From the Inside Out

Did you ever notice that when God told Moses to set up the tabernacle, he was instructed to do it from the inside out – starting with the ark and the Holy of Holies and going out (Exodus 40:1-33), ending with the outside courtyard? 

Then the Lord said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month. Place the ark of the covenant law in it and shield the ark with the curtain …

Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. Exodus 40:1, 33 

What struck me was that they didn’t get the whole thing set up and then with great pomp and celebration bring in the ark at the end. They started with the ark, the place where they met with God, worshiped God, heard from God. They continued doing that as they built out from there. From the inside out. Isn’t that such a picture of the work of sanctification, of working out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12)? 

And then I read again the words of Jesus: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30 

The little word translated “with” three times in this verse is the Greek work ek or ex (ἐκ, ἐξ) and actually means “from out of, out from and to, out from within.” The HELPS Word-studies¹ says about this word that it, “has a two-layered meaning (‘out from and to’) which makes it out-come oriented (out of the depths of the source and extending to its impact on the object).”

This is the same word that is used in these verses: 

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:35 

But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Matthew 15:18 

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots (or from the roots up). Mark 11:20 

So, it struck me that Jesus is saying, “Love the Lord your God out of, or out from the depths of, your heart and out of your soul and out of all your mind and out of your strength.” And, as Jesus said this, he was starting from the most inside place – the Holy Place, our hearts where the Holy Spirit resides in us, meets with us, speaks to us – and going out to the most outside place, our abilities, might, power, strength. 

This means that our love for God is meant to come out of our inward parts, from our center, from our roots up, and not just be pasted on the outside because of a perceived obligation, or for show, or to get attention/approval/respect, or to earn our salvation. This kind of loving God is the opposite of what the Pharisees did. In fact, the same word, ek or ex, is used in Jesus’ blistering criticism of the Pharisees as hypocrites.  

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside (ek) you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:27-28 

Jesus was condemning the fact that, on the inside, from where love and adoration and worship should flow outward toward God, in their out-from-and-to place, was instead hypocrisy and wickedness. And “loving” God was confined to an outward show.  

Let me not be like that! Help me love you Lord from my heart first, out from the Holy Place, out from where the ark of my Temple stands, the place where you told Moses, “I will meet with you there” (Exodus 25:22). Let me be still there before the Mercy Seat and know you, and hear your voice, and receive your commands for each day. And then let your love flow out from there, filling my soul and my thinking, and giving me the grace and strength I need to love you and obey your commands and be your representative here on earth. 

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you (any hurtful, wicked, way of pain, idolatry), and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me (in my heart, my inward part, my center), bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1 (ESV) 

For more on this subject, you can read Out of the Heart. 

¹Copyright 2021 by Discovery Bible 

Image in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glow_(Unsplash).jpg  

Finding Rest

No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:27-30 

Usually, we hear or read the first and the second parts of this passage separately – the “no one knows the Father” part, and the “come to me and I will give you rest” part. So much so, that I have missed that they are both part of one idea that Jesus is communicating here. But when I read them together this last time, I finally got the message: that knowing God and finding rest have something to do with each other. 

The Lord told Moses, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14). Peter encouraged us to have peace through the knowledge of God. 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:2-3 

The Greek word in this passage translated “knowledge” is epignósis. The root of this word is gnṓsis which is defined as “knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience, connecting theory to application; ‘application-knowledge,’ gained in (by) a direct relationship.” The difference between these two words is that the prefix epí intensifies the gnṓsis  part.  

The word gnṓsis is the word Mary used, speaking of intimate sexual relations, in Luke 1:34 when she asked the angel, “How will this be [that she would conceive a son] since I am a virgin, or since I know (gnṓsis) not a man?” What could be more intense than that? 

Yet, this knowledge of God, or epignósis, that Peter is talking about, the knowledge that gives grace and peace in abundance, is even more intense. The word epígnōsis means “contact-knowledge that is appropriate (apt, fitting) to first-hand, experiential knowing. This is defined by the individual context.” ¹ (I love that! Our God is an Each of Them God.) 

