Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part Two
Romans 7: 22 – 25
It is expedient to learn mental discipline. A technique for doing this is noted in II Corinthians 10: 5.
“…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”
Here improper thoughts are illustrated as being two strong fortresses. These fortified positions crumble before the weapons of the Spirit.
They are spoken of as “arguments” and “high thing(s).”
Arguments refer to intellectual pretension or human conceit. It is any deceptive fantasy.
The expression “high thing” refers to improper pride.
In summary the two refer to any barriers of pride that are erected against the knowledge of God.
Then follows the appeal to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” The New English Bible translates this, “we compel every human thought to surrender in obedience to Christ.”
That great theologian Barney Fife said: “I don’t have time to deal with those trivial trivialities.” Neither do we.
Therefore, when you have a deceptive fantasy or improper pride, rethink the subject and superimpose a thought you are confident Christ would have if thinking on the subject. That is what is meant by bringing our thoughts into captivity.
Start by praying with the Psalmist: “Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19: 12 – 14)
Preempt improper programming and preset proper pure ones.
Some people have an immature concept of prayer as being like a child asking a divine Santa Claus for things. We are to ask Him to supply our every need, but prayer is more. We need to grow out of the stage of making prayer a matter of “Lord give me,” into a deeper level of “Lord, make me.”
Few people think instinctively about such mental moral concepts. You can be one, starting now. It is a mental matter that matters. It is a matter of the heart for, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”(Matthew 15:19)
That can change and out of the heart come constructive and productive thoughts which result in such conduct. The rewarding result is a more content and joyous life. Begin that journey now.
Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part One
Romans 7: 22 – 25
JESUS CHRIST “…works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure” (Philippians 2: 13).
The energetic living Lord Jesus spiritually indwells the believer. Two of the many functions He performs are to motivate and enable a person to do what is right.
He is responsible for the INWORKING, we for the OUTWORKING. Somewhere between the inworking and the outworking there is often a breakdown. Embarrassingly Scripture speaks of most of us:
“For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” (Romans 7: 19)
Is that a painful description of you? None can answer “yes,” with pride. If there is no false pride, let there be no contentment in continuing a herky-jerky, on-again-off-again lifestyle.
Christianity isn’t intended to be a series of ups and downs. It is to be a succession of ins and outs. Christ works in us that His will might be worked out by us.
Two full-time college students majoring in music were discussing their part time jobs. One said, “I work in the opera at night. The pay is good even for my bit role as a spear carrier.”
The second, knowing of his fellow student’s long day and heavy schedule said, “How do you stay awake so late at night?”
“Simple, the guy behind me carries a spear also.”
We need to develop the mind-set of a person with a motivating spear carrier behind him if we are to avoid doing what we should not and doing what we should. To do this a certain mind-set is essential.
We program our mind to think a certain way. We must preempt our mind of negative improper thoughts.
Before medical science had progressed to know better, it was believed that conscious thoughts came from the heart. Knowing the heart pumped blood it was thought of the point of origin for thoughts which were believed to be carried from the heart to the brain by the blood. Figuratively, this language was used by Christ who said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…” (Matthew 15:19).
If we are going to do what we should and avoid what we should not do, we must preempt improper thoughts. Don’t program your mind with secret improper thoughts and expect your conduct to be correct.
What mental pre-set needs to be reset with pure and positive thoughts. If there are some, now is the ideal time to change your mind, that is, reset.
Run With Endurance Let You Into Heaven
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 1, 2)
Athletic metaphors abound throughout Scripture. The parallels between sports and daily life are too clear to be overlooked. In the above text there are many similarities. Consider just one: “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus….”
As different athletes specialize in an event, so we each have a distinct competition. There are many different races affording different challenges.
In addition to the various races we as individuals have there is one for all.
We are all to be distance runners. In ancient Greece the cursus publicus was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation runner. They could run for days. Among the Aztecs in America were the Tarahumara, also known as the Rarámuri, which roughly translates as “foot runners.” They were known to run as much as 600 miles, both as recreation runners and as messengers.
The race for sum, that is length of life, for all of us varies. Resolve to run well and finish strong.
We are encouraged to be “looking unto Jesus.” Most distance races have a pacesetter, called a rabbit, who determines the pace at certain intervals.
Most people have a “rabbit,” be it Jesus or some other standard barrier. Such a one becomes one’s idol to be modeled. Select your rabbit with care knowing where he is going.
One old timer advised a younger person, “Be careful who you identify with, because if they falter or fail you will be identified with the failure.”
