I noticed the other day that I was getting better…not a lot better, but better. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m no where near perfect or anything. Those who know me know that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Those who don’t know me need to know that one of the reasons I write as I do is because God told me to be honest as possible about my own struggles.
Now let me confess something: Not only am I getting better, part of me is not altogether happy about it. Part of me didn’t choose to get better. Frankly, that part of me likes to sin. That part of you does too.
That part of me (and of you) is the leftover tendencies in my soul-mind that accumulated from influences of the world, the flesh and the devil.
We don’t sin because sinning is so unattractive or because sinning lacks certain short-term gratifications. Are you crazy? We sin because that part of us likes to sin, because sinning is attractive and because sinning is…well…uh…sort of fun. We Christians don’t like to admit that part of us likes to sin. It is far more spiritual to be horrified by sin and to condemn it with our nose turned up and our peacock, self-righteous feathers flying in the breeze. But if sin were not attractive to some part of us and didn’t have its compensations, nobody would sin.
The truth is that if we got our “payback” at the point of the deed, nobody would ever sin and everybody would be righteous. There are exceptions to that, I suppose, but mostly we sin because part of us likes to sin…and you know it’s true.
As I was saying, I’m getting better and, believe it or not, I CAN’T HELP IT! The whole “getting better” thing sort of snuck up on me. I was doing something else and, all of a sudden, I realized that I was loving people I didn’t want to love, being obedient in places where I didn’t want to be obedient and showing compassion for people when I didn’t have time to show compassion.
What if I decided to make a New Year’s resolution? What if I resolved to be worse? What if I said I was going to sin more next year? I’m going to be more selfish, more ego-centered and more disobedient?
Now, that’s a different New Year’s resolution!
Tell your pastor and all your friends about how you have resolved to be worse this year than last and watch their faces. Announce to your Bible study group that you’re tired of this obedience thing and have decided to just not do it anymore…and they’ll treat you like a wet shaggy dog shaking himself at an outdoor wedding party.
Just kidding – sort of.
But let me tell you something important: EVEN IF I MADE THAT RESOLUTION, I COULDN’T KEEP IT. Yes, if I really, really tried, I COULDN’T DO IT.
Do you know why? Because of Jesus. It’s Jesus! It’s all His fault! I can’t be as bad as a part of me wants to be because of Him living in me and forever joined to my human spirit.
Through much of my life, I may have been saved, but I didn’t really know Christ was a living part of me (Galatians 2:20). Then this truth was driven home to me.
Jesus keeps forgiving me and turning me around when I really mess up. He keeps loving me when I’m pretty unlovely. He keeps hugging me when I’m angry. He keeps blessing me when He really shouldn’t. He told me that if I never got any better, He would love me just the same and would never leave me.
He is so in love with me that sometimes I feel a little embarrassed.
Then I looked and found, to my surprise, that I was becoming more like Him. Paul’s comment that we are crucified with Christ and that we still live with Christ living in us (oh, that wonderful Galatians 2:20!) is quite true…and it’s true even if part of us doesn’t like it.
When I found this out, I didn’t really make any big commitments. My commitment was to let Him do His work in me – in spite of my obstinate parts. And when I was temporarily attracted to sin (and we all are), I knew that my relationship with Him was not broken, but only “bruised”. He has promised to always bring me back into God’s way.
It may be my age, but I really don’t think so. I think it’s that I’ve been hanging out with Jesus too long.
So since Christ won’t let me resolve for the New Year to be worse and to sin more, I JUST WANT TO ANNOUNCE THAT I WILL GO ON GETTING BETTER AND BETTER – IN SPITE OF MY LEFTOVER MIND GARBAGE! HE WILL TAKE CARE OF THAT!
Sometime around 1400 BC, God delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai what have come to be known as the “Ten Commandments”. We hear in every Christian church about the keeping of these Commandments. They have become an integral part of the Christian religion.
Even non-Christians have some knowledge of these Commandments as a form of moral code. They are probably as well known, at least in the Western world, as any system of moral ethics could be.
I want to ask what may seem to be a strange question - IS A CHRISTIAN REQUIRED TO KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?
First, we must determine the true definition of a “Christian”. And then we have to determine God’s purpose in giving the Commandments in the first place. Without considering these two factors in depth, we cannot reach an accurate conclusion about the Christian requirement. A Christian is a Christ-person. By that I mean that when a person calls out to God for a Savior, accepts Christ’s death as penalty for his sins, and determines to make Christ the Lord of his life, something spiritually wonderful happens. Satan who has been controlling the person is put out and there is a new birth within the human spirit which takes place. Jesus Christ comes to actually live in a union, a living spiritual union, within the human spirit of the new person, the new “creation”, the CHRISTIAN. The Christian now contains the divine nature of God in the Person of Christ. The whole purpose of God’s calling to the new birth is achieved - the Christian becomes an actual child of God as a true member of the God Family.
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell in the soul of the Christian as a Teacher to bring the person into a full and deep knowledge of who he is in union with Christ.
Without this insight of what really happens to a newly birthed Christian, the understanding of the significance of the Ten Commandments can be clouded.
In addition, what was God’s purpose in giving the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel? The book of Hebrews says that the Ten Commandments were given as a form of law to point out sin and to carry the human race through until Christ came. What was given to Moses was not only the Ten Commandments but also hundreds of statutes and judgments, hundreds of sacrificial rituals and a system of clean and unclean foods. This whole system of commandments, statutes, rituals and clean food listings became known as the “Mosaic law”.
Now most Christian groups do not recognize the statutes, the rituals, or the clean and unclean regulations. They say that these were done away with when Christ came. After all, the statutes have some weird penalties which don’t apply in this modern day. And the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and therefore it is impossible to have priestly sacrifices. In addition, modern science has proven the safety of eating the unclean foods.
But when it comes to the Ten Commandments, most everyone applies them as a law which is still in force for the Christian of today. They would separate the Ten Commandments away from the Mosaic law and make them a universal moral law for all time. But is this proper? The Bible nowhere even hints at a separation between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic Law. If we are to keep the Ten Commandments as a law now, then we should be stoning people for unrighteousness, sacrificing animals as sin offerings and we should not be eating pork, shellfish and certain other foods.
But what is WRONG with the Ten Commandments? Paul and the writer of Hebrews say that the commandments are holy and good. But they also say that when Christ came and died, there was no more need for the Mosaic law, the WHOLE Mosaic law.
Jesus Christ said that the whole law is summed up in the love of God and love of our neighbor. This is Jesus’ NEW COMMANDMENT.
But what are we as Christians to do with the specifics of the Ten Commandments? Are we to forget them? OR ARE WE TO REAPPLY THEM UNDER THE TRUSTING GUIDANCE OF CHRIST FROM WITHIN?
I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing the Ten Commandments in a form applicable to our Christian condition as members of God’s Family. I will state the actual Biblical form of each commandment and then give what I consider to be the Christian application.
Commandment # 1
“I am the Lord your God Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.”
I am God your Father. I have birthed you into My Family and out of the bondage of Satan’s nature. I want you to look on Me as your loving Dad. You need look no further to provide for your needs.
Commandment # 2
“You shall not make to yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”
You do not have to look to any created thing as the source of your happiness. I am your Father and you are My child. By abiding in My love and guidance, you will avoid hurting yourself, your children and those around you.
Commandment # 3
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.”
You are a member of a Family with the greatest name in existence - the God Family. Always hold YOUR name high in awareness of YOUR divine nature in living union with Jesus Christ.
Commandment # 4
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. In this way, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Remember that, as a member of My Family, you can rest (sabbath) in the confidence of Family love and security. You will have your worldly work to do with its human problems and obstacles. But at any time and on ANY DAY, when you stop and listen to My guidance, you can rest (sabbath) in awareness of who you are and the power of the Family available.
Commandment # 5
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
As you grow in awareness of your Family status, you will see the beautiful love relationship between Family members. This will lead you into better human love relationships with your human family. The avoidance of stress can actually lengthen your human life.
Commandment # 6
“You shall not kill.”
You have everything going for you in My Family. And I am looking to bring others in the world into the Family with you. Why would you ever want to injure another person who is your potential Family “Brother”?
Commandment # 7
“You shall not commit adultery.”
