Back to Basics – Part 1

Michael writes this week that living the Christian life is dependent on the basics. A disciple is a disciplined follower. The discipline is in the details. It is deliberate, intentional and purposeful. In the game of life, the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. Each team member must master the fundamentals. The winning team depends on each individual to do their own job. According to 1 Corinthians 12:14-18, we are all on the same team as members of the body of Christ. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

The Lord's army is a team. Each individual must be disciplined to become like Christ.  The soldier's commitment is to do exactly what his or her Commander in chief says to do. Jesus said, "by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." When we identify with Jesus Christ, Our purpose is to align our hearts with His heart  ... to delight ourselves in the Lord to will and to do of his good pleasure.  

When we're living by faith, the God-rejecting world system will say that we're impractical and illogical. The world's way is diametrically opposed to the Word's way. According to Psalm 1, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

A winning team needs a plan. However the best plan is His plan and not our own plan.  To conform to the will of the Lord, we must surrender our pride in order to follow our Commander in chief.  Psalm 31:15-16 says, “My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies’ sake.” We do not know the end from the beginning but He does. Our job is not to question the destination but rather to walk with Him one step at a time. But what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Let’s stop and pick up Michael’s message on getting ”back to basics” on the next post. In Christ, Brian