Category Archives: Walking in the Way

Relationship Not Religion

08 Monday Nov 2021

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I follow a Facebook page called “A.W-Tozer: A Man of God”; a page that is, as you would expect, devoted to A.W. Tozer’s writings.  The page recently shared a quote from A.W. Tozer’s “That Incredible Christian” which caught my attention.  The quote references 2 Corinthians 8:5: “And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” and then goes on to say:

“Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done.  In God’s sight my giving is measured not by how much I have given but by how much I could have given and how much I had left after I made my gift.  The needs of the world and my total ability to minister to those needs decide the worth of my service.

“Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it.  No man gives at all until he has given all.  No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice…

 “In the work of the church the amount one man must do to accomplish a given task is determined by how much or how little the rest of the company is willing to do.  It is a rare church whose members all put their shoulder to the wheel.  The typical church is composed of the few whose shoulders are bruised by their faithful labors and the many who are unwilling to raise a blister in the service of God and their fellow men.  There may be a bit of wry humor in all this, but it is quite certain that there will be no laughter when each of us gives account to God of the deeds done in the body.” 

What?  What is A. W. Tozer saying here?  It’s difficult to tell what his material point is without reading “That Incredible Christian” in its entirety.  As it’s not in The Essential Tozer, which is the book I currently have on my shelf, I’ll have to find a copy and may perhaps due a follow-up.  What I am going to address in this week’s post is how this excerpt left me feeling empty and anxious and with the idea that no matter what I did it was never going to be enough for God.  There was nothing in these words that tasted of the Fruit of the Spirit and I couldn’t help but compare them to words I had just read in Andrew Murray’s “Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews”.

Andrew Murray is commenting on Hebrews 4:9-10 which states: “There remaineth therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For he that is entered into His rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”

Andrew Murray then goes on to say: “It is this resting from their own work that many Christians cannot understand.  They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation that leads to the neglect of the duties of life and unfits for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls.  What an entire misunderstanding of God’s call to rest!  As the Almighty, God is the only Source of power.  In nature, He works all.  In grace, He waits to work all, too, if man will but consent and allow.  Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the highest activity.  We work, because He works in us to will and to do.  As Paul said of himself, “I labour…, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily (literally, “agonizing according to His energy who energizes in me with might” [Colossians 1:29]).  Entering the rest of God is the ceasing from self-effort and the yielding up of oneself in full surrender of faith to God’s working.”

What a difference I find in these two quotes!  I find they’re a perfect example of what I mean when I say “relationship not religion”.  I stick fast on A. W. Tozer’s words:”Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done.”  These words are correct if all we have are rules, regulations, the idea that we earn our place in the Kingdom of God through our works, and the deep fear that nothing we do is going to be enough.  I don’t find any joy in the A. W. Tozer quote, no trust in a relationship with God, and no rest.

Rest is the focus of the Andrew Murray quote. That rest is found in Christ and we rest because we trust the relationship we have with the Father, in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit.  How can there be anything but joy once we know this?  All the scriptures that speak of our works being proof of who we are as Christians are not referencing works we do in order to prove we are Christians.  Rather, because of who we are in Christ, because we live in union with Him, because the Holy Spirit lives in us and is a fountain of living water, we can’t help but produce works.  Our works are the fruit of His life in us. 

I am not afraid that there will come a day when God judges me by how much I could have done.  Ever.  I know Him, I trust Him, and I trust the words He has spoken through the writers of the scriptures are true.  I trust that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:1).  I trust that “it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).  I trust that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).  I trust that His word still stands and will not return unto Him void but it shall accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto He sends it (Isaiah 55:11, paraphrased from the KJV). 

Amen.  So be it.

The A. W. Tozer quote was taken from the A. W. Tozer-A Man of God Facebook post dated Saturday, November 6, 2021.  That quote is referenced as being from “That Incredible Christian, 105”.

