someone of prestige or class and Jesus still loved him. Luke 8
Jesus declared that He had no place to lay His head. Luke 9
He called out religious bigots who misrepresented God and His heart, and dealt with being hated and maligned because of it. Luke 11
Healing people on the Sabbath when He could have just walked past them because He came to worship. Luke 14
Healing people with no thank you from them. Luke 17
Being approached and interacting with people who loved other things more than God and then feeling sorrow for them. Luke 18
Loving Judas to the end. Loving him in such a way that no other disciple knew he would betray Jesus. Luke 22
Patiently correcting and guiding His disciples who didn't get the whole servant leadership thing and were concerned with position and power right up to the end of Jesus's life. Luke 22
Is there anything on that list that hits home? There are quite a few that I can play the martyr about. I am often faced with situations where I could easily choose myself and flesh and even be justified in it, but that's not the love Christ demonstrated to us. He constantly chose to love tangibly and chose righteousness always-therefore He could be the propitiation for our sins.
You will not muster the ability to do something great when you have not been daily sacrificing and choosing God's ways above yours. It simply won't happen. So discipline your heart and mind now. Take up that cross and follow Him DAILY. That's where the love He calls us to have for others becomes real. It's in these tangible, aggravating moments when loving as He has loved us gets worked out. Let's work it out. :-)