Our Family togetherness is precious. I have created all family structure for stability, strength and happiness. Adultery is a tragedy of instability and ultimate unhappiness.
Commandment # 8
“You shall not steal.”
You were humanly born under the control of Satan’s nature. He was attempting to steal you away from My ultimate Family plan. He is the father of thievery. Stealing in any form only backfires on the thief.
Commandment # 9
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
And now that you are a member of My Family, how does Satan try to influence you? By lies! He is also the father of lies. Don’t listen to his lies and YOU will not lie to those around you.
Commandment # 10
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
As your Father and Creator, I know how you are made. I know your natural desires, the things of the world that you are attracted to. And as you follow My guidance in your life, My desires will merge with and become YOUR desires.
This is how I now see the Ten Commandments - not as laws which I must strive to obey in my own strength. That is where the Israelites failed. The Ten Commandments now merge into the overall cause and effect blessings of the Family. I understand now that I have a Family strength which I can and must draw on by an awareness of my Christian position. Some may look on this approach as downgrading the merits of the Ten Commandments - as just a technicality. But seeing law in the light of grace, I believe, is the key to growth in awareness of and success in Family action. Seeing the love towards God and the love towards neighbor fulfilled by the strength of Christ within is the key.
The only way that I will ever slip up is by temporarily allowing the world, the flesh and the devil to influence my mind, my soul, toward independent thinking. And as long as I am IN the world, this is going to happen. But Christ does not leave me. The Holy Spirit does not leave me. I am drawn back spiritually to what is true and real:
The computer on which I am writing this article uses Windows-XP. This is an improved operating system for computers which is the newest in Microsoft’s line of control systems. These began with Windows-95 which became the standard of the industry.
For any computer to be effective in what it is assigned to do, there must be a “disk operating system” or “DOS” which is the control system that guides and directs the flow of information and tasks to be performed. In early computers, DOS was little more than a primitive menu to access whatever files were contained on a disk.
The Windows-XP system is a very refined form of DOS to correlate all of the functions of a present day computer system. Modern computers deal with construction of information (word processors, informational database, and business spreadsheets), printing out data to printers, sending and receiving information over telephone lines (modems), access to laser-disk information (CD-Rom), access to the Internet, and video and audio functions. The ability of Windows-XP to access and perform multiple tasks at the same time and in a fast and highly efficient manner is being praised by those who deal with computers on a regular basis. You might say that the operating system is the framework upon which the computer functions. There have been primitive frameworks to direct the early computers, and there has been a progression to more refined and more encompassing frameworks to drive the activities of modern-day computers.
Each individual lives, moves and plans within a certain framework of reference. The view a person has of the world, of life and of eternity is much like a “Windows system” which either limits or enhances. Accordingly, all basic concepts of truth and its functions are circumscribed by this “window” or as I shall call it, a framework of reference.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish”, and where there is only a narrow framework of reference there is great limitation. Just as it is impossible for a computer to function beyond the ability of its operating system, so it is impossible for a person to dedicate himself beyond his framework of reference.
There is an ultimate “framework of reference” given to us by God in His Word but which is so often bypassed or overlooked by Christians in their spiritual life. This is the ultimate “Windows”, what I might call “WINDOWS-OF-HEAVEN”!
While as human beings we cannot know all the vast details of God’s basic plan and purpose for human beings, my conviction is that God has given us an unveiling of the highest framework of reference upon which we are to base our spiritual life - our spiritual “operating system”.
Let me begin with the three most common primitive frameworks of reference and then introduce the necessity of the ultimate and highest DOS - the “divine operating system”.
FRAMEWORK 1. For those who are primarily occupied with personal salvation, their framework begins with man’s fall into sin and ends with man’s redemption and getting to heaven. But since it starts with man, it ends with man and what he gets. This is a short, primitive and self-centered framework. We must not discount the primitive power of this frame of reference (it could be compared to Windows-95), but we must see it properly related to a larger framework of truth and purpose in God.
FRAMEWORK 2. Others seem almost to bypass any need for personal redemption. They almost ignore the Fall and become involved in the establishing of God’s kingdom purposes. Just talk to anyone who is really indoctrinated in the national message - a Jehovah’s Witness or a devotee of the “Left Behind” series of prophetic teaching - and you find how their framework is concerned with God’s kingdom and His righteous government on the earth. They concentrate on God’s universal kingdom of righteousness on this earth or the restoration to the Garden of Eden and all that was lost by Adam. Alas, there are many Christians who start with Adam in the Garden and end with man as universal king on the earth (it could be compared to Windows-Millenium).
FRAMEWORK 3. Advancing on to a deeper framework, there are those who start with the Eternal God as Creator. Beginning with God in His Genesis creation, they seek to find meaning and reason for this vast creation. There are numerous interpretations within this framework, but for even the most devoted, this framework seems to stop with man pleasing God and finally enjoying all that God has for man in a “new creation”. “The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. The world of creation cannot as yet see Reality, not because it chooses to be blind, but because in God‘s purpose it has been so limited - yet it has been given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of God! It is plain to anyone with eyes to see that at the present time all created life groans in a sort of universal travail” (Rom. 8:19-22 Phillips trans.)
So all creation will be delivered! But there must be some greater reason. New! For what? The dedication in this third DOS framework (which might be compared to the present Windows-XP) is that God might (in this future hour when “all things are new”) have the glory and honor. This does in a sense go beyond the self-centered concept of what man is to get, yet this view is still too small. There is a larger and more ultimate framework which gives the perspective of the total purpose of the original plan of God.
FRAMEWORK 4: “WINDOWS OF HEAVEN”
Finally we come to the ultimate spiritual operating system - the basic but most advanced framework of reference. If we have not realized it, we will be surprised that it starts way back in the Father nature of God - not merely with the foundation but before the foundation of the world. It was not man’s fall that determined all things. It was not God’s desire for a kingdom, nor even His plan for a new creation. But it was God’s fatherly paternal being and nature which determined His primary desire, His basic eternal purpose, His supreme dedication. This primordial purpose of the Godhead was to birth human beings into the Family of God. The Father wanted to be called: “Abba Father” - DADDY! Children in the Family of God were to have the very NATURE of God instilled within them! The desire to be a FATHER of many children is God’s supreme framework — His “Divine Operating System”.
What framework could be larger than the one beginning with the eternal Father and ending with that vast family which will bring to Him and His Firstborn Son, Christ, honor, glory, pleasure and satisfaction? In such a framework we see the importance of redemptive salvation (since men did fall). We see the kingdom; we see the New Creation, but we also see the Father as “Dad”, we see Christ as “Big Brother”, and we see the Holy Spirit as that glorious and perfect Teacher who makes all of our understanding come together into the spiritual awareness of who we are in God’ s plan.
Turn again to Paul’s words in Romans 8 and see if they have more meaning: “And it is plain, too. . . that at last we have realized our full sonship in Him. Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to His Plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God, in His foreknowledge, chose them to bear the family likeness of His Son, that He might be the elder of a family of many brothers. He chose them long ago; when the time came He called them, He made them righteous in His sight and then lifted them to the splendor of life as HIS OWN SONS” (Rom. 8:28-30 Phillips trans.)
Yes, in many ways, our intellect acts as a computerized system. Yes, we need DOS! We need a “Divine Operating System”! The computers of the world may now have Windows-XP. But the Holy Spirit Teacher living within our soul intellect is ready and anxious to install the best mainframe spiritual software available: WINDOWS-OF-HEAVEN. This is software which always keeps us related to our Family status. Everything that we accomplish is based on the ultimate reference to our Family of God relationship.
The Old Testament prophet Malachi made the statement: “…prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open to you the WINDOWS OF HEAVEN and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:10).
Having God’s framework of reference is what gives meaning to the Christian life.
Which Is It - "Thou Shall.." Or "Thou Shall Not.."?
I have lived in a “riverboat city” all of my life – for most of my life I lived in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri located on the mighty Mississippi river. I now live in St. Charles, Missouri located across the Missouri river from St. Louis.
The confluence of these two mighty rivers is impressive to see. And all along the length of these rivers, there are marker buoys to show the deepest channel. There is much commercial barge traffic except during the coldest icey winter months.
A passenger on a riverboat once asked the pilot if he knew where all the rocks and shoals were. The pilot smiled. “We don’t know where all the rocks are. We know where the channel is, and we stay in it.”