The Expositor’s Greek Testament expands the definition in a wonderful way: “ἐπίγνωσις [epignósis] implies a more intimate and personal relationship than γνῶσις [gnṓsis] … Grace and peace are multiplied in and through this more intimate heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, in contrast to a mere barren γνῶσις [gnṓsis].” The Pulpit Commentary completes the meaning with this: “[epignósis] comes to mean the knowledge, not merely of intellectual apprehension, but rather of deep contemplation; the knowledge which implies love – for only love can concentrate continually the powers of the soul in close meditation upon its object.” 

Peter uses both of these words a few verses later: 

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge (gnṓsis); and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge (epignósis) of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1:5-9 

I noticed that gnṓsis comes, in Peter’s list, after the basics – faith and goodness. That is a place where it’s easy to stop and settle down. I believe in Jesus and I am basically a good person. That’s the main thing. That’s good enough. But Peter says we are to add to this an application-knowledge of God and His Son. As we apply his Word to our lives, we will increasingly have the grace to do the hard stuff: self-control (dominion within, self-mastery), perseverance (steadfastness, cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, patient continuance or waiting), godliness (holiness), brotherly kindness (love of the brethren), and agape love (divine love, what God prefers). And this all leads, as we walk through it all with our Lord, to a more intense, deeper epignósis/love of Jesus Christ and the Father. 

So, the knowledge that Peter is writing about here is vital. It is not just barren head-knowledge. It is not only that we should know about God, but that we should know God through a personal relationship and experience. There is so much disinformation and character assassination about God. There is fear; there is distrust. There is resistance to His yoke. We, many times, end up taking our inheritance and fleeing our home, thinking that it is better/safer, even possible, to take care of ourselves. How is that going for you? For me, not so well. A disaster, every time. 

But Jesus is saying, come to me and I will show you who the Father really is, what He is like, His great heart – gentle and humble – whose burden for you is light. Whose yoke is kind – that is what the Greek word translated “easy” actually means – kind. Jesus invites to walk daily on the narrow way with Him, sharing this kind yoke, [t]ake my yoke upon you and learn from me. Jesus teaching us how to pray, experiencing God’s strengthening, sustaining presence, answering our prayers, comforting and encouraging us to keep going. In kindness, gentleness, humility. Then we will have peace in abundance. Then we will have everything we need to live a godly life. Then we will have rest. 

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3 

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

¹Discovery Bible 

Photo, Oxen Yoke, by BarbaraLN https://flic.kr/p/eztbDK  

Striking Root

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly (copiously, abundantly, much in quantity), teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (ESV) 

The Greek word translated “dwell” in the above verse is enoikeó (ἐνοικέω). The word is only used five times in the New Testament. Three of those verses underscore that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwells in me.  

… God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly … Colossians 3:16 

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11 (ESV) 

According to HELPS Word-studies enoikeó means to dwell at home, in one’s personal residence. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon adds that it means to dwell in one and influence him for good. That is an amazing thing. The word of Christ, which is Christ himself, dwelling in me as his personal residence, at home here in me, influencing me for good.  

But what really captured my attention was what Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers said about this verse:  

“The word of Christ … It is to ‘dwell in their hearts.’ Hence it is the ‘engrafted word’ (James 1:21)–the truth of Christ conceived in the heart, striking root into it, and making it its dwelling-place.” 

I love that picture – the Word of Christ striking root into my heart! It reminds me of the parable Jesus told about the farmer sowing seed on different types of ground. He told of seed that “fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root” (Matthew 13:6). Later Jesus explained it this way: 

The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. Matthew 13:20-21 

Trouble in this life is ubiquitous and persecution will come if we continue on, walking in his footsteps. Trouble tends to do one of two things – harden us, or plow up the stony ground of our hearts. In other words, we can either turn a deaf ear, turn our backs to the Word of God revealed and confronting us (especially hard words we don’t want to hear), or respond and receive the Word.   

Roots cannot sink deep into stony ground. The plowing is part of the process of sanctification. Little by little, God puts his finger on things that need to change in us, and little by little we surrender. J.D. Walt calls this response to the revealed Word “true worship: You have revealed yourself to me and I have responded.” ¹ 

Let’s allow the Word made flesh to influence for good. He dwells within us and walks along with us. Let’s invite him to be at home in our hearts. Let’s allow his Word to strike root there, sinking deep. Let’s actively pursue this by proclaiming the Word, by owning it for our lives. 

