Eyes That See, And A Heart That Knows

Greetings Reader. If you have not fed directly from the Bread from Heaven, He who came down from Heaven to give life to the world, true life (which is knowing [relating foundationally from and with] God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ), then may you put yourself directly at His table before day's end. For even Heavenly crumbs gathered with true desire nourish the soul in ways earthly and natural feasts can never comprehend nor supply. Nature can only supply what perishes. Grace feeds that which is everlasting. What is truest of you, Christian, is that which is of God in you. Cherish, nurture, prize, and feed what is of God in your life.

Meditate on the following Psalms. As you read, discern in your heart and conscience who you are. Take note of God's gift of revealing you to your self. He is there to meet you.

Ps 106:1 Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Ps 107:1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Ps 106:13 They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. 15 And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His word, 25 But complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of the LORD.

Ps 107:8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow, 40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way; 41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock. 42 The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth. 43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the loving kindness of the LORD.

Beloved in Christ, I have no counsel for you from the above passages. It is there if you have eyes to see and a knowing heart. God Himself is sufficient to guide your heart by His Spirit and Word. You may truly desire Him above all. Yet, perhaps you know in your heart that you do not desire Him above all but desire what is beneath Him and desire what He has created over that which is uncreated. God Himself will reveal that to an honest heart that is broken of its misplaced wants. When you leave this earth for Heaven and God Himself, you will carry no earthly prize with you.

Do not end this earthly day malnourished in soul because you chose to feed from earthly tables to the exclusion of Heavenly feasts. Your soul knows the difference.

God has given us all things . . .

Greetings reader,

My heart is torn with the following fact: that even though Peter in chapter one of his second letter states that God has given us (me) all things pertaining to life and godliness [piety and devoutness--a response to God characterized by a particular life disposition], and that because of God's redemptive work I have escaped the corruption in the world resulting from lust, I still find my life more characterized by corruptions stemming from the power of lust and less from a life hid with Christ in God. What is your own experience? Do you discern and lament what is of your flesh and yet see what God's desire is for you at the same moment? Do you discern His drawing you away from your self to Him? Has He opened your eyes of faith this way and do you see?

Looking at the outer display of your life reveals to some degree, but looking at your inner world (that of your heart and conscience) reveals much more. For the outward is merely a result of the inner. Look inward. Go to your core. God does. He knows, in truth, your mind and your heart. Join Him in His correct and loving evaluation of who and what you are at your core, not what you believe yourself to be. Fear not. For the journey into the center of one's heart is destine to lead to despair, unless one realizes that God is both already there drawing you to see and meet Him there and that God walks with you throughout the pilgrimage. Focus not on your own decay and ugliness, which you will surely see, but focus on His goodness and purity. For you have none of your own. His is yours. Thus, flee what is natural to your self by resting in what He's provided. This is the pilgrim’s journey from what is earthly and of self to what is heavenly and of God. The end is entering into God’s presence and the soul receiving the end of its salvation by means of purification. For what is earthly and fleshly will not enter into God’s kingdom.

As outlined in blog post two, do you see a natural and unwavering movement through the sequence outlined by Peter toward the fruit of love, or do you see yourself as (for all practical purposes) still in your sin? Who would not want nor choose true love? Only what is earthly and of the flesh. What does your life reveal about your relation to God? Again, look not merely at the outward manifestations of your moments, for from these we falsely claim self-righteousness, but look at the seat of your self-existence (your heart and conscience) and speak of that. Do you commune with God at that point? His home is there. That is your heart. Know God from that place continually, and even though you may see and know your fallenness and know that you are a contributor to the world’s corruption by means of lust, you will know more certainly that those things are not what truly define you. That which is from your Father, and He Himself, will be known to you as your true identity and refuge. From such a place can the pursuit of love and its fruits occur.

God's best for you this day,

Carl

Life, Godliness and Love

2 Peter 1 (v 2-7)“2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

Dear reader, perhaps as you read the above text you noticed that your extension of love comes at the end of the chain. Your love is the final link. Your love is a fruit. It is neither expected to exist prior to transformation, nor is your “being loving” an automatic guarantee.

Here's the series of linked items: God has given (once and for ever) all things that pertain to a Christian's life and devoutness or piety [godliness]; He did this by placing you [Believer] into a relationship with Himself; that "placement" is tied to His own glory and virtue; from this relationship and God's goodness you as a Christian partake in God’s work as described by His promises and you share through your relationship with Him the characteristics or qualities [or fruits] of His nature [in contrast with having access to only your nature]; this divine placement has moved you, Christian, from a position of worldly corruption stemming from lust to the position of participation in divine relations and actions. You have, so to speak, a new nature to live from.

Thus far, the chain links can be summarized as God has given you, Believer, a new life. This life is yours for the keeping. You should recognize this change and be aware of the differences. Life for you has been divinely redefined. A devote and pious life are the natural disposition of a proper awareness of this divine repositioning and the nature of having a new life. So far, we have been describing what Peter calls the basics of faith.

The chain continues. Once the platform above is in place and seen for what it is, the life consequence and passionate desires that should be natural to the new nature are described. Your movement in these directions are responses to what you, hopefully, find emerging in your mind and heart as God relates to you, and you relate to God, on the interior level of your life—your heart and conscience. Peter says in verse 5, because of these things comprising the foundations of your Christian faith (vs. 2-4), “add.” Believer, our post-conversion life needs to reveal movement in adding to, or growing in, our justified by God life: virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, brotherly kindness and, finally, love. The fruit is love.

This type of love stems from understanding one’s faith and growing in that faith. Sure, you can, as we identified in the first blog post, squelch, retard or scorn such new life growth, but why? Why do I desire to reject my God given life for the alternative life of corruption by means of lust? If you have no desire for the goal of being loving, then likely it would do you well to revisit the faith elements that Peter states in verses 2-4. You must both understand these essentials and participate in them, for they are the soil or ground for all else. If the seeds of grace desire not to grow from your heart, then perhaps they are not truly there. If you find them, join God in their growth. Move toward love.