1:8
The word translated as "keep you strong" in the New International Version can mean "make firm, establish, confirm, make sure." So this verse says that Jesus establishes us, and makes us strong in our faith so that we will be blameless in the day of Christ (ie, His return). It seems to me that this is the same idea expressed in Philippians 1:6 - "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Note that Paul uses the same phrase "day of Christ Jesus" to refer to His return.
The idea is that Christ watches over us and is actively working on us by His Spirit. His work is so that we might persevere in our faith in Him, and that we might be mature, having nothing in us that is deserving of blame or shame. It is His goal to make us perfect.
"...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25b-27).
It is Jesus who makes us this way. Making us holy and blameless is not a work that you and I can do. It is His work. That is really good news! It is not your or my responsibility to figure out everything that's wrong with us and try to make it all better.
What is our role, then? Our role is to recognize that this process is going on, that Jesus is using this life to purify us. We are to submit to this process. OK, you might say, what does that mean?
It means that Jesus is going to use all kinds of things in this life to carry out this work. Hardships, difficulties, blessings, joy, worship, pain, prayer, fellowship, suffering. Often the process is hard. It's not always hard; sometimes there are wonderful realizations of who God is and how much He loves us. But a lot of it is hard.
What I've noticed is that much of this process involves me becoming aware of my own sins. Let me tell you, that is not a fun thing. All of us have some sins that we're not particularly attracted to, but other sins that we are prone to. For example, I don't have a problem with gambling too much, or drinking too much. But I can be defensive easily and prideful easily. (I'm not going to list others right now, OK?) It is these sins that Jesus wants to work on, and make us aware of.
When we become aware of our sin, usually through a painful episode of confrontation with someone else, or maybe the quiet conviction of God, our job is to admit our sin. The tendency is to cover it up or deny it. But if we do that, we are short-circuiting this process of growth that Jesus is doing in our lives. Jesus points out my sin to me, hoping that I will confess it to him and admit that I really need His help in this area of my life. If I keep covering it up, or using my own resources to try and deal with it, I am not allowing this growth process to continue, but I've stopped it temporarily.
When we continually deny our sins, or cover them up, God will keep bringing them to our attention in different ways. Often, painful episodes or times in our lives are times when we need to stop our frantically trying to "fix" the situation. Instead, we need to ask "OK, God, are you trying to show me something here?" (This doesn't mean that all tough times are because of our sins or that God is trying to teach us a lesson. Sometimes tough times just happen because of our sinful world and other people's choices.) But Jesus will use everything to keep this process going in our lives.
If you look at the disciples' lives with Jesus during His 3 year ministry, you'll see that Jesus uses situations as teachable moments. That is His character as the Master Teacher. See, for example, Matthew 14:13-21, where thousands of people were hungry and Jesus was trying to teach his disciples how God can miraculously provide for needs. Or Matthew 17:14-21, where Jesus used the demonized boy to teach about faith and spiritual disciplines.
In the same way, Jesus uses our life events as teachable moments. But the problem is, we often don't listen to Him. We're not asking or listening for His teaching about our lives. Instead, we substitute our own "wisdom" or our culture's "expert" opinions on things. As a result, we're not hearing God's (the TRUE) perspective on our lives, but we're hearing our perspective, or the culture's perspective. As part of this growth process, we need to keep asking God "What are you saying to me?" until we get an answer. "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened."
This growth process, where Jesus is doing His work in us so that we will be blameless, is something we must submit to and cooperate with Him in doing. Let's do it.
The idea is that Christ watches over us and is actively working on us by His Spirit. His work is so that we might persevere in our faith in Him, and that we might be mature, having nothing in us that is deserving of blame or shame. It is His goal to make us perfect.
"...Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5:25b-27).
It is Jesus who makes us this way. Making us holy and blameless is not a work that you and I can do. It is His work. That is really good news! It is not your or my responsibility to figure out everything that's wrong with us and try to make it all better.
What is our role, then? Our role is to recognize that this process is going on, that Jesus is using this life to purify us. We are to submit to this process. OK, you might say, what does that mean?
It means that Jesus is going to use all kinds of things in this life to carry out this work. Hardships, difficulties, blessings, joy, worship, pain, prayer, fellowship, suffering. Often the process is hard. It's not always hard; sometimes there are wonderful realizations of who God is and how much He loves us. But a lot of it is hard.
What I've noticed is that much of this process involves me becoming aware of my own sins. Let me tell you, that is not a fun thing. All of us have some sins that we're not particularly attracted to, but other sins that we are prone to. For example, I don't have a problem with gambling too much, or drinking too much. But I can be defensive easily and prideful easily. (I'm not going to list others right now, OK?) It is these sins that Jesus wants to work on, and make us aware of.
When we become aware of our sin, usually through a painful episode of confrontation with someone else, or maybe the quiet conviction of God, our job is to admit our sin. The tendency is to cover it up or deny it. But if we do that, we are short-circuiting this process of growth that Jesus is doing in our lives. Jesus points out my sin to me, hoping that I will confess it to him and admit that I really need His help in this area of my life. If I keep covering it up, or using my own resources to try and deal with it, I am not allowing this growth process to continue, but I've stopped it temporarily.
When we continually deny our sins, or cover them up, God will keep bringing them to our attention in different ways. Often, painful episodes or times in our lives are times when we need to stop our frantically trying to "fix" the situation. Instead, we need to ask "OK, God, are you trying to show me something here?" (This doesn't mean that all tough times are because of our sins or that God is trying to teach us a lesson. Sometimes tough times just happen because of our sinful world and other people's choices.) But Jesus will use everything to keep this process going in our lives.
If you look at the disciples' lives with Jesus during His 3 year ministry, you'll see that Jesus uses situations as teachable moments. That is His character as the Master Teacher. See, for example, Matthew 14:13-21, where thousands of people were hungry and Jesus was trying to teach his disciples how God can miraculously provide for needs. Or Matthew 17:14-21, where Jesus used the demonized boy to teach about faith and spiritual disciplines.
In the same way, Jesus uses our life events as teachable moments. But the problem is, we often don't listen to Him. We're not asking or listening for His teaching about our lives. Instead, we substitute our own "wisdom" or our culture's "expert" opinions on things. As a result, we're not hearing God's (the TRUE) perspective on our lives, but we're hearing our perspective, or the culture's perspective. As part of this growth process, we need to keep asking God "What are you saying to me?" until we get an answer. "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened."
This growth process, where Jesus is doing His work in us so that we will be blameless, is something we must submit to and cooperate with Him in doing. Let's do it.
posted by Rob | 8:26 AM
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