BECAUSE OF HIM, I CAN!
Reading Psalm 119:26-32 (and Psalm 121:7,8 "The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your
life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this
time forth and forevermore.") should demolish any vestige of pride and haughtiness that clings to our hearts.
If it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, we would have been swallowed up by men (Psalm 124:1-3) and by this world, too. It is only because God has been "there" all of the time that we could cry out to Him, in our extreme need and find solace, in the midst of this world's chaos. It is only having His New Law--the Covenant of Grace engraved upon our hearts that we can receive and grasp this "foolishness" of preaching, and be saved by that which confounds the wise of this world.
We understand His precepts, not by memorization or rehearsal, but by grace, through faith--which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6). His precepts can't be outwardly written on scrolls or pages only, but must be in our hearts, lived out through love one toward another. That's how we keep "the Law". We are keepers of the Law--but not by the Letter, but by the Spirit. He imparts and imputes everything that we need for salvation and that is necessary for us to be the vehicles to draw others to Him, too. The Spirit makes us "salt" and "light". It's not about us--in fact, there's nothing about us that is righteous, except the Spirit of God that dwells in us. Without His Spirit, we are no different than the next unregenerated man or woman--and no better, no matter what our station in life may be--to God we are the same. He has no respect of persons--He only sees Himself, when He looks at His children, He looks for His blood in us--if it's there, we belong to Him; and we are equal in His sight.
Finally, we can't choose Him until He draws us; when we come to Jesus it is only after the Father has drawn us (St. John 6:44). We cannot repent, unless He gives us a heart of repentance. We can't "cleave to His testimonies or run the way of His commandments" unless He gives us hearts that are willing. It isn't natural for man to want the holy thing. Love isn't natural because we are born in sin, into a sin nature. Until we have been redeemed from it, our inclination remains toward it--toward the things that feel good to it (and to our flesh). Our concern is not to please God, or others first, it is to please ourselves (Romans 7:21). Even when we do for others prior to knowing God (really knowing God), our motivation is to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, and our contribution. The whole premise of volunteerism and "giving back" is to feel good at the end of the day. In God, we give solely to bless the other person, without regard to reward or repayment. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us clearly that our motives as Christians really do matter.
To be like Jesus is to give--to pour out yourself, for others with no possibility of being paid back.
"He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed Someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song, 'Amazing Grace!'
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay!"
If it had not been for the Lord who was on our side, we would have been swallowed up by men (Psalm 124:1-3) and by this world, too. It is only because God has been "there" all of the time that we could cry out to Him, in our extreme need and find solace, in the midst of this world's chaos. It is only having His New Law--the Covenant of Grace engraved upon our hearts that we can receive and grasp this "foolishness" of preaching, and be saved by that which confounds the wise of this world.
We understand His precepts, not by memorization or rehearsal, but by grace, through faith--which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6). His precepts can't be outwardly written on scrolls or pages only, but must be in our hearts, lived out through love one toward another. That's how we keep "the Law". We are keepers of the Law--but not by the Letter, but by the Spirit. He imparts and imputes everything that we need for salvation and that is necessary for us to be the vehicles to draw others to Him, too. The Spirit makes us "salt" and "light". It's not about us--in fact, there's nothing about us that is righteous, except the Spirit of God that dwells in us. Without His Spirit, we are no different than the next unregenerated man or woman--and no better, no matter what our station in life may be--to God we are the same. He has no respect of persons--He only sees Himself, when He looks at His children, He looks for His blood in us--if it's there, we belong to Him; and we are equal in His sight.
Finally, we can't choose Him until He draws us; when we come to Jesus it is only after the Father has drawn us (St. John 6:44). We cannot repent, unless He gives us a heart of repentance. We can't "cleave to His testimonies or run the way of His commandments" unless He gives us hearts that are willing. It isn't natural for man to want the holy thing. Love isn't natural because we are born in sin, into a sin nature. Until we have been redeemed from it, our inclination remains toward it--toward the things that feel good to it (and to our flesh). Our concern is not to please God, or others first, it is to please ourselves (Romans 7:21). Even when we do for others prior to knowing God (really knowing God), our motivation is to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, and our contribution. The whole premise of volunteerism and "giving back" is to feel good at the end of the day. In God, we give solely to bless the other person, without regard to reward or repayment. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us clearly that our motives as Christians really do matter.
To be like Jesus is to give--to pour out yourself, for others with no possibility of being paid back.
"He paid a debt He did not owe;
I owed a debt I could not pay.
I needed Someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song, 'Amazing Grace!'
Christ Jesus paid the debt that I could never pay!"
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