As I come to the close of this series, it is my sincere hope that it has meant as much to each of you and that it has changed your life as much as it has mine. Living in Christ is so much more than we could have ever imagined. It begins with a human heart so bent on it’s on self centered, covetous nature and transforms us from who we are of our own volition to who we are in Christ. It is not who I can become by pulling up my bootstraps and trying to do better. It is not about my having anything within me that makes me worthy to be even noticed by the Creator. So, it is this human heart becomes transformed by perfect Love into one who can see the greatest treasure as the most wondrous, glorious display of love which is God. It is God reaching down to shine His glorious light into the darkness of our hearts. Small glimpses of His Glory are displayed at first. The beauty of a sunset, a moment of kindness displayed, and the glimpse of love that one feels within their heart all are ways that God displays glimpses of His Glory, His Love. All these lead us to seek after beauty, love, and joy. Yet, God knows that the only true love, joy, hope, and beauty are found in Him. He who created man in His own image of body, soul, and spirit; knows that the only means of mankind reaching the fulfillment of these God given desires can only be found in a relationship with Himself. For God is perfect love, perfect joy, and perfect beauty with our greatest experiences on earth being only glimpses of that joy that we will know when we stand before Him. We cannot understand the magnitude of that unless we have felt the magnitude of despair which is ours without Him. Knowing all this and knowing that from Adam’s first disobedience to perfect righteousness, man would reject Him, mock Him, misuse His name, and at times curse Him–He still created man. He knew the horrific price that must be paid to redeem man from his sinful nature and His self centered, self exalting covetousness. Christ, flesh of His flesh, equal with God and part of the trinity of God would have to bear the full wrath that justice would demand so that I might be saved from my own selfish, self exalting sin nature so that I might have the opportunity to enjoy the wonder and awe of having a relationship with my creator and to one day spend all of eternity basking in His Glory, His Beauty, His Love, and His Joy. Why would He do all that? His reason was His desire to pour out His boundless love and joy upon me. I am less than a speck of sand in this Universe He created; yet, He loved me that much. This is a gift, not because of anything that I have done or anything that I can do. My positions in Christ are held by His Power and His love. Because of all that Christ did in my stead: I am His declared Saint, Blessed, Chosen, Child of God, Risen Redeemed, Enlightened, Beloved, New Creation, Heir of Royalty, Prisoner of Love, Servant of the most High God, and filled with His sustaining Faith. All this is by Grace and not because of anything I have done. Knowing this gives me liberty. No more must I worry that He will stop loving me. No more must I worry about every decision, wringing my hands and wondering if I am going to mess this up. Knowing this truth, means I am sealed and delivered by His Grace. Does that mean that I willfully ignore Him and live my life in my old self centered desires taking no notice of Him? Never, for if I know all this, I am so awed and amazed that I never want to bring Him pain, sorrow or disgrace. When I know all this, I see Him as my greatest treasure and seek His face. When I know all this, I want Him above all else. So each day, I place my armor and pick up my sword to battle hard that I might fight to hold onto the joy I know in Christ, despite the evil world which tries to steal that joy from me. My desire becomes to tell everyone about how wonderful my Father is and to guide them to find Him as well. I have the greatest treasure; but my desire is to share that treasure with a world that is broken, sad and despairing. Throughout my lifetime I will meet many people, some for a brief moment and some who will be in my life for longer. Because of all that Christ did to love me and to seek me, my greatest desire is that somehow by how I live and by what I say; I present Him as being the most precious treasure of my life so that those who meet me might see Him and desire Him. Because of all that He has given to me, His adopted child, my life should reflect in deed who I am in Christ and that is why Paul very careful describes in Ephesians 4-5 how that is displayed in our lives. We are adopted into His family and should reflect our positions in all that we do because of His transforming work in our lives. We are grounded, rooted deep within His love. Our position held by His power and by His unconditional love sustaining us. Isaiah 41: "9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away. 10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
Does all of this mean that we who believe in Christ as our Savior are free from pain, sorrow, and suffering on this earth. Indeed not. As Christians, in fact, we may suffer more than others. Of all people we are called to be broken hearted, poor, suffering all things; as Christ did. Sometimes we are falsely accused, beaten, trod down, ridiculed, and by worldly standards appear to be forsaken. All the more, the importance of knowing who we are in Christ. Romans 8 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." We who are in Christ know that this is not our final home. We have His presence with us in the Holy Spirit and we know that our Joy is centered in His love and in knowing who He is. He will never forsake us and He has a plan that will be for good, on that we can trust in the midst of any trial or storm. For that reason, we have hope, joy, and love overflowing. No longer can I be content with counterfeit joy, playing with mud pies when I have the vast ocean within my reach.
Regarding pain, C. S. Lewis wrote, "If the first and lowest operation of pain shatters the illusion that all is well, the second shatters the illusion that what we have, whether good or bad in itself, is our own and enough for us. Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St Augustine says somewhere, ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.’ Or as a friend of mine said, ‘We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it’s there for emergencies but he hopes he’ll never have to use it.’ Now God, who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him. Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as he leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for. While what we call ‘our own life’ remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him. What then can God do in our interests but make ‘our own life’ less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible source of false happiness?"
From The Problem of Pain
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain. Copyright © 1940, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers
So my dear readers, do you know Him? Have you ever seen Him as so glorious that you would desire Him to be in your heart? Have you grown tired of all the counterfeit joys, counterfeit loves and seek to know what is true joy and true love as can only be found in accepting freely the gift of salvation purchased by Christ for you? For those of you who can answer yes, then do you really know who you are in Christ? Do you know the power of His saving grace, His sustaining grace, and His future Grace which is ever present to guide each minute of your life? Do you know what it is to abide in His love?
Listen to this beautiful song, close your eyes and let the words sink deep into your heart.