This is the plan by which we also may succeed. If each of us had to learn where all the hazards of life lie, if each had to experiment to find what makes life successful and what makes it miserable, if each had to try out every possible course of action to know its worth, we would utterly fail.
But thank God that we can learn from the revelation of God and the experience of others. That is why Paul wrote to his brethren at Rome that they should be “wise about that which is good, and simple concerning evil.” (Rom. 16:19).
IT JUST ISN’T NECESSARY TO KNOW ALL ABOUT EVERY WRONG THING. It is enough for us to occupy ourselves learning what is RIGHT, and then to practice it.
This is the purpose of the Word of God. It serves as our map, our guide by which we can avoid the hazards of life’s journey and arrive safely and happily at our destination. If we follow the Word’s directives, we can rejoice in the possibilities it opens to us. We can travel without fear of shipwreck. Free from the fear of reefs and rocks, we can relax and rejoice in God’s promises of safe voyage and sure haven. Above the necessity of knowing where the rocks are is the joy and freedom of knowing where they ARE NOT - where the deep channel is - and staying within its safety. This latter course restricts our freedoms, but what can surpass the peace that comes from knowing - not guessing but knowing - that we do not have to worry about tragedy.
The Word of God speaks with authority, Divine authority, which is not to be taken lightly. In the written Word, the Bible, God is speaking, telling us what to do, and what not to do, if we would be part of the Divine scheme for the Creation.
Then as we exercise our freedom as Christians, we hear the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ, speaking to us from deep within our spirit. He tells us specific things, unique to us, to do and not to do. These things never contradict the written Word as we understand it and, in fact, are reinforced by the Bible.
Of course, the choice is ours. We do not have to pay any attention. We do not have to listen. We do not have to trust and obey. We are free to choose our own course in the river journey of life. But if we want what God has offered, we must choose to use this freedom in trust and obedience.
Trying to find the location of all the rocks and shoals is like trying to live life in the context of all the “shall not’s” of the Law. The Law is right and proper because it does point out the danger of the rocks. But, as the pilot said, there is a better way than traveling in fear of the rocks - STAY IN GOD’S CHANNEL!
What is that channel? The river channel of life for a Christian, a reborn child of God, is TRUST in the guidance of Christ from within our living union of Spirit. When we stay in this channel, the Law of the “rocks” is still there, but it really has very little effect on our thinking. We live in the realm of the “thou shall” rather than the “thou shall not”.
What are the “thou shall‘s” of which I speak?
Thou shall stay aware of your living union with Jesus Christ.
Thou shall recognize that there is no condemnation anymore for us as children of God and members of His Family.
Thou shall know and accept that God IS love - and no matter how we may slip up, His unconditional love for His child always remains.
Thou shall stay in remembrance of all the Biblical promises made by God to His children, both in this human life and in the life to come.
Thou shall accept that in your weakness, Christ can use you to manifest His power to the world.
Thou shall SEE that weakness at every opportunity and TRUST in the guidance of Christ.
The Holy Spirit deals with your soul on a day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute basis, to KEEP YOU IN THE CHANNEL.
Following God’s marker “buoys”, we can travel safely and comfortably, knowing the security of the channel. We can travel in the green light of Christ’s grace and care.
pride - 1 inordinate self-esteem: conceit; 2 a reasonable or justifiable self-respect Webster’s Dictionary
We see that the dictionary definition of “pride” contains two descriptions, one proper and one improper. There are few things assigned to us by God more exacting than the proper assessment of ourselves.
I see three, and only three, kinds of people in the world:
1) the non-Christian - the person who has not found a need for Jesus Christ as his Savior - the person living in the illusion of being an “independent-self”.
2) the converted Christian - one who has genuinely found a need for Jesus but does not yet understand the concept of “total trust” in Christ - a person living by his own steam with Christ’s occasional “help”, a type of “dependent-self”.
3) the enlightened Christian - one who recognizes his living UNION with Christ and is being transformed daily by his trust in Christ to live out through him to the world - you might label this a “dependent-SELF”.
Independent thinking breeds an inordinate self-esteem, or at least an inordinate self-dependence. C.S. Lewis, in “Mere Christianity” gives a classical description of pride:
“There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world hates when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.”
Going on he states, “Does this seem to you exaggerated? If so, think it over. In actual fact, if you want to find out how proud you are, the easiest way is to ask yourself how much you dislike it when other people snub you, or refuse to take any notice of you, or patronize you. The point is that each person’s pride is in competition with every one else’s pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Now what you want to get clear is that pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature - while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.”
He continues, “The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl, but that is only by accident. They might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go around. But the proud man, even when he has more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.”
And then C.S. Lewis gets very specific about the number two type of person mentioned above: “Some Christians theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people. That is, they pay a penny’s worth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound’s worth of pride toward their fellow-men. . . . Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think that we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.”
Mr. Lewis finally describes the proper kind of pride for a Christian: “Pleasure in being praised is not “pride”. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says, ‘Well done’, are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in your qualities but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, ‘I have pleased him and all is well,’ to thinking, ‘What a fine person I must be to have done it.’ The point is that God wants you to know Him. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble - feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man, he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be the sort that is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what YOU said to HIM! If you do dislike him, it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about HIMSELF AT ALL!”
Well put, C.S.!! You certainly do understand "pride"!
The apostle Paul had much the same outlook himself. Paul was realistic. He knew we tend to swing between unreasonable pride and unwarranted self-abasement. THERE IS A LEGITIMATE PRIDE IN WHICH WE CAN PROPERLY INDULGE. In fact, it is the pride we MUST feel - not taking credit to ourselves but giving all credit to God through Christ. It is a pride not in what we can do but rather in the God family to which we belong! Paul was proud of Christ working through him, not of himself. He wrote, “As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). Any boasting was not in anything he possessed or achieved in this world. And so he set strict limits on the kind of pride in which he could indulge. His confidence did not arise from anything that he could do of himself, but from what he WAS in union with Jesus Christ.
The fact is that we can do nothing at all except through the power and strength given us by God through Christ within. Whatever we have is what we received, and it is our duty to return it to God. In doing this we become part of a great cause, a great Plan, which we must never depreciate or diminish.
The distinction between legitimate and illegitimate pride, then, is clearly drawn. But it is not always easy to maintain - we are so often tempted to exalt ourselves. We may know deep down that we should glory only in being “a partaker of the divine nature” as Peter said, but we have a weakness that still wants to promote “me”.
Humility is often though of as the opposite of pride. But in reality, humility and proper pride can and should exist side by side in the Christian. Humility is not in depreciating ourselves but in exalting Christ within. Humility is the byproduct of placing our resources at the disposal of Him, and being willing to be used by Him as He sees fit.
The human “self” alone can only have a conceited pride. But when the human self is joined in union with Christ at conversion, I become a “Christ-person” - a SELF in which to have justifiable pride. I HAVE PRIDE OF SELF BECAUSE OF WHO I AM, AND NOT BECAUSE OF MY HUMAN CAPABILITIES.
Many years ago, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book called, “The Power of Positive Thinking”. It became a best-seller. People are always looking for a way to make things work for them, and the ideas in this book seemed to hit a chord with readers. I, myself feel that the book is about 50% helpful but is also about 50% wrong in its focus.
Dr. Peale is a Christian minister and therefore tends to direct his readers toward a recognition of God. And that is good.
But I believe that the focus of the positive thinking that he proposes is necessary, is too often directed toward making the person feel good about themSELVES and their ability to do their own thing. It seems to say that with “help” from God, the SELF can have the power of accomplishment if the SELF just thinks it can. And this is a wrong focus.
Dr. Peale apparently does not see the human being to be a “container”, a “vessel” which has no power of accomplishing the will of God separate from the contents of the container. Christians are living containers, but containers none the less. The apostle Paul, with all of his faith and accomplishments, was called by God “a chosen VESSEL” (Acts 9:15). Jesus called Christians “branches” or living containers of the Vine’s sap. There is no power within the structure of the container but all power is derived from the power of the contents.
God created us, not to have positive power put forth from the container, the SELF, but rather to have ALL power of achievement to come from a living UNION of the container, the SELF, with the contents, Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus Christ is there dwelling within the Christian to BE the source of the power.
