Hard Work

Hard Work

We wear that phrase like a badge of honor.

“I worked really hard today”.

“I logged 50 hours this week at work”.

“Man, I’m exhausted I’ve worked so hard”.

And I know you can come up with many more. After all, we have said something like that so many times and been very proud of that very fact.

But what I’ve been learning over the past year is that the only labor commanded of us under the New Covenant is that we labor to enter into his rest.

Hebrews 4:11-16
11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. CLICK HERE TO READ IN FULL CONTEXT

WAIT!!

That sounds contradictory.

Labor to Rest??

What can that possibly mean?

One major clue can be found in the title of this book of the Bible – Hebrews. From the beginning, the Hebrews were God’s chosen people. Centuries before He had given them the Law. A set of rules so impossible to keep that intervention was a necessity.

And if those Levitical rules were not enough, through the years the Rabbi’s or Pharisees and Sadducees, had developed even more rules or Rabbinical rules. At the time this book of the Bible was written, the Hebrews knew no life outside of legalistic rules. It was their nature; it permeated every thought, action and deed.

In the Bible there have been two ways to be in right standing with God. The first was the Law. To be right with God through the Law, you had to keep EVERY law, and there were thousands! To gain atonement for your sin you had to get a spotless sacrifice such as a lamb and once sacrificed, its blood covered your sins temporarily.

But Jesus came to give us a higher and more perfect way to be in right standing with God. This higher form is called grace. Grace is so much higher than the law, that it took the entire New Testament to share the wonders of all that it meant.

The writer of Hebrews had a tough task ahead. They wanted to help the Hebrews understand that they no longer had to follow rules to be in right standing with God. Many got it and lived by it, but for others it was easy to fall back into their old habit of living by the law.

I am sure it felt comfortable to them like bathing themselves in a warm bath. But the truth is that the law brings about the punishment of death.

Romans 4:15
15 For the Law inflicts punishment; but where no Law exists, there can be no violation of Law.

It was imperative for the writer of the book of Hebrews to caution them to not fall away, or fall back into living by the law.

Hebrews 6:4-6
4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

The highest form of life is living by the the grace provided by God through Jesus Christ. To live by the law is substandard. To live by laws which provide certain punishment of death because they are impossible to keep, is far below the life God had planned for mankind. In verse 6 above, the writer is urging them to not fall from grace back into the law where death is a certainty.

Grace is a FREE gift from God. We cannot earn it and to try to do so puts us in a fallen state; a state of disobedience and fathlessness. To perpetually work to earn favor keeps us in an unrepentant state.

If this seems odd to you, think of it like this. When you are working for favor the focus is on you and what you have done. This is sinful pride.

But to ignore works and to focus on THE work that was done at the cross by Jesus Christ we can receive the fulfillment of His love and good deeds will manifest naturally, apart from our own works or effort.

Our own works or efforts to ‘be good’ or ‘do right’ are like filthy rags to the Lord. But freely receiving grace, allowing His blood to cleanse your sins, once and for all is true freedom. The freedom that Jesus died to give us!

Beware that you to do not fall from grace back into living by the law. Not Rabbinical or Levitical Law, but the laws of man, that have continued to be made, in an effort to achieve that right state with God.

Yes, even we gentiles can fall from grace into law. Check yourself daily, not to see if you have done right or been good, but that you have maintained total dependence on the grace of God to do all things and not of your own hard work.

Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire
DAY JOB LINKS...
Dreams Do Come True
Dragonfly In Amber Designs

Love and Its Fullness

LOVE!

What a word!

We hear that word from the moment we are born.

Mommy whispers in our ear, 'Mommy loves you".

As we grow we hear, and therefore learn, that big brother just 'loves' the neighbors new car. Big sister, 'loves' her new boyfriend she just had one date with. Mom 'loves' the new wallpaper in the bedroom. Dad 'loves' his new job.

Our first impression of love is one of tender affection. And honestly it IS our whole world. But as we grow, that word becomes watered down. That once powerful word which was the definition of our closest bond, has come to be on an equal playing ground with the neighbors new car and wallpaper.

Therefore, it is no wonder that when we first hear that God 'loves' us, we really do not have any true concept of what that really is. And in turn when we are told to 'love' others, we 'love' them as wallpaper which we strip away as soon as we become bored with it, or cars which are traded away every few years. This is the way we love because this is what we have come to know.

Recently God specifically led me to Philippians 1:9-11. I have read this scripture many times and had also underlined it. But as I read it this time I sensed that there was a much deeper meaning, which yearned to be revealed. I wanted it to soak into my being, so I asked God to help me to get it, really get it, in a new and fresh and powerful way.

Verse 9 reads:
And this, I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight. Amplified minus the parenthesis
 

The first thing that stood out to me was that love (agape - greek) has knowledge and keen insight. We have often thought of love as being simply an emotion, not an entity with knowledge and insight. Maybe we have come to realize that love is also a verb. It is something you do.

