Recently in our fellowship we have been looking at the
Letter to the Philippians and James’s letter to the dispersed brothers.
This has brought to light how very different human nature is
than the nature of Jesus. The general
command is that we allow Christ’s nature to be formed in us. James advises us to seek for God’s wisdom and
to make sure we have real faith that obeys God.
There can be no doubt that following Christ, believing in him, is not a
passive thing. Faith shows itself in
acts of obedience and faithfulness.
So, we have looked into the spiritual mirror and seen some
challenging stuff! We are not what we
thought we were! We have been challenged
about humility, submission and genuine love for our neighbour. James points out that we can be shown what we really are but forget it as soon as we
turn away from the mirror.
Jesus had numerous conflicts with Pharisees on this simple issue. He is the light that reveals our true nature
in the mirror. He spoke of the Pharisees
in general as looking OK on the outside but being corrupt on the inside. Not a nice thing to have to admit about oneself
[Matthew 23.27].
However, it is fundamental to the Christian Faith that we
start with a realistic and honest appraisal of our characters. This involves accepting what God says of us. If not, what will our repentance be based
on? What desire will there be to be like
Jesus? How will we begin to think others
better than ourselves or refrain from thinking too highly of ourselves? Why would we want our minds to be taken
captive by Jesus? In fact, if I am
unwilling to see what I am really like, I will not be willing to see what God
wants me to be.
This brings to mind what Jesus said, citing Isaiah ch.6:
In them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never
understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's
heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have
closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their
ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Matthew
13.14,15
It is a challenge to us who name Jesus as Saviour to be
careful that we do not become like this.
I can see the danger in myself of thinking I am better than I really am;
superior to others in spiritual things.
There are two dangers in this: the first is that I will become worldly
in my thinking and acting and the second is that I open myself up to the devil’s
accusations. These occur because I would
be living a double-life (as a hypocrite).
I would not be living according to faith – so I would be relying on my
worldly wits to get by. I would be
trying to reconcile my personal opinion of myself with the unpalatable truth of
what I am really like. This gives the
devil an opportunity to spoil me.
It is good to accept with the apostle Paul:
I know that nothing
good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do
what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Romans 7:18
The result is a good one because we begin to discover the
grace and love of God and a view of self that does not pin itself to success
and ambition, wealth and winning. And
with Paul we will be able to say:
I have fought the good
fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store
for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will
award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for
his appearing. 2Timothy 4:7,8
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