James 4:7–Submit & Resist

James 4:7–Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

I love verses like this one, verses that give clear and concise direction: submit to God and resist the devil.  I also appreciate the intentional implication of the order here that in submitting to God, we will be able to resist the devil.  Let me say this directly, if we are struggling to resist the devil, we should check our submission.  Or, the other way around, if we are not submitting to God, we will most certainly struggle to resist the devil.

The response is clear.  Submission then resistance.

John 14:10-11–Father & Son are One

John 14:10-11–"Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? the words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

This is one passage among many in John's gospel that highlight the unique and distinct relationship between Jesus the Son and the Father.  The connection between the Son and the Father is a specific one of role and rank, not of a difference in deity or value.  The Son is submissive to the will of the Father.

Jesus says as much in John 5: "the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.  For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise...I can do nothing on my own...I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me. (vv. 19, 30)"

The very core of this theology is that Jesus is one with the Father but submissive to the Father's will. But this theology does not end there as Christ is compelling us to this same sort of relationship, that we would be submissive to the Father's will and that, ultimately, our authority and presence will be based solely upon the powerful works of the Heavenly Father.

To be sure, there is so much more to say on this topic alone.  Reams of paper could be expired upon this subject.  But we will live it here, understanding that Jesus would wish that we too would submit to the Father's will and claim no authority as our own save the Father's.

Colossians 3:17–Everything For Him

Colossians 3:17–"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

There is a principle that is always in play for the believer, and that principle is submission.  It is, in many ways, the very cornerstone of all Christian theology.  Think of the very call to believe unto salvation.  This is a call to submit our faith unto Christ.  Or the exhortation to devote ourselves to loving God with every bit of who we are; again, this is a call to submission.  But the submission does not end with theological assertions; it is a real, a practical submission.  In a real way, Christians are called to give everything, do everything, say everything, all for the glory of God.  There is no compartment of our lives that is to lie outside of that purview of submitting all we are and do to His name.  But what's more profound is that this submission is not done begrudgingly or with grumbling, but it is to be done thankfully and with great adoration.  This is our call and this is our task.

Let us pray to become better at giving everything to Him and doing it all with excellence for the glory of God!

Giving Yourself Fully to Christ

To give yourself fully to Christ.  This is the task for the Christian.  We hear it from teachers, we read it in the Scripture, and we say it to each other, but what does this mean? And while we throw this phrase around with a sort of recklessness, it is but an indistinct clang of a cymbal if we do not stop to answer the basic questions: what does this mean and how do I do it?

What does this mean?
To give yourself fully to Christ is a daily moment-by-moment submission of will, talent, ambition, goal, resource, relationship, and everything else imaginable to God.  A complete surrender.  The funny thing is that there is really no such thing as a half-way surrender.  If you don't give it all, you haven't really given any of it.  But the thing about it is, there are stages to this submission.  I mean to say that what you have offered as a sacrifice of submission today is predicated upon what you have been blessed to submit yesterday; it may not happen all at once.  Fortunately, God works like that!

How do I do it?
This one is simple: practice, practice, practice.  But what do I practice, you might ask.  For fear of writing too much I will say this.  We are called to practice godliness.  Quite literally, this means that we will imitate Christ.  From a practical standpoint, this means that we will love God with every pore of our beings, that we will make prayer and Bible study a vital part fo our daily lives, and we will love people fiercely.  But again, God has given us a Helper in the Holy Spirit, who guides us and strengthens us for this task of daily devotion.

Hopefully, now when you hear/read someone say that we ought to give ourselves fully to Christ, you would be better equipped to raise your hand in exuberance and cry out: "Amen!"

Choosing God before we have to Choose

Making decisions is just a part of life.  What you're going to wear or to eat are among a hundred other much more important choices face us daily.  Some decisions, like checking your Facebook page, are more superficial and relatively unimportant.  While other decisions, like who to marry or what your career will be, are more significant and life-determining decisions.

Because making decisions is just a part of life, it is no wonder that the Bible speaks quite directly to how we are to decide and choose.  What is interesting is that Scripture speaks of decision making in both a macro and a micro level, indicating that God is concerned with the minutiae of our lives as much as He is with the "bigger" things.

Most importantly, God wants us to seek Him and His guidance when facing decisions in our lives (Psa. 37:5; Jer. 6:16; 33:3).  In this way, godly decision making begins before decisions are made.  While this may seem obvious, consider the effect: if we pre-decide to commit ourselves to God's will before we have to make decisions, when the time comes for us to make the decision we will be more likely to make the right decisions.

