"If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept the light, and He will put it right. A child of the light confesses instantly and stands bared before God; a child of the darkness says - "Oh, I can explain that away." When once the light breaks and the conviction of wrong comes, be a child of the light, and confess, and God will deal with what is wrong; if you vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the darkness."
This paragraph above hits me on at least two levels:
1. I can see myself as a child of the light, a child of God, a Christian, by the fact of realizing that God does indeed shine His light on me when I am guilty of wrong doing. When I question my relationship to Jesus, I can look to the action of the Spirit in my life, whereby He points out to me when I am sinning. Most of the time this realization comes to me in the midst of the wrong action or attitude, not after I have done it. The Spirit says to me "be careful in what you are planning or what you are thinking, your motives are not altogether pure".
2. I also see myself as not totally living in the light, as I try to vindicate my actions, words or attitudes. God puts a check in my spirit, either as I am doing, or as I am contemplating, something. The very act of trying to justify myself leaves me in the position of putting myself first. Submission takes a back seat to self-serving.
So I am both chastised and encouraged by the same words of Chambers today. Perhaps the best thing is the fact that I can honestly try to see myself as God sees me. I can also realize that this honesty is the first step toward a closer walk. Walking honestly before God can allow the Spirit to be active in my life, changing me the way He seeks.
His will be done.
No comments:
Post a Comment