The container is important, though. The usage of the power of the contents is directed outward and controlled by the container. Milk is a powerful substance. It does much within living creatures to effect their metabolism and growth abilities. But milk must ALWAYS have a container. To just squirt the milk out of the udder of the cow right into the air without catching it in a bucket or a milking tube would be a foolish waste of power. At every stage of milk delivery to the child, the power of the milk is controlled and directed by a container - milking machine, tanker truck, factory cartons or jugs, child’s cup, child’s body.
The power of Christ to work in the world is controlled and directed by His living containers. Christ is the power, but the containers determine the usage of that power.
So when it comes to the “power of positive thinking”, it must always be tempered with the understanding of our container/contents relationship with Jesus Christ. The container is nothing of itSELF. But the container is everything when its contents is Christ. Christ, our Lord, said, “I, of my own self, can do nothing. The Father within Me, He does everything.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as a man could do nothing?!? How much then can you ever expect of your SELF? You would have to say, less than nothing!
So watch out for positive thinking directed toward your SELF. This can, by subtle means, direct you away from TRUST in the power of Christ. It can direct you toward neglect of guidance communication with Christ within and the recognition of His control.
The positive thinking that we are to have is the positive recognition and awareness of our union with Christ within our spirit. This union brings about the only true positives that can be produced in our lives.
But the title of this article is: The Power of Negative Thinking. And, mark it well, there is MUCH power in negative thinking.
We live in a modern world of ULTRA communication. There are so many forms of information accessible to us through the internet and the media that, at times, the data all seems overpowering to us. Human beings have always wanted to know as much about what was going on around them as they could. And now they CAN know from the media fantastic amounts of information about what other people are doing, how they are doing it, and what effects are taking place. We can see the destruction of an earthquake on the other side of the earth in a matter of minutes on CNN. We can see the results of plane crashes, mass murders, acts of war, soon after they occur,
And, let’s face it, the “bad” news seems to make the headlines faster and with more accent. What does this do to us? It creates a “power of negative thinking” - call it “PNT”. In the unconverted human separated from God, this PNT can be overwhelming and depressing. The PNT creates a sense of “me” against the world and it is a pretty nasty world out there. Now, of course, God can use this PNT, this fear of the world around him in the unconverted person, to draw him to a sense of frustration with his own abilities and the need of a Savior.
But what about PNT in a Christian? The Christian in the modern world would have to go out and live in a cave somewhere in order to avoid all the reporting of negativity. There is only one answer - THE CHRISTIAN MUST CHOOSE NOT TO BE FEARFUL! What do I mean by that? There are choices by our soul mind that must be made away from fearfulness.
(1) We must CHOOSE not to dwell on the media with its resultant PNT. Catch quick segments of the news to keep up with events. But don’t constantly dwell on the news media or the internet. The amount of “good” information received from these sources is far outweighed by the PNT. Learn to recognize those feelings of Satan’s influences toward fear, and drop the media coverage like a “hot potato” turning to something else, preferably something about the enjoyment of God’s creation. We are told in the Bible to “flee” sexual sin. Well I believe that it can be just as important for our spiritual life to “flee” from PNT.
(2) We must CHOOSE to spend time considering the promises made by God in His Word to His children - promises to direct our life toward good and promises to protect us from evil. Belief in God’s protection can neutralize the effects of PNT.
(3) We must CHOOSE to see the world as God sees it. God is dealing with each individual on the level of their God concept. The evil circumstances and situations that we do become aware of around us CAN be used by God in the plan of salvation to turn “sinners” into “saints”.
(4) CHOOSE to memorize those immortal Bible words: “IF GOD IS ON OUR SIDE, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?” (Rom. 8:31 Living Bible) And God is more than on our side. He has made us members of His Family and has PROMISED never to forsake us.
PNT fades into oblivion when these deliberate choices are made by the Christian.
At the end of the Great Depression and the start of World War II, there was a song by the great song-writer, Johnny Mercer. The song became very popular, possibly because the idea was one that the country needed particularly at that time. It was titled: “Accentuate the Positive”. The lyrics were as follows:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive; Eliminate the negative; Latch on to the affirmative; And don’t mess with “Mr. Inbetween”.
You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum; Bring gloom down to the minimum; Have faith or pandemonium’s Liable to walk upon the scene.
To illustrate my last remark - Jonah in the whale, Noah in the Ark. What could they do, Just when everything looked so dark?
They had to accentuate the positive; Eliminate the negative; Latch on to the affirmative; And not mess with “Mr. Inbetween”!!!
Simple idea, right? Harder to do, right? Not hard for a Christian who knows who he is:
ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE OF YOUR LIVING UNION WITH CHRIST MAKING YOU A CHILD OF GOD.
ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE OF SATAN’S ILLUSION OF POWER. SATAN AND HIS CIRCUMSTANCES ARE A CONQUERED FOE BY CHRIST IN US.
LATCH ON TO THE AFFIRMATIVE - GOD’S AFFIRMATION OF HIS PROMISES TO THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN CHRIST TO GUIDE THEM.
AND DON’ T MESS WITH MR. INBETWEEN - DO NOT WAVER - KNOW THAT YOU KNOW! - DO NOT “WONDER” ABOUT PROTECTION, BUT THANK GOD FOR IT BEFORE YOU SEE IT!
Every Christian knows about the penalty for sin. “The wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23). In fact, the working definition of a “Christian” is one who recognizes that there is a penalty for sin to be paid, and that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay that penalty for all sinners. And the Christian accepts Christ as his Savior from that penalty. The awful punishment due to sin must be paid.
But what becomes of sin after conversion when Christ has come to indwell the Christian in a living union - Spirit of Christ with human spirit?
For the first half of my life, I was taught and believed that, as a Christian, I was “in a state of sanctifying grace” when I repented of and confessed my sins. God was close to me and I was going to heaven if I died then. BUT, if I sinned again, I lost my “state of sanctifying grace”, I was separated from God and I was going to hell if I died then. My life was a constant swing between going to heaven and going to hell. What a frustrating experience!
Finally I discovered that the Bible does not have this idea at all. God has a much better approach in the life of His children.
There is a book of the Bible whose main topic is: “What happens when a believing Christian sins?” This book is the First Epistle of John. Many Christians have read this book with much confusion. What they read is misunderstood. Many statements made by John do not seem to be true in their everyday lives.
Let us look at this book and come to an understanding of “sin” in the Christian. Jesus said that knowledge of the truth will set you free. And the understanding of the First Epistle of John is an important key to a joyful, free Christian life.
Sin is a tough subject to deal with, because the whole Bible - Old Testament and New - deals with sin as a slap in the face to God and a state of rebellion against God, regardless of who sins. In this issue of what sin is, there is no change. But you will not understand this issue of sin until you understand that Christ is intended to be the Life of the human being.
Many have been taught that we have a “good” nature and a “sin” nature in us, and the “us” is always making a decision between the two natures. But the human being can have only one nature operating at a time, and since his new birth, the believer’s only operating nature is the God-nature through Christ living in him (II Peter 1:4).
The old sin nature is put out by Christ’s death, and what we fight is not the sin nature, but the REMEMBRANCE of the sin nature left over in our brain cells, in our mind, our soul.
We come into the world possessing the sin nature of Mr. Sin, Satan. We are born or created in sin (John 8:44). That is why we must be rebirthed; we must be born again by another Father to get another nature.
To fully understand this, let’s go into the Epistle of I John now. Starting with I John 3:9: “Whoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.” That is a very powerful scripture that says several things about Christ in us which we need to look into.
“Whoever is born of God” - the first line introduces us to our new birth in Christ. “..does not commit sin” - that is radical! - we have a difficult time understanding that because we do not understand the issue of sin. “. . . for his seed remains in him” - for Christ’s seed, Christ’s life, is in the believer. The believer cannot sin because Christ cannot sin! Hold on! Don’t lose me; you will see what I mean.
To understand, we need to go back to the eighth verse, because that gives us better insight into the issue of sin. I John 3:8 says, “He that commits sin is OF the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” It is on Calvary that the works of the devil were destroyed. Notice what this eighth verse says, that whoever commits sin is of the devil. The reason that we do not understand verse nine is that we do not understand verse eight. We do not understand that everyone who is unconverted (not birthed of God) is of the devil or has a “Satan nature”. We do not use that language, even casually, because it makes unbelievers and sinners feel uneasy.
