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You
[Timothy], however, know all about my teaching,
my way of life, my purpose,
faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions,
sufferings
(2 Timothy 3:10, italics
mine)
Have you lifted up your
eyes from your day-to-day rut and noticed just
how stress and tense our world has
become? Distress is everywhere. More and more
people are doing stupid things. People are
hurting themselves and other people because there
is no rest-day or night. Every minute is crammed
full of something. Our brains are over stimulated
and our senses overloaded. The whole world
seems to be going crazy. Road rage and excessive
speeding tells me that people in America are
frustrated. But wait! The problem is appearing in
national politics as well!
The leaders of the United
States government are also showing signs of
frustration and distress. The Senate has reached
a place where it can barely function. The rancor
between the two parties is truly horrible.
Political interviews are full of bitter
disagreement at a time when the U.S. is
confronted with problems that threaten its very
existence! Ironically, the problems are getting
larger and the nations ability to work
together is getting weaker. The leaders cannot
agree on a solution to stop hordes of illegal
immigrants from entering the country, porous
borders, a stalled economy, the out-sourcing of
millions of jobs to china and India, the costly
war in Iraq, a crisis in Social Security
entitlements, and the escalating energy prices. I
do not think we will ever return to the peaceful
and genteel time we remember from the past. Human
nature will not allow it. Our inability to
control ourselves or the technologies God has
given us is leading to our own destruction. For
many reasons and excuses, we convince ourselves
we cannot take time to rest and recuperate. We go
go go, buy, buy sell
sell sell, work work work
and play play play. There is no
interest or time to rest rest rest.
We have become like little gerbils that run their
tiny legs off on a spinning wheel that goes
nowhere. No matter how hard we kept running,
there is no end in sight. Isnt time to
begin asking, Why are we killing ourselves?
Carnal Religion Is Not
Helping
For the time will
come when men will not put up with sound
doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires,
they will gather around them a great number of
teachers to say what their itching ears want to
hear. They will turn their ears away from the
truth and turn aside to myths. (2 Timothy
4:3,4) It is paradoxical that religion, for the
most part, is not helping. One would think that
advanced knowledge of God would produce a better
world! Actually, religion is magnifying the
problem we face. Religious differences have
caused tensions between Islam and Christianity
that have become very strong. Even though the
world has seven great religions and an infinite
number of deviations within each of them, there
are only two kinds of religious experiences:
internal and external. I define the external
experience as a carnal commitment to defend, to
the death if necessary, our love and knowledge of
God. A good example of the external experience is
Peters statement:
Lord, I am
ready to go with you to prison and to death.
Jesus answered, I tell you, Peter, before
the rooster crows today, you will deny three
times that you know me. (Luke
22:33,34) Under the right circumstances, Peter
would have been willing to die for Jesus because
Peter loved Jesus as he loved himself. The
problem is that Peter could not love Jesus more
than he loved himself because he had not
surrendered himself to Gods will. We know
that it was Gods will that Jesus die on the
cross and Peter was not willing to allow it! This
is why he drew his sword and cut off the ear of
the high Priests servant. Words are cheap.
Only a test will reveal the true motives of the
heart and Peters first test came in the
form of humiliation. Peter denied that he knew
Jesus because he did not want to share in the
shame and insults that Jesus received. The
external experience is so human so
universal.
I define the internal
experience as a miraculous transformation that
enables us to fulfill the purpose for which God
has called us. Here are two examples:
During the days of Jesus life on
earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with
loud cries and tears to the one who could save
him from death, and he was heard because of his
reverent submission. Although he was a son,
he learned obedience from what he suffered and,
once made perfect, he became the source of
eternal salvation for all who obey him.
(Hebrews 5:7-9, italics mine) Jesus was
submissive to His Father and because of this
particular trait; He was willing to die on the
cross if that was the Fathers will. (Luke
22:42) Similarly, Paul became submissive
to Jesus and this is why he wrote, You
[Timothy], however, know all about my teaching,
my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience,
endurance, persecutions, sufferings what
kinds of things happened to me
. (2
Timothy 3:10,11) Paul wrote that a total
submission to Gods will must occur before
the internal experience of transformation can
take place!
As a young man, Paul
loved the external religious experience. He wrote
about his external religion saying,
If anyone thinks he has reasons to put confidence
in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the
eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe
of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to
the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the
church; as for legalistic righteousness,
faultless. (Philippians 3:4-6) Later in the
same chapter, Paul reflected on the days after he
met Jesus and wrote that his religious
achievements meant nothing. You know how it
happened. One day, while zealously persecuting
Christians, Jesus Himself confronted Saul on the
road to Damascus. That meeting shattered
Pauls arrogance. Blinded by the glory of
Christ, Paul soon discovered that he was truly
blind about the ways of God. Then and there, Paul
surrendered to Jesus and was inwardly transformed
by the Holy Spirit. As a result of the
experience, Paul became a champion for the cause
of Christ. In fact, no human being has influenced
the development of Christianity more than Apostle
Paul.
Submission
Jesus invites us to enter
into a deep and abiding relationship with Him.
The terms and conditions of His invitations are
simple. Jesus says, Come unto me and I will
give you rest
Walk with Me, spend time with
Me, learn of Me, obey My commands, study My Word,
submit to My wisdom, allow Me to work out a great
plan for your life, for no one loves you more or
has the best interest at heart! We respond,
But Lord, I have too many things to do! In
fact, I have so many things to do that I
cant sit still! The problem with this
response is the issue of submission. We are
really saying, Lord, I cannot say
no to all the things that I have to
do. I like going here and there, I like doing
this and that, even though subconsciously, I know
they are killing me.
Jesus does not propose to
come down to our level; He proposes to lift us up
to His. Jesus requires total submission every
moment of every day. (John 15:14) His
purpose for our life can only be fulfilled if we
consistently submit to His authority! True, no
one but Jesus has been able to live in perfect
submission to the will of God every moment of
every day, but Paul makes it very clear
that through the power offered by Jesus, we can
grow into the character of Jesus. (Ephesians
4:11-32)
So,
What Is Gods Purpose for Your Life?
To daily surrender unto
Jesus Christ. Then watch your life begin to
change in ways that you did not think possible!
Ask for this power, and God will freely grant
your request.
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