“Speak [God’s Word], pray it, or sing it, repeat it several times. Let it sink into your soul and lift you; the angels will rejoice with you, and your Father God hears your every word. He will provide for and guide you by your faithfulness.” — Alan Kearns https://devotionaltreasure.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/a-proclamation/  

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 
James 1:21-22 

¹J.D. Walt https://seedbed.com/and-then-this-happens/  

Photo, Roots by Broderick https://flic.kr/p/8dTTt  

Ashes

(This poem is in response to Emma’s Wednesday Writing Prompt of 11/03/23 )

Our God is a consuming fire 

my life consumed 

seemingly gone 

Ashes rising in the vortex of furious love 

amidst the incense of fire-yielded despair 

by Spirit-breath blown away  

Yet not despised 

Scattered on the soil of 

withered hope 

dying trust 

stunted love 

Nothing is lost 

that is surrendered to 

His fire 

Photo, Flame by Annie Roi https://flic.kr/p/9VB6y7  

All That I Had Hoped For (Lamentations 3:18-24)

My bright always 

never 

my perpetual victory 

annihilated 

all that I had hoped for 

gone 

I remember 

over and over 

my mind locked  

in misery 

cast out wandering 

stillborn expectations 

the poison of bitterness 

begetting deformed memories I cannot stop  

and I sink down 

down in the choking dust 

Yet  

my shattered soul won’t let you go 

Yet 

I turn back 

Yet  

I still dare to hope 

Yet  

I bare my envenomed heart for 

Your love never wanders 

Your compassions  

great love, tender, merciful, pity full  

like a mother with helpless child  

they never fail 

they are new 

delivered anew 

every morning 

as the sunrise 

sparkling on newborn manna 

absolute, unfailing hope 

You are my exuberant share 

therefore 

I will travail 

writhe 

twist 

bring forth  

the birthing you desire 

I wait longingly for 

You 

Our Father – Where We Grow Up

OK, here I am at the campfire still. I’m getting stinging smoke in my eyes now, and some mosquito bites. But let’s keep looking at the Lord’s Prayer from the point of view of a child.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13). I read a commentary on this verse that I thought was definitely a child’s point of view of the Lord’s Prayer. It compared God not leading us into temptation to a mother avoiding the candy aisle when shopping with her children. “Praying, ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ is like praying, ‘God, don’t take me down the candy aisle today.’ It’s recognizing that we naturally grasp for unprofitable things and that God’s wisdom can avert the unpleasantness of our bellyaching.”¹  

You know, there are myriad examples of ways we keep children from temptation. There is a whole industry devoted to it – baby gates, toilet seat locks, cupboard and drawer latches. Even with all of that, we sometimes have to chase them down as they run, giggling, toward a busy street. For a toddler, that is temptation – doing something forbidden (actually, for grownups too!). And so, we have to put blocks in their way to keep them safe.  Maybe sometimes when we find blocks in our way it is God answering our prayer to lead us not into temptation. 

God always has a purpose. Remember the commentary from the first blog on this subject: “Through ongoing sanctification, the believer more and more resembles their heavenly Father – i.e. each time they receive faith from Him and obey it, which results in their unique glorification.”² Through ongoing sanctification, through obedience and yielding we become like Him.  

The word above translated “temptation” also means testing. Ellicott’s Commentary³ notes that “[t]he Greek word includes the two thoughts which are represented in English by ‘trials,’ i.e., sufferings which test or try, and ‘temptations,’ allurements on the side of pleasure which tend to lead us into evil.”  

This is where the child learns that some things are “nos.” This is where she learns to yield to the will of the Father. Learning to choose obedience. To not play in the toilet water. To begin to grow up. 

Receiving a place in the family of God, receiving daily spiritual and physical sustenance, receiving forgiveness: this is like being the little baby child, drinking the spiritual milk. But forgiving others, sharing what we have been given, yielding daily to God’s will for our lives, obeying His commands to love even our enemies, passing the test – the enduring, the waiting, the sanctification part, the becoming like Jesus part – that is where we grow up. 

