LEARNING DAILY

 

2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

 

I have gotten to the point in my daily devotions where King David is writing the Psalms. The writers who put the Bible in chronological order have grouped the Psalms together by theme. In one particular grouping David was writing about being chased by his enemies and who were always after him; they not only threatened him with physical harm but also mocked him, heckled him, slandered him and lied about him. David, at times, even doubted if God was hearing his prayers. Yet during this time of trouble and when doubts occurred, he always reflected on his relations with God. Psalm 13:5-6 reflects this, “But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

 

As we walk the narrow way, Jesus said it would be a difficult way. Like David we face opposition, deception of all sorts, people laugh and mock our belief in Jesus Christ, and we might even lose our job or family and friends because we become different when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior; we become a “new creation”. My wife read a statement to me from a devotional she was reading this morning that stated too many who are “born again” believe they can continue on living their lives as they have lived them before their salvation experience. But that is false thinking, a lie from the enemy. Once we give our lives to Jesus, really give our life to Him, we begin a walk on this narrow way. Remember He pursues us even then, never leaving us to stumble around on our own. No, He guides us and changes us to conform to His image as we walk into His Kingdom to live with Him for eternity. We also help in that change as we pursue Him, as we desire to become who He wants us to be.

 

David faced troubles. He wondered where God was during these times. David had pursued God and had experienced His intervention and deliverance in many situations. His pursuit of God had prepared Him to trust God at all times – even when He seemed to be nowhere around. God wants us to come to the point that our faith is totally in Him, to know without doubt that He can be trusted even as we see trouble and difficulty all around us.

 

When we are “born again”, when we are a new creation, the world’s standard of judgment no longer applies to us. As a new creation we belong to God’s kingdom in which the Holy Spirit rules. That does not mean that at the “moment of accepting Jesus Christ as Savior a person’s lusts, temptations, and worldly thought and desires are gone. We belong to Christ but the those struggles rage on” (DJSB). It is the Holy Spirit who helps us as we walk that narrow way to begin to change so we begin to look more and more like the image of Christ. As we pursue Christ, we come to have knowledge and understanding of how He wants us to live. We are to be holy as He is holy; that does not mean perfect but moving toward perfection. It is only when we walk into heaven that perfection, completion, without blemish, maturity comes.

 

Each of us must be diligent about our pursuit of God! We read/study, meditate on the Word of God. We spend time in prayer, talking to Him about everything because He desires to hear about the times that bring us joy and the times that we have concerns or fears. We spend time thinking about and worshipping Him for who He is and what He has done. It is because of those times when we have pursued Him that we can say with David. “But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.”

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.