Conversely, if we waver before we actually face the various available choices, then when the time comes for us to make decisions, we will likely be distracted from God's purposes by our own passions and desires.  Remember, the enemy lurks in waiting to devour (1 Pet. 5:8).  He, Satan, knows exactly how to tempt us away from God, so that when we stand at the crossroads of decision making we will not choose God's will but we will follow our fleshly desires that lead down the wide road of destruction.

Instead, we must determine which road we will choose to take long before we come to the fork of deciding.  In this way, we will be on-guard against being led astray.  Pre-deciding to follow Christ also helps to keep us focused on God and His will for our lives well before we are forced to make decisions.  Again, God is as concerned with being the guider of small decisions as He is with big ones.  Because of this, we should never grow weary of seeking His counsel, whether regarding what to eat for breakfast or when to make a career change.  Let us then seek after God first in all things so as to live in the center of His will!

Living for God or for Self

There were two women.  One of them, a driven young professional, planned her whole life.  She graduated from college, got her dream job, and worked hard her whole life, often sacrificing relationships to get herself ahead and to accomplish her goals.  When there were choices between doing something that furthered her goals or serving others, she would undoubtedly choose the former.  She built her life in the very way she wanted, never submitting to anyone's suggestions if they did not fit her agenda.

The other woman, the first's roommate in college, was an avid servant.  She would spend hours building relationships with the people she felt called to love.  She helped others move, she paid other people's rent if they couldn't make it, she even visited prison convicts.  She would volunteer at the local food shelf every weekend, which is where she met her husband.  They both felt called to help the needy and less fortunate, and so they decided to become missionaries to North Africa.  While their, he was killed while delivering medical supplies to a hospital and she was thrown in prison for teaching english to Muslim children.  She lived out the rest of her life in submission and service.

Both of the women died at the same time on the same day.  Jesus was there as they got to the gates of heaven.  He looked at both of them and smiled.  To the first woman, the missionary woman, Jesus hugged her close and said with a voice as gentle as velvet, "Welcome.  Come, step into my Kingdom.  For you have served Me with your whole life and for that you have received life eternal."  He then opened His arms and ushered her past Him into heaven.

Jesus the went to the other woman.  His expression changed to a somber one as He spoke sadly, "My child, you built your life upon yourself.  All that you did was for your own sake and for your own ambition.  Because you continually put your will before Mine, you have lived your life away from Me.  You served your goals and neglected what I had for you.  Because of this, you have forfeited your life and will spend eternity apart from me."  With that, Jesus turned away from her, leaving her sobbing in darkness for all eternity.

Jesus said in unambiguous language that, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take us his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done (Matt. 16:24-28)."

The point is priority.  What will we value: God or ourselves?  Our answer to this question will play itself out in how we live.  If we value God first, then we will live our lives focused on what He has for us.  Conversely, if we value ourselves first, then we will live our lives focused inward on what we think is best for ourselves.  To discover which one we may be, one need only look at the minutiae: if you continually see yourself behaving selfishly or looking to your own interests, then you probably are living a self-focused life.  Whereas if you find yourself seizing opportunities to love and serve others, then you are probably living a God-focused life.

While this may seem like a distant question, it is essential and has eternal weight to it.  In both of these cases, the relevant next-step is prayer and worship.  In order for us to start or keep submitting ourselves to the will of God, we need to be pursuing that will on a moment-by-moment basis.  Let us then come to Him in faith as to lay down our lives so as to pick up the life He has for us!

The Quest for Humility

Facebook has made all the world self-promoters, Twitter has made every one fancy themselves a quick-quipping pun king, and Youtube has made everyone think they should be a star.  We live in a world that spreads self-esteem and expects self-exaltation, making the truly humble heart is a rarity.  But God demands something more, indicating that there is ruin for those who would exalt themselves in haughtiness and pride.

This is a hard but necessary teaching.  Many of us would rather be noticed and heralded, but God asks for something else altogether.  Throughout the book of Proverbs, humility is contrasted to pride just as wisdom is contrasted to foolishness and as godliness is contrasted with sin (Pro. 3:34; 11:2; 15:31, 33; 16:18-19; 18:12; 21:4; 26:12; 29:23; 30:32).  This should be enough in itself for us to know that God demands us to be humble so as to receive His favor and His blessings.

But before we should think that only the Old Testament was concerned with humility, we should be reminded of Jesus very own words: "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12; cf. Luke 14:7-11 & 18:9-14 )."  We should take Jesus' words with seriousness and sobriety and it should, ultimately, convict us on to humility.

