Recently I had the privilege of sitting with some very wise and sound brothers. It is a true story that I do well when I sit with some very wise and sound brothers.
Among other things, they pointed me to a particular scripture. I don’t really quote such large tracts of scripture, but this one merits the quoting.
For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.
And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. (2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1)
One of the wise brothers challenged us to consider that last part. If we have the promises we should work on getting cleaned up. It reminded me of something that John also encouraged his readers.
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognise that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:1-3)
There’s something about life in the light of the love of the Father that gives us the desire to reflect the Son. Reflecting His Son is an ongoing journey of seeing the mess but submitting ourselves and actively engaging in the clean up process. It is all about the work He does in our lives and our desire to be pleasing to Him.
We have such a wonderful loving Father and His love shown through His Son gives us a model to follow. Just beholding this amazing love and amazing Son in itself should transform us from the inside out.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg of the wisdom that came from siting with the sound and wise brothers.
(Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 