Back to the Basics

There are always those times when we have to go back to step 1.

Sometimes it involves trying something over again because you got into a routine but fell out of step. Or sometimes you just have to remind yourself why you just walked into the room.

This happens to me quite often. Not just trying to remember why i walked into the room, but often having to go back to step 1. It's because i got myself into a routine. And routines can be bad.

One day i was thinking. Yeah, i was actually thinking. Thinking about being Christlike. i've thought about the concept before and have many times tried (and often failed) to be Christlike. So there i was, thinking about being Christlike. And then the one thought that stopped me in my tracks (my thought tracks) was this:

Why be Christlike?

my mind became blank. Dull. Numb. i just couldn't think...

and i thought what a horrible Christian i must be if i don't know the answer.

i'm the kind of person that likes to know things beyond the shadow of a doubt. It unnerved me that i didn't know the answer and i'm glad it did.

Later that day, God relieved the anxiety in my heart and showed me the answer. It felt like a small candle silently illuminating the dark chambers inside my head.

The answer is found in Colossians 2 and Ephesians 5. Go ahead and read it and then i'll discuss the beautiful revelation of this passage....




still reading?.....





i'll give you more time....




last verse?





......

ok. Let me highlight some verses that eliminated my cluelessness.
Verses 5&6:

"For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

and verse 7...

"rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

verses 9&10:

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."

Ephesians 5:1-2:
"Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."

Colossians 2, verses 11-14. i'll paraphrase.

Only by being found in Christ are we clean. We were buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him. We died to sin and arose to holiness. God raised Christ from the dead and God raised US from the dead. We were once dead in our sins, we were once unclean, but NOW we are made alive TOGETHER with Christ...who has forgiven us all our sin.

Christians don't try to be Christlike...Christians follow Christ. He is our Salvation and in Him we are complete. Christlikeness blossoms in us when we are devoting ourselves to Him.


Why should i be Christlike? Because i love Christ.

Forgiveness Has No Number

"Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?'"
Matthew 18:21

In Matthew 18* we find the parable of the unforgiving servant. Such a parable has a magnanimous force of application to our lives.
Man, being a practical creature, puts a number on forgiveness. Peter asks if he should forgive his brother UP TO seven times. Jesus responds,

"I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

Though Jesus uses a number to explain to Peter just how much he should forgive, we should not take it to mean that that is the exact number of times we are to forgive; for if it were, we would be terrible Christians. Why? Because God has forgiven us more than seventy times seven. God has forgiven us seventy times a million, and that number times seventy, times trillion. And more. God has forgiven us an infinite amount, and so we should forgive our fellow man the same amount. We have sinned against holy God. God is the Author and Creator of life, and He is pure. No evil can be found in God. But evil is found in us. Day after day after day.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made."

We are the servant who could not pay his master the ten talents. We could not be holy before God, the price necessary for membership in His kingdom. We were in debt to God.

"The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt."

God loved us. So God provided a way for our debt to be paid--the righteousness of Jesus meeting the holy requirement, and the death of Jesus providing for us our official death to sin--so that we could be holy and blameless. Our debt has been forgiven.

"But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?'And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him."

We could not forgive our fellow man enough. God forgave us EVERYTHING. So now we must endure patiently with others and not hold grudges against one another. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. The consequence of not forgiving is a promise from God:
He will do to each one of us what was done to the unforgiving servant if each one of us does not forgive others from their heart.

"Put on tender mercies." Colossians 3:12

*all scripture quoted in this post is from the New King James Version of the Bible.