If you had any idea how much inward peace you would gain for yourself, and how much joy you would bring to others, by devoting yourself single-heartedly to God, you would certainly pay more attention to your spiritual progress.
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
~ paul, the Least of the Apostles, in 2 Corinthians 5
There is a truth beloved. It, everything, is really all about Him.
We have, in Him, been made utterly new creations wherein the ego we had was rendered lifeless and, in its place was placed the Personal Identity and Spirit of G_d Himself.
It was the only way. There was no way to fix us. We had to be made new. We are like the un-rebuildable rubble of the villages in Haiti after the great earthquake, that have had to be moved to an entirely new place and having the rebuilding begin there. Oh, some of the rubble that is still us is still in use, but the Teleonomy informing the rebuilding is no longer focused on our own minds and on our own efforts. Rather, the work is Divine – coming from above – and pervasive. It was a Decisive Act on the part of our Maker to do all that was necessary to put us into a right relationship with Himself.
And do it He did.
And this new work He has wrought us to be is very different on the inside. Before, we were desperately empty and alone. The form and shape of the hole within us screamed for the presence of G_d, even though we denied it and tried to fill the hole with anything other than the Water of Life. Now, we are full of Him. And we are built within with springs that flow great rivers of His Living Water if we will but allow it.
Can we see it?
We are no longer beings with an end unto ourselves. We are now conduits for use in actually pouring out and projecting the very Love of G_d on those around us. We are those who actually manifest the manifest presence of Jesus into the lives of our friends, neighbors and relatives.
We can be the salt and light He has made us to be. Our lives can now bring taste and focus and clarity and hope and joy and peace to any situation. For it is no longer us who live – it is Christ living in us, and through us.
We can speak truth without fear, and bring freedom to a discussion or situation that would otherwise be bound in the lies of the evil one.
We can move into hostile territory (whether spiritual or physical) knowing that it is He who doth go before us. He will be with us. He will not fail us. He will not forsake us. There can be no reason to fear.
We can bring healing and hope to those with none. We can, by our very presence and priestly conduition, impart grace on those in need.
We can pour out our wealth (whether spiritual or monetary) on those in our sphere who have need. We have no fear of ever running out, for we already own everything in Him.
We can Love everyone with a simple and profound concern for their welfare – with no need to count any costs in either the debit or credit columns of the equation. We can Love them with a Lovingkindness which never ends and is new (and renewed) every day.
And then, it is in living a Life such as this that the very good news of the Gospel begins to make sense to those we implore to be themselves reconciled to G_d.
There is just one thing to remember beloved. We must let Him do these things in and through us. We must fight the fight of faith. That fight being the epic battle to keep our eyes off of ourselves, off of our problems and lovingly, believingly fixed on Jesus – the Author and Finisher of all of this.
For, it was never about us. It was, is, and ever shall be about Him.