The Andrew Murray quote was taken from his book “Holiest of All: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews”, Whitaker House, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1996, 2004, Chapter Thirty-One Rest From Works, Page 164

All scriptures are quoted from The Authorized King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2003  

It’s Personal

01 Monday Nov 2021

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It’s been a few weeks now since a post included the passage from 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (KJV).  I have been meditating on the last part of that passage-the bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ-and focusing on doing so.

I don’t know if any of you have ever made this your focus but it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  I didn’t realize how often my mind wandered until I turned my attention to what I was actually thinking about and attempting to bring an awareness of Jesus Christ to every moment.  Even in prayer time with my church or with my family, I would catch myself mouthing the words while I was thinking about what to make for breakfast or what my plans were for the next day or a hundred other things.  It was not focused on God.  To paraphrase Yoda, my mind was never on where I was-what I was doing.

One thing I was not aware I was doing was separating in my mind time with God and time to think about whatever I wanted.  I would do my bible reading, some prayer time, some study time and then I’d make no attempt to control my thoughts throughout the rest of the day.  It was like I’d scored my brownie points with God.  It had become habit to give Him His allotted time and then I was free to think about whatever I wanted.  Since I was thinking about a story I was writing or blog posts or poems-all things that had to do with God-I didn’t think what I was doing needed to change.  I recently heard one of my teachers say “religion is easy: relationship is hard” and that struck me. 

I had already realized how much of my thought life was consumed of planning all I was going to do for God.  Upcoming studies that would be turned into blog posts, which books I would read after I finished my current ones, what all I needed to do to share to good news of Jesus with those around me.  And then, when my brain was overwhelmed with all of these plans, I’d escape into a story or a television show: anything to give my brain a break.  Realizing I was thinking this way and having this experience, I realized how true that statement it: religion is easy: relationship is hard.

It is so easy for me to keep God intellectual.  I have stacks of books at my fingertips.  I could spend the rest of my life in study of Him and learn things that would fill blog post after blog post.  I might even write something that helps someone else.  What does any of it matter if I spend so much time working for Him that I don’t have anything left over for spending time with Him?  For so long I acted like, somehow, I was in control. I’d get up in the mornings and read my studies and devotionals, and then pray He’d help me get through my day. Hadn’t I earned His blessing?  I’d put Him first, checked my “aren’t I a good Christian” boxes, and now He had to hold up His end of things.  My relationship with Him, if I can even call it a relationship, was contractual rather than covenant.  I was living out of a “because I then He” rather than living life from Him.

Do you know that if I never picked up a Bible again, God would still love me?  It is amazing to me, I sit in utter wonder of it, to know that there is nothing I can ever do or not do that affect God’s love for me.  He loves me because He is love.  That is terrifying. I can’t do anything to control when or how He loves me. I do not earn His love by prayers or readings or studies or memorization.  I don’t present my Good Christian Resume and tell Him I’ve kept the rules so He has to keep His promises.  No, I am in relationship with the living God.  I almost can’t bear to type it.  THE LIVING GOD!  The covenant God.  The God who gives Himself to me in love.  This God lives inside of me now.  I do not bide my time performing for Him so I get to go to heaven when I die.  He and I are one right this moment.  We are in covenant relationship and because He is all that He is to me right now-all His promises are “Yes” in Christ Jesus-therefore I live my life from Him.

Knowing this-really knowing it-sitting with it until it became a reality in my heart not just an idea, changed how I look at Paul’s words in his first letter to the Corinthians: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge: and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3, KJV).  And then comes that beautiful passage describing agape which is the Greek word translated “charity” here.

1 John 4:8 ends with the words, “for God is love” and that word in the Greek is agape.  Malcolm Smith will often stress that God is love: He doesn’t have it, He is it.  I sit in realization if this and see that the love (or charity) Paul is talking about isn’t a feeling or even an act of my will: it’s the very person of Jesus.  He is what I need.  Without Him, I am nothing. 

