That Which Dwelleth In Us
2 John
1:1-4 The elder unto the elect lady and
her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that
have known the truth; (2) For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us,
and shall be with us for ever. (3) Grace be with you, mercy, and peace,
from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in
truth and love. (4) I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy
children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
Consider
our Salvation: God has given to us the gift of eternal life. We sometimes cannot grasp the entirety of eternity,
eternal, and forevermore. Our minds are
finite. We have no apparent ability to
stretch our paradigm (the box of our imagination) to allow such a massive
object within. But we can stretch our
paradigm enough to allow new wonders to abound.
(I
believe our problem is: we were born, we
have seen others born, and we have seen those who have been called into
eternity.) In other words, “we know of a
beginning and an ending.” (Eternity is a
realm of no beginning and no ending. It is,
always has been, and will be forevermore.)
Revelation
1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty.
To those of us who believe that Jesus The Christ is
their Saviour, God has given an eternal existence with Him our Father, and with
His Son Jesus.
John
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
God wants us
to know we have eternal life, and that when we are called into eternity, it
will be with Him in Heaven for eternity.
1 John
5:13 These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
God wants you to know “ye
have eternal life” and know it is “eternal.” For years I fought to grasp the immensity of
eternal, everlasting, and forevermore. (I
finally realized I will never grasp it until I see it, and then it will be
okay.) Until then, I have accepted it by
faith, believing The Word of God.
The
second portion of these verses, “which dwelleth in us” can be
another paradigm problem. (I know that
God, His Son, and The Holy Spirit reside within me.) My body has become “the temple of God
1
Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are
the temple of God
I know that when I accepted Jesus as my Saviour, I did
not feel God installing Himself through The Holy Spirit. Yet, somehow I knew I had changed. (My attitude changed. My thinking changed, and not because my Pastor
told me to change my ways. (He did
indirectly through his preaching, which allowed The Holy Spirit to convict my
heart to change.)
I
imagine many people have a “hard time” believing that their body is “the temple of God
Accepting Jesus creates a new
you. We become new, afresh, something
Godly, a “new creature.”
2 Corinthians
5:17 Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
We are a new
person with the “old you” still a part of us.
We must spiritually feed the “new creature,” otherwise
the “old you” (spirit) will again become dominate.
Colossians
3:7-10 In the which ye also walked some
time, when ye lived in them. (8) But now ye also put off all these; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (9)
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his
deeds; (10) And have put on the new man, which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
We are a “new man.” As we
grow spiritually, all that we were before will begin to fall away. Some people will attempt to tell us that “now
we can do what ever we want.” This is
true. However, as a “new
creature,” and a “new man,” our lives should be following a new
path. What I “want to do” and our “want
to’s” should have changed with our Salvation.
I
no longer want “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication” as a part of my life. I want what God wants me to have.
Galatians
5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23)
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
This is the definition of my “want to’s.” “Have I successfully integrated all 100% into
my life? No, I haven’t. The “old man” rears his
ugly head on occasion. Because of the “old
man,”
I spend much time in my prayer closet repenting for those sins.”
As
Christians, regardless of the days, weeks, months, years of our salvation, we
must walk “a walk” that honours God and His Son Jesus.
Romans
12:1-2 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. (2) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Paul is speaking to Christians, the “brethren.” He lays out for us what we must do. We are to pattern our lives from these
verses. We are “the temple of God
Find
your “reasonable service,” which is whatever Glorifies God. Turn yourself from the “world,” and with
a sincere willingness look to the “renewing of your mind.”
Today
is the day to begin improving your walk with God. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, as tomorrow never
comes. (It becomes today,) and tomorrow could
be too late.
Bro John R. E Chastain
Baptist Evangelist
<www.johnchastain.com>
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