Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Double-Minded Man vs. Single-Minded Peace in Christ

We are double-minded to the extent that we want something from God in order to get something else, or if a man fears that God will not come through:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

"But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

"For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1: 5-8)

Yet God is the sum total of all things. He is all that we need:

"The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1)

There is no qualification. The Lord is my shepherd, I do not want.

We who live after the Crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ can say this, because:

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)

In seeking His blessings, rather than the Blessor, we are missing out on the source, we are bent on another end, one that is far less than everything that God is in our lives!

God is the X and the Y.

We should not seek X from Him in order to get Y.

Isaiah prophesied this long before Christ came to Earth:

"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

"Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)

"This song will be sung in the land of Judah" -- Judah is the tribe from which Jesus the Messiah was born, and "Judah" means "praise"!

"We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks."

"Salvation" is not a "what", but a "who": yə·šū·‘āh יְשׁוּעָ֥ה , Jesus Christ!

"Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter"

We are made the righteousness of God in Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life by which we enter into this great salvation.

Therefore can we declare that our mind is stayed on Him! We can trust in Him, because He gave everything for us to reconcile us, even giving us Himself, that we may live His Life through His Faith:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

This city is made of Salvation, is a stark contrast to the manmade, failing constructs which man trusts in, which would doom the Israelites to flee to the Lord in darker days:

"And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee." (Deuteronomy 28:52)

God is not going to give us anything that will separate us from Him!

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

In Him, we have perfect peace, there is no need to seek this peace elsewhere, nor do we have any reason to busy ourselves with one pursuit to get another.

Rather, let us meditate on the Good that God is:

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4: 6-7)

His peace keeps us! That's something to keep in mind when you get troubled, confused, or upset in any way!

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