Let God be God
Read – Luke 6:27-36
I have to confess, for the longest time I would read the sermon on the mount (Luke 6), the love chapter (1 Corinthians 13), and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5), as commands, descriptions, charges to live for Christ. It has only been since the Lord taught me to abide in Him that I see these, and all scripture not as a “hear and obey” words, but as “behold and become” words.
It may be semantics to some, but for me it has shifted who carries these truths to God and not me. I moved from resourcing myself, my will, and flesh to worshipping God and ascribing these attributes to Him, to His
greatness. That’s right! I worship God in these scriptures ascribing them to His nature, His essence, and His character. As I do that two things happen:
First I see God as the One who is, where I had previously saw Him, as the One who demanded. For instance; I know God today to be the most humble, lowly, and gentle of us all. He calls for humility because that is who He is. He is gentle, lowly, and humble in heart. I found this as I worshipped Him in His fruit and again in His love. When I saw His humility, by beholding Him, humility became for me being transformed into His image from glory to glory.
Second I began to value these truths above the worldly wisdom I had known. As I saw that the Holy Spirit’s fruit, the love of God came from God, that He actually lives, feels, holds, and champions these attributes, because they are the very nature of Himself, I could trust that when followed Him in these, that the goodness of God would eventually prevail in my heart.
Now I am worshipping God in the sermon on the mount – specifically Luke 6:27-36. Jesus gives them as His manifesto to His disciples (impossible to live – I know I have tried) so they sound as commands. Instead read them and contribute them to the Father in worship saying…Father I thank you that you love your enemies…that you do good to those who hate You…blessing those who curse You….pausing as these truths register in your imagination.
See what happens. You may find it hard to ascribe some of these responses to God, but as you worship, over time, your image of God will change. And with that change everything else changes.
God has never, and never will, ask His children to do or be anything but like Him. Worship God…let God be God…let your vision of Him carry you into His bosom.
