I use the phrase "I reckon" quite a bit. "I reckon we should go", "I reckon that's what he meant", "I reckon I've had enough coffee for today." I've always used it instead of saying "I think". Now whenever I say it as "I think", I pause. And laugh. Because it isn't always the most appropriate.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin." Romans 6:11a
I don't reckon it's enough just to think about this :P In fact, I know it's not. the fact that we are dead to sin is not something we just should think on. "Reckon" is an accounting term and we need to approach it as such. Too many Christians don't. They rejoice in being saved and having "a relationship" with Christ. But that's where it stops. For too long Christians have looked at the calls to be holy 1 Pet 1:16), to be perfect (Matt 5:8), to be slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:19), to be dead to sin (Romans 6:10-12), to be loving in a supernatural way (Luke 6:27-31), and to be dead to self (Matt 1:24) and have tried...and failed.
Why? Because we haven't reckoned. We rejoice that He's forgiven us that we will spend eternity with him and then turn to Romans 7 to explain away the fact that there's still sin in our lives. In the Bible, a lot of the time, when "flesh" is used, it does mean the body. But in Romans 6-12, the term "flesh" is referring to the "Old Man". The person who was born the first time. Read Romans 6-8 knowing that and they quickly become the triumphant chapters they were meant to be.
Read that passage from Romans 7 knowing that, and you realize you were meant for more than surrendering to sin. Romans 7:24-25 reveals the secret - Jesus Christ is your way out of that. Get IN HIM.
You - the Old Man you - was crucified with Him (Rom 6:6, Rom 6:3, Gal 2:20). you - the new you - was resurrected with Him (Rom 6:4-5, Gal 2:20, Romans 6:11, 2 Cor 5:17). You don't have to listen to the Old Man anymore. As my roommate puts it, it's like going to a graveyard and waiting to hear the people buried speak to you. And if they did..you'd run right? Exactly. Present and yield yourselves to Him alone (1 Cor 6:19-20, Rom 12:1). You are seated in heavenly places with Christ (Eph 1:18-22, Eph 2:4-6).
What is under His feet is under yours. What He does, you do. Where He goes, you go. Only what can get to Him can get to you if you are IN Christ. And sin can't touch Him.
Romans 6:11 doesn't say we should be longing to be dead to sin. It doesn't say we should think about it in theory and think it's a lovely idea. We are to take hold of it, daily (1 Cor 15:31b).
Reckon it.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Search It Out
Luke 19:10 - For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Job 29:16 - I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
These verses were referenced in a class session after "Persecuted Church Night". They are two verses I can't stop contemplating. God is using them to stir something in my soul. Thankfully.
Most people, myself included, read Luke 19:10 and focus on Jesus saving the lost. But the fact that He seeks us first is catching my attention. I know it's only because of Him I have faith. But our God is not One to just wait for people to come to Him so He may save them. He searches for them, He seeks them out actively.
If we are in Christ, we go where He goes, we do as He does. Job understood this. He did as his God did. Job knew he had a calling. Even if he didn't know the specifics, he looked for them. Our life has to be like that. Jesus told us our calling. We all have a call to the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the lost. What God wants us specifically to do with each will vary. But that doesn't mean we should sit idly and wait til we feel like giving to the homeless, or like loving the widow, or til we feel like sharing the gospel with a lost soul. We are not ruled by feelings, but by His Spirit. We are to seek Him, search out the causes that are on His heart, and then ask the specifics of what are to do.
Job 29:16 - I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
These verses were referenced in a class session after "Persecuted Church Night". They are two verses I can't stop contemplating. God is using them to stir something in my soul. Thankfully.
Most people, myself included, read Luke 19:10 and focus on Jesus saving the lost. But the fact that He seeks us first is catching my attention. I know it's only because of Him I have faith. But our God is not One to just wait for people to come to Him so He may save them. He searches for them, He seeks them out actively.
If we are in Christ, we go where He goes, we do as He does. Job understood this. He did as his God did. Job knew he had a calling. Even if he didn't know the specifics, he looked for them. Our life has to be like that. Jesus told us our calling. We all have a call to the widow, the orphan, the poor, and the lost. What God wants us specifically to do with each will vary. But that doesn't mean we should sit idly and wait til we feel like giving to the homeless, or like loving the widow, or til we feel like sharing the gospel with a lost soul. We are not ruled by feelings, but by His Spirit. We are to seek Him, search out the causes that are on His heart, and then ask the specifics of what are to do.
