Passover Meditation #18 for the Lenten Season 2012

~  ~  ~  The Door of The Cross ~  ~  ~

The SPIRIT is the ONE making life; the flesh profits not, NOTHING!

The Words which I+,

I+ speak

unto you

are Spirit

and are Life. 

John 6:63 Green's Greek Interlinear

The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. (Psalm 94:11).  

Vanity... fantasy... emptiness... un-profitable...  useless... futile... the thoughts of man are fantasies... here today and gone tomorrow. 

Every person who has "fallen in love"  discoveres an end to that fantasy, sooner or later. "Love" , for the Christian soul, means taking Self to the Cross. 

Every person who buys a house or land, works a career, invests funds knows a certain amount of fear.  

Why?

Because EVERY LIVING PERSON knows these earthly things last for only a temporary amount of time.

Like youth.

Like health.

Like our bodies of clay.

The only thing that is NOT TEMPORARY is death. Our "changed state" lasts forever.  All else are subject to vanity, to fantasy.

A person wears fashionable clothes, buys the "in" vehicle and gadgets, and lives in a certain neighborhood.  

Why ?

To feed his fantasy of how great, knowledgeable, cute, or secure he is... in this world.

In whose eyes? Mankind? Nobody really cares, beyond a passing thought. His own eyes ? What good is a pile of chaff on Judgment Day ? 

All... yes, all... temporal things will eventually burn. All ashes look alike: the rich houses and the poor houses all look alike when reduced to ashes.

BUT... the Good News is there is a better way ! The LORD JESUS said.

His+ Words

are not simply marks

on  paper.

NO.

His+ Words are SPIRIT-filled... meaning, His+ Words have power to give Life, to feed your soul, to nourish your innermost being.

His+ Words are un-like any other words spoken on this planet.  His+ Words attract that hungry, empty heart like a powerful magnet. That hunger fastens itself with great gladness upon those Anointed Words because HE+ is there. 

HE+ can be found in His+ Words. His+ heart is revealed in His+ Words. His+ Life is shared through His+ Words. His+ Will is discovered through His+ Words. 

His+ Words... and His+ Words alone... are SPIRIT and they are Life.

O LORD JESUS, O THOU+ Who+ art the very WORD of GOD-Made-Flesh and dwelling  among us, bring forth in me New Life every day. I love THEE+ , LORD ; help me to attach myself to THEE+ , Who+ art Reality and Truth. 

Strengthen me to forsake all fantasy of this life, of my emotions, of my heart... all fantasies which have one thing in common: they pull me away from THEE+.

Bless my struggle, O LORD, and hear the cry of my heart. And, should I fainting be, LORD let me never, never outlive my love for THEE+.

The IDENTITY Crisis

~~~ OR ~~~~

Leaving the World of FANTASY and Entering

REALITY in CHRIST 

When we die to Self and live unto CHRIST ( our baptismal vow ), we take on CHRIST and become a New Creature in CHRIST.  That entails a brand new identity, Bless GOD! 

It takes the SPIRIT of GOD to break the stronghold of our earthly identity and to be totally identified with CHRIST JESUS, as one of HIS+. We change our dress, our talk, our life-style, usually our friends, and sometimes the way we earn our living. 

Our identity becomes only one thing: Christian.

We become Single-of-Eye. 

But being human, we soon move away from REALITY+ and  REVERT back to some former identities or even, take on new identities. We become un-Single of Eye. And again, fantasies creep into our inner man.

If we go into ministry, we "become" pastors, missionaries, translators, and teachers, as our identity. We start out doing  all for CHRIST, but we end up thinking of ourselves in terms of what we DO, as defined by our work, our "position" when we relate to others. We assume a "social" identity along with our Christian identity.  

But, Scripture teaches us that Our GOD is a jealous GOD; only ONE+ can be on the throne of our hearts at a time: us or GOD. Never will HE+ share HIS+ glory.

[ You can test the truth of this: imagine losing your "social" identity. What would be left? Only your identity in CHRIST JESUS. If it is painful to lose your social ( how people see you)  identity, then you can see that Self was on the throne and you are not content to be ONLY identified as CHRIST'S. ]

If we teach school, we do start out "teaching for CHRIST"... but we end up being known as a "teacher" in the inner man! The same is true of nursing or doctoring or farming or ministering.

Our identity becomes

something in

ADDITION TO CHRIST. 

If we become parents, then we become mothers in our inner man... not Christian women who have been assigned the blessed duty of raising children. Our identity again becomes something OTHER than CHRIST. The same is true for fathers.

And, here's the test: When your child or children grow up and leave the home, are you suddenly forlorn and without motive or desire? Does the house have an empty feeling?  If that is the case, then your identity, dear one, has shifted from CHRIST to motherhood (or fatherhood) !

Likewise: If you teach school or are involved in the pastoral or medical fields or running a business or farming.... and it suddenly ends and YOU CAN DO IT NO MORE, does your life feel empty and futile, with no "meaningful" work to do? If that is the case, then your identity has shifted from CHRIST to " something in ADDITION TO CHRIST."

That EMPTINESS,

NO PLACE TO "FIT IN",

I'M USELESS... 

feeling is a sign that your identity has slipped away from CHRIST and onto the temporal, to your destruction; all fanatasy leads to destruction.  

People do NOT give you identity; that is a futility because here is one thing you can DEFINITELY COUNT ON:  people change. Neighbors move, family and friends grow old and die, children grow up and leave. It is impossible  to cling to "how it's been" for security and thus, your place amongst people , your identity.

Work and skills  do not give you identity; that is fantasy.  Companies and systems change, as do their locations. Skilled or not, educated or not, tested or not qualified... the work place changes for everyone; it is in constant flux.

Even being identified as a pastor or minister, missionary or translator makes you un-single of eye. Eventually, you will leave that post, that appointment. If you have no other church to pastor, you will have an identity crisis UNLESS your identity is solely upon CHRIST JESUS the LORD. The same is true for Bible translators and even aging choir members !

Thus, our ONLY identity needs to be in CHRIST JESUS our LORD. Yes, we may and indeed must love and raise our children, we may nurse or teach or farm as our daily assignment. But remember, EVEN THAT DAILY ASSIGNMENT comes from HIM+.

HE+ places us and removes us from the "daily assignment" for three reasons, all of them good:

1. for our own good , growth, and protection

2. for HIS+ glory

3. to further the work in HIS+ Kingdom

Dear ones, search your hearts and establish the RIGHT identity.... that which is found in CHRIST. If you do this WITH ALL YOUR HEART, your children will grow up, move away, and your house will not be empty and your life will still have meaning.  If you do this, public work will come and go,  and it will not affect your sense of worth.

In short, if you  IDENTIFY with CHRIST... if you define yourself ONLY and SOLEY with CHRIST...  instead of with careers, jobs, motherhood or fatherhood, or people-defined functions, you will never experience the crushing loss of identity.

YOUR WORTH , IDENTITY, AND FUNCTION

will be tied up with CHRIST....

as it should have been all along.

+  +  +