Who Needs Calgon?
Submitted by Chris on May 16 2002 16:19:48
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Hi Brothers, Yesterday my Parole Officer came calling. He wanted to discuss with me the results of my polygraph test. He asked me how it went and I told him, but before long I deduced that he already knew how it went. That wasn't really why he came to talk with me. He really wanted to discuss what will probably happen now. He told me that very soon I will probably have to be back in the sex offender class. (Oh such tidings of great joy....) Well, first of all, I am NOT afraid of this, nor am I even the least bit upset about it. I'm very, very happy to be able to say that and really mean it. You see, God has reveiled to me just lately the reason why a child of His can be joyful in literally any circumstance. Check out 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I do not have the time I would need to go into everything that this chapter is saying, but I will point out a few things that I believe are key ideas found in it. First of all, Paul discusses the ministry of preaching, teaching, and spreading the Gospel. Right away in the very first sentence he talks about "not losing heart". Actually, the rest of the chapter is about "not losing heart". Paul was certainly a man who really understood what Jesus meant when He said,"I have told you these things, so that IN ME you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33) The key to that statement is found in the words "in me". We have to first be IN Christ to also be overcomers of the world. Paul says it like this,"For God, who said,'Let light shine out of the darkness', made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ." (2 Cor. 4:6) Oh Praise God!!! I do believe I finally understand in my heart what this means. It means that being in Jesus Christ is really all the basic equipment anyone needs to overcome the fear that our fallen nature tries to feed us when trials come our way. If we are "in Christ" and have His light in our hearts, then from that light we can draw whatever we need to enable us to do anything God wants us to do. That is why we must never run from troubles or even complain about them. Instead, we must face them with confidence because God can and will provide all we need. Also, the purpose of troubles and trials isnt't just to provide one way to spread the Gospel, althought most certainly this IS part of it. The other purpose is found in 2 Cor. 4:11, "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revieled in our mortal body." What "death" is Paul talking about? It is the death of our carnal or mortal selves. That is what being an overcomer is really all about. Overcoming our fear of the pain of becoming spiritual through the death of our fallen mortality! Overcoming is about the death of that which we don't need anymore and also the joy of bringing the Gospel to others who need it! "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen (the carnal), but on what is unseen (the spiritual). For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:17 and 18 Our Father is so good!!! "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6 Love in Christ Jesus, Chris |
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