There is much talk of spiritual deadness and personal
stagnation today, so much so that it is now a part of normal Christian
conversation. How different the New Testament times seem, when Christianity was
new and the presence of the Holy Spirit could be felt and visibly justified in
the lives of the believers. I would like to pass my imperfect judgment on the
issue. I do so, not with arrogance, but as humbly as I know to do.
It seems the differences between those very-much-alive
converts in the New Testament, and the typical washed out Christians of today
are two-fold. Firstly, the believers then were regenerate, born again followers
of Christ. Today most believers believe enough of the Scriptures to enter into
hellfire with some Bible knowledge. They are “believers,” but not converted.
They are lost. But it is not these people that I concern myself with now.
Secondly, and this point is the focus of this writing, the
believers then lived their lives in a different manner than we do today. The
difference is simply a question of focus. And our focus is wrong.
Our focus is on pleasing God. Our focus is to serve Him by
doing what He commands. Our focus is to make less of self and more of Him. Our
focus is on ourselves, and we are blind.
The true focal point for the Christian is the person and
character of God. For fellowship with Him we were created. For this we were
redeemed. To add ourselves into our focus, as if somehow we were worthy of
sharing in the glory of God, is a serious error. The direction of our entire
walk will be affected by this, and we cannot accomplish the things we would
hope. There is, however, a way to victory.
A focus on God’s character evokes the proper response in the
believer’s life. Whether the conscious will is involved or not, realization of
certain facets of God’s person will cause a definite, certain reaction in a
worshipful heart. When a child receives a long-awaited gift, his reaction is
involuntary. The parent who gave the gift is responsible for evoking the
foreseen response, because the child could not respond differently to this act
of kindness and love. Even so, the life that has tasted any part of the
awe-inspiring person of the LORD cannot choose its own method of response. The
response is involuntary.
I will say concerning the vast number of moderately
successful Christians, that consecrated people have a host of imitators, but
the imitators miss the mark altogether. They have no heart for God. The godly
man responds without deliberating, for he is drawn along by his enraptured
conversation with God. The imitators successfully mimic much of this holy walk
of creature with Creator, but not perfectly, for a spontaneous action can be
mimicked only deliberately, and the mimicry is soon known.
The answer to the whole matter is this. There is life in a
fascination with God, but continual dying and ultimate vanity in a
self-regulation of self. Focus on self is deadly.
How is your life? If your soul is not engulfed in fellowship
with and worship of God, your very face will betray the fact of your
self-focus. Your determined “I will” must be forsaken for the pure “He is.” He
is holy. He is lovely. He is good. And your life follows these things, because
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I do not say that you should exchange your “I will” for “He
is.” Rather, I say that you should seek the face of the God of heaven, whom you
claim as your Father, and see this exchange accomplished by Him. What He does
is not undone by the feeble efforts of man. What He does, He does well.
This is the way of life.
