A More Excellent Way part 4
Actions are important. I don't want anybody to think that I don't agree with that statement. When I say, "It's not what you DO, it's what you BELIEVE," I'm simply trying to get our focus off of the external and onto the internal. Because what you do FLOWS from what you believe. Behavior modification doesn't work. Works don't work. True change is effortless. Now you may be asking yourself what this has to do with a Rant series about the more excellent way of giving--of loving. Look at Isaiah 30:21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Ok. There's a Word behind you. Something happened in the past. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus finished the work 2,000 years ago. And the Word says, "This is the way." Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Word speaks of Himself. The Word reveals Jesus to us. And the Word says, "Walk IN it." We spend so much time and energy trying to walk things out in our own strength. We waste time trying to finish a work that is already finished. Let me say it like this, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the fiath of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Galatians 2:16). It's not what you DO, it's what you BELIEVE. Because what you BELIEVE is what JESUS did! And what Jesus did He did both for us and as us. HE is the more excellent way. He is the Word made flesh. He IS love. And this part is so beautiful to me: When we stray to the left or to the right, the Word doesn't punish us. He doesn't condemn us. He points us back to the Way. He shows us the finished work. He shows us who we really are. He builds our faith by testifying of Himself. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. The more you see your true self, the more you BE your true self. But so many times we try to BE it in order to SEE it. That doesn't work. You can't perform your way into this thing. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. And that's the truth about rest: It's not us living Jesus' life. It's Jesus living His own life in and through and as us. It's not us following in Jesus' foot steps, it's Jesus making foot steps in our feet. It's not us walking this thing out in our own power. It's not us keeping the Law. It's us walking IN the Way, even as He walks IN us. It's Jesus carrying us, and it's us simply enjoying the journey. When you believe right, you'll do right. Period. But it all starts with what you see and what you hear. Again, faith comes from hearing. And seeing is believing. That's why Jesus revealed Himself TO us, and continues to reveal Himself THROUGH us. This is the Way. Walk ye in it!