Word for Today, Wed, 20 Apr 2005: The New Skipper - The Best
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's devotional message comes from Neil Anderson's Daily in
Christ Devotional. Today Neil uses the analogy of a mean old
captain of the ship to describe what ruled our "old nature". In
Christ, however, we have a new nature and we are controlled by a
New Skipper, the Admiral of our souls, the Good Shepherd of the
flock, the King of King and Lord of Lords.
Though we love Him, sometimes our old nature reminds us of what
it was like to serve under the Old Skipper instead of behaving as
if we are led by the New Skipper.
The book of Romans is a great book for revealing our need.
Several of the early chapters tell us about our sin nature. They
are not always fun to read (who wants to read about their sin),
but they are crucial for each of us to understand why we so
desperately need Jesus Christ. The eighth chapter of Romans,
however, concludes with some powerful assurances of our identity
once we accept what Christ has ALREADY accomplished. I encourage
all of you to read Romans, especially chapter eight. If you do
not have a bible handy, check out bible.gospelcom.net/ or
bible.crosswalk.com/
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________
Neil Anderson's Daily in Christ Devotional
April 20
YOUR NEW SKIPPER
We are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to
the flesh--for if you are living according to the flesh, you must
die (Romans 8:12, 13).
When I was in the Navy, we called the captain of our ship "the
Old Man." Our Old Man was tough and crusty and nobody liked him.
He used to go out drinking with all his chiefs while belittling
and harassing his junior officers and making life miserable for
the rest of us. He was not a good example of a naval officer.
So when our Old Man got transferred to another ship, we all
rejoiced. It was a great day for our ship.
Then we got a new skipper - a new Old Man. The old Old Man no
longer had any authority over us; he was gone - completely out of
the picture. But I was trained under that Old Man. So how do
you think I related to the new Old Man? At first I responded to
him just like I had been conditioned to respond to the old
skipper. I tiptoed around him expecting him to bite my head off.
That's how I had lived for two years around my first skipper.
But as I got to know the new skipper, I realized that he wasn't a
crusty old tyrant like my old Old Man. He wasn't out to harass
his crew; he was a good guy, really concerned about us. But I
had been programmed for two years to react a certain way when I
saw a captain's braids. I didn't need to react that way any
longer, but it took several months to recondition myself to the
new skipper.
You also once served under a cruel, self-serving skipper: your
old sinful self with its sinful nature. The admiral of that
fleet is Satan himself, the prince of darkness. But by God's
grace you have been transferred into Christ's kingdom (Colossians
1:13). You now have a new skipper: your new self which is
infused with the divine nature of Jesus Christ, your new admiral.
As a child of God, a saint, you are no longer under the authority
of your old Old Man. He is dead, buried, gone forever.
So why do you still react as if your old skipper were still in
control of your behavior? We'll answer that question tomorrow.
Praise You, Lord, that my relationship with my old skipper, that
old sinful self, is gone. I choose to live today in the realty
of my new nature in Christ.
Copyright 2004 - Freedom in Christ - Taken from "Daily in
Christ" by Neil T. Anderson and Joanne Anderson
http://www.ficm.org/DailyInChrist/0420dic.htm
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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