Remembering What I Forgot
Dean and I love Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We especially like to go to places without cell phone coverage or internet. We have a ‘bucket list’ of waterfalls we want to see and hiking trails we want to walk. We also love to explore the history of each area that we visit, learning about the cultures, lifestyles, and challenges faced by those settling a wild land. The thing I love most of all is to feast my eyes on the beauty of God’s creation, smell the fragrance of the woods, lakes, and rivers, and hear the sounds of the birds, rushing water, and wind in the trees. The photo above is the wallpaper on my computer as I type this. It’s one of my favorite spots along the Lake Superior shoreline, the confluence of two creeks just as they flow into the lake in an area between Eagle River and the Calumet Waterworks beach. But then it’s time to leave for home, back to our busy lives. As we get caught up in the day-to-day demands, my mind becomes filled with other things and I forget what we saw and experienced until something reminds me of that special encounter we had with the expression of God’s power and character. But God doesn’t forget about it, that amazing place exists because He spoke it into being; its beauty remains there because it is sustained by Him.
I have the same kind of mental jolt when I read James 1:22-25: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
For those born again in Christ, our new birth—new creation has made us into something completely new. Transformed from being cursed and separated from God, we are adopted into God’s own family as His children, and heirs of His kingdom.
John 1:12-13: “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
We also have been made holy, which means we are set apart for God’s purpose. My neighbor, Tina, and I are studying the Gospel of John together. One of the remarkable things we’ve been learning about the life of Jesus is that He always did and said only what the Father directed Him to do and say. Jesus did nothing that was His own idea. Ever. He was the perfect example of obedient submission to the will of the Father and perfectly useful for God’s purposes.
Jesus’ death and resurrection made it possible for us to follow in His steps. His defeat of death empowers us to put to death our own sinful patterns and the hold our flesh has over us. Freedom from sin and our flesh is the perfect law of liberty that James 1:25 is talking about. This is a wonderful truth, but unless it becomes reality in how I behave, it is meaningless, just a cool idea that is easily forgotten in the same way I forget how real that beautiful spot along Lake Superior is.
Dean and I will be married 41 years this month and I am amazed at how quickly that time has zipped by. During our years of living life together, I have had so many habits that annoyed my dear husband to the point of distraction. I have also done hurtful things and have been difficult to love. But today, Dean will tell me that he finds those annoying things endearing, and he remembers the hurtful times through forgiveness and understanding. Dean faithfully loved me by being obedient—choosing to be kind and thoughtful, caring for me, and praying for me when he didn’t feel like it. He chose to have Christ live through him. The result—or fruit of his obedience is that God changed Dean’s perception of my actions in such a way that they no longer have the power to ‘tweak’ him into reacting in a fleshly way. Dean’s heart has been overwritten with God’s perception.
Hebrews 10:16-18: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds.”
As Dean put to death his flesh by choosing to obey Christ instead of responding in the way I deserved, the Holy Spirit living in him empowered him to love me. This is what it means to abide in Christ! Christ did the work through Dean, He was the catalyst and momentum. Dean’s choices proved he was a disciple of Christ and truly reborn. They were a beautiful example lived out before me showing how I could have freedom from my own sin and flesh patterns. That kind of love displayed—the love of Christ, is irresistible, it made me fall in love with my husband all over again. Jesus said in John 8:31: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Also, John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Gal. 5:16-18: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Abiding in Christ is resting in Him. He is doing the work, not us, but we are cooperating with it. The wonderful outcome is fruit. We will be producing the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-25) which will not pass away, and this is what God is after. (1Cor 10:12-15)
Now let’s go back to James 1:22-25 and tie these thoughts together. Being a doer of the word and not just a hearer is an outcome of the process through which our soul—psuche (mind, will and emotions) is changed so it is like Christ—sanctified. It is New Covenant living with God’s law written on our hearts and minds through abiding in Christ, and it is the mark of a disciple of Christ. It is remembering who we are: transformed new creations who are empowered by our creator and redeemer to belong to Him and do His good pleasure.