Men Being Men
I have wonderful guys in my life. And me writing this is not meant to say the guys in my life prior to coming to Ellerslie are not men. It's just taken me by beautiful surprise to see a group of more than 20 guys be men all at once and unashamedly. It's also a joy to see and know their manhood flows from a relationship with the One who defines what true masculinity is.
I began to notice it even before I got on campus. At the airport, waiting for the shuttle, I met a bunch of my classmates, including a few of the guys. When the shuttle came, the guys immediately came to us girls and started to take our luggage to load on the shuttle - leaving their own sitting there in the airport for last. At first, I tried to protest, saying I could get it (not because I was offended he wanted to help me but because I didn't want him to have to get my stuff). I quickly relented though, seeing his reaction to my protest which was a sense of joy to be able to help me out.
It's been a slightly difficult adjustment letting the guys be chivalrous. Especially with society whispering that their service is them saying women are weak in any way. I'm beginning to see we women are weak. But it's when we don't let them be men rather than when we do.
It only continued from there. Suddenly, I'm barely opening doors for myself. I rarely walk on grass because they clear the sidewalk first to give us more room. The cover sprinklers with their feet so we can walk across without getting wet. At the banquet, they escorted us in and even pulled out our chairs for us. They let us girls go first in the food lines before they go, at every meal. They get us water, they clear our dishes, and they do it all from love that flows through them from Jesus Christ.
I was walking with some girls to dinner the other night, and I got there first so i held the door open for them. I didn't realize there was a guy walking behind us, but I suddenly saw him sprinting to the door so he could hold it and I could walk in with the other ladies. The other day, each of us girls got a very sweet and encouraging note in our mailboxes from our brothers.
One of the most powerful and touching experiences was at the banquet. After dinner, Ben got up and spoke about how the enemy was already trying to attack us girls - with colds, sinus problems, headaches, etc. He said it was the guys' pleasure to stand in the gap for us. Their joy is being the first sufferers. Saying to the enemy that's he'll have to get through them to get to us. And they all made a circle around us and prayed for us girls...I don't reckon there were too many dry eyes in the chapel after that.
It has been difficult, and I'm not the only girl who has expressed the longing to do something more for them to show gratitude than just saying, "Thank you". But the most common response you'll hear to the question of how we can serve them is to let them serve us. To let them be the men God is calling them to be. And oh I'm so grateful to experience this. It's circular - letting them be men let's us be the women God is calling us to be. I've seen few more beautiful things.
I began to notice it even before I got on campus. At the airport, waiting for the shuttle, I met a bunch of my classmates, including a few of the guys. When the shuttle came, the guys immediately came to us girls and started to take our luggage to load on the shuttle - leaving their own sitting there in the airport for last. At first, I tried to protest, saying I could get it (not because I was offended he wanted to help me but because I didn't want him to have to get my stuff). I quickly relented though, seeing his reaction to my protest which was a sense of joy to be able to help me out.
It's been a slightly difficult adjustment letting the guys be chivalrous. Especially with society whispering that their service is them saying women are weak in any way. I'm beginning to see we women are weak. But it's when we don't let them be men rather than when we do.
It only continued from there. Suddenly, I'm barely opening doors for myself. I rarely walk on grass because they clear the sidewalk first to give us more room. The cover sprinklers with their feet so we can walk across without getting wet. At the banquet, they escorted us in and even pulled out our chairs for us. They let us girls go first in the food lines before they go, at every meal. They get us water, they clear our dishes, and they do it all from love that flows through them from Jesus Christ.
I was walking with some girls to dinner the other night, and I got there first so i held the door open for them. I didn't realize there was a guy walking behind us, but I suddenly saw him sprinting to the door so he could hold it and I could walk in with the other ladies. The other day, each of us girls got a very sweet and encouraging note in our mailboxes from our brothers.
One of the most powerful and touching experiences was at the banquet. After dinner, Ben got up and spoke about how the enemy was already trying to attack us girls - with colds, sinus problems, headaches, etc. He said it was the guys' pleasure to stand in the gap for us. Their joy is being the first sufferers. Saying to the enemy that's he'll have to get through them to get to us. And they all made a circle around us and prayed for us girls...I don't reckon there were too many dry eyes in the chapel after that.
It has been difficult, and I'm not the only girl who has expressed the longing to do something more for them to show gratitude than just saying, "Thank you". But the most common response you'll hear to the question of how we can serve them is to let them serve us. To let them be the men God is calling them to be. And oh I'm so grateful to experience this. It's circular - letting them be men let's us be the women God is calling us to be. I've seen few more beautiful things.
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