Even Jesus had a motivating factor. He is spoken of as He “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
His eyes were not on the cross. He looked beyond it to the joy it made possible. The joy He experienced because of the cross motivated Him. It was joy found in the completion of His earthly mission in opening the portal of heaven to whosoever would accept His invitation.
As you look unto Him, include your aspiration to hear His “Well done.”
Commitment: Do You Have It?
Acts 20: 24
Jesus is our peerless example of commitment. He often made such comments as:
“I must work the work of Him Who sent Me…”
“Let us go up to Jerusalem…”
In dark Gethsemane His commitment was emotionally challenged, for the last time, as He prayed, “Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22: 43)
I Corinthians 15: 31 appeals to followers of Jesus to “die daily.” Every devoted Christian has to die daily to a number of good things that might have a controlling grip on him or her. Such as, personal ambition, worldly pleasure, people’s applause, and greed.
From an East German pastor comes this story from the days when Communism gripped his land. A young man who was a committed member of his congregation was seized by the communists and never heard of again. Not long after, another young man started attending the church. He was a well known hardened leader in the communist youth movement. The pastor’s suspicion grew until at last he asked why he was attending. He replied, “You know that young man from your church who was seized and taken away.”
The pastor assured him he knew the young man well.
“Well,” said the visitor, “I saw him when he was being harassed and tortured. Not only did he refuse to betray his friends, but through it all he never showed any bitterness toward his tormentors. Even in the hour of death, there was no anger toward those who were about to kill him. Instead, he spoke of Jesus Christ, forgiveness, and God’s love.”
He concluded, “And when I saw him die, I knew I must come, in spite of what it will cost me, to learn of his Christ and the love for our enemies that strengthened him in his last hours.”
The reason that young Christian was able to die such a positive death was he had spiritually died to self and for Christ much earlier when he committed himself to Christ.
It is challenging to hear a message that appeals to you to walk away from, give up, die daily to those things that keep them from being all the Lord created them to be.
Radical commitment to Christ is a challenge, but it leads to the abundant life of which Christ spoke. Will you shrink back from such commitment?
Are you willing to make a deliberate up-scale commitment of your life to Jesus today? You are not likely to be called upon to die physically for Jesus, but you are challenged to live daily for Him.
Why Should God Let You Into Heaven
Knowing there are persons of all degrees of spiritual maturity that view this Post, I want to aid all in knowing their eternal destiny.
If you were to die today and stand before God, and He were to ask you, “Why should I let you into my heaven?” What would you say? There is only one right answer. Your eternal destiny depends on the answer.
Some might resent being reminded of death. Don’t worry about dying, you are going to live forever. The issue is where? What is important is location, location, location.
This is no time for a “I hope so” response regarding going to heaven, not hell. Those are the only two options. Your destiny is sealed at the moment of death, therefore, the decision regarding your destiny must be made in advance of death.
At this point some might be inclined to say they know that is true, and they are going to make the decision later. That is a decision. Because of the “X Factor” known as death, an answer of “later” is really a no.
Some might insist later is acceptable, reminding others of the thief on the cross who trusted Jesus at the last hour. The question is which thief?
Using your fingers do the following. Using your index finger identify it as, “God is God.” Next your middle finger identifies it as, “I am not God.” Then your ring finger identified as, “I sin when I get number one and number two in reverse order.” Next finger, “Jesus died to enable me to get number one and number two in the proper order.”
Back to the original question regarding what to say to God’s enquiry. “I’ve been baptized.” Good, but not good enough. It is not by water, but by blood there is remission of sin. Don’t try, “I am a church member.” Again, good, but not good enough. It is membership in the kingdom of heaven, not church membership that is at issue. “I was reared in a Christian home,” is a blessing, but eternal life is not inherited. Then there is the old reliable, “I try to live a good life.” Marvelous, but how good is good enough? Suppose God were to grade on the curve and you are better than most. However, Jesus sets the curve and no one has enough good work to match His.
Accepting Jesus into your heart is simply accepting His way of living, loving, and leading our lives in submission to Him.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16: 31) To believe means “to be persuaded of,” and hence, “to place confidence in, to trust.” In this sense of the word it means reliance upon Him only for forgiveness of sin and the gift of everlasting life. It involves a lifetime commitment of faith in and loyalty to Him. “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to your cross I cling.”
The answer to God’s question is, “There is no reason for you to let me into your heaven other than Jesus died for my sins and I trust only in Him as my Savior.”