Now follow me closely. It does not say that the unconverted human being sins. It says that the unconverted sinned because Satan’s nature was in him, and that the real sinner from the beginning was Satan. Why was that? The human being is nothing but a living container meant to contain GOD. But through the Fall, human beings are born containing the nature of Satan.
In order for salvation by grace to come about, there had to be a radical change. The only way God could bring about this change was to make the exchange Himself. The exchange is Satan’s nature out and Christ in - not a change in the container, but an exchange of the contents. God saw nothing but sin in you when Satan was your nature, and nothing but righteousness now that Christ is your nature.
Back to I John 3:9. It did not say we will not sin or would not sin; it says “does not commit sin,” and “he cannot sin because he is born of God.”
I grew up in circles where it was maintained that “we are all NOW sinners saved by grace.” But this is NOT the case. If we are rebirthed by God, we are no longer sinners, but children of God - SAINTS of God! Do you see the difference? The only life I now have is Christ. It is eternal life, it is God-life, and it stands before God sinless.
The fifth chapter of I John is more definitive on this subject. I John 5:17 says, “All unrighteousness is sin. And there is a sin not unto death” Mark this because now we are going to talk about another sin. There is a SIN NOT UNTO DEATH. The scripture says, “... The soul that sins, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The Old Testament is full of statements that whoever sins is going to die and receive punishment. But now John says that there is a sin that is not unto death!
The sin that was unto death was borne by Christ on the cross, and that is the sin you cannot commit anymore. It is simply that believers cannot commit a sin that separates them from God.
Look at the next verse 18: “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one does not touch him.” That is interesting - THE WICKED ONE DOES NOT TOUCH HIM. John is referring to the fact that the original sinner in the human always was Satan. He did not say that the Christian would cease from sinning. He said that he would not sin because the wicked one would not touch him. So, Satan was always the sinner in us using us, misusing us, lying to us, and telling us “You are bad, you are no good,” when it was he all the time that was no good, just as it is Christ in us now that is our righteousness. This is what Christ coming to dwell in us means.
So there is a sin that WE commit that is not committed by Christ in us, and it is the sin that is not unto death. The story of this sin starts at I John 1:7: “If WE walk in the light, as He is in the light, WE have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses US from all sin. If WE say that WE have no sin, WE deceive ourselves, and the truth is not is US. If WE confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive US our sins, and to cleanse US from all unrighteousness. If WE say that WE have not sinned, WE make Him a liar, and His word is not in US. My little children, these things I write to YOU that YOU sin not. And if any man sin, WE’ have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”
More believers stumble over this problem of sin in John’s epistle than anything else, because he says on one hand that whoever is born of God cannot commit sin, and now he says that if we say we have no sin we lie and the truth is not in us. So, we have to separate sins. See all the “We” and “You” and “Us” capitalized above. Here is the place where sin comes into the believer’s life. It comes because the believer, in a temporary state of reversion to his old ways of THINKING, separates himself from trust in Christ that is in him and does his own thing. We are all guilty of this.
At conversion, Satan is out, and can no longer sin AS us, bringing death and punishment. BUT WE OURSELVES CAN COMMIT SINS BY REVERTING TO INDEPENDENT THINKING AND ITS RESULTING ACTIONS. It is described by John as a “sin not unto death”, not a sin to destroy the union. It is going to hinder the union, but it is not going to destroy the union with Christ. It is just that the believer is going to do his own thing for a while, and maybe by that he will learn something and get straightened out. The sins that are committed by a Christian at this point are easily forgiven and forgotten - not as the behavior of a Satan-controlled sinner, but of a child of God who slipped up and needs correction toward what is expected of the Family.
Notice it says that “He is faithful and just to forgive us OUR sins. . .“. The emphasis is in “our sins” and not on Satan’s sin.
So you see that there is another side of sin. There is a sin that I CANNOT COMMIT! The real ME exists as a living union with Christ; and that union cannot produce sin. And when I take on the illusion of separation and independence from Him, THE SIN COMMITTED IS NOT A SIN UNTO DEATH. The external influence of the world, the flesh and Satan can draw a Christian’s mind back into the illusion of independence. Our pre-conversion AND even our post-conversion mind has been fed with much worldly garbage. The mind, the emotions and the will are functions of the SOUL. When the mind stays in the awareness of union with Christ, the emotions, the will and the body follow. This is what God visualized as the proper functioning of human beings.
But when the Christian mind slips into independent thinking and actions temporarily, this is sin. It is not going to destroy my relationship with Christ, but it is going to hinder my union temporarily. At this point, all I need to do is to confess and come back into favor with Him. And in fact, seeing my weakness, the slip-up will probably draw me back into a DEEPER awareness and TRUST in Christ‘s control.
Anytime you take the mind away from Christ who is in you to do your own thing, you are participating in a work of the “flesh”. What is “flesh”? A fleshly action is any action your soul and body take out of the control of your spirit. A work of flesh is where mind and body have joined together for a no-good event. It is not Christ. You see, as long as Christ has your mind, He will operate through your body with an expression that is true to Him and you. Flesh is subject to Him when He has the mind.
A sin that is not unto death is what we Christians are always judging in each other. When you are headstrong and take the mind away from Christ, you are going to have trouble. You never take the mind away from Christ to do God’s will. You always take the mind away from Christ to do your own thing, to do what fits you best at the time.
How then do you get free from such sin? You are freed by simply telling the Father you are truly sorry, and He forgives and forgets all about it. He just chalks it up as a growth step in His child. He is the perfect parent who does not disown His child but does all that He can to keep him on the right family path. The blood of Jesus Christ “cleanses” us - present tense. The life of Christ in you is ever keeping you cleansed, and ever keeping you where you ought to be with God.
Let me show you how this works. See First John 5:1 - “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him (birthed of Him).” Do you see something here? What is it that keeps us from sins of the flesh? Love. What do we automatically have working as birthed children of God? Love. Law cannot do it. Law will not keep believers from sins, but love will. You cannot force a husband to love a wife. If you try, you are wasting your time. Somewhere along the way they have to grow into love with their wives, and believers have to grow into love with Christ who is in them.
Now 5:4 - “For whoever is born of God overcomes the world.” That is automatic; that is spontaneous. Sins of the flesh are there and believers are going to commit them, BUT whoever is born of God is going to overcome the world. That is our faith promise. I have to stand on that often.
One more clinching truth - 5:18 again, "...he that is begotten of God KEEPS HIMSELF.“ Who is responsible for keeping myself in my position? What is my position? To TRUST in my head, only Christ. Every Christian is going to keep himself. That does not mean keep himself either spiritually or eternally. It means he is going to keep himself from the “old way” of doing things, away from the external sin-nature way of doing things. He is not going to take a mind unto himself to do what is of Satan, or what Satan formerly did through him. He is going to keep that mind as the mind of Christ.
What then is my responsibility? LOVING THE LORD MY GOD WHO IS WITHIN MY SPIRIT, WITH ALL MY SOUL AND BODY. That is my one love commandment. God IS love. And the love of God which flows out from the indwelling Christ to my soul must circle back FROM my soul in full power.
When I slip up and forget that love, what do I do? I put into motion my family relationship. I have been an erring child of my Father. I have attempted to do my own thing and I see that it does not work. I DO NOT HAVE TO GO TO CALVARY AGAIN. I go to my Father and He says, “I am glad you came; I knew you would. I forgive you. Now get up and go on.” Do we not have to pay the price? No. The price has already been paid by Christ and the Father has already accepted it.
Obviously, the way this picture is painted by John, and the way I have interpreted it, makes it look as if the believer’s sin is of little matter. But I say that if John’s concept of Christian sin was understood better, fewer Christians would CONTINUE in sin. There is a psychological device in human beings whereby we want to punish ourselves when we do wrong, and we do this by CONTINUING in sin. God fixed a thing in us of condemnation and guilt in order to draw us to salvation in Christ. But we carry the remnants of this over after conversion, and when we do wrong, we often punish ourselves. We punish ourselves by continuing to do what is wrong. We know it is wrong - we know we ought not to do it. We say, “I just can’t help it.” But we are really punishing ourselves because of our guilt. This is a hopeless cycle. This is how an alcoholic became an alcoholic. He knew he should not drink, but nevertheless he continued doing it out of guilt to punish himself. He was tricked by Satan into thinking he was doing something good by punishing himself, even though it made him feel miserable. You’ve never seen a drunk who did not appear miserable and sorry at times. That is a part of the guilt.
