Revolutionary Mindset – Become The Person He Created You To Be - Purity 1371

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of an unknown painting depicting a simpler, although not necessarily better life from the 18th or 19th century comes to us from yours truly as I captured this work of art while visiting one of the galleries of the Springfield Museums complex in Springfield, Massachusetts. Back on December 9th, 2023. Well, it's Monday again, and as we go back to the drawing board of another work week, I'm short on time this morning as the Lord occupied more time than usual this morning in prayer. Tonight I attend the Wild at Heart men's book study at Starpoint Church, and even though I've been through Eldridge's book more than once and have done a lot of inventory, prayer ministry, and recovery work in the past to heal my wounds, I decided to be true to the study and review the homework material that is supposed to be completed before tonight's session. Although the review questions covered the wounds that have been already resolved in my walk of faith, I was reminded that the work of dealing with past wounds and offering forgiveness is in some ways always a work in progress. Even the most disciplined follower of Jesus collects offenses as we walk through life. And I discovered that I had a few people to forgive, uh, to release some slowly simmering bitterness. And, uh, although my prayer session took normally— took more time than it normally does this morning, I'm happy to report that I feel much lighter and at peace this morning as I forgave from the heart and surrendered certain people and situations to God. As we develop as Christians through prayer, Bible study, and seeking to apply the Lord's ways to our lives, we become more and more different from from the people that don't know or pursue the things of God. Although we all are all created in God's image, we are not created equal or remain equal, as some don't know or choose not to follow the Lord. To utilize the Bible's teachings as a manual for living is unorthodox in our secular world, and to think about how you can become more and more like Jesus in order to become the person God created you be is a revolutionary mindset. To think about what God would want for your life rather than to think about what you want for your life is a foreign concept for most people, even among some who would identify themselves as Christian. But I have discovered that this revolutionary mindset, uh, to pursue and do God's will for your life, is precisely the thing that has made the difference in being able to know a life that is defined by a deep, abiding sense of peace and joy. Ironically, however, taking on this mindset to be an authentic Christian, an actual follower of Jesus, will put you in direct opposition of the vast majority of the world. Not only will your priorities be different from your contemporaries, but there will be a palpable sense of rejection or animosity towards you when you are vocal and out front about how you are living according to Jesus' different way. The world hated Jesus, and so it should be no surprise, uh, to us when we encounter subtle or not so subtle forms of rejection or hatred when we are open about following his ways for living. Of course, we are not perfect like Jesus, so we'll be hated all the more for trying to be like him and for not doing so perfectly. In the eyes of the world, we cannot win. They will hate us for trying, they will hate us for the success we will have, and they will hate us if we should fail. With the world, we just cannot win. But the good news is that Jesus overcame the world, and He told us so in John 16:33, where He told us the purpose of His teaching and assured us what to do in the midst of our trials. He said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." His teachings are given to us to give us peace with God, with our fellow man, and ourselves. His atonement makes us right with God and takes away our guilt, and His commands to forgive others causes us to let go of offense and to be compassionate towards those who are spiritually blind, to forgive them for they do not know what they do, because they do not know Him, and subsequently will lash out at the world as they will look for love in all the wrong places and obsess over things that were never intended to ultimately satisfy them. As today's photo reminds us, as much as things have changed in the history of the world, many things remain the same. We still have to work and to meet our physical needs, and while things may have improved to make that struggle to be easier, meeting our physical or even our relational needs was never intended to be the means to our peace and joy. The truth is we couldn't earn or find those things on our own, and the only way to discover them is by surrendering to God and his revolutionary mindset that tells us to trust in the unseen things and to put our demands for happiness aside to serve his kingdom and others. Instead of getting mad and getting even, he tells us to forgive and to give the hurt and desire for revenge to him, to the Phil, to trust him to set things right in the end. So if you're feeling a little angsty about having to go to work this morning, or, or about difficulties you have in your life or in your relationships, I suggest you put those offenses, offenses down and decide to adopt the revolutionary mindset of Jesus and trust God to show you the way. Keep walking and talking with him, and you can discover the peace of becoming the person he created you to be. