Hi Brother Ben
:) I am smiling because I feel that your last post was sincere. I did not feel that way about the previous post which had asked me a question that felt to me like a "gotcha," question. I much prefer truth spoken in love, even if it is hard. So, now that we are on firmer ground I believe I can respond to you.
I think they key word for me in my little post was "when." I started out with that word and thought I had set the scene, so perhaps I was not very good and conveying that. When I am humble, or when I am contrite and broken, it is the "when," that is the key. Humility ushers me into the presence of God. In order to be humble, I must have a clear picture of who I am.(edited upon reading...I can only have a clear picture of who I am when I am standing in His presence.The light from Jesus, illuminates my own state) When I have a clear picture of who I am, I realize that I am weak, and that I have fallen short and that I have sinned before a Holy God. Indeed, a cry of "Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips," would be appropriate. And as with everything else in our Christianity, it is all about abiding. A continuous action verb. Not a one time deal. So can I say I am broken? No. What I can tell you that I have been broken, and I have a continued need to be broken and contrite before my Lord. Am I surrendered? No. Have I been surrendered? Yes. Again, I must abide in that state. It is not a one time deal. Much like being filled with the Holy Spirit, again, not a one time deal, we must continue to be filled. So thae answer to those points is yes and no. I have been filled, I have been broken, I have been humbled and I have been surrendered. To say otherwise would not be true. To claim that I had arrived at those states would be folly and not following the Holy Spirits direction of "beware when you stand lest you fall." I am not sure where , from my post, or anything that I had ever written that would give you the idea that I would " laugh at fearing God and obedience."
So, your question is "Do you obey Christ's commands? To the degree that I am surrendered brother, yes I do.
Just a thought when we are talking about this subject. It is vital that we have balance in our relationship with the Lord. Having said everything that we have said above, we must always remember that thos of us that have been saved are a redeemed people. We are the children of God. We are sons and daughters of the most High God, we are priests and priestesses in a Royal Priesthood. We walk , not as wretched men who need delivering from this body of death, but as redeemed men who walk after the Spirit of God who gives us life. I would not no part with any notion that we cannot strive towards a victorious life. Too many times have I seen and heard Christians using this argument, or Romans 7 to suggest that we cannot live a life of victory, so why bother, and they use it to justify their sin. We serve a victorious God who evercame. And while we acknowledge that their is sin in the flesh, and that this will not change until that which is corruptable is raised in incorruption, we are still called to live a holy life. Examples of victory would be too numerous to number. But in a society wher divorce is rampant, Christians ! do not get divorced ! In a society where one hates his enemies, political or otherwise , Christians ! Love your enemies! You see, this is overcoming. This is following the commands of the Lord. In a society where one renders evil for evil Christians! Do not do that! Break the chains with your love. Respond in love, live the sermon on the mount. Every single thing that Jesus taught His followers to do is possible, and only those walking in the Spirit can achieve these things.For, while they are possible, they are only possible in the supernatural, not in the natural. So, it is just as well that we follow a supernatural God who can enable us to do all those things. Who will He enable? And here we come full circle. He will enable the Humble, the broken, the surrendered, the contrite. Its all about Him. And the closer we get to Him, the more that we can become like Him. And the more that we can become like Him, the more that we follow His commands and the more that we follow His commands, the more that our light so shines before men. And to those who shine this light before men and lift up the name of Jesus and draw all men to Him, they are only to aware that it is all Him and that it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.....................brother Frank
