The Myth of “The One” Purity 868

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a circular ripple on Hiwassee Lake from the vantage point of the Hanging Dog Recreational Area in Murphy, North Carolina comes to us from a friend who posted this scene on social media back on October 12th with the following poem: And it says, sunlight starts the day anew. A lifetime I have searched for you. Eyes like the ocean reflect sky blue. Hair like the sun with a golden hue. I've searched in the desert, I've searched by the sea. I came to the mountains where you might be. Now I sit by the water with a mountain view, watching ripples on the water. Fade away like you. Waterfalls turn into streams, and day turns into night. I'll only see you in my dreams, where I will hold you tight. Well, it's Friday again, thank God. And while our friend's poem touches the heart as it portrays a reality that life can sometimes be the desperate but fruitless search for loves lost but fondly remembered, I am thanking the Lord for showing me his love and for bringing me the love of my wife, who just happens to have hair like the sun. Because I can well remember several times in my life that I was obsessed over gaining the love of someone I desired or was lamenting over the loss— the loves I had lost before I was shown the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought that was the meaning of life, finding your soulmate. With that romantic worldview, the world was a cold and lonely, albeit beautiful, place. But all the splendor of the world or the good things of life were rendered meaningless without the one who was somewhere out there, with whom only a man could enjoy the other fruits of life with. But after many, many broken relationships where I had hoped to find fulfillment and in the midst of a troubled marriage where I couldn't seem to make a happy life or a happy wife, no matter how much I tried to appease and surrender to another's will, the Lord revealed to me the truth about the meaning of life and death by opening my eyes to the big picture that included the creation of the universe, the God who authored it, the history and purpose of man, what went wrong, and how we can be made right because Jesus Christ. Everything I had tried to find meaning or satisfaction in had failed me, and in a moment of divine grace and clarity, I saw that everything I, that I had heard about Jesus Christ was true. But I also saw the truth that being right with God wasn't about me doing everything right. It was about simply putting my faith in Jesus Christ and and surrendering to his lordship. And I discovered that it wasn't about God's desire to dominate or control me. Life was about the Creator trying to save his creation, and it was motivated by love. God made us in his image, and without him, we suffer a feeling of inadequacy, that something is missing. We each instinctively know this, but the world, the flesh, and the devil come in and offer us alternatives that they promise will complete us. One of those lies is the one— the myth that there is one perfect person out there that will complete, complete you and make you happy. But that myth is short-sighted. Even if there is someone out there that is perfectly compatible with you, who can support and love you all the days of your life, they don't answer the question of death. To be focused on the search of the one is to be blinded of the reality of your spiritual separation from God. Other myths out there do the same thing. The myths that life is all about family, or having enough money, or being happy, or being true to yourself, or being the boss of my life, or being smart, or being healthy, or being successful, or being loved. Equally, all fail us. They all ignore the Lord as if he was somehow not important. I mean, how could we be so deceived to think that the One who gave us life is just some minor portion of our lives that can be given homage once a week or a couple of times a year? How can we think we can find the meaning, purpose, or a good strategy for life if we haven't considered the One who made us? But I can— I know we can, because most of my life that's what I did. My life philosophy was a composite of all the above myths, and even though I was able to support myself financially and have a family and have— and some fun in life, if I am honest, there was always that sense of absurdity or lack of satisfaction when I looked at my life and thought, "This is it?" When those myths are your focus, the spiritual issues are either a sidebar to your life or that we will just have to hope for the best, or we deny the spiritual altogether and say, "Yeah, this is it," as in we blink out of existence, thus we'd be— we better selfishly live it up. But God wants us to know that this world and our ideas of it are not it. The idea of the one or a soulmate is not it, or at least not the way we thought it was, because there is one who can fulfill us, one that can make us right, and that one is Jesus Christ. And God sent him to tell us the truth and to pay for our sins that separate us from God. Christ answers all the questions of meaning and purpose. We are made in the image of God. Creation was broken by man's sin and rebellion. So God, out of his love for us, sent Jesus to reconcile us to him, and it's only through him that we can find peace. Just like we thought that the world was a pretty cold and lonely place that lacked the ability to satisfy us without our perfect soulmate, um, we, we discover that the reason why we have never been satisfied is because the only one that can plead us is Christ alone. And the wonderful news is that when we put our faith in Jesus, we can truly live. Through Christ, we overcome death and sin and have the power to enjoy our lives in his acceptance, security, and significance. In Christ, we become somebody. We are adopted as royal ambassadors to the kingdom of God. We receive the knowledge of the wisdom of how to live and how how to have peace with God. In Christ, we, we need not fear, for God is with us and for us forever. In Christ, we are loved by God and have the mission to live out his purpose for us. Before Christ, I considered myself to be a Jack Kerouac searcher for meaning, good times, and love, as I tried to make sense of the world with just the things of the world. I would wax on philosophically and poetically about all the wisdom I had gathered from my wild experiences of life. But although I considered myself somewhat Kerouacian, I didn't know jack. In all my wanderings, I dismissed the Bible, forsook the fellowship of the saints, and it was only through the grace of God and a gospel radio message that the Lord led me to the truth. So don't lament about the past. The Christian disciple's orientation is to be forward-looking and to keep our eyes on Christ, to follow him with the way we live our lives, to meditate on the Word of God, and to enjoy his presence in prayer and as we walk through this world. So keep walking and talking with God. It turns out that Jesus is the one we should have been looking for all along. And when we know his love, we can discover the new life he has for us. And if the Lord wills it, he will lead us into relationship with others, maybe even a spouse, that we can share our lives with. Lives that are defined by the fruit of the Spirit, because no matter what we do, our relationship with God will be the center of our existence and will provide us with the meaning, purpose, and love that we were always searching for. Poor. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 51:17, and it says, the sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Today's Bible verse describes our condition when we give up those myths and lies of the world and finally repent and surrender to the Lord. The spirit of man, of broken man, is the spirit of rebellion and self-sufficiency. We try to live independently from God and forge our own destinies, as if we could control anything in an ultimate sense. Or we will try to please God with good works, thinking we just perform the right sacrifice, God will accept us. But today's verse indicates that God's desire, desires us to submit to him and repent. Our surrender to the Lordship, uh, of Christ, not our sacrifice, is the only thing that God wants or will accept. So remember what God desires and give him what he wants by living a life that is repentant and surrendered to his will. Um, as always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, um, also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we're continuing where we left off with the second section of The Righteousness of Christ. So if you'd like to see that, go to mtcforchrist.org and you'll see it at the bottom of today's blog post. Well, it is Friday and we are going to thank God and rejoice because it's, uh, for me, that's the end of the work week. So I just have to get through 8 hours, and then I will be headed up north to be with my soulmate, my wife, um, that the Lord literally brought into my life out of nowhere, or out of Easton, uh, New York. And, um, you know, so, but it wasn't about that, you know. It wasn't about me finding the wife. I was fulfilled in Christ. Now God knew I needed some help, uh, so he sent Tammy Lynn into my life. But I was very happy just following Jesus all by myself, um, although, you know, to be honest, there was a lot of temptation, uh, you know, about how to stay pure and, you know, stay, stay on that path of Christian discipleship without giving into the sexual sin. And, uh, the Lord knew it, and he knew I needed someone to support me in my walk and to provide me with love. And he gave me Tammy Lynn, and now we're joined forever in holy matrimony, and we keep God at the center of our relationship. And so if you don't have a soulmate of your own, you know, a wife, um or a husband, that's okay. If you have the love of Christ, you have love. And, you know, look at your life, search, you know, be very careful, but search for a Christian mate that you can share your life with who also believes in Jesus and put their faith in him, is authentic, and you can have the peace that goes beyond all understanding that comes from a life of Christian discipleship and you know, the happiness that comes from a Christian marriage. So we encourage you to do that. Guess what that revolves or involves? It involves that broken spirit. We have to surrender our, you know, surrender our selfish wills for the Lord's will and be loving and serve others. When we do that, that's when we can find the peace that the Lord has for us. So I encourage you out there to seek that out and keep seeking the Lord's will for your life, and you'll— the Lord will take care of the rest. You know, seek His will and He will lead you into good things. He works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. So, you know, answer the call, the upward call of Christ. So That's my encouragement. If you need help with, you know, transitioning to the life of Christian discipleship and don't know what to do, we offer teachings from Freedom in Christ Ministries on the podcast and YouTube channel that we have for Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and The Bondage Breaker. And we also are doing a series on the cost of discipleship called Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, and we just recorded our 7th, 7th lesson of that series, and there should be approximately 10 more as I slowly go through Bonhoeffer's work, uh, Discipleship, or The Cost of Discipleship, each week on YouTube. So if you want to see me lecture about that and share a PowerPoint for the presentation that more or less presents Bonhoeffer's book. Go to M.t. for Grace 247 YouTube channel and you can, you can watch it, or you can just listen on the podcast. We also revere the word of God. This is where we learn the wisdom of God, is from his word. And we encourage that by sharing a Bible study each week called Bible Study with the Sincadi, where Arthur Sincadi lets the Holy Spirit lead him, uh, to compose a Bible study for us to examine and discuss. So if you want to check that out, that's on the YouTube channel and the podcast as well. So, um, as always, we'll, uh, lead us into prayer. And, uh, you know, that's what you should do— start talking and walking with God in prayer every day. Yesterday at work, I had to climb a telephone pole that was totally enveloped in a tree, so So it's partially up the pole in the tree. And you know who went with me? Well, there wasn't any room for another person, but Christ went with me because I was very precarious and I asked for his help and he gave it, you know, calm my spirit, and he led me in safety up and down that precarious pole. So if I can take him up a telephone pole in a tree, you can certainly take him with with you wherever you go in life. And that's walking in the Spirit, where we don't leave his presence, that we always consider his ways and, uh, walking— literally walk and talk with him, um, you know. So we encourage that. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank God it's Friday. And Lord, we just thank you for all that you've done, for the knowledge of Jesus Christ and How to walk in the Spirit, for everything you've shown us, Lord. And, uh, you know, the— how you continue to reveal things to us and how you continually lead us into truth and to change and repent of the way we lived our lives before coming to you. There's a lot to— a lot to take care of, but you lead us in the way we should go. And so, Lord, we just pray for the people listening today or, um, to the podcast or watching this on YouTube We pray that you bless them, Lord, um, that you give them your divine favor as they go about their day. And we pray for you to come alongside their prayer requests, as, as we all need your help, Lord. And Lord, as we go before you today, um, we are— you should— we pray for you to go before us. We pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see, open our minds to the things you want know and lead us in the way we should go. Or we just want to represent you and your kingdom here on the earth and share the good news and hope of Jesus Christ. And we just pray that you give us opportunities to do that today. And Lord, as always, we pray for your protection, uh, as we go into this world that is uncertain. But we know that you know what is to pass, and we know we can be certain about that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray— we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.