Clearly, humility is a big deal.  However, as mentioned above, it goes against our well-ingrained, western tendencies.  Accomplishing the task of humility is a holistic, full-person endeavor.  To be sure, the quest for humility is a matter of identity.  If we are to be found solely and securely in Christ, then there is simply no room for pride or haughty self-exaltation because we will be looking at our own worth in the light of the Holy Lord.  Let us then look to God to be our identity and our only boast!

Gleaning Wisdom from and before Failure

By the second decade of the twentieth century, the automobile industry was taking off.  However, there was one potential hiccup and major hurdle to the industry's growth: rubber.  At that time, synthetic rubbers were still in their infancy and would not be able to fill the demands.  In reaction to the growing need, in 1928, Henry Ford went to Brazil and purchased over 6,200 square miles of Amazon river, beachfront property.  Fordlandia was formed.

Ford sent some of his top engineers and managers who had streamlined his revolutionary mass-production Ford facilities.  The men went down to Fordlandia and, having hired local farmers to live and work in the city, planted hundreds of perfectly symmetrical rows of rubber trees along the banks of Rio Tapajos.

However, the managers and engineers that Ford sent down to Brazil had little to no knowledge of tropical agriculture.  And, not knowing anything about growing rubber trees or tropical farming at all, Fordlandia was a continual and repeated failure.  In 1945, when Ford's grandson took the company over, Fordlandia had incurred a slew of violent local uprisings, had been unsuccessfully relocated further down the Amazon, and was finally sold for a $20 million loss.

The point is that, while Henry Ford saw a need and formed a solution to solve it, because he lacked the information and expertise to accomplish his goals it was an utter failure.  Despite the fact that Ford dumped valuable resources of money and manpower, it was all for naught.  The project failed definitively for a whole litany of reasons, but the chief among them was Ford's own pride.  Henry believed that the skills and tactics that had made him an automobile baron would be equally useful in farming rubber trees.  He was wrong.

Often times we, like Henry Ford, will be faced with issues that we, like Ford, will choose to take on by our own wit or grit.  As Solomon writes, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Pro. 16:18)."  We need to always remember that while we may have our own plans and our own ways to deal with the scenarios that we are faced with, it is in the Lord that we are established (Pro. 16:9).

Consider the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21), who because the harvest had been so fruitfully plentiful, he tore down his barn to big a larger one to store all of his surplus. Yet before he can lay the first brick, the Lord calls him out, demanding his life that very night.  The primary point of the parable is that the man who stores up riches for himself has no riches in heaven.  However, a secondary and equally important point is that we cannot know when or what God has for us if we are continually making plans apart from His guidance and separated from His presence.

James, in his epistle, picks up on this theme when he says that we do not know what tomorrow may bring for we are but mists that are here today but vanish tomorrow.  Therefore, we should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that (James 4:13-15)."  This hits a nerve at the heart of our culture that so heralds individualism, self-expression, and personal power.  But apart from the Lord blessing are very step and sustaining us from breath to breath, there is not a single thing that we are capable of doing.  

Therefore, we should seek His will not only to bless our plans, but also to help us determine them as well, remembering that God desires to guide our steps in order that we would walk in accordance with His will (Psa. 37:23-24; Pro. 20:24; Jer. 10:23).  So that we would not walk in the footsteps of Fordlandia, we should always strive to come to God in humility so that He would guide and equip us for every work that He has already prepared for us to do.  Praise be to God who directs and blesses!

Scripture and Politics

Citizenry is not something to be balked at.  Being a citizen, a valuable and engaged member of society is incredibly important as a Christian.  Fortunately, the Bible has much to say about proper citizenship for believers.  Understanding this basic truth is of vital importance.  Unfortunately, many Christians do not look to Scripture to inform their political identity but instead rely on the world.

The first point in regards to citizenship is work ethic.  Christians should develop a work ethic that is unrivaled and gives no place for reproach.  Both of Paul's letters to the Thessalonians speak out against idleness, exhorting believers to work hard for the sake of the Gospel (1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:6-18).  The rigor with which we work will prevent anyone from being able to revile God because of our idleness.  Therefore, we should work hard and diligent as unto the Lord (Col. 3:23-24).

Secondly, and this is key, believers' political leanings and activity is to be dominated by a vibrant and intentional prayer life, focused on interceding on behalf of leaders and submitting to their God-given authority (Rom 13:1-7; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13).  This can seem radical in not downright provocative, considering that the past several decades of political posturing has associated Christianity with right-wing political proclivities.  God is not a republican just as much as He is not a democrat.