Perhaps Jesus is saying to me in this part of the prayer: You are a little child of God. He is your loving, strong Father. Pray like a child who knows her weakness and vulnerability. 

“But those who are conscious of their weakness cannot shake off the thought that they might fail in the conflict, and the cry of that conscious weakness is therefore, ‘Lead us not into such trials,’ even as our Lord prayed, ‘If it be possible, let this cup pass away from me’ (Matthew 26:39). And the answer to the prayer may come either directly in actual exemption from the trial, or in ‘the way to escape’ (1Corinthians 10:13), or in strength to bear it.”³ 

Our Father, I know from long experience that in myself I am weak. I do not do well in the candy aisle. I do not endure trials patiently. And after very bad days I even sometimes find myself playing in the toilet water again. Oh Father, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me! 

“We beg for forgiveness, protection, and deliverance just as a young child asks for help and safety as she prepares to fall asleep at night.” — Jeremy Linneman, The Lord’s Prayer is Meant to Be Lived⁴ 

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:2-3 

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:13-14 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)  

Our Father … 

¹Lead Us Not into Temptation, but Deliver Us from Evil | The Lord’s Prayer Petition 5 By Stephanie Soderstrom and Terry DeYoung https://www.faithward.org/how-to-pray-like-jesus-the-lords-prayer-petition-5/  

²HELPS Word Studies by Discovery Bible 

³Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers 

⁴Blogged by Dr. Peter Cockrell https://pjcockrell.wordpress.com/2022/08/07/the-lords-prayer-is-meant-to-be-lived/  

Photo of candy aisle by Tiia Monto https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Candy_in_store_2.jpg  

Burning Bushes

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up … God called to him from within the bush … Exodus 3:2, 4 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

God got Moses’ attention with the flames that didn’t burn up the bush. Once He got Moses’ attention, He called to him from within the bush. J.D. Walt recently wrote that we are called to be burning bushes too. 

“The only reason the Word of God has been bound into books is so it might become unbounded in our hearts, our minds, our very flesh and blood bodies and unleashed through our lives in the world. We are meant to become living bearers, holy manifestations, burning bushes, Spirit filled fiery pillars of the Living Word of God who is Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah.” — J.D. Walt, The Only Problem with the Bible¹   

We are meant to become burning bushes, givers of light that are not consumed, God drawing through us.  

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14 

… you shine as lights in the world as you hold forth the word of life … Philippians 2:15-16² 

There is another way that we become light in the world. When we become living sacrifices and God’s cleansing fire falls on us. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV) 

And just as people were drawn to the burning bush, they are drawn to the flame of the sacrifice and can turn to the Living God. In the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:16-39) there is a foreshadowing of this drawing when fire from heaven fell and burned up Elijah’s sacrifice, and the adherents of Baal worship confessed that the Lord is God. 

Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!” 1 Kings 18:38-39 

Oswald Chambers wrote of the call of God coming out of the flames of yielding. 

“If you abandon everything to Jesus, and come when He says, ‘Come,’ then He will continue to say, “Come,” through you. You will go out into the world reproducing the echo of Christ’s ‘Come.’ That is the result in every soul who has abandoned all and come to Jesus.” Oswald Chambers 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

… for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29 

But maybe you are wondering, as I did, if God is a consuming fire, why wasn’t the bush consumed, why wasn’t it burned up? Why aren’t we burned up on the altar? I think it is because God is life and light and love, and what He burns up is sin and darkness and anything that is harmful and keeps us from Him. Only the ropes that bound Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were burned in the fire, but they walked with Jesus in the fire unharmed (Daniel 3:22-25). 

If we cling to the things that God’s holiness consumes and refuse to yield, we will get burned – and consumed with them in the end. Or, at the least, we will be left with nothing as the “wood, hay, and stubble” are burned up (1 Cor. 3:12-15).  

