Die to unrighteousness

When we drive a vehicle, we have taken on a massive responsibility, to move ourselves and perhaps some passengers from one place to another while not harming other people or property along the way. Most times keeping the automobile on the roadway and "between the lines," is not usually critically challenging. When we consider this is a journey, we must make many choices, but the primary one is the desired endpoint. If yours is the only auto on the roadway for a time, the choice to accelerate or decelerate slightly usually causes few issues. All these choices change when there are other autos on the roadway around us. When we share the roadway with others who have different driving abilities, practices, goals, and personalities, we may find ourselves in a place which can almost turn into a battleground. This experience becomes particularly acute when there are intersections along the roadway. Radical changes in direction can be precarious if adequate provisions have not been made. Many years ago, one culture developed a travel element called a "roundabout," to ease these intersection difficulties. When using this method, roadway traffic did not stop when an intersection was encountered, all traffic went into a circular pathway merging in and out until they could safely change directions. Designed primarily for horse drawn traffic to avoid stopping, this method has remained in some areas until today. This solution was all but replaced by building overpasses, in which one vehicle pass above the others. All Christians are on a spiritual pathway towards heaven. This is a pathway that allows each one time to be sanctified, or become more dedicated to God; people move at different speeds along this pathway. There are many other pathways Christians encounter on this spiritual journey; a major challenge is to choose the proper direction along this journey. When intersections of life and faith occur along this journey, the resulting pathway and subsequent results are not always the ones we might desire. Along this life journey, each of us must make many choices; some will not have the result we anticipate. While an example about driving and death may sound scary, the only way we can stay on this pathway and reach the goal is to die, or be separated from, distractions of the world. We must die and die and die. Every day we die to the things that supposedly make us strong in this world. Every day we kill the need to have more, to be more. Every day we die for Him. Our lives need to guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Obedience

I read once of a person who remarked: "I've yet to meet a Christian whose knowledge didn't exceed his obedience." His point was simple: Most Christians know far more about God's truth than they live. Since the Holy Spirit lives within the Christian and is leading us toward greater sanctification (holiness to God), this should not surprising. In order to escalate this process, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to direct more of our actions. We need to be diligent in searching and seeking God's truth and then acting on our understanding. "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." - Rom. 8:14.

Living Water

We may marvel at this statement about water. Why such a big deal about water. Besides being an almost universal cleaner, in the middle East, clean water was very scarce in some areas. Webster defines addiction as, "compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (such as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly; persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful." Humans are addicted to water, they need it to survive. "On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as[a] the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified," - John 7:37-39 {ESV}. Jesus was looking forward to the outpouring of the Spirit and the time when the Holy Spirit lives inside those who believe in him. That time is now! This outpouring isn't a limited supply of water like a cistern, but an unlimited supply of refreshment like an artesian well. It isn't a well of water that sometimes goes dry in the long hot summer, but a supply that continuously overflows. And what is this water, this source of refreshment? The Holy Spirit! The Helper Jesus sends to us. So why don't we experience the overflow? Could it be because we don't seek this overflow, don't expect this overflow, and don't ask Jesus to send this overflow (Luke 11:13; Romans 15:13; cf. John 4:13-14)? When this source is in our being, it is a continual guide along our unique individual spiritual journey.

Confidence

As we live our daily lives, we generally accomplish better results when we pursue an activity with confidence. If the activities are in the physical world, we may have confidence due to our previous training or experience. This is a dangerous place where pride can engulf us. With activity, we need to be confronted with the realization that we do not have all knowledge and we can (and must) learn something from every endeavor. We must also learn that many opinions and conclusions may be true for only ourselves; others may have different and valid conclusions for their lives. This is especially true for our spiritual lives. Each one who has accepted Jesus in now on an individual spiritual journey. Others may advise or support, but this journey is one's unique journey, as specific as their background, to date. The most confident advice we can accept or give, needs to come from the Holy Spirit who lives with us. It is this residence which is empowering us and transforming us continuously along our spiritual journey. "Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." - 2 Cor. 3:4-6 (NIV).

 

Give up

 Step back from life for a moment and consider all that you have accumulated thus far in life. Perhaps you have made it through High School and college and found a vocation you really enjoy. Perhaps you have found people you enjoy being around as much as possible. Perhaps you have gone further and gained higher education and are in a vocation which benefits people as best you know how. Perhaps you are comfortable with your present life. What if you discovered the place you are in life and those things you have accumulated were not what you needed to gain eternal life. Could you, would you, make the changes necessary to pursue eternal life? Jesus asked the rich young ruler to lay aside all the things that prevented this man from following Him (Lk. 18:18-23). He did not. However, Paul did. Once he discovered a love for Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Paul did just that and writes to his co-workers in Philippi about this decision. "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." – Phil. 3:8 (NIV). Are there things in your life that are preventing you from following Jesus? The short, medium, and long term results are worth whatever you must give up to enter eternity with Jehovah God.

Awe

 While many people don’t usually like to have conversations about burials, there have been some really interesting practices used over the years. The time and terrain has had much to do with burials over the years. Some have been buried in caves, in open ravines, in water (sometimes on a burning boat), or under the earth. While now most have heard of the burial quip “6 feet under.” The origin of this seems to be a plague outbreak in England in 1665. As the disease swept the country, the mayor of London made a law about how to deal with the bodies to avoid further infections. Among his specifications, noted in “Orders Conceived and Published by the Lord Major and Aldermen of the City of London, Concerning the Infection of the Plague,” was that “all the graves shall be at least six feet deep.” This avoided dead bodies piled outside a township. They would be consumed by animals or parasites and gave rise to mass illnesses, usually called plagues, also many people did not like to be near the smell of decaying bodies. For those people who died in arid areas, dead bodies were sometimes covered with a shallow layer of soil and rocks. In the time of Jesus, the dead body was deposited in a cave-like structure. As the need arose, the structure would be used over and over to prevent animals from consuming the dead person or robbers from stealing whatever may have been left as memorials. They would allow the flesh to decay and then move the bones to allow later use of the tomb. To interrupt the mourning process and open a tomb before the proper time would not only produce a putrid smell, but a breach of the burial process. Such scandalous things were not done in the time of Jesus. Empathizing with those mourners, have you ever been at an event in which someone proposed to do an action that seemed either impossible or completely insanely unbelievable? You may have stood in wide-eyed awe. Well, that is what Jesus did. But, He did it for a time of teaching and relief for the family. So, they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me." – Jn. 11:41-42 (Berean Study Bible). Jesus did the unimaginable for the family of Lazarus. Jesus left the Holy Spirit to guide His followers after He returned to the Father. If we trust the Holy Spirit to lead us along our unique independent spiritual journey, He may surprise us with the tasks He makes available to us. It may not be as surprising as returning a person to physical life, but we may observe people experience a spiritual rebirth.

Pure information

 Have you ever longed for information that was pure and without defilement? This is especially important for our spiritual lives. Following the wrong information can lead to eternal disaster. Jehovah God is the true God and He has promised to provide all those who follow Jesus pure truth. "All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, 'He will take what is mine and declare it to you.'" – Jn. 16:15 (ISV). God has given us His Holy Spirit for an indwelling partner. He will guide us into all truth from Jesus. One person has well stated, “God does not just want to convey information, but he is sharing himself in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit so that truth is much more than something we believe; it is something we live out of the very fabric of our relationship to God through the Holy Spirit.” Christians need to allow the Holy Spirit to direct them along their unique independent spiritual journey toward eternity.