And so, of course I read my Bible but to know Him not to appease Him.  I read where Moses says, “If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence” (Exodus 33:15, KJV).  My heart says a hearty “amen” and then I rejoice knowing that because I am joined to the Lord, I am one spirit with Him and I have the relationship Moses only anticipated.  I make David’s words in Psalm 27 my own prayer: “When thou saidist, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek” (verse 8, KJV).  And, I bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  Not in an attitude of “Sir, yes sir!” but in the true meaning of the word obedience: attentive hearkening.  I don’t want to wander off into my own thoughts: I want to seek His face and hear His voice.  Only then, because He speaks and has inclined my ear to hear Him; then will I do.

Obedience

G5218 hupakoe, from 5219; attentive hearkening, i.e. (by impl.) compliance or submission;–obedience, (make) obedient, obey (-ing)

G5219 hupakouo, from 5259 and 191; to hear under (as a subordinate), i.e. to listen attentively…

Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Holier Than Thou

25 Monday Oct 2021

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“You think you’re better.”

I have been remembering two times in my life when I have had this accusation leveled at me.  I was sixteen the first time and was a shy and introverted new student at a new school.  I have mentioned enduring bullying and how books were an escape for me.  After a time, I didn’t need a book.  I could build stories in my own mind-some of them I even attempted writing down-and had acquired the habit of shifting into my thought world any time my attention wasn’t required.  I had done so at this time and only returned to the present moment when another student said my name and then said “you think you’re better than everybody.” 

I was shocked.  This student barely knew me.  I’d only been at the school a few months: how could he possibly say such a thing?  Fury came hard on the heels of shock.  How dare he!  Who did he think he was to presume to tell me what I was thinking!  I said nothing-I couldn’t speak-but any hope of friendship died in that moment.  It was true that I barely knew him as well but he’d proven himself to be untrustworthy and any good opinion I might have had was lost forever.  It was so lost that many years later a co-worker recognized the name of the school and asked if I remembered this student.  I hadn’t thought of him in years but it all came rushing back.  That moment.  Those words.  Those words spoken in front of others and my public humiliation.  Oh yes, I remembered.  My face must have reflected how I felt because this co-worker never brought it up again.

I was once more shocked but this time shocked at how angry I still was.  It was a cold anger and perhaps resentment would be a better word.  That student was frozen in that moment in my mind.  No matter who he was, how he’d grown, what he’d learned in the ensuing years, he was still the one who had falsely accused and embarrassed ME.  I went immediately to God and offered it all up: the student, my feelings, all the unforgiveness I hadn’t known I was holding, it all was placed in the hands of The Father.

I believe the meeting with the co-worker was a divine meeting so that I would see this, offer it all up to the Lord, and the situation would be immersed in the cleansing, redeeming blood of Jesus.  There was no longer any buried resentment to fuel my reactions and I was soon to be grateful for that.  Because, only a short time later, this accusation would be leveled at me again.  This time the words were, “you think you’re better than me,” and the words came from a close family member.  They cut far deeper than the words of that student so long ago because they came from someone I loved. 

 By the time I faced this accusation, I was well into my walk with Jesus and was experiencing tremendous upheaval.  I was seeing Him in a way I never had before and old behaviors were dropping away.  I was figuring out how to live this life in Christ and how to live it in the midst of others.  My loved one made a joke I simply could not laugh at and thus the accusation.  I did try to explain that I was different because Jesus was making me different, that I knew very well I was superior to no one, that I meant no offence, but it was to no avail.  Meetings with this family member became more and more difficult: when I did not laugh at jokes, when I refused to listen to certain music or watch certain television shows, when I would not repeat derogatory things about other people, I was proving I thought I was better.  Not only that, I was being outright disrespectful and, ultimately, my family member cut off all contact with me.

I do not share this in some false humility that really intends to show how great of a Christian I am.  Neither do I deny there are Christians who have a “Holier Than Thou” attitude.  Let us leave them to the Lord.  My struggle is this:  as I shared last week, I am one who is called to come out be separate while still living in the midst of those who not only don’t believe but want nothing to do with Jesus.  I have no wish to offend anyone but neither can I compromise this life I now live in Christ Jesus.  How then do I live?