Enlightened Christians do not want to punish themselves - they want to move on into God’s provision for their lives. If they grow into love, if they know they are already overcomers, they will not have to punish themselves.
What stops Christian sinning? Look again at the fifth chapter of I John.
If we love Him, THAT STOPS IT; if we know whoever is born of God cannot commit a sin unto death, THAT STOPS IT.
Yes, Satan is put outside of the Christian. Therefore, the Christian cannot, because of his new nature, commit another sin of death against God. It is coming to know Christ within you that makes the difference in sin, and this is what helps your soul to avoid sin. The greatest hindrance to your growth is always going to be how you are performing before God, and most of all it will have to do with the sin issue.
The Holy Spirit revealing the Son in you should bring you to a point where you will not be upset by every little thing that happens. Surely you are going to sin in the flesh. Surely you are going to have temporary mind separations from God. That is why John wrote as he did. Christ is our life. As long as you think you have a life of your own, you are going to have sins of the flesh.
My sin situation has changed at conversion. I cannot sin a sin that permanently separates me from God, or that is unto death. But I can sin a sin that is not unto death which is a sin of the flesh. The victory, joy and peace of most believers is stolen by their erring temporary mind separation from the Jesus who is in them.
Too often, people think this message gives believers license to continue in sin. We must not forget the powerful message in Hebrews 12:6. “For whom the Lord loves, He chastens…” Those who persist in sins of the flesh will be corrected or chastened by a loving Father. Things won’t fit together in life. Christians will be hurt, be deprived, and even become dysfunctional. Even though they are sons (offspring and children of God), they will suffer to learn obedience (Hebrews 5:8; I Peter 5:10).
Nothing saddens me more than to live in a world where you find Christians who do not know what really happened to them when they took Christ as their Savior. It saddens me that our churches today are filled with people who missed these cardinal factors about sin that show the transition between the old and the new. We all need to know that. We all need to practice that. We need to put these truths in our minds and realize and accept that we are that new creation race of people, a whole new people raised up to live these truths about sin.
We are not converted Old Testament believers. Israel is still living under the law of sin and death and still has not found Christ. WE HAVE CHRIST! We know Life!
AND HAVING CHRIST, WE HAVE A NEW KIND OF SIN TO CONSIDER - A SIN REQUIRING CORRECTION, AND NOT REQUIRING PUNISHMENT!
John Fourteen is an often quoted section of the Gospel of John. The King James version speaks of “mansions” as follows: “Do not let your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father‘s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3
For most of the years of my life, I equated these verses with the concept of going to heaven and being with God.
At a Bible study a number of years ago where John Fourteen was being discussed, a friend commented, “There are a few Bible scholars who believe that Jesus was not talking about heaven, and our future place or mansion in heaven.” To those in our group, this thought was so foreign that I considered it in silence, and no one asked for clarification. Nothing more was said. Later I found that through the centuries a few Bible scholars have expressed similar interpretations. Apparently Christendom preferred to focus on our escaping from this life and its troubles, by anticipating a future life in heaven rather than focusing on a present kingdom of heaven.
Parallel to this, I formed the habit as I studied Scripture of not just reading one phrase, one portion, or one verse alone, but of analyzing the portion in the context of the complete sentence and paragraph, and often the entire event that occasioned the discourse.
In this way I began to see a new slant on Jesus’ words in John Fourteen about the many mansions in His Father’s house. When the disciples listened to Jesus’ comments about His approaching death and His need to leave them, they became confused and frustrated. My understanding of the chapter is that it is an account of Jesus’ desire to comfort and strengthen them by showing them the truth. He is returning again, but when?
I do not mean to make less of the thought of heaven, but there are other Scriptures about that. In this passage I believe Jesus meant to teach them - and us - a truth much more vital and necessary to our life now.
These verses have been used innumerable times to give hope and comfort to the dying and the bereaved. I have considered it this way myself. However, it seems to me that if we use it for this purpose alone, we withhold a basic truth from believers. Instead of our need to “tough it out and to endure until we receive our little mansion up in heaven,” Jesus is giving us the possibility of our receiving power, hope and peace to sustain us NOW.
Jesus talked about the many mansions (or abodes) in His Father’s house. In our concentration on our room waiting in heaven, we have missed a greater truth. Could Jesus have been talking about the many places where the FATHER abides and dwells? The sentence structure certainly allows for this interpretation. I would freely paraphrase this Scripture in this way:
“In my Father‘s universe, He has many places where He lives. In heaven is one, in the body of Jesus is another, and by the power of His Holy Spirit He lives in every believer.”
To examine further this thought, let us follow Jesus’ dialogue with the disciples. In verse three He promises them that He will return and take them to a new relationship. This is often interpreted as meaning heaven, but Jesus does not say so. Rather, I believe He is saying that He will take them to the Father (v. 6). Thomas questions him, “We don’t understand; what are you talking about?”
The following verses are crucial. Jesus states, “If you had known Me [understood Me] you would have known My Father also; henceforth you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7)
Philip enters the discussion by saying, “Lord, show us the Father, and it will be sufficient for us.”
In verse nine it is almost as if Jesus speaks in astonishment: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’... The Father who dwells in Me does His works.”
In verse eleven Jesus says, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” He said that as they had just watched Him feeding hungry people, healing the sick, and doing many “works”. They should have realized that they were watching God in Him doing these miracles.
Then Jesus promises a whole new life to them - a life of works, a life of answered prayer - that the Father may be glorified (revealed) in the Son (verses 12-14). Jesus also promises another Helper, one who will not leave them as Jesus must do, but will abide (live) in them forever.
I am thankful for the recording of Jesus’ words in verses 17, 20 and 23! “You know Him, for He dwells with you (now], and will (live] in you.” This can only mean that Jesus - with the Father and Holy Spirit in Him - at that time living amongst them, will soon live [abide, dwell] IN them. He says, in effect, “Cheer up, men; don’t be so sad. It will be even better for you when I live IN YOU instead of just near you!”
John develops this concept by giving more of Jesus’ words: “In that day you will know that I AM IN MY FATHER, and YOU IN ME, and I IN YOU.” (v.20) and also: “And My Father will love him (a believer), and WE will come to HIM (a believer) and MAKE OUR HOME with him.” Jesus said that He would return to them, and now He says that as the God-Jesus Person He will live, or abide, IN THEM!
In the conclusion of the chapter Jesus again promises that through His Holy Spirit He would give them peace. They no longer needed to be fearful. Yes, He will still need to die, as they also will, but in the midst of that, they can be at peace.
This was how the discussion had began in verse one. Peace was to be attained not by escaping to heaven, but through understanding that God Himself would be living in them and working out His will in their experiences of life.
I believe that for too long, in failing to interpret this passage as I now understand it, I failed to give God a proper welcome into my life. Now I hope that in day-to-day relationships with other people, God is able to be revealed in me. “IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE[THE SPIRIT REALM AND THE MATERIAL REALM] HE HAS MANY DWELLING PLACES - IN HEAVEN, IN CHRIST, AND IN US.” Not just some kind of a “spiritual contact”, but Jesus - yes, GOD HIMSELF - living in us.
Heaven will be great! But life still has to be lived as human beings. We can’t - but Christ living in us, as us and for us can.
We all love a good science fiction story once in a while. The excitement of the concepts presented titillate our emotions and imaginations. We like to think about what could be possible about the universe around us. And with an explosion of knowledge in science, there are unlimited possibilities for stories about scientific creations and outer space situations.
There is even a cable channel called the “Sci-Fi” channel which shows only science fiction movies twenty-four hours a day.
People want to believe that the things done in science fiction presentations can happen in the future: time travel, robots, etc. Jules Verne in the 1800’s probably began in earnest the science fiction concepts continued by H.G. Wells and others.
The movie “Terminator” about a robot from the future which travels back in time to the present day to kill the potential mother of a potential future-day world leader was one of the biggest box-office grossing movies of all time.
Movies such as “E. T.” present apparently good extra-terrestrial life. Others such as the “Alien” trilogy present very dangerous forms of alien life.
