I don’t think anyone who has faced being ridiculed or slandered has found it to be a pleasant experience. An attack on our worth or enduring a heated or unkind statement meant to hurt our feelings can be painful and crushing.
Dignity! That is a very important word. It is important because everyone has it within their possession and it is a gift to be honored and guarded, but not thrown away. Dignity is defined as “the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect.” This is a quality that should be found within all Christians as they see all others as equal in worth and value in the sight of God. God created us in His image which makes us all equal in worth and value. When we evaluate ourselves, we know we are not greater or less than any other person. We can be assured of being unconditionally loved by God. Psalm 139:13-14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Have you ever thought to consider that you can actually strip yourself of your own dignity? That is, be victim of the self-inflicted, do-it-to-yourself, willful choice of lowering your own dignity? It is possible! How? We surrender our dignity when: we live below God’s standards. We don’t try very hard or make much effort to resist the world or to live according to the commands of God. We do the exact opposite of Romans 12:1-2 and actually become conformed to the world because we are not cognitively working on ‘renewing our minds.’ Living by the justifications of the world and lowering to its standards strips us of our dignity as Christians who are called to live far and above such standards. Succumbing to the twisted norms of what is accepted in behavior, doctrine, conduct and lifestyle are not only unbecoming of a Christian, but the lowering of one’s dignity. Peter even addressed this issue. 2 Peter 2:20-22, “And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says, ‘A washed pig returns to the mud.’” We were created to know, love, and serve God, and we should live our lives in such a way as to reflect that pursuit. We must maintain our dignity by producing the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) that comes through a personal, loving, and intimate relationship with Jesus (John 15:1-11). Don’t live beneath your own dignity as a Christian. Comprehend not only your worth and value, but the fact that you have been bought at the extremely high price of Jesus’ own blood. 1 Corinthians 6:20, “for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Don’t compromise your human and Christian dignity in order to maximize your pursuit of worldly treasure, success, or pleasure. No “quick fix” or “easy way out” that the world may offer is ever worth the price of your dignity. You are saved, holy, royal, priestly, and precious to God who created you. Live in the dignity of an adopted child of God, sharing in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) by living holy, sanctified, and righteous. Christians, let us recognize our dignity, worth and value as a son and daughter of God our Father. Let us commit never to cave into the pressures of the world or succumb to the temptations of the flesh. Living any other way other than sanctified and holy is beneath our spiritual dignity.
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The Methodist denomination holds to the teachings of John Wesley and the grace of Sanctification. As followers of Christ, we should be growing, improving, and maturing in our faith, example, and reflection of Jesus.
The Free Methodist Church says, on Sanctification, in the Book of Discipline (Paragraph 119), “As believers surrender to God in faith and die to self through full consecration, the Holy Spirit fills them with love and purifies them from sin. This sanctifying relationship with God remedies the divided mind, redirects the heart to God, and empowers believers to please and serve God in their daily lives.” That speaks of an ongoing battle between our natural tendencies to “please self” or to become more holy to “please God.” Galatians 5:24, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” By “the flesh,” the Bible refers to our fallen human nature. When battling the “flesh” it must be remembered that both heart and mind need to be engaged in the battle. Left to the mind, alone, we will rationalize and excuse many behaviors and circumstances in which to justify satisfying our human nature. We must make the conscious decision to choose to please God. Romans 8:6, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” The Bible even gives us a few strong examples of what a mind “governed by the flesh” looks like and pursues after. Galatians 5:19-21, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” The lesson is for all Believers to revisit their understanding of the Holy Spirit. He is God and works in unity with the God the Father and God, The Son. We must welcome the Holy Spirit and not only listen to His voice, but heed His instructions, guidance and corrective measures to see that we are moving towards sanctification. We must make the intentional decision to listen and hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us. We have a choice to obey and make the necessary sacrifices and engage the proper amount of self-control to do as He instructs us. We can refuse, but it will come at a cost. Romans 8:12-13, “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.” Refusing the Spirit’s guidance to go with our own thoughts and plans can be costly, disastrous, and yes, deadly. It is truly amazing how many Christians live in utter regret of bad decisions and past actions from ignoring the leading of the Holy Spirit in order to go with the rash, quick, and ill-timed decisions and desires of the flesh. It is a fight. That is why it is called a “battle” with the flesh. We must not allow our emotions or “feelings” to sway us towards fulfilling any lustful passions that do nothing more than trick us into “fulfilling the immediate” as quickly as possible. Sometimes, we may actually get what we were after and feel somewhat victorious, but sadly, after the “feelings” wear off, we soon find that it wasn’t what we were really wanting or that we simply weren’t ready to handle that kind of a blessing. Nothing is worth getting ahead of the leading of the Holy Spirit. Having to clean up any amount of carnage after a hasty, selfish, decision is not worth it to you or anyone else who may get caught up in these decisions. Every single day, may we live in the Spirit and with the Spirit in us. It is a choice. Daily! You must allow the Holy Spirit to work within you in all areas of your life. Nothing should be “off limits” in your life. May we be so Spirit-filled that there is no room for the flesh! The Bible can definitely capture a wide range of our emotions as we read. Sometimes, that emotion is more of a convicting “sting” that suddenly stops me to think much deeper. In fact, I had to literally stop reading and forego the rest of the passage to do study and research on the particular verse that struck me so powerfully.
