Abide in Him (and be Free)

April 3

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. (Romans 5:5) NIV.

In verse 6 of the above, Paul goes on to say,... "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." To express ourselves in love is to be loving to all around us, to all with whom we come into contact. We do not necessarily have to go out looking for cases where we can express love. If we take loving-care of everybody we have contact with and handle everything that happens to us or around us with an attitude and behavior of love; we will certainly be living in a way that Jesus demonstrated. In other words, that should be our goal to strive toward. It would be better, perhaps if we went out on a mission or sought out needy cases. However, it does seem that God would indicate this to us or lay it upon our conscience, if He wanted us to go out "looking" for ways of expressing Christian love, over and beyond our own day to day lives. "Yea, let none that wait on Thee be ashamed.- let them be ashamed which transgress without cause." (Psalm 25:3) and "Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on Thee." (Psalm 25:2 1).

So if we wait on the Lord, if we act in an attitude of love to all and everything in our life, which is surely what we are asked to try to do. This really boils down to, be a Christian - just be, don't worry about what to do, do what comes to hand. If God "lays" more on us, then do that also, if not just BE a Christian. Now the word, Just, covers a world of effort, praying, learning and growing, but the operational word is be. We don't have to worry and rush all over, that sometimes is a cover-up or a means of denying the real demand. To be loving is to be loving - where we are, who we are in contact with. "Wait on the Lord.- be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. " (Psalm 27:14). We live for Christ by how we "be," that is we are doing by being. Let this be our prayer: we will allow the love of God, which passes all understanding, to become a constant presence within us. We will not let our "impotence" make us doubt His presence; He will have His way with us, we will just wait and be. We will live in joy, peace, love, hope, and faith. We will let this become who we be in God.

To be or not to be.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to public disgrace. (Hebrews 6:4-6) NIV.

One may worry as to whether or not he has committed the unpardonable sin. Today God will accept us if we acknowledge Jesus Christ as His Son and try to obey His commands. Most of us are still ruled too much by the old nature and are such children in the Lord that we cannot tolerate anything except milk and not the meat of the Lord, i.e., the works of the Holy Spirit with power. "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready." (lCorinthians3:1-2) NIV. The Holy Spirit works in us but yet in a way requiring faith.

We soon find out that without the help of the Holy Spirit we not only cannot change our old nature, we cannot even make any real or permanent inroads on it. Even with the Holy Spirit working in us, it is usually a period of quite some time before we can sense that He is working in us. The growing awareness that He is present, is a learning process and becomes more evident as we begin to make basic changes. It is a sin to get angry or to give up because we cannot achieve the perfection that God requires. Jesus Christ has taken care of that as long as we live in growing obedience to the Holy Spirit. We will continue to sin and to backslide, making transgressions. However, as long as we admit our failings, and thank God for His love, patience and forgiveness, we are on the right track and the Holy Spirit is working in us. We have not and are not committing the unpardonable sin. We would have to be so hardened that we wouldn’t want to repent.