"I came down
from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who
sent Me" (Jn. 6:38).
Jesus tells us here
in His own words what He came on earth to do. And in this
one sentence we have a description of how Jesus lived every
single day of His entire life on earth.
The thirty years
of Jesus' life in Nazareth are referred to as hidden years.
But here Jesus reveals what He did during every day of those
30 years: He denied His own will and did His Father's
will.
When Jesus was with
the Father in heaven from eternity past, He never had to deny
His own will, for His own will was the same as His Father's.
But when He came to earth in our flesh, that flesh had a self-will
that was diametrically opposed to the Father's will at every
single point. The only way in which Jesus could do the
Father's will then was by denying His own self-will all the
time. This was the cross that Jesus bore throughout His
earthly life - the crucifixion of His self-will - and which
He now asks us to bear every day, if we are to follow Him.
It was the
consistent denial of His own will that made Jesus a spiritual
Man. And it is the denial of our self-will that will make
us spiritual too.
Every day we make
decisions concerning various matters. We make decisions
in relation to how we are going to spend our money or our spare
time, or how to speak to, or about someone, or how to
write a particular letter, or how to react to another's behaviour,
or how much time to spend in studying the Word or in prayer
or in serving the church etc. We react to the actions
and words and behaviour of people around us from morning till
night. We may not be realising it, but we make at least
a hundred decisions every day - and in each of these decisions
we decide either to please ourselves or to please God.
Many of our actions
are not the result of conscious decisions. But even then,
we do them in one of these two ways - either seeking to please
ourselves or to glorify God. Our unconscious actions
are determined by the way we make our conscious decisions.
Finally, it is the sum total of these decisions that determine
whether we become spiritual or carnal.
Think of the millions
of decisions that we have made ever since we were first converted.
Those who have consciously and consistently chosen to deny their
self-will many times each day and do the will of God, have become
spiritual. On the other hand, those who have rejoiced
merely in the forgiveness of their sins, and who therefore chose
to please themselves most of the time have remained carnal.
Each person's decisions have determined what he has finally
become.
You are today as
humble and as holy and as loving as you yourself
have chosen to be, through the thousands of decisions that you
have made in the various situations of life in past years.
Spirituality is
not something that comes through one encounter with God.
It is the result of choosing the way of self-denial and doing
God's will consistently day after day, week after week
and year after year.
Consider the spiritual
state of two brothers (both converted to Christ on the same
day), ten years after their conversion. One is now a mature
brother with spiritual discernment, to whom God can commit much
responsibility in the church. The other is still a child,
without discernment, and needing to be fed and encouraged by
others constantly.
What is it that
has made such a difference between the two?
The answer is: The
little decisions that they took during each day of the ten years
of their Christian life.
If they continue
on the same way, in another ten years, the difference between
them will be even more pronounced. And in eternity, their
differing degrees of glory will be as different as the light
emitted by a 2000 watt bulb and a 5 watt bulb!
"One star
differs from another in glory" (1 Cor. 15:41).
Consider a situation
where you are visiting a home and you are tempted to say something
negative about a certain brother (whom you don't like) who is
not present. What do you do? Will you yield to that
temptation and backbite, or will you deny yourself and keep
your mouth shut? Nobody ever gets struck down by God with
leprosy or cancer just because they spoke evil about someone.
No. And therefore many imagine that such a sin will not
destroy their lives. Alas, it is only in eternity that
many brothers and sisters will realise how every time they pleased
themselves, they destroyed themselves a little. Then they
will regret the way they wasted their lives on earth.
Jesus too was tempted
in similar situations for thirty years in Nazareth. It
is written about those hidden years that "He never pleased
Himself" at any time (Rom. 15:3). He always denied
Himself. Thus He pleased the Father at all times.
Pleasing oneself
can be done in many areas of one's life - for example, in the
area of eating. Consider a situation where, even when
you are not hungry, you decide to spend some money to buy
some tasty snacks to eat. There is nothing sinful or wrong
in that. But it speaks of a certain way of life.
Because you have money, you buy what you like, whether you need
it or not. You do what pleases yourself. If you
feel like buying something, you buy it. If you feel like
going somewhere, you go. If you feel like sleeping late,
you sleep late. What is the end result of living like
that, even if you go regularly to the meetings and read your
Bible every day? You may not lose your salvation, but
you will certainly waste the one life that God gave you to live
for Him.
Another brother
however acts differently. He decides to discipline
his body. When he is not hungry, he decides not
to eat anything unnecessarily. He decides never
to buy any unnecessary things for himself. He decides
to get up 15 minutes earlier each day to spend time with God.
