Give us, O Lord, steadfast hearts
Hours before suns first light, as I prepared for the day, I heard a lone bird sing. I waited to hear an echoed reply. Nothing. Silence. My heart was instantly touched with sadness.
This herald caught my attention for two reasons. First, it was the first bird I've heard sing since winter moved in. Second, my ears are accustomed to hearing a response. I tune my ear to creation's early morning praise daily in weather-pleasant seasons. I love to hear them and join in the chorus.
Had he lost his way? Returned too soon? Was he testing the area or seeking a friend?
Possibly imagined, his song did not sound joyful but almost longing.
I then recalled a conversation I had just yesterday with my good friend. We were praising God for the awesome way He is answering prayers on behalf of a family we have been praying for. I commented on my amazement at the great number of unrelated and unacquainted people that have united in prayer from across the U.S.
This family has received an incredible response of love, support, encouragement, and prayer. And it flows from the common bond of Christ alone.
They cried out in their distress and God moved others to respond. I shudder at the thought of calling out and having no reply - like that lone bird.
It brings Gethsemane to mind. Our Lord despairing even of death in His darkest hour. He had taken His disciples - His friends - to the garden of suffering that dreadful eve. He had hoped to receive comfort just in knowing someone else was there.
When we're feeling weak, just the thought of someone's presence often lends strength. Jesus cried out - no reply. His friends had fallen fast asleep. Granted, He knew God was with Him, would give Him strength; but He wanted to know someone else was keeping watch with Him. Thankfully, God sent angels to attend Him.
Fellowship within the blessed Body of Christ is crucial to our very well-being. Not only for the rich relationships God provides through it but for mentorship, accountability, prayer, and support. Jesus had been alone in His most difficult hour and He knows how wretched that feels. He knows our needs and has provided for our well-being. He has given us one another.
May we administer God's grace in all its forms - so that when a lone bird cries out there is a reply.
Dear Jesus; Thank You for good friends. Thank You for the support of Your Church and the body of believers that perpetuate Your love. Bring to my awareness someone that needs Your love today. Amen.
2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: Jesus must increase, I must decrease
When popular opinion and cultural taboos change, Christians are not to shrink back from the unchanging truth of God’s Word. Some topics challenge us and make us feel uncomfortable. (Like Monday’s post on surrender and today’s subject on submission.) They are not viewed as modern sociology. It’s tempting to avoid these subjects, but in pursuit of a growing discipleship they must be addressed.
The first three areas in this series on Transference (honesty with God, surrender to the Lordship of Christ, submission to others) are all fruits born of humility.
It is nearly impossible to honor others and be devoted to them when I am consumed with self. I must, therefore, have a transference from pride to love for others.
For my own training, I have coined the term other-ness as the practice of expressing the love of Christ towards others by putting them first and considering them above myself. I like what Richard J. Foster wrote;
“In submission we are free to value other people. Their dreams and plans become important to us. We have entered into a new, wonderful, glorious freedom, the freedom to give up our own rights for the good of others.”
Other-ness.
Inevitably one subjects himself to someone or something. It is my opinion that not only is pride at the root of resistance to submission but feeling our identity is threatened. When I allow society to dictate my value I am insecure in who I am. When I fully realize my significance in Christ I will more readily obey God and submit to others.
We are dearly loved children of God - subjected to authority. Jesus knew this full well. Being both God and God’s Son, still He willingly subjected Himself to the authority of mortal man. He submitted himself to the parental authority of Joseph and Mary; to governing authorities of Rome; to the religious authority of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.
He knew who He was in God, where He came from and where He was returning yet He did not grasp that as something to proudly lord over others but to freely serve others.
I am called to have regard for others over any presumed rights I think I’m entitled to. We are commanded to:
As Christians then, submissiveness is a responsive obedience to God. Having the mind of Christ through surrender to the workings of the indwelling Holy Spirit enables me to love with His love.
Only by faith in God’s ultimate authority can we voluntarily have a submissive attitude and maintain good citizenship in a world not our own.
I find the instructions God inspired Paul to write to the Philippians as my most helpful guide in this area:
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
[Php 2:1-5]
That is ultimate other-ness. Ideal other-ness. Other-ness perfected. An important step in my Transference journey.
I humble myself to Your authority, Lord, and subject myself to the authorities You have placed above me. May I have the same attitude of Christ, considering others better than myself and doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Teach me to love as You love and serve as You serve and to devote myself to the body of Christ. Grant me a keener sense of other-ness. Amen.
2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
I have been crucified with Christand I no longer live,but Christ lives in me.The life I live in the body,I live by faith in the Son of God,who loved me and gave himself for me.[Gal 2:20]
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
And He most certainly will return for final judgment and slay the enemies of God - to restore peace as the Unparalleled Warrior.
