In Such Away

Scripture

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

~Genesis 1:1, NIV

Quote

As Christians we are not to call attention to ourselves: self must be forgotten, it must be utterly crushed for Jesus sake and for His glory.

~D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones {Sermon on the Mount, p.155}

Don asks me in Bible Study class last Sunday what sanctification meant. I explained that it is middle part of our salvation: [1] First we are regenerated, saved, born again, etc. This happens in an instant. [2] Then we begin as a new born babe in Christ and we grow to become mature. This is the sanctification aspect. It involves spiritual growth. In our sanctification, God is shrinking the self life and enlarging the Christ life. As we grow there is to be more and more of Christ and less and less of self. [3] The third aspect of our salvation package is glorification which comes after we leave this world. As you can see, we have a past, present and future tense in our salvation: I have been saved {regeneration} from the penalty of sin [hell], I am being saved {sanctification} from the power of sin [flesh] and I will be saved {glorification} from the presence of sin.

Now back to the SANCTIFICATION and the shrinking of the self life. We are all born with a vain nature and it is common for a person to think more of their self than to think of Jesus or others. We crave credit and recognition and sometimes we get our feeling hurt if we do not get the praise that we feel is our due. I had lunch with my book buddy Kevin last week and we talked about this problem. It is a huge problem for those on the stage, those in the spotlight. Kevin visited a church overseas where the choir was in back in a balcony. Everyone could hear them but no one could see them.

The problem we are facing is that our ego and our vanity make it impossible for others to see the LIGHT of Christ life in us. There is so much self that Jesus is eclipsed. Jesus intends for us to shine before men but this must be done in such a way that Jesus gets glory and not us. Such a way has to include humility and poverty of spirit. It is one thing to witness; it is another to do it in such a way. When you stand up in church and tell them, “I witnessed to Joe Blow the other day…blab, blab, bald” you reveal your vanity. Many years ago the LORD convicted me of doing this very thing. Every time I witnessed to some one, I worked it into my sermon. The LORD convicted me and convinced me that I was not doing this for His glory but for mine. We cannot exalt Christ and ourselves at the same time. When we begin with, “Let me share with you what I did…it is a dead giveaway. We are not exalting Christ, we are exalting ourselves.

Extra

Brace yourself; it is cool out there this am. The good news is that his arctic train will move through the North Alabama in two days. Big Mama’s hip is broken. Holly and I did not think that was the case since there was no bruising but it is broken and they will repair it today, probably sometime this evening. It will not be a hip replacement. They are putting one screw from the leg to the hip. They want her to go to rehab: I bet that don’t happen. I have no idea how long she will stay at Decatur General. Just thankful she was in the new shower and did not hit her head or break her back.

Talked to Joyce yesterday, Keith Dotson is better and still waiting on a heart.

I hope you have a great week. Thanks for reading the blog.