Ignorant No More

(a meditation on Ephesians 4:17-5:21)

I’ve been saved! Not just from the destruction of sin, but from the “futility of my mind” that held me there: “darkened in my understanding,” “alienated from the life of God,” out of “ignorance” due to “hardness of heart” that did not acknowledge God but made me my own god.

But when the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ broke in, I learned to put off the old self – the self that lived out of what seemed right to my own mind, what felt right to my corrupted emotions, and what me the urgent desires of my fallen flesh. And I learned instead to put on the new self – renewed in spirit after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness.

And what a contrast there is between the fruit of living out of ignorance as an animal driven by feelings and desires and needs in the futility of my own thinking, and the fruit of living as a spirit-being filled with the Spirit of God and imitating Him as a dearly loved child.

But be aware, self – this isn’t just good material for deep thinking, this is good material for daily living: “Look carefully then to how you walk.” You can easily slip into animal mode if you’re not actively seeking the will of the Lord and being filled with His Spirit. How do you stay filled? Live in the constant (“in everything”) place of thanksgiving and adoration. Acknowledge that He is, and that you are His, and that He is freedom and perfection… constantly! Don’t waste a moment living in the unfruitful ignorance you once walked in – unaware of God’s existence and His glory that shines the light on who you really are.

^{Eph 4:17} Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹ They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰ But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

It Is Finished

(a meditation on Colossians 3:1-17)

It is finished! You have done it! It is only waiting to be fully revealed.

You

are

my

life!

Me has died, and me in Christ is now my life.

So the charge is: live, and particularly, think, out of the heavenly man, holy and beloved in Christ and Him in me, not out of the earthly man down here on his own. Put him to death – he’s not you anymore. Put to death that man that lives out of his own passions. You once lived there, but the new you lives out of a different place – out of Christ’s love dwelling in you richly through His Word. Put to death the self-seeking, ambitious, vindictive ways of the old man, and put on the new man that’s like its Creator: compassionate and kind, patient and meek, forgiving and loving.

Let the image of your Creator – the word of Christ – dwell in you richly. Meditate, ponder and sing with thanksgiving in your heart about Whose you became and Who you received. And everything you do, do it out of Christ in you; do it conscious of being joined to Him; conscious of the two become one flesh; conscious that He’s given you His name and His nature… and so do it giving thanks to the perpetual miracle that is your life hidden in Christ.

^{Col 3:1} If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³ For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

The Living Church

Newsletter – October 29, 2013 (pdf)

The Living Church…I’m a big “ideas” guy, so I love it when someone puts language to some really big concepts that I know to be true of the kingdom. My favorite from the school so far is the “interdependent” church. Where the traditional church could be described as an “institutional” model where the church is the point and the individuals in the church come serve and participate in its programs; and many more contemporary churches practice more what could be described as an “independent” model where the individual is the point and the church exists to serve the needs of the people coming; the idea of the “interdependent” church is simply family.