Christians must wrestle with a question. How? A life devoted to Christ must always in the end put aside this question. Our God is not a how-to God. He is a will-do God, His will, not ours. Pray His becomes yours.
A faith life, a life in Christ, is always forward looking. To say this is not to express some visionary idea of creating the life we live, but to mean giving our life to Christ, to God, is to remain open to what He wishes us to become, to listen to what He wishes us to know, to rest in the truth His will and purpose is greater than anything we could will for ourselves or for others. All He wishes us to be on the journey to become His child remains in God’s timing. Each day abiding in Him, if we remain in Him, a little of the old life passes away and the new life takes hold. Then one day, we are reconciled to God.
Lest we tire by being tempted from a desire for immediacy, God is there to remind us. Daily we encounter those desires by which the old life claimed us. All those moments of pride, “better-than” thoughts, manipulating and provoking others, the “want it now, I’ll do anything to get it” mentality, the want of the bigger barn, passing by the homeless man wondering what is wrong with him, using power for self-gain, remain, if not in reality, in memory, to act as a marker toward where God is taking us.
And where is He taking us? The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, said it simply. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25, NKJV).
When Christ becomes the center of our life, when we earnestly begin to seek him and live in relationship with him, we strive to leave behind those earthly desires and begin to thirst for the fruits Paul succinctly states. But we ask silently, while holding on to our fear of walking into total trust, “Where would this leave us?” We know only how to rely on ourselves. We are weary creatures. Scripture leaves us with words like righteous and holiness. But what do these words mean? Could our life ever measure against God’s desire to claim us for His service? We can only remain faithful in devotion, persistent in asking and humble enough to receive. Know well a life in Christ is much like a flower blossoming. The bud receives nourishment from rain, micro-climates, elevation, good soil, temperature, air and light. Perennial flowers abide and endure the winter. Annuals wither and die. We must endure life’s climate, its seasons, while striving toward His light to reveal God’s purpose for us, the blossom of our life.