Keep In Mind

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  John 6:35-38 NASB

The only thing required to be sheltered under God’s grace is to come to Him. To chase Him. To seek Him, asking Him to take us in. He does not say, “Whoever comes to me with sufficient regret,” or “Whoever comes to me feeling bad enough for their sin,” or “Whoever comes to me with redoubled efforts.” 

He says, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

A verse such as John 6:37 reassures us that this is not only a matter of divine decree but divine desire. This is heaven’s delight. Come to Me, says Christ. I will embrace you into my deepest being and never let you go.

Amazing grace! The gift of His grace is not an impersonal thing. God’s grace comes to us no more and no less than Jesus Christ comes to us. In the Gospel we are not given a thing; we are given a person.  Whoa. 

Romans 5:20-21 NET Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Not only are holiness and sinfulness mutually exclusive, but Christ, being perfectly holy, knows and feels the horror and weight of sin more deeply than any of us could fathom,—just as the purer a man’s heart, the more horrified he is at the thought of his neighbors being robbed or abused While the more corrupt one’s heart is, the less one is affected by the evils all around. 

Carry this train of thought a little further. Just as the closer we walk with Holy Spirit, the more horrified we are at the world’s evil, so we are also naturally drawn out to help and relieve and protect and comfort, others, whereas a corrupt heart sits still, indifferent to pain and suffering. 

Without abiding in Jesus we can do nothing for ourselves or our fellow man. Chase after Jesus. This means spending daily chunks of time in His presence and having an ongoing prayer conversation with Him. Our responsibility is to position ourselves where Jesus can flood us with mercy. We might start with desperation. And then being humbled by His selfless love, surrendered to the will of God with our eyes on the horizon, we will be able to stay in our own lane, chasing Jesus on the highway ahead with the realization that we need many things pruned out of our lives and the things of God grafted in. 

This destination of calm joy, taking direction from Holy Spirit, helps us to be disciplined in seeking God, and when we delight in Jesus—when He is all that thrills and fuels us—we have the means to represent Him well among all the peoples of the earth. 

We must keep in mind that if we are unwilling to receive God’s correction, wisdom and understanding, we will struggle to live correctly and serve others within God’s plans during these crucial days ahead.

I believe that if we, as Christians, truly understood the season in which we are living, we would not become discouraged or distracted by global activities that have no real spiritual value and that we were never called to do. It is not God’s will for us to fumble around or apply His Word in any way we want, but rather for us to understand the instructions He has given us, guided by His Word and Holy Spirit.