Fit for the Master's Use – Part 1

This week, Michael writes that to become fit for the Master's use, we need to leave our practical “worldly” senses at the door. There are many paradoxes in the Christian life. To understand God and His ways, our earthly senses will confound us ...  He has given the simple things of His spirit to confound the wisdom of this world. To live, we must die.  To receive we must give.  To be first we must become last.  To be forgiven we must forgive. To become rich, we must become poor in spirit. To become full, we must empty ourselves. As John the Baptist said, "I must decrease so that he may increase." To be made free we must become captive to His will. To become useful God, we must be made usable.

Jeremiah 45:5 says. "if you seek great things for yourselves, seek them not."  The question is, "Are you fit for the Master's use?" Oswald Chambers said in his devotion for November 1, there is no such thing as a private life for those who identify with the sufferings of Christ. God has made those who follow Christ a thoroughfare for the gospel.  No human being can stand suffering unless Jesus Christ is his identity.  According to Galatians 2:20 Paul by inspiration said, "I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me."

If we're looking for other people to validate us, we'll be frustrated in this life. However, affirmation from others is actually the result of trusting in the Lord and not ourselves.  Proverbs 3 says, "So shall you find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man."  Our appreciation and validation from God is what really matters. If you try to follow Jesus the secular world will call you impractical and illogical. To listen to the voice of God is to forsake the voice of this lawless world. The question is, "Are you willing to trust and obey God?"  We do not know the end from the beginning, but God does. It's a hard lesson to learn that God is in control, not us. Are we willing for God to "call an audible" at the line of scrimmage of life?  

Paul said, "that I may know Jesus and the fellowship of His suffering and the power of His resurrection, being conformed to the fellowship of His death." When we morally fall, God will allow a brother or sister in Christ to come along side to lift us up through reproof and correction. Biblical correction means to restore us to an upright position. A man or woman of God who is ready to repent will rejoice in reproof and correction.  The Old Testament Law of sin and death was given so that we can understand that in my own power, I'm destined to fail, and most-likely already have … many times.  However, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death, if we truly repent and genuinely believe in saving faith. Many people mistake two things for saving faith: Saving faith is not mere head knowledge, like believing certain historical facts. The Bible says that the devil believes there is one God, so believing that there is one God is not saving faith. Saving faith is also not mere temporal faith, that is, trusting God for temporary crises such as financial, family, or physical needs. Now these are good, and you should trust Christ for these, but they are not saving faith! Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. It means resting upon Christ alone and what He has done rather than in what you or I have done to get us into Heaven. Acts 16:31 says; “Believe (trust) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved”.

Let's continue Michael's message on being "Fit" in the next post.
In Christ, Brian