16)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17)
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
|
I |
t is
important to understand that all that is "laid out" for us by God is
already contained in His Word. That is, all instruction, all necessary
"tools" and all wisdom. We need "guess" at nothing. However,
in order to fully experience His blessings, we must learn to live in
conjunction with that word. This means daily, hourly and yearly and not just
when we "want" something.
What we seem
to be fighting so hard and the Lord is emphasizing so strongly is the necessity
for us to learn to live by what He says and not by what we think and feel. Many
of us are "dying daily," not to faults, but to insisting upon
thinking as we want. We go without "rest" in our natural and
spiritual lives because we don't depend upon Him. We "guess" about
too many things when we could enjoy the confidence of the utter reliability of
the Word. Out of all things in which we could and do believe, it is only
the Word of God which will not change.
As a people,
we put great "stock" in the "places" we are—whether
naturally or spiritually. Actually, in this life in which we now live, the most
important "place" to be is in the Word. We need to know what
we believe, why we believe it and the Help that we have.
The people of
God must not only know the requirements of the word, but they must be carried
out. The lack of action in the lives of the people of God is virtually
consigning a generation of people to darkness. We are so self-absorbed and so
self-consumed that the Word means much less to us than what we think and feel.
Contributing
to this is the widespread preaching of a "humanistic" word. Many
would have us believe that God respects and indeed, encourages us to exercise
our own judgment. Anyone teaching this does not know of whom he is, for this
view is diametrically opposed to that for which Christ lived and died.
Too many of
us are completely deceived and this is evident by the "credit" we
give ourselves for "knowing" things, understanding things and being
spiritual. First of all, any credit for anything we think that we are must go
to God. Secondly, this very viewpoint ignores that we, when relying upon our
flesh, are creatures of "weakness"—
which was
primarily responsible for the coming of the Lord. This "weakness"
manifests itself in man being unable to think and "do" clearly.
Because of
some strange compulsion, we try being "human" and "saved,"
simultaneously. Like many other requests we make of God, this request is
impossible to fill, because that which is human, is of the flesh and therefore
darkness. We know from scripture that light can have no fellowship with
darkness.
To be
"saved, " one must be led by the Holy Spirit, for where one word as
our flesh leads us to trouble, He will lead us to nothing but sanctification. The
"catch" to this (if there is one) is that once the Holy Spirit is
received, He must be yielded to. One who cannot yield, cannot be led and thus,
cannot be helped.
Another
impediment to being led of the Lord is believing that we are the best
"authority" on ourselves. The sooner we accept that it is God who
knows us best and therefore, what is best for us, the more blessed we will be.
We are saved
to "dwell" (settle down and be at home) in the Word of God. This is
virtually impossible if we either do not believe or agree with that Word. Our
belief that we have the most accurate knowledge of ourselves is just what the
devil desires. You see, we then become the authority on how we are to be
treated and what we do and do not have to "deal with." Usually, in no
situation is this more common than in the issue of church attendance. In that
the devil "wins" when we are led away from the truth, he would have
us believe that the solution to our problem is going to a church where we are
not convicted and condemned and the truth is not preached. It is vital to the
survival of the saint that he realize that what we think, feel and believe does
not change the truth of God's Word. We have not been saved and God does not ask
us to be concerned with how His Church or kingdom is run. He does want us to
understand that there is nothing more important than for us to determine within
ourselves to mind His things, first.
Undeniably,
it takes wisdom to dwell in the Word. One must know why something was said, to
what it applies and how to apply it. Then, we must know from where to get our
answers. In that our problems come to spiritual beings, we are to exercise
spiritual solutions. This is God's "show" and He runs it so instead
of making our own plans, we need to "line up" with His.
When one is
"dwelling in the Word of Christ," he is able to see that even in the
worst of situations, He is clearly seen. Though we have a tendency to view all
adverse situations as simply "problems," without many seemingly
"negative" things that happen to us, God's greater purpose would not
be wrought. For example, if there had never been a Flood, there would have been
no opportunity to see salvation as depicted in Noah's salvation through the
The Lord has
even gone so far as to give us a means of support and encouragement in the
midst of whatever we are called upon to endure. That "means" is the
privilege of praising Him. For those called by His name, praise is the means of
our elevation above trouble. At all times, our minds must be free to hear from
and respond to the Lord—and this is our means to do so. No matter what one's
circumstances, if he is saved, he will praise the Lord for what he has been
given in the Holy Ghost and because he knows Who Jesus is.
Instead of
trying to change what we decide we don't like by what we say, think, or feel,
we need to understand that our victory will be granted us when we accept that Jesus
is victory!
For the saint
of God, "trouble" is to be handled through the Word. Dwelling within
it at all times will make it much easier to be able to enlist its aid. Because
the Word never changes, we can have full assurance of victory if we are only
willing to consult it. If we intend to be pleasing to the Lord, instead of
looking to anything and everything else, we must begin a dwelling in the Word
of Christ."