In The Mode Of Doing

That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. –Colossians 2:2 & 3

           

There is a story told of a man who gave seminars all over the world on what a Christian must do to be a success.  The man died and went to heaven. The first day in heaven he decided to put on one of his seminars on doing. He scheduled a large room and thousands came to hear him. While he was speaking he noticed that Jesus was seated on the front row taking one page of notes after another, and this puzzled the man. At the break the man ran to Jesus and asked why He, of all people, would be taking so many notes. Jesus replied, “You see, this is the first time I have heard any of this Myself!” 

Doing makes the Christian life far too difficult!  It is not the doing that must come first but the believing. Doing emphasizes immediate results and will not see us through to the end. However, believing will see us through to the very end as it did every person of faith in Scripture. God has given every believer in every conceivable situation absolute attitudes to be kept. If we maintain those we will see the fulfillment in God’s fullness of time. Continue to love, to submit, and to train; we may not directly see the positive from our attitude, but remember, this is our long-term plan, and in the midst of the ups and downs our spirits will remain calm.

Now what has been said previously centers in this one simple Scripture. "But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (II Corinthians 11:3). Is the Christian life simple? Is the answer to living alone, living with others, raising children, not having children, and every other struggle simple? Yes, yes, and yes again! In order for the Christian life to be one of simplicity, we must first realize that God does not give answers to every situation, but rather reveals attitudes for every situation, and second, that if these attitudes are maintained, we will not be free from the day-by-day ups and downs, but we will see the fulfillment of the promises in God’s fullness of time. All of this promotes faith! “Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform" (Romans 4:20, 21). 

What we perceive in the Scriptures, we believe.  What we believe of what God has said, we can then be given His faith to solidify our belief to where it turns into action in our lives.  Michael has shown that to be the “mode of doing” that God wants in our lives. 

Why do we start out trying to “do” something without having that “true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, IN WHOM ARE HIDDEN ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE”…and we continue to “do” more to try and get the results of the “Christian life” that we want.  Egads!  How long does that have to lead to failure until we change?!?

Michael always turns us away from “doing” first TO believing God and trusting Him to be the One who actually “does” His work through us.  Well, amen!