More recent movies such as “The Cube” and “The Matrix” present scientific advances of the future.
Movies such as “Contact” try to bring to our imaginations the concepts of what heaven may be like.
But how would you like to read a science fiction story that is not fiction? It has all the elements of a UFO and outer space encounter, but it can be proven to be totally true! Well, read on! Here it is!
THE VISITOR FROM OUTER SPACE
In the far distant past, a great Being from outer space came to this planet Earth. In fact this Being was not just from outer space in this universe but was from another dimension, another realm which is actually non-dimensional! This realm has no height, length or depth. Or weight. Or size. Not that it is large. Or small. It is neither of these. Many universes can fit within it. Or the whole realm itself can fit within your body.
If this is not enough to give us a hefty headache, consider that there is no space or time in this realm. Obviously, we have a struggle grasping all of those things because we never lived in a habitat with such odd features. You are a creature of space-time, of the physical and dimensional.
This Being took the form of a human being and lived among the human population unrecognized for about 30 years and did not make any special effort to disclose his true nature during that time. Then he began a public life and over a period of three years made contact with and exerted influence over a large number of people. This alien Visitor announced to the people of the world that he wanted to be their leader and show them how to live. He had a special “one-on-one” relationship with those who met him; so much so that it was often recognized that there was something different about him! He had a compassion and a feeling for people that was and is still rare in human beings. And since he had fantastic extra—terrestrial powers unheard of on earth of healing sickness, correcting physical deformities and even bringing dead people back to life, he often felt compelled to use this power to ease the distress of humans.
He did not look to be in the spot-light, but his fame as a healer and counselor began to become extensively known. He had a very small group of close contacts who, after recognizing the different nature of this “strange” individual, lived day and night with him and actually dedicated their lives to him.
Whereas human beings in general have attitudes of “getting for oneself” and “accumulating things”, this Visitor had a GIVING AND SHARING WITH OTHERS attitude that permeated his whole being.
As he lived and associated with these close followers, he gradually over the years revealed to them some of the characteristics of this alien race which he represented. First, he was a type of being who could not die or be destroyed but had an ETERNAL LIFESPAN! Second, his race of beings had complete control over physical matter and could create it, rearrange it or destroy it at will! (They would have considered him totally strange indeed if he had told them the real scoop that he had himself actually created the whole material universe!) Third, these alien beings had the power of instant transportation or instant communication from one end of the universe to the other and even into the non-material realm. The speed of light was no limiting factor and was of no consequence.
The first announcement he made to his human contacts was that he was going to be the HEAD OF A GOVERNMENT which he was going to set up over the whole earth! But when he perceived that the general population would never accept him as their leader or king, he told his associates that it was not in his time-schedule to set up the government then, but that he was going to go away and return later to set it up. He said that the people of the earth had still not had their fill of human governments with all of their built-in problems of “get” attitude and that they just weren’t ready to be teachable and to accept his way.
This alien Visitor, in the last half of his public activities, began to present a very radical concept which was just so far out that it seemed to even his closest friends to be too wild to understand. He said that the only way humans could free themselves from the independent attitude of “get” and become like his alien family nature of “give” WAS TO INVITE THIS ALIEN VISITOR TO ACTUALLY COME INSIDE OF THEM IN A LIVING UNION WITH THEM - DWELLING INTERNALLY WITHIN THEM, AND PROVIDING THE STRENGTH AND POWER HIMSELF TO OVERCOME THEIR INDEPENDENT WAYS.
“How could this be?” they wondered. They had never heard of a union between two beings, especially two beings from different worlds! Human minds are stretched beyond reason by such a concept. Some of the people ceased following him because of his message. The closest ones continued to follow him but wondered in awe how this could be. The Visitor kept insisting that man must finally see that he cannot control himself and needs power greater than himself; that is, THEY WOULD BECOME TEACHABLE!
This Visitor from another realm told his contacts that the only problem with this family of beings of which he was a member was that THERE JUST WEREN’T ENOUGH OF THEM! He told them that one of the reasons that he had come at that time was to begin to work with human beings in a unique way! He said that even though human beings have a limited lifespan and die as the animals and plants do, it does not have to be this way. He said that this race of Beings had planned long ago to use the human race to DRASTICALLY INCREASE THIS SUPERIOR ALIEN FAMILY!
They wanted to expand the number in their family in order to govern the earth and ultimately the whole universe and beyond.
The process would work like this: after his human life on earth, the Visitor would make a mental or telepathic contact with a number of human beings giving the knowledge of him and his basic way of life of “give” rather than “get”. (This Visitor revealed that even before his coming to earth, some very few people in past ages had already been selected and contacted by him.) If these contacted persons accepted the knowledge of him and decided to change and give him control of their lives, he would immediately birth them into his alien family and would come, with his eternal life, to live in them, within their being, and guide them in their lives using them as his contact to the world. In fact, as they continued to accept and recognize that he was living in them, he would actually take the steering wheel of their lives and direct them along the proper paths toward the lifestyle that they were created for. They would continue to live in their material bodies until natural human death. But they would actually be, right now in this life, MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY OF THIS GREAT ALIEN RACE!
It would be like being “born again”. These people who chose to follow him would instantly have their old corrupt “get” nature removed and replaced by the “give” nature of the alien race. They could continue to live out their human lives on earth and grow in the knowledge and awareness of their living union with the Visitor. As they trusted in his strength, they would be directed internally on paths which taught this Visitor’s alien lifestyle.
Of course, being part human and part alien, the human part would fail at times due to external influences of the world. But these failures would only, in the end, serve to draw closer the understanding of the alien/human union. The Visitor said that, no matter what, he would never dissolve the union and leave. He was present for the long haul - to achieve the Alien Family goal of eternal children.
When these new members of the alien family died, their bodies would experience corruption in the grave, but they would be RESURRECTED INTO HIS SUPER-RACE! They would be total members of this alien realm with new bodies having no human limitations. These selected and transformed new MEMBERS of his RACE OF BEINGS would be the leaders and framework of his government over the whole material and spiritual realms.
This is the alien plan! And they have the power to carry it out! But the Visitor was not able to make the general population or even most of his close associates understand the awesome vision for the future. The crowds who heard the Visitor became more and more antagonistic and decided that they did not want to hear anymore of these wild plans. So they proceeded to have a mock-trial and to execute him. And the Visitor allowed himself to die a human death. (He made it clear that his death as a human was a necessary criterion in the alien plan of justice to enable human beings to be brought into the Alien Family.)
But three days after his human death, he came back from the grave and demonstrated by his power of his resurrection that he was who he said he was.
He bid a final goodbye to his close associates and returned to his native realm. The word of what had happened spread throughout the world because of the enthusiasm and alien power of the ones who accepted him. The world even reset their calendars dating their years from the year of arrival of the Visitor.
A body of believers in this Visitor from outer space has always existed in the world communities ever since. But many are the skeptics who refuse to accept the proven facts of history. The life, death and resurrection of the Visitor have been established historically by every researcher beyond the shadow of a doubt. But because so many centuries have passed since all this occurred, much of the world today attempts to ignore or discredit what happened. But they are being contacted just as the Visitor promised. The telepathic messages are coming in. Some are tuning in. Some are tuning out. But those who, because of their life circumstances, are listening and accepting the message of alien life control are being reborn just as the Visitor explained.
It is ironic that in an age that is looking for the excitement of science fiction, so many are skeptical of the only TRUE SCI-FI CHANNEL: the communication coming from the Visitor’s Family! The knowledge is there for the taking. And with the knowledge and acceptance comes the LIFE! Let’s face it! When we look around the world in general, human life looks difficult, full of complications and dangers. Is this what we were meant for?
The book of Job in the Bible has been a controversial book. Since the Bible is the inspired Word of God, we are to learn from every part of it. But what is Job to teach us? You have probably heard the expression: “the patience of Job”. People think that Job had to have extreme patience to endure all that he did. And this is true. But is this the real message? Others say that the book is a lesson in self-centeredness. It may seem that Job loved and served God in every area through Job’s pride and self-interest. And God had to take him down a peg and show him who was the real boss.
The book of Job may well be the earliest written book of the Bible. We do not know who the human author was as we do most of the other books of the Bible. The technical context seems to indicate a different author than Moses, Ezra, David, Solomon or the prophets.