One of my Bible Teachers said the meaning of separate is more akin to “distinct” than it is “apart”.  I looked it up to be sure.  The Greek word is aphorizo (G873) and it means “to set off by boundary”.  I suppose either “distinct” or “apart” can be seen here but, the more I meditated on it, the more I thought I understood what my Bible Teacher was saying.  Consider, if you will, that the “boundary” mentioned here symbolizes the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus has the preeminence.  I do not live separate from the world so much as I live separated unto Him.  In Him, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  I am joined to Him and thus of one Spirit with Him.  Because I am in Him, I am a new creation.  My life is hidden with Christ in God and in Him I live and move and have my being.  (Galatians 2:20, 1 Corinthians 6:17, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:3, Acts 17:28)  He forms a boundary around me and nothing gets to me but what it also touches Him.  This truth is what I hold on to every moment of my life, in whatever situation I find myself in.  It is the only identity I allow to define me.   

This identity makes me special only because I am in Jesus Christ.  I am not in Him because I am special.  I have done nothing to earn it.  I did not even seek God on my own: He revealed Himself to me.  He is the one who called me and laid His hand on me.  It was His goodness that opened my eyes and caused me to want to exchange my mind for His.  I only love Him because He first loved me and revealed that love to me in and through His Spirit.  In my flesh there dwells nothing good and it is He alone who directs my heart into love of God and patience of Christ.  (Matthew 11:27, Romans 2:4, 1 John 4:19, Romans 5:5, Romans 7:18, 2 Thessalonians 3:5)  All of this is for me!  All of this is for everyone else.

There are so many scriptures that state God is the God of all peoples, where He has promised all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, that He wills all men to be saved.  Here are three I must share: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.  All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).  “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).  “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever” (Romans 11:36). 

Again, these are a mere handful of scriptures but they ought to put to rest the idea that any believer has the right to think he or she is better than anyone else.  God gave His Son because He loved the world.  When I know how much He loves me, I can begin to understand how much He loves the world.  I can act in no other way towards people while, at the same time, I do not seek to take part in anything that does not reflect the heart of God.  This being so, what can I do when and if someone accuses me of thinking I’m better? 

I live my life from Jesus Christ living in me by His Spirit.  Doing so is a learning process and I am not so arrogant to think I act perfectly in everything I do, despite my desire to do so.  I humble myself before the God who loves me and ask Him if there is any truth in the accusation.  I ask Him to purify me in the fire that He is and burn out all the dross that keeps me from being His perfect reflection.  I offer any apology I owe to the one I have wronged.  If the accusation is false and I owe no apology, then I rejoice!  It means Jesus has been recognized in me and I am blessed to be excluded for His sake! (Luke 6:22)

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, scriptures are quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982

References:

Strong, James, LLD., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

A Life Beyond Compare

18 Monday Oct 2021

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This life lived abiding in Jesus Christ is beyond compare.  The fact that I live in fellowship with The Father, in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit leaves me speechless.  The fact that this life is possible because the Father wills it so makes me rejoice in humility.  And yet, this life can be frustrating.  There are so many things I don’t understand and answers to my questions do not come all at once.  I often quote Philippians 1:6 to myself: “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  I am confident that the will and purpose of God will be worked out in me but I am not always patient with the process. 

I’ve had some difficult times over the past several months.  I couldn’t put into words how I felt.  I was angry certainly but at the same time broken-hearted.  I also felt isolated.  There were communities I longed to be part of but, as I listened to what they were saying, I knew I could not.  It wasn’t until today when I came across Jeremiah 15:17 that I understood what I was feeling.  This passage states, “I sat not in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me, for You have filled me with indignation” (Amplified). 

Indignation.  I thought this was a good word to sum up what I was feeling but I looked it up in the dictionary to be sure.  My Webster’s New World Dictionary gives this definition of indignation: “scorn resulting from injustice, ingratitude, or meanness; righteous anger.”  Yes, this is exactly what I have felt.  And, I have sat alone.  Doors have closed all about me and I didn’t understand why.  And then, this week, I had an experience where the same thing kept cropping up.  It was mentioned to me, then it popped up in a newsletter, then someone else mentioned it, then I was sent an email…: six times over the past week this thing was mentioned and, each time, I grew more and more indignant.  Not one of those sources shared my indignation.  I went to God and asked Him if I was overreacting.