When someone speaks to him angrily, he decides to reply
gently. He decides to remain in love and goodness
always. He decides not to read certain news items
in the newspapers that will stimulate his lusts. In every
situation, he decides to humble himself and not to justify
himself. He decides to give up certain friendships
that are influencing him towards the world. Through constantly
deciding to deny his own will (what pleased him), he
becomes strong in his will to please God alone.
What did he lose
by not buying that unnecessary thing, or getting out of bed
15 minutes earlier, or by giving up his human sense of dignity
and asking for forgiveness? Nothing. But think
of what he has gained!
A man like that,
who is consistently faithful in the little things will in a
few years' time become a trustworthy man of God - not because
of the Bible-knowledge that he possesses, but because of his
faithfulness in the little decisions he takes in life not
to please himself but to please God.
Don't be weak-willed
then. Exercise your will to please God at all times.
Mature Christians are those who "because of practice
(in exercising their will in the right direction through many
years) have their senses trained to discern good and evil"
(Heb. 5:14).
Consider a illustration:
Two fat men go to a doctor to remove their flabbiness.
The doctor gives them a course of exercises for the next twelve
months. One man goes through the discipline of those exercises
consistently every day, and slims down and becomes strong.
The other man does the exercises for the first few days and
then slackens off and finally gives up altogether. His
pot-belly gets fatter and fatter with his indisciplined ways,
until he finally dies prematurely. This is an illustration
of how we can make our wills strong to do God's will, or leave
them flabby and weak for the devil to exploit.
I remember reading
once of a young servant of the Lord who felt that he had been
watching too much television (even though he had been watching
only clean programs), and who decided one day not only to
sell his TV set, but also to use the time he had spent watching
TV, in prayer every day. As a direct result of that little
decision that he took - and maintained - God gave him a ministry
that blessed thousands.
Those who see nothing
wrong in watching clean programmes over TV, find that God does
not entrust them with much - for He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him and there is no partiality
with Him.
Yes, you are what
you are today because of the many, many little decisions they
you have taken in relation to either denying yourself or pleasing
yourself in the areas of food, money, sleep, reading, etc.
Time is running
out fast. Those who are over forty years of age, and who
have spent their lives pleasing themselves cannot expect to
do much for God now, for they have wasted the best years
of their lives. Those past years of your life are gone
- gone forever. Even Almighty God cannot restore
them to you. But if you repent even now, you may yet be
able to do something useful for God with the second half
of your life.
But I want to speak
primarily to those who are still in their teenage years
and in their twenties. Let me tell you that God wants
to bless you in such a way that you become a blessing to others.
He wants to entrust an important ministry in His church to you
by the time you are thirty or thirty five years old. But
will He find you faithful in the next ten years or so of your
life, so that He can accomplish His will in your life?
If you determine
to be faithful from now on, you will have no regrets in eternity,
no matter how much you may have failed in your past life up
until now. Take life seriously then. Think of how
Jesus lived in the days of His flesh in Nazareth, and follow
His example. Say to yourself, "I have been born
on this earth, to DENY my own will, and to do the will of my
Heavenly Father."
Do you think the
devil will allow you to take seriously what I am telling you
now? No. He will tell you that there is plenty of time.
He will tell you that such a life of self denial will be a strain.
He will tell you that God doesn't mind you enjoying yourself,
or indulging yourself a little bit here and there. He
will tell you to take it easy, etc., etc. Why? Because
he wants you to drift aimlessly for the next twenty years, and
to wake up when it is too late. Young people, don't be
fooled by Satan. God has given you only one life, and
time is running out fast. Don't waste it.
You will find more
than enough believers around you (even among those who have
understood the new and living way) who have no interest in living
such a disciplined, wholehearted life. Don't judge them.
Don't be a Pharisee and despise them. Mind your own business
and don't be a busybody in their affairs. Believe the
best about them and leave them alone. But a the same time
don't follow their example. Be different.
Let Jesus alone be your Example. You have a calling over
your life and you cannot afford to lose that, no matter what
else you may lose on this earth. Think often of the day
when you will have to give an account of your life at the judgment
seat of Christ.
So forget the blunders
that you have made in life. Repent radically of your sins
and be wholehearted in the days to come. God forgives
you and blots out your past. Don't mope over your failures
now, or you will be a drifter in the future too. The memory
of your failures will help you to recognise that you are
what you are today only by the grace of God. It
will also enable you to keep your face in the dust at all times
before God.
Determine that you
will become a true man / woman of God. He who has an ear to hear,
let him hear.
© Copyright - Zac Poonen
http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/articles.php?display=article11