This assertion does not mean that Christians should not be involved in politics, rather, our political leanings should not ever hinder our real purpose, i.e. living out and preaching the Gospel of Christ Jesus.  It wasn't for politics that Jesus' came.  We should take great comfort in the fact that the value of our faith is not and will never be measured by our adherence to political platforms or agendas.  Instead, as always, our faith is measured by our devotion in repentance and sincerity to the Lord Jesus.  Always remember that our faith influences our politics, never the other way around.  Let us then take heed to focus and fix upon Christ to guide us in every part of our lives!

Put Your Self to Death

Putting your self to death is a significant and challenging doctrine of Christianity.  Paul speaks of it most directly, particularly in his epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Colossians (Rom. 8:13; Gal. 2:19-20; Col. 3).  The difficulty with this concept is due to the intensely metaphoric language as well as the personal accountability the doctrine places on believers.

At the onset, parameters of dying to self should be laid out to guide this discourse.  The death of self can be reduced to the intentional separation from our fleshly self, in which we previously lived, for the expressed purpose of drawing closer to our renewed and reconciled spiritual self in Christ.  This should be the framework that guides our understanding of dying to self.

There are two basic parts of ourselves that we are putting to death.  The first part of self to be put to death is our previous self.  When we become Christians, through confession and belief in Jesus, we put to death our previous self in repentance and faith in order to turn to God.  This is so fundamental to the Christian life that if we have not taken this first step of putting our selves to death we should seriously examine the state of our salvation.  This part of the self that we put to death includes every previous bit and iota that had previously filled and dominated our life.

The second part of our self that needs to be put to death is our future self.  When we give ourselves to Christ, we are to place our plans, our dreams, and our desires into His hands.  This can be a very challenging proposition, particularly in a society that so values goal orientation but it is so utterly necessary for us to grow to be the people that God desires us to be.  We need to place everything in His sovereign, loving, and omnipotent hands, knowing that He is the God of all creation and the Lord of our lives.

Once we have accepted the reality and necessity of putting our old self to death, then we will be prepared to take the next steps of growth: putting on our new self.  Paul speaks of this concept very directly in Colossians 3, indicating that we are taking off our old, fleshly self and putting it to death and putting on the new self.  The new self is found and defined only in Christ.  It is in Christ, by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ that the new self is all about.  A correct term for the new self is "God-obsessed."  After we die to self and are risen anew to the Spirit, we should strive to live God-obsessed in every manner, word, and deed.  Let us then press forward to put our selves to death to be made new in Him!

Divine Discipline

Discipline, in the sense of submission to an authority, is often neglected or totally abandoned in the politically-correct world today.  We live in a society that is more concerned with satisfaction and comfort than with truth actualized in life.  Because of this, many people believe that discipline is no longer necessary or that it is an appalling relic from bygone days.  In contrast, the Bible has much to say in regards to God's disciplinary intentions, disciplining those whom He loves for the purpose of pruning them for growth.

Scripture, particularly Proverbs, presents the discipline of the Lord in a unified and direct manner.  For one, the Lord disciplines the ones that He loves (Psa. 94:12; Pro. 3:11-12).  Pruning is necessary in order to guarantee and maintain fruit-bearing potential.  If we are to become the people that God intends us to be, we must be willing to submit to His discipline like clay bends to the will of the potter's hands.

Therefore, discipline is to be loved and desired for its effects (Pro. 10:17; 12:1), because we understand that discipline means that God loves us.  Moreover, we may also take hope and comfort in discipline, understanding that God has plans to build and prune us by His will and for His purposes (Jer. 29:11-13).  We should not dislike discipline but we should take joy in that God is pruning us.

Additionally, we should recognize that neglecting discipline has consequences (Pro. 5:23; 13:18; 15:5; 15:32).  If we do not heed to discipline's compulsions, we walk in danger of future, if not eternal, repercussions.  Because of this, we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's disciplinary promptings for if we ignore them, there will be consequences for our negligence.

Furthermore, parents need understand the necessity for proper discipline, not harsh but consistent and not wrathful but purposefully loving.  If we are to raise a generation of people bound by truth and accountable to God, then we need to employ the pruning tools of discipline, with Spirit-led and wise discretion, of course.  Scripture, again, speaks directly in this regard that a parent is obligated to discipline their child for the benefit of the child (Pro. 19:18; 23:13).