But if we put ourselves on the altar as a burnt offering and let His fire fall on us, we are cleansed and purified and set free. We are called to be burning bushes, to be burnt offerings on the consuming fire of His altar, a witness to His transforming power, His glorious majesty, and His unfailing love. And the more we let him burn away the darkness, the purer the flame, the brighter the light. And the needy, hurting, imprisoned people of the world are drawn to the light of the fire and we are able to call out to them from our burning bushes, “Come!” 

… his word is in my heart like a fire … Jeremiah 20:9 

The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Leviticus 6:12 

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit … Acts 2:2-4 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Revelation 22:17 

¹  https://seedbed.com/the-only-problem-with-the-bible/ 

² Berean Study Bible 

Photo, Flame by Annie Roi https://flic.kr/p/9VB6y7  

Gaping Holes

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 

Recently, a visiting pastor, Craig Darling, spoke about the above verse. One thing he said really stuck with me. He said, “There are gaping holes in the garments of our sanctification.” I thought, yes indeed. If you look at what Paul is urging of us you can see where those holes might be. He is asking for, not just some humility and gentleness, but complete humility and gentleness! All the time humble and gentle? Patience, putting up with people, love, unity. Those are all the hard ones. Those are the ones you want to read quickly and go on, the ones you want to make excuses for. 

Yet we are supposed to wear these things like a garment: 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14 

Why a garment? So that when people look at us, they see Jesus.  

Sanctification and justification are two different things. Justification takes a moment; the moment we receive, believe that Jesus took our sins when he died on the cross and gave us in return His righteousness before God. Sanctification, however, takes a long time it seems, as the Spirit puts his finger on sin, and we yield to Him, things like self-righteousness, self-justification, self-pity, fearfulness and doubt, unforgiveness, uncontrolled anger and tongue – and an entitled attitude to hang on to all those things. Some of it needs deep heart-healing, even becoming aware that we need healing. Some of it needs death to self and pride. A lot of it needs letting go of the hurt, the expectations and demands, the desire to control, to inflict vengeance and our own brand of justice. It takes committing it all to God. 

“So my decision to receive Him, although made only once, I must affirm in thousands of ways, through thousands of choices, for the rest of my life–my will or His, my life (the old one) or His (the new one). It is no to myself and yes to Him.” — Elisabeth Elliot, A Path Through Suffering

And right there, that is the key. Our garments have holes in them because they are our own old garments, not the ones God wants to clothe us with. The garment God wants to clothe us with is woven by the Spirit of God. It cannot come from us; it is the fruit of the Spirit.  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22 

A recent excellent blog by Beholding Him Ministries confirmed what the Lord was saying to me.  

“… sometimes when we are discussing the fruit of the Spirit, it comes more about if we can list all nine from memory rather than “am I allowing God to have His way in my life?” Sometimes we spend all our attention on the first couple: love, joy, peace, patience and none on “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Perhaps that is needed by the body of Christ, for our “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” will prove out our love, joy, peace and patience.” — One Who is Faithful (emphasis mine) https://beholdinghimministries.org/2022/06/24/text-51/ 

Lord, I want the world to see You. Take off my holey garment and replace it with your holy garment. Only you can make me complete or completely anything – especially completely humble and gentle.  

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. 2 Timothy 1:9 

Still wrestling …

Image from Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Debbie_Reynolds_Auction_-_Charlton_Heston_%22Col_George_Taylor%22_primitive_robe_of_rags_from_%22Planet_of_the_Apes%22_%285852145450%29.jpg#metadata  

Snuggled In

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 2 Peter 1: 3-7 

I have been thinking the last two weeks about overcoming (see Overcoming and He Who Overcomes ). God, through Jesus, gives us this overcoming victory, but we have a part in it – the “make every effort” part. Sometimes that is confusing, as there appears to be a conflict between justification by faith and working out our own salvation. Which is it? Just believe or make every effort? I like how Charles Spurgeon explained it: 

“It is not man’s effort that saves him; but, on the other hand, grace saves no man to make him like a log of wood or a block of stone; grace makes man active. God has been diligently at work with you; now you must diligently work together with him.” — Charles Spurgeon 

Peter admonishes “make every effort to add.” Adding things like self-control and perseverance, and even mutual affection and love requires, in the “making every effort,” a dying to self. Jesus said that the dying must be a daily thing. A continual effort to die, which in itself seems like a mysterious paradox. 