In the first two chapters of Job, we find God dealing with Satan. And in the rest of the book, we find Satan dealing with Job. But I believe that the real purpose that God had in mind through the book of Job was to show us how God allows Satan to deal with converted people who have Christ living in them and having the righteousness of Christ.
In chapter 1:1, we see that Job was a righteous man. But we know that a man can only be righteous when he contains the righteousness of God. Under the New Covenant, this happens when we repent and accept the righteousness of Christ into us. Righteousness is a quality only of God. We do not know how Job came to contain God’s righteousness, but it seems to be by faith as did Moses, Abraham, David and others.
The most controversial section of the book is when God and Satan communicate in the first two chapters. Just as a review, we know from other parts of the Bible that Satan was a high level created angelic life form who separated himself from God and was sentenced along with other angel followers to the confines of the planet earth. You may wonder why God would place Satan here where He intended to create Sons out of human beings. Why not sentence him to a prison where he would be out of contact with God’s potential children? Why allow him to try to influence humans? I believe the Book of Job shows us some of the thinking of God about how He would bring about growth in His converted children.
Instead of banishing Satan away, God uses Satan as His “convenient agent” on the earth to bring His children into total understanding within their soul of their total dependence on God to live their life. Even with the righteousness of God within us by our spirit union with Christ, we must grow on a day to day basis within our soul (our minds, will and emotions) to always accept and acknowledge the fact of our union even when our physical senses seem to contradict it.
We must come to see God’s perfect wisdom in the birth and growth of His children, and in having a convenient opposite, the wrong one, the evil one, through whom God would bring his vast family of sons to maturity. To have true sons, they must find themselves in their freedom. They must discover that to be a person is to be conscious that there are alternatives and make their free choice; and ultimately their right choice through having first made the wrong one, and tasted the consequences.
God is always in ultimate control of Satan. Satan can only do what God allows him to do since all the power in the universe is ultimately in the hands of God. There is no battle going on between God and Satan just as there can be no battle between the convicted criminal and the judge. The judge has the power over the criminal and the criminal must do the will of the judge. And carrying our justice system analogy even further, on occasion a judge may temporarily “use” a convicted criminal by releasing him from his confinement away from society and allow him to use his criminal expertise to help the court catch another person of more importance. And I believe that this is why there is an active Satan.
In Job 1:6-12 and 2:1-6, we see Satan, as it were, reporting back to the judge about the status of someone of more importance. Satan’s “Mission Impossible” is to remove the righteousness of God from Job. And this is an example of how God deals with all converted people. Every Christian because of Jesus living in them is considered righteous by the Father because of Jesus’ righteousness, not their human good works. But every Christian is at a different stage of maturity in their soul, in their understanding of their total right standing with God. So God allows His agent, Satan, to externally influence us negatively in order to drive us to the positive point of total reliance on the life of God through Christ in us.
I Corinthians 10:13 says that God knows exactly where we are in this maturity of soul. And that He will not allow Satan to influence you in any way beyond what your level of maturity can handle. God says that He will always “make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it”. So we, as a converted person, have nothing at all to fear from Satan. God will only allow him to drive us closer in our soul to total understanding of our union relationship with Christ. When we slip up and sin, it hurts us! We see the negative effects of it in our life and it hurts! No one likes to hurt! We see that the cause of our hurting is that we tried to exert control with our own human power and we failed. Every sin that hurts brings us closer to total maturity of mind and understanding that life is meant to be lived by a total union of our spirit (Christ‘s direction) and our soul (our mind’s acceptance of Christ’s direction) and our body following with it.
I see Job as any converted person who contains the righteousness of God. God deals with Job, through Satan, on the level of Job’s maturity. And at the end of the book in 42:1-6, Job shows that Satan’s influence has actually helped him toward greater maturity. Because he says, “I see that no thought of purpose of God can be hindered... My eye (my soul) really sees God as He is. [that a human being is meant to live in a union with God receiving God’s total control over his life] I hate myself and repent.” [Job came to understand that there was no independent self in Job to run his life in his own power. And he hated that false understanding. He repented into a recognition and acceptance of total union.]
Since unconverted persons are “of their father, Satan”, their spirits are in a union with and directed by Satan’s nature. This is different than the way Satan dealt with Job.
We must face the fact also that positive circumstances of life can tempt us into the illusion of separation as readily as negative circumstances. Feelings of independence and separation from God seem to be quite natural during periods of success, health, and apparent “good”. So you see that good and health and victory can be imposters as much as evil and sickness and defeat.
The apostle Paul said that he had learned the secret of life. He was content in every situation because he had come to the awareness that we live in a One-power universe. He knew that Reality can elude us as readily in a circumstance of prosperity as in a circumstance of poverty. A quotation from Rudyard Kipling in his poem “If” hits this point: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat these two imposters the same ... yours is the earth and everything in it.”
Our growth in awareness is labelled by the apostle John as little children, young men and fathers. (I John 2:12-14) Another way to label this growth of consciousness is from relative to positive to universal.
As spiritual children we see everything on a relative basis - good or evil, right or wrong, health or sickness, positive or negative. We may see that because of our inheritance in Christ we have all things. But we wrongly assume that God epitomizes only the good, health, positive, and brings forth prosperity and the human victory. Our wrong assumption leads us to conclude that “another power” is responsible for the evil, sickness, and poverty, and that power is the epitome of negativism and defeatism. So we mistakenly involve ourselves with the God of good against a god of evil - the God of the positive versus a god of the negative - instead of seeing Satan as a God-used convenient agent.
The young men aspect begins to see God as only the Positive. This is because negative manifestations still spell defeat for us. For example, when a cancer is healed or arrested, we sense that God’s power is on us; but when the “victim” dies, we privately wonder who didn’t have enough faith or what secret “how to” must still be learned. But even this perspective ultimately brings frustration, because it is still a separated viewpoint. We must see that Positive swallows negative, not because of positive outward manifestations and appearances of change, but because we see God in action in negative appearances as well as in positive appearances. We see God in sickness as well as health. We capitalize Sickness, Poverty, and even Evil, as well as Health, Prosperity, and Good, because God’s use of the negative to show the positive is critical.
To go to the father stage of maturity requires a “universal” outlook toward God. In fact, a fixed union consciousness has only taken place when we see God as the all - God in action in all things. The key to the transition from relative, to positive to universal is simply acknowledgement of His presence in all things. It begins as we learn to praise Him in all situations, even those we cannot understand or rationally justify. Somehow most of us cannot initially handle the truth that God actually uses negative evil as well as positive good. Because our outlook is partially dualistic, we find it necessary to attribute the power of evil to an “evil power”. We tend to equate evil to our personal concept of what “hurts” us or what is “comfortable” for us.
What is the catalyst that finally brings us to that greater awareness and that fixes our consciousness as to His presence in ~ things? ADVERSITY! Man’s adversity has always been God’ s opportunity. As we come to see the redemptive purpose of all adversity, we are finally released to see that Satan is used of God. The evil which Satan influences in a converted person is allowed of God.
A Christian (one who is “in Christ”) will never face “punishment” for his sins. Notice that I said “punishment” and not “correction”.
PUNISHMENT is a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing. It has retribution in view (paying someone back what he deserves). Punishment is looking backward to the offense, is impersonal and automatic, and its goal is the administration of justice.
CORRECTION or discipline, on the other hand, is totally different. Correction is training that develops self—control, character and ability. It is looking forward to a beneficial result, is very personal, and individually applied. Punishment and correction sometime “feel” the same to the one on the receiving end! But the sharp difference can be seen in both the attitude and the goal of the one doing it. Under the New Covenant, God never deals with His children on the basis of punishment. All of the punishment of God for our sins was fully received by our Savior Jesus Christ on the cross. Now that we are children in the Family of God, He deals with us only on the basis of correction.
Now can you see why Paul was a spiritual giant? In weakness he was made strong, but in strength he was also made weak. He had learned the secret of being filled and of going hungry. He knew God was in either appearance, but only to accentuate the positive of being filled. His perspective had matured from relative, to positive to universal. He was one with the Universal One in all things.
We too, as fellow Christians, have to learn to see Satan only as God's covenient agent and come to know that he serves God in a way that he himself doesn't understand.
