Love’s preeminence (Recap)
As the Lord’s prisoner, then, I beg you to live lives worthy of your high calling. (Ephesians 4:1 J.B. Phillips)
Part 3 of this series led us to the great truth that abiding in Christ is the key to dwelling in love, the power behind living a life worthy of our high calling as a son or daughter of God. Jesus states unequivocally that, “…apart from me you can do nothing at all.” (John 15:5) He is the Vine, we are the branches. All nourishment is derived from our attachment to Christ from whom flows every good and perfect gift. First, our Lord invites us to follow him. Once we have, his invitation becomes one of abiding in him. His emphatic counsel to us is to remain close, to stay in him, to learn from him the true meaning of love and attach ourselves to that love—as is the privilege of every branch of the Vine. To drink the sap of that love which has the power to change us into ever increasing likenesses of our Elder Brother, Jesus.
Abiding in Christ
Whenever we abide with another person we draw close to them and learn of them in an intimate fashion not achieved by any other means. It is the same with God. By various expressions of grace, God makes himself known to the human race–with his ultimate expression being that of his Son, Jesus, who is the Christ, the Savior of the whole world. If we choose to believe what he says and draw close to him, God is pleased to live in us through his Spirit. And with the Spirit of God comes good fruit.
The Spirit however, produces in human life fruits such as these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, tolerance and self-control—and no law exists against any of them. Those who belong to Christ have crucified their old nature with all that it loved and lusted for. If our lives are centered in the Spirit, let us be guided by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)
Lives centered in and guided by the Spirit, this is the crux of what it is to abide in Christ Jesus. And if you are anything like me, you hold fast to one of Father’s great promises: For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose. (Philippians 2:13)
God is faithful and will fulfill each and every promise he has made to us to the glory of his name…
Michael
Does calling play the definitive role in your life it should?
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