I am not.  I remembered the word translated “church” in the New Testament is ekklesia (G1577).  It means “a calling out”.  I was also remembering two portions of scripture and kept repeating them to myself.  One was “Come out from them and be separate,” and the other was “touch not the unclean thing.”  I did not remember these were parts of the same passage:  2 Corinthians 6:17.  For a bit of the context, I’ll start in verse 14: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.  For what fellowship had righteousness with lawlessness?  And what communion has light with darkness?  And what accord has Christ with Belial?  Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?  And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God.  As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them.  I will be their God.  And they shall be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.  I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (verses 14-18).

I have often heard this passage quoted to mean “unequally yoked” is a warning against marrying someone who doesn’t share the same faith.  I see it more as a warning for everyday life.  It is practically impossible to reach a goal if I’m trying to get there with someone determined to head in the opposite direction.  No, I take Jesus’ yoke and heed His calling to come out and be separate.  I do not mean I go live in a cave like a hermit (though there are times I wish I could!): I am separate while remaining in the world.  (See 1 Corinthians 5:9-10).  Jesus Himself prays “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:14-16).

I look at these scriptures and understand what they are saying but how then do I live?  What does it mean to be separate while still in the world?  For me in this moment, it means holding onto my identity in Jesus in the midst of great pressure.  What is that identity?  I am everything the New Testament tells me I am In Christ.  I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, a living stone in the spiritual house of God, a member of the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, a holy nation, one of God’s special people, made to proclaim the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.  (1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Peter 2:9).

I hold on to my identity but remember who everyone else is as well.  I define my actions toward them by the words of God Himself who declares, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh.  Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:43).  I obey the words of the Apostle Paul who says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

I seek to diffuse His fragrance wherever I go and, knowing my flesh still wars against the Spirit, I pray: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.  Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; and do not let me eat of their delicacies” (Psalm 141:3-4).  I trust that my steps are ordered by the Lord, He delights in my way, and though I stumble I won’t fall because He upholds me with His hand (Psalms 37:24). 

And when I must sit alone because His hand is upon me and He has filled me with indignation I accept the loneliness knowing I am not ever alone because He is with me.  I accept and listen to His voice always ever seeking to follow the Lamb withersoever He goest and heed His call to “come out and be separate”.    

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).

Unless noted otherwise, all scriptures are quoted from:

The New King James Version of The Holy Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of The American Language, William Collins+World Publishing Company, Cleveland-New York, 1974

Strong, James, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Led as a Captive-Part Two

20 Monday Sep 2021

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Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Hello Readers!  Welcome back to Renaissance Woman as, this week, I continue taking a look at Paul’s exuberant cry; “But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Corinthians 2:14, NIV).  In last week’s post, I considered what Paul might be picturing here, assuming he had in mind a Roman Triumph.  This week, I want to consider why he was so joyful at the thought of being led a captive in Christ’s Triumphal Procession.

Before I get to that, there are a few more aspects of the Roman Triumph I have to bear in mind.  One is, after Rome ceased to be a Republic and became an Empire ruled over by Emperors, the Triumphs were reserved for Emperors alone.  I also bear in mind that the Emperors were called by the full title “Saviour of the World”.  The problems this caused for Christians within the Roman world is a fascinating subject but one I’ll have to leave for another time.  I mention it because it is Jesus Christ who alone deserves to bear the title “Saviour of the World” and it is He who is honored in this procession. We then, are led captive in the procession of the One who is the True King of the Universe and Saviour of the World.   

There is one more aspect of Roman Triumphs I took a look at during this study and that is The Ovation.  The Ovation was a lesser form of Triumph during which the general being honored rode on horseback.  When I read that, I pictured The Horseman described in Revelation 19: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war…And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses” (Verses 11 & 14, NKJV).  Here too, there is a procession but there are none led as captives.  Here, the Followers of Jesus are depicted as a mighty army. 

