The race is set before us.
We are all in a race, but not against each other or the devil. Our race is in conforming into the image of the firstborn from the dead. God has saved us in Jesus Christ. Having accepted us in the Beloved, He now is redeeming us in the Beloved. Christ our redeemer is doing so in His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
This is a mystery being revealed. In the fulness of the dispensation of time we, the entire body of Christ in heaven and on earth, will be summed up into ONE. That’s why the jointly formed can feel so out of form. I am being brought into submission to truth and must face lies that I have believed.
I am accepted but not yet transformed.
Here are three disciplines I believe the Lord is highlighting this year in our race into His conformity.
Our Words
Our Mind
Our Vision
Our words set our course, determine outcomes, and reveal our hearts. In the Lord’s discipline, His first effort although simultaneous with many efforts, is to gain control of our tongues. When I believe that my words are mine to choose, and use them to my advantage, letting out steam, speaking of others in a disparaging light, or even cursing and calling for their demise. I am speaking as a son of disobedience and not a son of light.
Our mind is the world we live in. Our mind, set on things above, brings life and peace. Our mind, set on the flesh, brings death. The renewing of my mind brings transformation. The reading of the Bible, holding it as the light unto my path, the truth I must know, and the means given for sanctification into glory, is my only path out of darkness, to see light. No bible, no truth, no truth, no freedom.
Our vision must be Jesus. We are told, in running our race, to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He is our champion, and we are called to follow Him. To follow Him we are told by Jesus, that we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. Jesus ran the race with the joy set before Him. The joy of Jesus is our strength. The joy of Jesus is our inheritance. Rejoicing always is seeing Jesus!
Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is the kingdom of God. Our words, our mind, and our vision is Jesus. The prize is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, into His likeness, into His image, into His victory!
