Be Still part 5
I know I use this verse a lot, but A. I love it and B. I never hear anyone else use it so I might as well. Revelation 22:11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." To me this verse is pretty much the same as saying there is no condemnation in Christ. To me this is simply saying: STOP TRYING TO CHANGE PEOPLE. And, perhaps even more importantly, STOP TRYING TO CHANGE! Because to me there's a big difference between "changing" and "learning and growing." If you need to change it's because you aren't good enough. But if you're learning and growing you're being changed FROM glory TO glory. What's already inside you comes you as you fill yourself with the fulness of it. As you grow in grace, and the knowledge of Jesus. And the knowledge of Jesus, of course, is the knowledge of who YOU really are. What's true about Jesus is true about you. He IS the Truth (and the Way, and the Life). So instead of DOING in order to BE--that's the lie that the serpent hissed in Eve's ear, right?--we do BECAUSE we be. We are human BEINGS not human DOINGS. Running around trying to change is the opposite of being still. Religious calisthenics and jumping through hoops--works and labor--does not work. Trying to keep the Law of Moses will only ever show you that yo ucan't keep the Law of Moses! Because if you brake one part of the Law, you've broken the whole Law. And Jesus preached the Law to the thoughts and intents of the heart. Not just what you do, but who you be. He did that to shut up every man's mouth. To leave us all in the same sinking boat. So that we might come to Him. "God, I can't do it." "I know. That's why I did it for you and as you on the cross." Savior. Redeemer. King and Priest. Jesus. And now, on this side of the cross, the work is finished. We don't have to DO it. We ARE it. We ARE the righteousness of God in Christ, and that's why we DO righteousness. Faith without works is dead. But if you don't know who you really are, the best you can DO is try to be somebody you're not--or somebody that you THINK you're not. Being able bodied ministers of the New Covenant is not about telling people what to do. It's about telling people who they are, by telling them who Jesus is. It's about letting people BE. Letting people be STILL. Look at 1 Chronicles 4:40, "And they found fat pasture and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable..." There's room to learn and grow. Room to make mistakes. God is long suffering. He's not in a hurry. Especially when you know that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Your fate was never in doubt. Love won before the war even started. Before there was a sinner there was a Savior. You don't have to make... ANYTHING... happen. The land--the Promised Land of rest--is quiet and peaceable. You don't have to try to overcome when you understand that Jesus already overcame, and when you understand that there is nothing LEFT to overcome. We're not overCOMERS. We're overCAMERS. Past tense. Done deal. It is finished. And that means WE are finished. We are complete in Him. We don't need to change. We need to BE STILL and BE who we are. Who we are in Christ. Who Christ is in us...!