May 27, 2024
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” (John 5:39)
They were there in Jesus' day and are with us now. Purely religious people. Those who “hold to a form of godliness, but deny the power.” People who read the Bible about Christ but fail to kneel before Christ.
THE SOURCE OF OUR UNWILLINGNESS
This springs, as every sin does, from pride. It is our arrogance that thinks we can make ourselves right before God. That somehow, our good works are sufficient before a holy God.
The Bible points to Christ on every page. It is designed to lead us to Him—both mentally and spiritually. But if we are proud, the cataracts of arrogance cloud our eyes to Him. We see nothing that matters and last. In fact, like the Pharisees, we can look at the true things of God and attribute them to Satan himself.
Jesus pinpointed the problem with laser precision: unwillingness … “you are unwilling to come to Me.” Their wills were unbending, and they would not humbly admit their depravity and yield before Christ. They wanted their will and way and no one else's. They loved to be in control. Even though Christ stood right before them, and every page they were reading testified of Him, they were unwilling to come to Him so that they would have life.
OPEN YOUR EYES
Is there any pride that fosters an unwilling spirit in you? An unwillingness to bend the knee before Christ? To look to Him and Him alone in humble dependency?
You can evaluate the Biblical accuracy of your spiritual experience by this: Is my daily experience breaking my will and bringing me into deeper dependency upon Christ? Greater surrender? Greater submission? Greater love? Deeper prayer? Increased passion for Christ alone?
If not, it may be a religious experience but not a spiritual one. Even a true believer can slip for a season into this blinding arrogance.
It is a worse-than-deadly exchange. Deal with it quickly and ruthlessly. Such a religious spirit will keep you from Christ and the true spiritual life He alone can provide.
(The picture above is of the mural "The Encounter" in Magdala, Israel. It is the women with the issue of blood who came humbly, dependently to Christ and received healing and life.)
January 15, 2025
Imagine a child created by God and for whom He had sent His only begotten Son to redeem and His Spirit to indwell. And then imagine that child ignoring Him, never communing, never praying, never listening, never obeying. And then realize how an attentive, unceasing life of prayer would delight the heart of the Father who made you.
January 14, 2025
Spending hours in solitude with God alone is foreign to us. We are not familiar with God. He is, for most, a distant entity, not an every day Father.
January 13, 2025
What is more important to you than anything else? Check your values, for they will drive you this year. And what value is it if a man gains the whole world but loses his soul?
