Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Notes on the work of God in and among his children

The God who formed the universe from nothing is out to form you.

God's kingdom people, his Sermon on the Mount people, are subject to this shaping and forming, through the work of the Holy Spirit, as individuals and as a people.

In the end, child of God, you will be more like Jesus than you ever thought possible. You are the object of God's creative genius.

As this shaping process goes on, you will find yourself becoming more meek, more gentle, less decisive in your judgments, less confident in your own abilities and more dependent on God's.

Consequently, you will be praying more. You will often feel helpless if not for prayer.

You will find yourself becoming more merciful. Words of condemnation will not come so readily to your lips.

And more quickly repentant, more ready to confess your weaknesses, failings, selfishness, and pride (for God will show you these things in yourself).

You will find yourself loving the truth more, even if at your own expense.

You will grow in courage for the sake of Jesus. You will be more and more inclined to Give God glory, to extoll the virtues and power of Jesus.

You will be increasingly prone, like Jesus, to cry "Enough!" to violence.

You will be less and less enamored of the systems and power-structures of this world. It's ideologies will begin to pale, to seem shallow and pointless.

You will be more and more the one who looks forward, less and less the one looking back.

It will become very easy to let go of slights, insults, old-scores, rumor-mongering, passive-aggressive gamesmanship, and the need to manage the lives of other people.

In fact, by the end of this process, you will resemble the most loving, self-sacrificing man who ever lived: Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. That is God's plan for every Christian.

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