Considering what Paul says about us being led as captives and then the picture of the army in Revelation, can both be true of us as believers?  I think so, especially when I consider the promises found in scripture.  Consider, for instance 2 Corinthians 3:18 which says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (NKJV).  Consider also 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NKJV).  The words that hold my attention are “being transformed” and “become”.  There are so many other verses that speak of renewing, being made, being transformed: the conviction I am left with is one of process.  We do not become like Jesus overnight.  There is a process and, to use Paul’s words, it begins by being led captive by God.    

But what a strange captivity!  As I meditated on this, I was reminded of the young men led into captivity when Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem.  They were captives, certainly, but were brought to Babylon and trained in the literature, laws, and culture of Babylon. They were sent to university, in other words. It is here I see some similarities to our captivity in Christ as our Christian life is not one of servitude but one of being taught of the Lord by His Spirit.  Our captivity has one major difference from those young men in Babylon as our captivity is not forced on us but rather one we choose.  We are not drug through the streets in chains but drawn after Him with gentle cords and bands of love (Hosea 11:4, NKJV).  His goodness leads us to metanoia (I never get tired quoting that!), our eyes are opened to the reality of Jesus, and we surrender our lives to Him.  It is a captivity we continue to choose every time we pray “Thy Will Be Done.”  It is a captivity we choose every time we take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

Here is also our warfare and it takes place on the battlefield of our mind.  However, just as our captivity is a strange captivity, so is our warfare.  It’s backwards because our General is already victorious.  He does not fight battles in order to become so.  He is the one who, through His death, resurrection, and ascension, utterly crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  Yet this victory must be worked out in us because there are strongholds, arguments, and high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.  Foremost among these is that great lie that was spoken in the Garden of Eden: you shall be as God.  I did not realize when, in the awe and wonder of seeing who Jesus is I wanted nothing more than He should come and live in me, that war was being declared.  My Self was already crowned ruler of my life.  Self was my center and it believed it could be God apart from Him.  It resisted the rule of Jesus and battles ensued.

I think the best description of this warfare is in Romans 7: “For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice….Oh wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Verses 15-19, 24-25a, NKJV)

Paul goes on to say in Chapter Eight that, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Verse 37, NKJV).  This is true in Jesus right now and this is how I conduct my warfare.  I do not engage in battle at all but declare the battle is won.  Jesus Christ is victor now and unto the Ages of Ages.  I take up my cross daily realizing that it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and there is nothing I will face that is too much for Him.  I listen for His voice and choose to be obedient to it, no matter how difficult doing so might be.  I surrender myself and go where He bids me go and stay where and when He bids me stay. 

Thanks be to God who always leads us as captives in Christ’s Triumphal Procession!  It can be painful because, as the captives in those Roman Triumphs of old, we know we will be jeered at by the spectators.  But, we also know He is using us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. We can go forward lifting our hearts in songs of praise knowing our lives are hid in His.  We rejoice that the enmity of our carnal minds is defeated because the Spirit of the Living God lives in us.  We think it not strange that fiery trials come upon us because we know that when His glory is revealed, we will also be glad with exceeding joy (1 Peter 4: 12-13).  Indeed, we already rejoice because we know that, while we do not yet know what we shall be, we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).  We shout for joy because, even as we are led captives, we are the Children of God!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!  Amen!

References:

NIV Journal The Word Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1973/2016

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Nashville, Tennessee, 1979/1982

Dando-Collins, Stephen, Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion, St. Martin’s Press, New York, New York, 2010, Pages 81-83

Guhl, E. & W. Koner, The Romans: Life and Customs, Konecky & Konecky, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Pages 290-295

Matyszak, Philip, Legionary: The Roman Soldier’s Unofficial Manual, Thames and Hudson, London, UK, 2009, Page 183

“The Savior of the World” (John 4:42) on JSTOR