002 Stay in your Lane
I'm reminded of John 15 where Jesus taught that God our Father is the vinedresser. His job is to cultivate (grow and improve) my life. I'm so tempted to try and fix myself, to make myself more disciplined and "better" at doing this or that. Then I remember!!!
My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. Ps 73:26
Every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, he lifts [to the sun (son)] that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2
There is nothing more freeing to me than to believe these verses and to "Let it go!" What am I letting go? That demonic (yet, oh so common) idea that I need to help, change, improve, and discipline myself by my own efforts. It's Satan's trick to get me to push away my Savior's work and payment at Calvary and replace it with the works of my flesh. Grace versus Works! It's really a gross idea yet it seems so "right" in the mind of carnal man. I'm sure you all can relate to this temptation. We are pushed to change lanes from grace over to works. Instead of staying in the grace lane and allowing God to prune us the way he knows is best, we slide over into the “I can do it myself” lane and work on changing ourselves. I pray we all cling more to Christ and his finished work at the cross. The more I accept his shed blood on my behalf, the more I love him.
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:7-9
003 Trust the Compass
Years ago, when I was a young teenager in the mid 1970’s, I was out on a boat with my dad in the San Francisco Bay. When heavy fog came in, my dad jumped at the opportunity to teach me how to use and trust a compass to navigate the boat. Using the compass itself was very simple but trusting it was difficult. My mind kept telling me to veer away from the compass's navigation. Fog moves. As it was drifting to the right, my mind kept telling me to veer the boat to the left to seemingly correct my direction. I was used to trusting my perceptions, at least to some degree, and I wanted to follow them. I was not used to trusting a compass. My dad was watching me deal with this challenge and kept reminding me to trust the compass. With his constant reminders, and my submission to trusting the compass, we arrived safely at our destination.
Today I understand that this lesson transfers directly over to trusting the compass of the Gospel. We are so used to relying on our own perceptions of what we see and know that it makes it difficult to purely trust the Gospel: it seems like using a compass in the fog of life. When I was steering the boat through the dense fog, I had no proof that our advancements were in the right direction except that the compass said so. I saw no immediate beneficial results! As I stayed the course following the compass instead of my own understanding, the right results were evidenced. When we are not seeing results from following the Gospel, the Adversary may try to sway us off course and provide "insights" to solve the problem. But if we do not veer from the compass of the Gospel, it's power will produce its results. Trust the compass!
"The gospel is the power of God unto wholeness
to everyone who believes." (Romans 1:16)