To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Revelation 1:5-6 (NIV)
The One who gives the power gets the glory, Amen? And oh, the wonder working power of the precious blood of the Lamb! As believers in sweet Jesus one of our greatest and hardest tasks is the well ordering of our hearts and minds – through His power and for His glory. What is it that takes priority in our lives? In our thoughts? In our actions? What is it that we truly love? It will not be too evident by your words – as mere words are cheap – rather by your works and how you invest your life rather than spend it. We demonstrate what we truly believe in the way we live. One can tell much about a life by simply looking at the checkbook or calendar. They are both very telling. And God wants to be our top priority.
It can be a very difficult task to well order one’s heart and mind, Amen? We need Jesus. His blood not only saves us, His power – through the indwelling Holy Spirit - sustains and equips us to walk as Jesus did. The world and our sinful natures and everything all around us screams hedonism rather than sacrifice – from our youth to our gray heads, Amen? Sins begin in our thoughts and hearts and God is to be sovereign over both. God tells us to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Him. He, Who sees all and knows all, Who created our vessels and knows us from the inside out – knows for certain what is best for us. Even if we kick against it. Indeed, the Prophet Jeremiah pens God’s Word in Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV): “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity.” All things apart from Him lead us into captivity of some sort. It is Jesus that sets us free and we are not to be yoked again to any sort of slavery no matter how tempting. If we play everything out to the end we would be far more receptive to this.
Further, God sees all and knows all. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Even the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. All our motives stand clear before His all-seeing eye. We must let Him govern both our thoughts and actions as well as the motivation behind our actions. What makes us do what we do? We are to flee disordered lusts and affections as all evil is open before our Perfect and Righteous God and it proves hateful to His Holy Soul. Christ died to reconcile and sanctify us to Him. We are never to take sin lightly as it caused Jesus to die. And every sin carries within it a death sentence to something.
We must beware of anything that lifts itself up in our hearts, minds and actions that is against His goodness, His faithfulness, His mercy and His grace. It grieves the indwelling Holy Spirit within each child of the King when we continue in a pattern of sinfulness and wantonness. God is ever with us and for us and all evil within us breaks His holy heart as He knows it is never good for the vessel in which it is housed. It is also good for us to keep our accounts short with the Master of our souls. Further, Jesus has not left us as orphans but has given us the power to walk and think in a manner worthy of the Lord. Jesus’ blood not only atones but also purges and sanctifies. We are not to remain the same, rather our lives are to be in the process of conformation. As our faith constantly cleaves to Him, He purges and sanctifies us by His blood. Those who continually cleave to Him derive much virtue and forgiveness for the healing of their ongoing defilements.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6 (NIV)