Scripture is not divided on this issue, nor is Proverbs the only place that speaks of our obligation to heed to discipline, not out of obligation but out of joy and love for the Lord (see Heb. 3-7).  When the Lord disciplines us, or when our spiritual leaders discipline us according to the Word, we should take it humbly as well as with joy, acknowledging that it is out of love and for pruning that we are being disciplined.  Praise be to God that He would love us so much as to discipline us by His will, for His purposes, and for our good!

Relinquishing the Wheel

Who directs our steps?  What is the compelling guide that leads us to traverse the mountains and valleys of life?  If our guide is sure and trustworthy, we can certainly feel at ease and be able to have peace that the route is correct and the journey will be true.  But if our advisor does not know the way or is overconfident, we can easily be put in danger of becoming lost or injured.  Fortunately, a perfect guide has been given us in the Holy Spirit.  However, handing over the reigns of our lives can be a difficult endeavor.

The first step in allowing the Lord to guide our steps is repentance.  Literally, repentance means turning away from self and towards the Lord.  Therefore, it makes sense to assert repentance as the watershed action of relinquishing control to One who truly is in control, God.  Any attempt to hand over the keys to our lives that misses this step will fail because control of the wheel has not been fully given to the sure driver.  Imagine, for a second, a driver and a passenger each vying for control of the steering wheel while barreling down a narrow corridor on a steep mountain pass.  Not effective and definitely dangerous.

Once we truly and wholly repent (which is to be a continuous action, not a once-for-all-time), then we will be able to listen to the direction that comes from the Lord.  Isaiah says, "Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 'this is the way, walk in it' when you turn to the right or to the left (Isa. 30:21)."  God, the true and perfect guide, desires to lead us through life.  Paramount to this is our willingness to relinquish the wheel (repentance), followed by our willingness to listen to Him speak (faith abiding in His Word).

The Holy Spirit acts as the divine inner-driver for repentant believers.  He guides, compels, teaches, and directs us in the way we should go.  And, because He is who He is, He knows the right way.  The Psalmist writes, "The steps of a man are established in the Lord when he delights in His way (Psa. 37:23)."  This truth was not lost on Solomon who writes that the Lord makes straight the paths of those who trust in Him, do not lean on their own understandings, and who acknowledge Him (Pro. 3:5-6), and also, though a man plans in his heart, the Lord establishes his steps (Pro. 16:9).

At the final analysis, we who confess Christ should take this attitude among us, that, though we may have ideas of the way we should go, if our paths are not grounded in repentance and faith, listening to the Holy Spirit speak to us through His Word, then our plans will ultimately fail because they are not made secure and sure in the Lord.  If we think of life like traveling, a picture comes to mind: there is a single, narrow road.  To the immediate left and right of the road is washed-out sand, muddy bog, and cliffs that fall off into oblivion.  We are the car.  Who should we trust to drive it?

Submitting

One of the most challenging features of Christianity is also the most fundamental: submission.  Submission is so foundational to all of the Christian life.  Godly growth and the bearing of fruit is directly related to our ability to fully submit to the Lord.  When we do not submit fully to the Lord and His will, we will not grow in sanctification nor will we become the people God intends for us to be.  Because of the distinct value and sobering reality of submission, understanding submission will serve to point us to God.

Submission, in its simplest form, refers to yielding to the power of another.  Believers are subject to the Lord and to His will.  This means that we are to wholly yield to God.  There are some reasons that Christian submission is so fundamental.  For starters, the Lord is omnipotent.  Because of this reality, submission should be the natural disposition for believers.  Submission in this sense is intricately tied to the fear of God, that is the beginning of wisdom.

Another reason that submission to the Lord is so essential to believers is a matter of faith and positioning.  When we convert and are reborn because of the work of Jesus applied to our lives, what happens is a matter of submission: we lay down who we are so that we can be made new in Him.  Therefore, an integral part of submission is the recognition that the Lord and His will is infinitely better for us than our own desires and wills could ever be.  Thus submission is not merely an intellectual ideal.

Rather, submission, in its truest sense, requires the whole person.  In this way, we will be positioned to live out the Greatest Commandment, to love the Lord God with all heart, mind, and soul.  Submission is the defining feature of fulfilling this commandment.  Because of the distinct importance and relevance true submission is, taking on the attitude of submitting to the Holy Lord is not an option for believers, it is a requisite posture.

Central to the submission of believers is the recognition that the Lord is who He is.  Being the very King of Kings and Lord of Lords, indicates that He is the God who stands at the apex of all creation.  Being the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God means that submission, in the truest sense, means that we recognize both who He is and that this knowledge mandates our submission.  Let us then submit fully to the Lord God almighty, and thus be most aptly positioned to receive His love and blessings!