Midlife or Spiritual Crisis?

John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (ESV)

I don’t think as Christians we need to do more, we just need to reconsider what we are already doing. Our Christian experience has conformed to our fast paced society; following we walk out of the pew with another thing to add to the to do list. I think it is time for a total makeover for we are in something of a spiritual crisis. We must seek first the kingdom, examining Gods will for this world and our part in it. At first this may require for us to do less and sit more; that is to sit at His feet. Not at the feet of our favorite Christian author, regardless of how anointed he may be, only One holds the words to eternal life (John 6:68). I am talking about a solitude known so well by the saints of old.

We have a daily meeting that should be reserved for a party of four, that is with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That we might enter boldly on behalf of Christ into the throne room of God, that there we would meet with the Spirit of Truth to be lead into all truth. To behold the Saviors love for us is to change that to do list into an already done one. How could it already be done you may ask?

To meet with the Author of the list is far more beneficial then to meet with the task of the list. For it is the Author that breathes life into the mundane. It is the Spirit that comes upon one in power (Acts 1:8) and it is the Father that awakens one to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (John 6:44), as we go and fulfill the great commission.

Christian have you have found yourself drinking from the wrong well? Whoever drinks of the water that I (Christ) will give him…this is a water made available to all and free to the one who would come and drink. Though it may be freely given its way is one lightly traveled for persecution is a promise (John 15:18). It was on Calvary that His persecution was manifest, but it was there He too died to make intercession on our behalf. There is no other road then the Calvary road. It looks like the road to death but is the only walked, proven and assured road to life. In a denial of self we shall find life in Christ (Mark 8:34-36).

Jesus wants to fill your well to overflowing capacities that you would not be able to contain it. There you have it, Evangelism 101 in its purest form. We need not busy our already busied lives down with another seminar on how to share the Gospel. We must just meet with the Author and Finisher of the Gospel. For then will the water (Word of God), take its natural course within you, becoming like a spring as it flows from off of you, offering eternal life to all that might drink.

Hearing Could be Dangerous

Hebrews 4:10 For whoever has entered into Gods rest has also rested from his works as God did from his (ESV)

    Maybe you're like me and have found yourself wandering in the wilderness. Wandering in the wilderness you ask? This address is for the believer who is hearing the gospel but is not heeding the gospel. The Israelites were wandering through the wilderness in rebellion to the good news because they had hardened their hearts to the message. Awaiting them was the promised land and the sure fulfillment of rest. Don’t forget the wilderness was no friend to its inhabitants, days of rest were few and far between and surely they were longing for it.

    From our far removed view we have all thought how stupid this sounds, why wouldn’t they just listen and receive the blessing? Why didn’t they heed the gospel and take the sure way out? Now lets zoom into a present day scale and ask the same question. Why is it that we are still wandering, only now in our own type of wilderness? You probably don’t live in the desert, but outside your door is a land full of imagination and void of promise. Although it may hold the appearance of a land flowing with milk and honey it is nothing more then a barren wasteland that is never satisfied until it possesses your soul.

    Lets go one step further and say that even in our Christian walk we can wander. Remember the Israelites had been freed from Egypt (the world) and at one time accepted the good news of this deliverance. It was only that this message “did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened” (Hebrews 4:2). They heard but did not believe, and today I am asking Christian have you heard the gospel and stopped believing it?

    To the one who believes, hold fast while the promise remains (4:1). You have been set free from your works, and given the hope of eternal life to rest in. No longer do you need to busy yourself with a righteousness of your own. Rather you are to respond to the gospel by striving to enter the rest that is yours in Christ Jesus (4:9-11). For the one who rejects the gospel they will toil in their self righteous works and find no relief from their anxieties.

    What can you do to compensate the Lord for His blessings? “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people” (Psalm 116:12-14). When we accept the atoning work of Christ on the cross, we make a conscious choice to die to self. In that death we agree that forgiveness is not based on our own merit but on His. For it is for freedom that we have been set free, that we might make Christ know in the midst of the masses, to the glory and honor of His name.