14)
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died
for all, then were all dead:
15)
And that he died for all,
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him
which died for them, and rose again.
16)
Wherefore henceforth know
we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
yet now henceforth know we him no more.
|
I |
t
is difficult even for those who are saved to stop believing that some things
that happen in one’s life are natural. Though many profess the “born-again”
experience, few have any idea of all that that experience entails. For the one
who has partaken of God through baptism in His name and the infilling of His
Spirit, nothing could ever be just anything!
It
is to our advantage that all is changed upon coming to salvation, for because
we are changed from the fleshly to the spiritual, we have the privilege of
entering heaven. Without this, we would be consigned to the resting place of
all fleshly human beings—hell.
Original
sin is what prevents us from being able to take our assigned place in the
presence of God. In that the Lord prescribes a “remedy,” we should rejoice.
However, it is a fact of the saved life that without a love for Him, the
“threat” of hell will carry little, if any, “weight.”
That
on which we spend most of our time is finite, fleeting and transitory, at best.
And what is it that draws our attention away from fulfilling the will of God?
It is our human concerns—and they, in
turn do nothing but keep us in bondage to the flesh.
There
is absolutely nothing that happens in the life of a saint of God but that is to
teach us or allow the Lord to use us. Most people who consider
themselves servants of God will profess a desire to be used of God, but few
want to learn what is necessary to be learned in order to be used. You see, the Lord has never used what He has not tested
and it is unlikely, if not absurd, that He ever would.
So
why, then, once we have said what it is that we desire, do we begin to question
the test? What good reason do we have for believing that we should not be
tested? We seem to feel that we should
be taken at our word that we are loyal enough to the Lord to be trusted with
His Word, yet must often, we are unwilling to take Him
at His.
We
engage in the worst kind of folly when we enter a test and then, begin to try
to “second-guess” the Lord. It is just these sorts of “maneuvers” that keep Man
from advancing in Him. God is present in our lives for the very purpose of
leading us through all battles, so by not allowing Him to do His self-appointed
job, we declare ourselves as equal to Him and He will never be able to tolerate
one would attempt to take His glory.
Our
“self-appointment” is not good enough for the Lord. Those who would call
themselves “ambassadors,” ministers, or even “sanitary engineers” for Him must
first be trained.
You
can tell from the shabby lives of many that we have never changed our “shabby”
lives. From the looks of things, there is a peace and contentment to be found
in the life of sin that Jesus, Himself, somehow overlooked. Never mind that we
are called to be a new creation. Never mind that, after salvation we possess
the Power of all creation. Let us live our miserable, unfulfilled lives the way
that we choose, because after all, we put ourselves here, didn’t we?
Those
of us who have children understand the “principle of the iron will,” In a nutshell, this law dictates to all who live under its
influence that “I-will-do-only-those-things-that-I-believe-someone-doesn’t-want-me-to-do.”
From experience, we know how infuriating this can threatened to be. Now, while
we do not infuriate the Lord, we are capable of saddening Him. You see,
the Lord knows that compliance and change is not essential to His survival, but
rather, ours.
In
the case you are one of many who believes something else, there is no “secret”
thing that one can do to be saved. The only thing that “seals” us after
salvation is our love for Him and it is this love which keeps us from sin. This
is why the scripture tells us that “… the love of God constraineth
us …” (or, keeps us “in check”).
Every
saint of God that will be found with Him in the end is going to have to ask
the Lord to help him commit to his spirit that through who we see in the mirror
may look like “me,” live in the same house as “me,” drive the same
car and eat the same food, he had better not be “me”—for the “me” I was before
salvation is the “me” who will go to hell.
I am not the same!—Even though I may encounter the same types
of situations, I am a person to whom my old behavior (and therefore, my life
situations) is foreign. Nothing in my life can ever again mean the
same thing—for my life has been touched by Jesus!