Quote from Forum Archives on July 24, 2000, 3:57 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I think that quite often, many of us have the wrong impression of
who Jesus is and what He has done for us. This is especially
true of people who do not even attempt to know Him, but it is
sometimes also true, even of people who have attended some kind
of church or claim to be "religious".

First of all, I want you to know that I do NOT claim to be
religious. For me, that has taken on a connotation of following
the rituals but not necessarily the spirit and intent of the
faith. Nothing could be further from where I personally want to
be.

This message from Oswald Chambers has a good statement about who
Jesus Christ is, and who a follower of Jesus Christ is, their
roles and their place. I can tell you, not proudly, but humbly,
that my ways and thoughts are not always the highest thoughts.
One thing I do know, however, is that my Lord is the most
wonderful, fair, sensitive, caring being I have ever known or
hope to know. He not only shows love, He IS love. His motives
are to draw us to Him without ever forcing any of us. He yearns
for our love in return, yet waits for us ever so patiently.

Have you ever known anyone like that?

Brother Brian

July 24

His Nature and Our Motives

"... unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of
heaven" (Matthew 5:20).

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things,
but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the
supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds
right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within
anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a
righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus
is saying, "If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in
your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in
the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind." Your motives
must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke. Who
can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to
rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through
His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make
that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God
demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is
exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does
not give us rules and regulations -- He gives us His teachings
which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which
He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ's salvation
is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature
-- He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:[email protected]
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/
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