Devotional 310809

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Today is my last no pay leave for this month and hopefully it is the end of our no pay leave policy. No matter how the economy may turn, God’s promise will never change. He promises us, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). We are called to live out this promise, so that the whole world may experience the real peace on earth.

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11). What was the joy that Jesus had? It is an insult to use the word happiness in connection with Jesus Christ. The joy of Jesus was the absolute self-surrender and self-sacrifice of Himself to His Father, the joy of doing that which the Father sent Him to do. "I delight to do Your will." Jesus prayed that our joy might go on fulfilling itself until it was the same joy as His. Have I allowed Jesus Christ to introduce His joy to me?

The full flood of my life is not in bodily health, not in external happenings, not in seeing God's work succeed, but in the perfect understanding of God, and in the communion with Him that Jesus Himself had. The first thing that will hinder this joy is the critical annoyance in reacting to circumstances. The cares of this world, said Jesus, will choke God's word. Before we know where we are, we are caught up in the shows of things. All that God has done for us is the mere threshold; He wants to get us to the place where we will be His witnesses and proclaim Who Jesus is.

Be rightly related to God, find your joy there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a centre for Jesus Christ to pour living water through. Stop being self-conscious, stop being a sanctified moralist, and live the life hid with Christ. The life that is rightly related to God is as natural as breathing wherever it goes. The lives that have been of most blessing to you are those who were unconscious of it.

When you constantly consider what not to do in life, you squeeze out the joy of abiding in Christ. Yes, we will make mistake and we will react to situation not as godly as we wished. We just go to Christ and tell Him how helpless we are in sanctifying by our own strength. Those mistakes just confirm that fact that you need Christ to strengthen you in life. And you resume to your focus on the holiness of Christ and God’s love. There is no point to beat a dead horse or severely criticize a person who is the chief of all sinners. Jesus knew who we are, and He chose to love us regardless. He re-assured Apostle Paul this very important fact, “In all these things (personal weaknesses and hardship in life) we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). We held on to this unconditional love of Christ, and pursue the beautiful characters of Christ in us. Rejoice in Him always because we are more than conquerors through Him.

This is the kind of “spirituality” that has been permeating the lives of all saints in church history. And this is the kind of spirituality that our Holy Spirit will continue to nurture within the community of saints today. God choose to use this kind of saints to impact the world throughout history. You are fellow saints in Christ no matter you like this title or not. There is only one God, one Christ, one Holy Spirit and one kind of saint – the one whom Christ has brought with a high price, and put on earth for His purpose to demonstrate God’s mercy for all men and women. Treasure your lives in Christ and enjoy your walk with Him each day, because this is His plan for you to be His witnesses of God’s love.

Love you because of Christ,
Lawrence