homeier@aero.ARPA (Peter Homeier) (08/27/85)
become valuable servants to Him, we must allow Him
to remake us as He desires- and what He desires is to teach us to love.
For it is in loving giving that we receive, it is in pouring out our lives
for others that we are filled, it is by surrender of our own will day by
day to the Lord of our lives that we put to death the old sin nature in us,
and begin to grow into the likeness of Jesus. And none of this is to our
credit, as though we had done something worthwhile. But the more of His
dear nature Jesus works in you, the more you will appreciate that you can
accomplish nothing from the strength or abilities you have, but only Christ
working though you as you yield to the Spirit can make anything lasting and
meaningful. "Except the Lord build the house, they that build it labor
in vain." (Psalms 127:1)
This is not to say that formal training, such as found as seminaries, is
without any value. It can certainly be helpful to understand the Greek
language, to understand nuances in the New Testament, or to know other things
that are taught in an academic setting. But all of this is head knowledge,
without spiritual power, until the Spirit comes to bring life to the facts
and wisdom to the heart. How many young men have entered seminary, their
hearts afire with passion to serve the Lord gloriously, only to leave years
later, their heads filled with book knowledge but their hearts dead and cold?
The transformation that Christ works in you is not through your own strength
at all, but by His own glorious power. You cannot accomplish even the
smallest thing except by His grace. It is by dying to your own will, as the
Lord brings choices to you each day, that you gradually shine brighter and
brighter with His nature. Paul writes how all the things that he once
considered so important and vital, all the reasons he once had for pride,
he now counts as rubbish. But he counts their loss as gain, that he might
know Christ, and be transformed into His glorious likeness.
But just as literal death is attended by pain, so this death to self is also
attended by sorrow and sufferring, as you are truly crucifying the sinful
nature, the old man, within yourself. Each time you truly surrender to the
Lord's will in a new area, you will feel a pang go through your heart, as
you lose a part of the old you. But this is necessary for there to be room
for Jesus's love to grow in you in that new way. And it is always your
choice, whether to hold on to the old self, which brings death, or to release
that point to Jesus, and then let Him bring His love into that place.
So our part in this is not achievement, but surrender, and in that we find
our true victory. Then, when we go forward and live in that new life that
He has formed in us, we can see beautiful fruitfulness flowing out from us
naturally. It never has to be forced, any more than a grape vine must be
forced to make a grape. It just grows naturally, without striving, and in
fact you can't stop it! It is just the way Jesus is to keep blessing and
loving, and when you receive that nature into yourself, it also just flows
with blessing and love. And then you can see that it is not you yourself
which is doing the good works, but Christ alive in you, and then there is
absolutely no temptation to try to keep the glory for yourself, because it
is so obviously evident that you didn't do anything, but Christ did
everything, and you just let Him.
So don't worry about how to make yourself great in God's kingdom. Jesus wants
you to be made great and He is able to do it too! And it is not pride to want
to love and serve Him greatly. But you cannot do it yourself. Let yourself
be remade by Him, and He will shine through you.
There is a hymm with a chorus,
"Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord,
humble yourself in the sight of the Lord,
and He will lift you up,
higher and higher,
and He will lift you up."
In His tender love,
Peter Homeier
ARPANET: homeier@aerospaceptl@fluke.UUCP (Mike Andrews) (09/04/85)
Thank you for a true and beautiful Gift in your article today.
Praise God!
Mike Andrews
--
God said He would never leave me nor forsake me, and that I am His temple.
A man is what he thinks.
A body led by the soul is only 2/3 of a person : the soul tries to get rid of
the spirit.
A body led by the spirit is a whole person : the spirit works to make the soul
help the body. And a spirit led by God the Spirit is invincible.