But love is also a proper noun. Love can and does possess knowledge and keen insight. Then I began to think, what was this knowledge and keen insight that love had.

Also in this verse it talks about love being developed more and more. So it has a beginning, but from that beginning it can be developed into a fullness beyond what it was originally.

Verse 10 reads:
So, that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value and that you may be untainted and pure and unerring and blameless. Amplified minus the parenthesis

As I was meditating on these scriptures I began to realize that by exercising our love and developing it to its fullest, we begin to learn what is of true value intuitively and, that understanding causes us to make moral and right decisions which lead to purity.

This happens automatically, apart from our own effort because it is life transformation. Not by forcing ourselves to follow the 'be good' rules, but by immersing ourselves in the reality of God's agape love for us and funnelling it through to others. Life transformation ONLY happens from the inside out, NOT from outside in.

Your actions will be birthed out of a fully developed agape love and not out of obligation to follow a moral set of rules. Because our love will have become so developed, the knowledge and keen insight that love has will create in us automatically, a caliber of living that is reflective of Christ.

Verse 11 reads:
May you abound in and be filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ to the honor and praise of God. Amplified minus the parenthesis

When reading the parenthesis in this amplified verse I began to see a defined purpose in developing our love. A purpose beyond just being good and loving and kind. The parenthesis at the end of verse 11 say [that His glory may be both manifested and recognized].

I meditated on these scriptures for several days to allow God to fully reveal the deep meaning in these scriptures. Each day I saw more and more the depth and true meaning behind them. Here is a summary of what I feel is the meaning of these scriptures.

We are to purposely exercise our love toward everyone by drawing from Jesus himself and funneling His love, which is Himself, to others. We are to exercise love daily, using it actively each and every moment. As it grows, we will automatically begin to make right and moral decisions. As we begin to make these right and moral decisions our lives will become more and more a reflection of Christ. And through this, God’s glory will not only be manifest in our lives, but it will be recognized by others and all men will be drawn to Him.

…faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. I Cor. 13:13

Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire
DAY JOB LINKS...
Dreams Do Come True
Dragonfly In Amber Designs

A Test of the Emergency Godcast System

How many moments in our lives could truly be labeled,

"Attention. Attention. This is a test of the emergency GODCAST system!”?

As children of God we are continually being tested as to our quality.

 I Peter 4:12 in the Amplified reads,

“Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.” (Emphasis mine).

Sometimes it takes years before we even realize that we are being tested. We look at it as just another of life’s experiences and act according to our impulses. Then at some point we begin to realize that it is a test and that God does desire a specific reaction from us in any given situation. The tests are not for God's benefit to see how we will react but for our own benefit; for our growth.

The awesome news is that being such a good God, a perfect father, He has given us the answer to every test, every encounter, and every crisis. And they are all open book tests!

In college there were rare instances when an instructor would allow us to take a test as an open book test. The only problem with that is, if I did not know the material ahead of time, having read and studied it previously, I would spend my time frantically searching, almost in a panic for the answers. Many times I was reading the material for the first time and there just wasn’t time to do that.


If I had at least read the material, then I had a vague idea where to find the answers, but still had to do quite a bit of reading and re-reading to be certain that I was finding the correct answer.

However, if I had done my job beforehand, reading and studying diligently the text material, I could many times just confidently answer the questions without even looking. Then, with leftover time, I would go to the text to confirm my answers. Oh my, what a wonderful feeling that was!

The same is true of life and God’s tests. Until we realize we are even in a test, we may not even open the text, the bible. When we realize we are being tested, but don’t know the text, we many times spend our time frantically searching and searching for the correct answers.

If, as we grow, we begin to spend time reading the text over and over when not in the middle of a test, we begin to know it. When a test comes, we have a vague idea where and what the answer is, but still spend time reading and re-reading to find it exactly.

One thing I know for sure, I have learned after a lifetime of growing from a ‘child’ of God into a mature ‘daughter’ of God, that we will be given the same tests over and over again until we certainly pass them. I have always hated to re-take tests.

I am very grateful that after years of reading and studying the life-giving Word, I have grown to the point where I not only readily recognize a test, but many times don’t have to search frantically for the answer, I just respond in the manner which is appropriate.

Ease of life is just simply operating by what the text has taught me. After years of reading, studying and praying, it has become part of me. It has changed me. It seems now that the tests have become fewer and fewer.

Or maybe it is just that my response time has quickened to the point that I no longer sense it as a test.

Or could it be, that through reading the text for so many years, I have come to know the author so well that I can simply respond as He intended?

But of one thing I am certain, the tests will never stop.

There will always be another test which I haven’t encountered. Oh but what a feeling to act confidently, and then go to the text to confirm my answer with time to spare!

Dayjob Links
Dreams Do Come True and Dragonfly In Amber Designs