He alone qualifies for supreme position of every virtuous comparison. Most Magnificent, Most Superb, Most Transcendent, Most High. He has rights to the highest degree of every “most” adjective. He is superlative grace, superlative wisdom, superlative love. (Note I did not say He has but He is.) And more.
Let creation praise the Creator today and forevermore in offering our highest praise; for only He is to receive all honor as the One and Only Superlative God.
God Most High; You are deserving of all praise and honor. Upon every remembrance of Your deeds throughout history – and especially in my life - let my lips praise you even more. In the supreme name of Christ Jesus, Amen.
2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: Jesus must increase, I must decrease
In the summer months foliage covers these deformities and they aren’t nearly as noticeable. The marred trees are better able to hide their shameful form. Except in extreme cases (as shown below).
With Transference ever on my mind, this anomaly caught my attention even more than usual. Transference of ownership to more of Christ and less of me will take courageous searching. Asking God to search the depths of my heart will uncover the flaws, the wounds, the scars. Done with sincerity, I’m sure to be shown character flaws; unconfessed sin; lack of forgiveness. If I am willing to be honest before God, laid as bare as those trees of winter, He will point out some serious defects and deficits hidden under the cover of self-applied camouflage.
Adam and Eve walked naked before God -- until they had something to hide. Oh, to be shed of the shame we use as camouflage! We are not hiding something He cannot already see. It would serve me well to remember that His grace cannot reach what I do not expose to Him for healing.
Adam & Eve tried to hide from God rather than face Him. It’s a real temptation we face today. Whether from fear of disappointing Him, or to avoid honestly admitting our sin, we try to run. Whatever we do we must not break communion with God. We must remain steadfast in prayer through the pain, through the embarrassment, through the consequences and allow Him to do His work.
We must have the determination of that wounded tree set to the harsh winds of winter and dig deep with strong roots in Christ. Anchored deep into fertile soil soaked with His life-giving blood. And wait for the promise of the new growth of Spring.
Paul’s advice for the Romans to think rightly of themselves applies to me as well. It is to my detriment to think more highly of myself than I ought [Rm 12:3]. I must begin with the painful, yet advantageous, process of allowing God to see the good, bad and the ugly within. To examine my heart and recognize the gaping wounds that require His grace.
There is a season we approach in our relationship with Jesus when we must get real with Him. I must determine to drop the pretense and shameful covering. Bare myself to the God of all grace just as the trees drop their leaves in due season.
The question then becomes will I opt for a transference from feeling:
Yes, the world will try to reshape us, leaving scars along the way. But grafted into the Branch of Jesse we will experience healing at His compassionate Hand and will be made beautiful by our Creator. We will truly experience the blessedness of an authentic relationship with Jesus that allows Him to grow.
El-Roi, Our All-Seeing God; I bare my heart, mind and soul to You. I want to be real with You and move from reserved and guarded to open and honest with You. Show me those things within me that must be dealt with so that You might dwell in its place; ever-increasing the space You reside in within my heart. In Christ, Amen.
2009 Continuing Series ~ Transference
Based on John 3:30: Jesus must increase, I must decrease
Stuck on replay mode in my heart:
“Jesus must increase –
I must decrease.”
“Is that the Holy Spirit convicting me?” I ask. Testing the thought, I reason; “It is within the will of God that I reflect Him in becoming more like His Blessed Son, Jesus Christ.” After much prayer on this subject, I’ve come to the conclusion that this will be an avenue to journey throughout this newly birthed year.
Motivated purely by my devotion to God and a desire to abide in His Word I feel guided in this attempt to apply this thought - that it might come alive in my life.
The words of John 3:30 will be the central theme of my personal study this year in hopes that it may become an actuality to a greater degree than is now evident.
As eluded to in Discipleship Persistence, it begins with surrender to God’s sanctifying work. It is not within my power or ability to recreate only what He is able to create. Then what? What discipline of the mind is needed to then be applied? By God’s grace, how do I put this into practice?
How do I simply define this focus for better understanding and clarity? I applied the term Transference. Can that be an accurate descriptor?
Dictionary.com defines transference as:
Does it apply? I think so.
I am no longer my own; I was bought at a price, the price of Jesus blood shed on a cruel and shameful Roman cross. My intent (as is God’s also, I’m hoping) is that in God’s redemptive work of transformation into a Christ-like character in me I will relinquish possession to His exclusive Lordship. That my focus will be on the persons of the Trinity and that their sovereign control will reign preeminent– transferred from that of the world and self. That attention will be redirected from me to Him, the All-Glorious One.