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes to us from the section on divorce, and today's verse is Genesis 2:24 from the NIV. The word of God says That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Today's verse falls under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on divorce. And that first point is: When God instituted marriage, he made it clear that the marriage bond is to be permanent. Today's verse establishes marriage between one man and one woman as God's plan for human relationships. The two become one flesh in God's economy, and so marriage should not be seen as two separate people brought together to have one take care of one another or to make each other happy, as much as it should be seen as the creation of a new organism, one flesh, that operates out of the unity of love to operate as one. Divorce is rendered obsolete when we are united with God at the center of our relationships and we consider ourselves one flesh. As always, we invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of Scripture. Today's chapter is Romans 14, and from Romans 14, he shares a portion of verse 5, which says, "Let each be fully convinced in his own mind." And then Stephen Alford writes, "There are some," says the apostle, "which esteem one day above another." Similarly, there are believers who eat certain meats which others would not touch. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. This assurance the Holy Spirit will confirm if the following things serve as guiding principles. The first is: Christ must be Lord. All must be done in the light of the judgment seat. What is done must not cause a brother to stumble. It must not overthrow the work of God. It must be done in faith. Otherwise, it is sin. My brother must not be judged as long as what he does is not a stumbling block. In all, I must follow the things that make for peace and edification. And Offerman ends his advice by praying, Lord, may I weigh all things against these principles and the assurance of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. And yeah, there are some things that we can look at in our walk of faith that are not necessarily one way or the other, and we have to be convinced in our own mind if it's sin. One example of that is the use of alcohol. Now, there is nothing wrong with the use of alcohol, but there are, you know, it is clear from Scripture that drunkenness is a sin. So if you can drink alcohol on occasion without becoming drunk and operate in self-control, you know, that's something that you could partake in without, without the offense, without the worry that it's a sin. However, some people like myself who have had a history of struggling with alcohol and drunkenness may choose to not utilize alcohol at all, to make the decision to abstain from its use altogether. And is alcohol a sin? No, but drunkenness is. And in order to avoid that, you know, the temptation of overindulging in alcohol, I've made the personal decision to abstain from it altogether. But it doesn't make it a sin. And You know, it must be done in its right place, and it doesn't make me more holy for not doing it. Um, it's just I value my relationship with the Lord and self-control, um, to the point that I don't even want to try, um, you know, I don't even want to put myself in danger of, of, uh, of falling into drunkenness. So, um, and thus many other things like certain meats, you know, according to the word of God, all meat is been made clean. From Acts, it basically tells us that. But there are still many people believe the distinctions of, you know, clean and unclean meats, and we'll have to make a personal decision whether or not they want to, you know, how they want to operate. So we have to be, you know, be convinced in our own mind and by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit how to walk through this life. There are certain options with certain things where we are given liberty, and we have to utilize those things for our enjoyment and for God's glory. And so it's, it doesn't— it's not easy to follow the Lord because there's many options. It's not just one way. There's, there's, there's several different options available in this one way when we follow the Lord. And we should go to Him in prayer and go to the Word and determine whether or not, you know, you're convinced in your right mind whether or not something you're doing is right or wrong and live according to it. And at the same time, you shouldn't necessarily try to put that burden on someone else. You know, we're not in the same places spiritually and we can't fix one another. So we should just encourage one another to follow the Lord and see how that goes. Anyway, today is Monday. I'm short on time because I had to forgive a bunch of people for the offenses they've been perpetrating against me, mostly without their knowledge, and I feel much better about it. And that's what it's about. We find our peace when we follow the Lord, and forgiveness is definitely a pathway to peace. So if there's any offense in your life, I suggest you go to the Lord with that offense, declare it, and then forgive the person who causes the offense to you and ask the Lord for strength in dealing with the situation. Release it to him to find peace. Anyway, that's it for today because I have to roll out the door for work shortly. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much. For the revolutionary mindset that you've given us to follow you, Lord. Um, and, uh, we're gonna need help with that because it is, you know, far from how we were raised, um, for many of us. And we're going to need, uh, all the help we can get from you to guide us in wisdom and in truth. And we're asking for that today. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening, that they'd be blessed by you., and your prayer requests, and you're coming alongside them and your walk and their walk of faith. And Lord, while we're at it, we're asking that for us for as well. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. And we're not perfect people and we need your help with that. So we're praying for that today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.