Righteousness By Friendship
“We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Gal. 5:5).
Why must it take so long to be sanctified? It takes so long! Moses had to wait 80 years. Abraham had to wait 100. Enoch, somewhere between 65 and 365. How about you? Are you anxious about overcoming sin? Are you letting salvation worry you out of heaven? Or will you be patient?
“Therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” (Is. 30:18). If you read the context of that last verse you will find that the Lord had to wait until Israel stopped trying to save themselves. When they had finally painted themselves into a corner, then the Lord made Himself available to them. He won’t help us until we need Him with all our of heart. When we’ve finally run out of energy and self-made brainstorms and we give up and come to Jesus, then we really come to Him and He makes Himself known to us by faith.
“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth.” (Matt. 9:12,13). Our Master Teacher has commanded us to go and learn what that means. It must have been high in His priorities, so we better learn this most important lesson.
Israel’s big problem is the whole world’s big problem--self-sufficiency. So what takes so long for Jesus to sanctify us and help us stop hurting people, especially those we love? It is a function of how long we take before we learn to seek Him and walk in communion with Him and become good trusting friends with Him. That’s what takes so long.
Once we have a good, solid friendship going with Jesus, our sins will start to vanish because His Spirit is making them go away. We will find our great pleasure coming from Him and His righteousness instead of lusting after the things of the flesh, pride, and this world. The gracious influence of the Spirit will wash our minds and we will be able to see beauty in Jesus’ holiness.
Will there be decisiveness on our part to overcome sin? Will we ever have to “purpose in our heart” like Daniel and his friends did? Yes, but our wills will be supercharged with a power only love can give them, as it was with Daniel. Then we will be able to put forth the superhuman effort it takes to overcome sin as Daniel did.
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2Pet. 1:19). The day doesn’t dawn immediately, does it, according to the Holy Spirit? Until. But, let’s not be discouraged about this. The precious promise is that the day will dawn and the Daystar (Jesus) will arise in our heart.
So, let’s give the Spirit of God a fighting chance to save us. Let’s get with Jesus through His precious, sure words; let’s strive to know Him, however long that takes. Let’s not give up because of the barriers we and this world have put between Him and us. Let’s not fail or be discouraged until we’ve gotten through the press crowding out the Savior.
“We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Gal. 5:5).
Why must it take so long to be sanctified? It takes so long! Moses had to wait 80 years. Abraham had to wait 100. Enoch, somewhere between 65 and 365. How about you? Are you anxious about overcoming sin? Are you letting salvation worry you out of heaven? Or will you be patient?
“Therefore will the LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him.” (Is. 30:18). If you read the context of that last verse you will find that the Lord had to wait until Israel stopped trying to save themselves. When they had finally painted themselves into a corner, then the Lord made Himself available to them. He won’t help us until we need Him with all our of heart. When we’ve finally run out of energy and self-made brainstorms and we give up and come to Jesus, then we really come to Him and He makes Himself known to us by faith.
“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth.” (Matt. 9:12,13). Our Master Teacher has commanded us to go and learn what that means. It must have been high in His priorities, so we better learn this most important lesson.
Israel’s big problem is the whole world’s big problem--self-sufficiency. So what takes so long for Jesus to sanctify us and help us stop hurting people, especially those we love? It is a function of how long we take before we learn to seek Him and walk in communion with Him and become good trusting friends with Him. That’s what takes so long.
Once we have a good, solid friendship going with Jesus, our sins will start to vanish because His Spirit is making them go away. We will find our great pleasure coming from Him and His righteousness instead of lusting after the things of the flesh, pride, and this world. The gracious influence of the Spirit will wash our minds and we will be able to see beauty in Jesus’ holiness.
Will there be decisiveness on our part to overcome sin? Will we ever have to “purpose in our heart” like Daniel and his friends did? Yes, but our wills will be supercharged with a power only love can give them, as it was with Daniel. Then we will be able to put forth the superhuman effort it takes to overcome sin as Daniel did.
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” (2Pet. 1:19). The day doesn’t dawn immediately, does it, according to the Holy Spirit? Until. But, let’s not be discouraged about this. The precious promise is that the day will dawn and the Daystar (Jesus) will arise in our heart.
So, let’s give the Spirit of God a fighting chance to save us. Let’s get with Jesus through His precious, sure words; let’s strive to know Him, however long that takes. Let’s not give up because of the barriers we and this world have put between Him and us. Let’s not fail or be discouraged until we’ve gotten through the press crowding out the Savior.
“We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” (Gal. 5:5).
posted by David | 1:31 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you David I have been missing your blogs, they help some time for my devotions for my radio programes and for spiritual refleshment.
This one particularly is a good remind of the Fruits of the spirit In Galatians five
Have a good time
Daniel
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