One such verse came from a daily devotional reading that referenced a particular Scripture verse. It was Revelation 3:2, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” This strong message to the Church in Sardis got my attention. After just a short study, I realized how this connected to other warnings to keep alert. Hebrews 3:12, “Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.” Then also, the warning of 1 Corinthians 10:12, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” The world and all its troubles can sure be quite the snare to trap us into a state of spiritual drowsiness. The world also works to fill our lives with many commitments that will crowd out the time we need to grow in our faith and to love and serve others. The mixed messages from the secular, evil world can sometimes influence us to change our beliefs or possibly question them. Paul had the exact same concern for the Galatian church. Galatians 1:6-7, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.” I will be honest, and yes, it is just my opinion, but I feel we are historically at a point to realize that there is too much “world” in the Church and not enough Church in the world. We are losing our voice in our communities. We are remaining silent when things that matter are being challenged and persecuted. By staying silent we send a powerful message to the world that we are irrelevant and that we really don’t care. That should never be the case! We have the words of Truth people need to hear. That Truth is Jesus Christ and His love to save us from our sins. Our faith does not have a “light switch” that we can turn on when convenient and turn off when it is overly convicting, confronting, or challenging to us. We, by no means, should kick ourselves into neutral and coast through life. We must stay in gear and engaged. That’s what makes Revelation 3:2 so powerful. The word “wake up” actually means “to watch” or “to be alert.” In other words, don’t fall asleep at the switch. Sleepy and distracted to the point of not even being able to notice or realize the enemy is at our door ready to trap, exploit, and destroy. The city of Sardis was heavily fortified amongst the natural rugged and mountainous terrain to the point of almost being unbeatable. Yet, complacency, neglect, sleepiness and not watching carefully, the city was sacked not only once, but twice. Why? The Watchmen on the city walls and gates had grown complacent in their duties and did not see or notice the enemies scaling the cliffs and walls surrounding the city. They figured they were so safe “up in the mountains” that nobody could possible “get to them.” Well, they did! Twice! They experienced total destruction due to the deadly combination of complacency and not being watchful. The command is to “wake up!” The good news is that the situation is not completely hopeless. It is a matter of taking advantage of the time that we have, today, to make the most of the opportunities at hand before it is too late. The call is still valid for us today! Wake up! Take advantage of the time you are gifted with today! Not tomorrow…next week….next month, but now! I was deeply troubled by how many wonderful ministries remained silent during the COVID pandemic. Christians deciding to “wait until next year”….and then the next year came and deciding again, “we better wait another year.” The time is now, not next year. We must stop wasting time. The call is to “wake up…and strengthen what remains.” Let us not neglect our mission. Let us not rest on our laurels and get complacent. Let us not “ignore the calendar” and live at a much slower pace, delay our obligations as if we have plenty of time. Most importantly, we must make absolutely sure everything is for God’s glory and not for our own bragging rights or just to look good and “alive” to others. Seeking accolades and to be admired in the community is not our mission. Everything we do must be done for God alone! So, let us “wake up” and remain alert and watchful for today’s mission! |
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April 2024
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