Starting a New Year

 

Most of us try and make something of our selves or better ourselves each year.  There is nothing wrong with being a self made person.  There just might be a better way for those who follow the Master.

 

And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
(Gen 18:17-19)

In this passage that deals with God leading someone into the unknown future, we age given insight into the ways of the Lord.  A few of these are….

1. God knows who we are and what we are called to do.
2. God’s perspective of us involves how we treat others and how we will help them follow Him.
3. God reveals or hides His plans for us according to our maturity and ability to accomplish our calling.

For years I have tried the “spiritual self improvement method”.  This is where I choose some area of my life and add discipline and effort to improve my condition with God.  Some years I have decided to fast 40 days or prayer 2 hours a day or read through the Bible.  All these have been good things in my life, but the good may have cost me the best.

The best thing we all can do is follow the Master.  The big step in this is taking the time to hear from Him what He is doing and where He is going.  There is a huge temptation to assume we are free to choose our own path, use our own minds and in our maturity choose what disciplines God is working on in our lives.  While it is true that we are given more and more freedom in Christ as we mature.  That freedom is the gift we give back to God as bond-servants.  Each year of maturity the gift becomes greater as we have more freedom to give back.  We seek not to arrive at some place of independence from Him and label that maturity.  Maturity is fellowship and abiding, even when we have grace from God “not to”.

While God “knows it all” we do not.  God limits what He shows us, not only according to our maturity, but to our calling.  Many of our divisions in the body of Christ exist over our inability to humble ourselves and truthfully understand that we do not see it all.  Biblically, even apostles did not grasp the whole picture and often misunderstood what God was doing with others.  The call to consider others better than ourselves and to honor others is a call to walk with God.  It is a lifestyle condition that transcends attitudes but must also involve them.  In America right now there seems to be a great temptation to choose sides and pick which leader is the right one.  This is the working of consumerism in our hearts and has nothing to do with the ways of God.  God often sets a King, a Prophet and a Priest in conflict and tension so that His will (the behavior of the people involved) is accomplished.  How often in our world do we justify bad behavior because we claim it accomplishes God’s will?

Abraham got a dose of revelation because he was going to help his household (family members, religious members, business members) to do both justice and judgment.  The fruit of our character in Christ produces life and truth in others.  We may think it is all about our external deeds done regardless of our inward condition, but it is not.  Truth is, we cannot hide what our inward man is doing.  Sure we may overlook it but others are gazing into our inner man every day.

So in 2013 if you find yourself more needy, more dependent on God than ever before, you are manifesting signs of maturity.  If you choose this year not to do anything without knowing on some level, that it is the will of God, that would be best.  There are practical steps of humility and grace that we can learn which makes this more than a “personal revelation issue” and integrate who we are and what we know into the People Of God. 

Summing it up, if our plan for growth in God leads us to a lifestyle that lessons our abiding, our fellowship and our infusion with God, it probably is not the best one.  If we are acting out of our knowledge, choosing what we think we ought to, then we are also choosing a lower road.  If we are not growing in our understanding of how little we see and understand what God is doing, then we are most likely over estimating who we are and our part. 

Go small.  It is the new big.