Before I go on, you may be wondering about the title, Snuggled In. This whole blog came about because of a misreading on my part. In the Bible Hub Strong’s Concordance definition for the word (pareispheró) translated “effort” (where it says “make every effort” in the above verse) there is this under Usage: “contribute besides, bring in besides, smuggle in.” (Apparently, this word was used in ancient Greek for smuggling). Well, instead of “smuggle in,” I read “snuggle in.” 

At first, I laughed at myself, but, actually, when you look at the definition of pareispheró, “snuggle in” makes perfect sense – and provides the key, at least for me, to “making every effort.” 

Here is the Strong’s definition: “[Strong’s] 3923 pareisphérō (from 3844 /pará, “from close-beside” and eispherō, “bring into”) – properly, “bring deeply into,” i.e. from very close beside). 3923 /pareisphérō (“personally carry-through“) is only used in 2 Pet 1:5 referring to carrying through with real personal involvement (energy). This strongly stresses the need of the believer’s deep, personal involvement in the faith-life.”ⁱ 

Deep personal involvement, from very close beside. This, to me, assumes relationship, humility, and dependence. There is a contribution we have to make to our sanctification. Jesus said “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.”ⁱⁱ Paul admonishes us to work out our salvation. But it is not an effort made, struggling alone, under the eyes of a critical God holding an impossible checklist, shaking his head in disappointment over our many failures. Rather, it is an effort made close beside Him. Snuggled in. Close beside a God who loves us and works in us everything we need, a God who has already granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness. A God who comes along beside us to help. A God who even lifts us up and carries us.

Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms. Psalm 68:19 (NLT) 

The Sovereign Lord is my strength. Habakkuk 3:19 

“We talked about duty. We talked about picking up your cross and following Jesus down a road of suffering and pain. We talked about denying yourself, putting off the deeds of the flesh, and fighting the fight of faith. We talked much about labor, and little about grace. We quoted, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” but didn’t finish the sentence: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).” — Steven Lee (emphasis mine) ⁱⁱⁱ  

God is my strength in this making-every-effort journey. If I stay snuggled in. Yes, I have to make an effort. We are not blocks of wood (though we are living stones!). But I make the effort to die to self snuggled in beside the One who died for me, who knows the way – who actually is the Way – who has gone before, who gives me the grace and the strength and the soul-penetrating Word that changes me, who works in us all what we need to stand victorious with him in the end. 

Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely. Psalm 63:7-8 (NLT) 

ⁱ Bible Hub, HELPS Word-studies Copyright © 2021 by Discovery Bible

ⁱⁱ Luke 13:24

ⁱⁱⁱ From Chore to Treasure https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/from-chore-to-treasure

Image free download from Pixabay 

Gethsemane

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Matthew 26:36[i]

Do you know what the word Gethsemane means? The place where Jesus prayed that the cup would pass from him; the place where he sweat great drops of blood?[ii] Gethsemane comes from two Aramaic words. The word for wine press, and the word for olive oil. Gethsemane means an olive press. The place where the olives are pressed to get olive oil.

Pure olive oil was used in the Tabernacle for the oil lamps which were to burn continually.

Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. Exodus 27:20

The lamps that never went out are symbols of Jesus, our Light perpetually, faithfully.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

The pure olive oil was also made into the anointing oil used to sanctify, or consecrate, the Tabernacle and the priests.

Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them … He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him. Leviticus 8:10, 12

Jesus came to sanctify, consecrate, set apart a “kingdom of priests,” and a Temple in which he can dwell.

For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. John 17:19

Jesus was pressed there at Gethsemane, the pure olive oil for the Light of the world, for the sanctification of those who would follow Him.

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Thank you Lord Jesus for yielding to the press at Gethsemane that you might bring us light and life and freedom from sin. Let us pray for his strength to yield with him to our own press, following him to the cross, that we might be little lights in a very dark world.

Pray for strength to say with Jesus, Father may your will be done.

 

Image By Gold2874Hans Lie (according to Exif data) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24742929

 

[i] All Bible verses taken from the New International Version of the Bible.

[ii] Luke 22:44