Posted by Dan Jordan
Recently, when she was being told to do something by her mother, my 7 year old granddaughter cleverly reminded her that she had to do what Grandpa said because she was my child. I told her that I used to have to do what my parents told me, which seemed to annoy her because it didn’t help her to divert the attention away from herself. Also, it probably then occurred to her that maybe I wasn’t the final authority.
As Christians, we share a common Father who is the final authority. As a child of God, I want to do what He says to show that I love Him. Not because I have to. Not to earn points or rewards. Simply because this is the one way I have to show Him that I love Him. In 1 John 3:1-3, John tells us:
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”
We are children of God if we believe in Jesus and have put our faith in Him. It doesn’t say, ‘we will be’, it says, ‘we are’. We don’t know exactly what that means, but we know that we will be like Christ when He appears again. So does this mean we just sit around and wait until Christ returns to find out who we are? No, not at all.
God has given the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Christ, to those who are His children. We know from Romans 8:29 that we were meant to be conformed to the image of Christ. The Holy Spirit was given to us to help with that. Our hope is in Him, so we should desire to purify ourselves, just as He is pure. We need to let the Holy Spirit change us from the inside out. He will lead us in a totally different direction from where the world is leading us, but that is because the world doesn’t know Him. He will lead us in the way of the Kingdom of Heaven, a kingdom that will never pass away.
Discussion/Application: Jesus says in John 14:15, ‘If you love me, obey my commandments.’ He then goes on to tell us about the Holy Spirit, ‘who leads into all truth’. What is involved with obeying his commandments and how do we let the Holy Spirit lead us?
Bullet Prayer for the day: Father, help us to listen for and submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Give us the courage to follow you instead of the world and to become like Christ.
Thanks, Dan! What a great reminder of our identity as God’s children, and for the implications for how we live now as God works in us to make us more like Jesus.
Thanks so much, Dan. It is often a battle of wills, but surrendering opens us up to receiving His love and the strength that enables us to obey His commands and serve out of a full heart, even when we don’t want to. I really miss my church family. I’m loving our connection over Easter meditations thanks to you elders and pastors. Virtual hugs all around, and maybe a holy kiss or two. Looking forward to that interpretive dance, Pastor Mike.
Amen Dan, thank you. It took me a few years to learn how to listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice in order to be led by Him. The hearing came through a lot of alone time with God- in His Word, prayer and listening for when He was speaking throughout the day, but little by little I discovered it’s not that the Holy Spirit speaks seldom, it’s that we listen so seldom. The more I listened and grabbed hold of what the Spirit was saying in faith (I learned faith is key! Hebrews 11:6), the more I heard, and hear, Him. I’ve determined the Holy Spirit wants to lead us every moment of every day (Romans 8:1-17), but we’re often so busy doing our own thing we don’t let Him. My deepest desire is to be in step with Him every moment (for He brings life and peace- Romans 8:6), but it is very hard because as Kay said, it is a battle of the wills and my flesh usually wants something different than how the Spirit is leading (Galatians 5:17). It’s a lifelong process, but if we are willing, He is faithful to lead us. It’s within this process we will be transformed, and purified, just as John says we should be, so we obey God’s commands out of love. Right now is such a tremendous opportunity to quiet ourselves before the Lord, spend time with Him alone, allow Him to fill us, and practice listening intently to the voice of the Spirit. I pray we will all take advantage of this opportunity God is giving us to buy oil for our lamps. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:24-25