Come to Die

One of the questions in the minds of those Paul addressed in Romans was likely, “How do I become righteous so I can be saved?” There are generally two classes of people in the world and both of them are confronted with this question. However, the two groups respond in very different ways but both ways fall short of changing relationship to heaven.

Paul started out in Romans 1 describing one group who openly turn away from God resulting in deeper and grosser open sin being demonstrated in their lives as a result. Then he goes on to describe the second group in Romans 2 who look down their noses at the open sinners and judge them as worthy of God's wrath and punishment while they work very hard to be righteous and good. Paul does not cut them any slack but exposes them as just as much trapped in sin as the ones they piously look down upon. Instead of condoning and giving credit to them for being better people than the open sinners, God magnifies His law and the impossibly stringent requirements to become perfect like Him. In so doing, the awareness of our sinful condition becomes even more obvious. “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase...”

Paul destroys all illusions of being saved by trying to be a good person and comparing ourselves with worse sinners to see how we are making progress. The main difference between the two groups internally is that the first group knows they are sinners and don't even try to get out of their situation while the second group desperately work to please or appease God and make strenuous attempts to force themselves to keep the requirements of God. These are the only two possibilities that exist for any human being born on this planet due to the condition brought about by Adam and Eve's choice in the Garden.

When God shows up in Jesus He does not compliment anyone on their achievements as the second group is hoping for but He magnifies their hopeless condition in order to get them to despair and give up on their own plan for improving their condition. He applies shock treatment to their situation to get them to realize that in reality they are no closer to really being righteous than the open, flagrant sinners that they judge and condemn. He does this so that everyone from both groups will come to see the incredible solution He has provided in Jesus Christ as our new ancestor Who brings a new element of grace into the situation. He introduces the life-changing power of overwhelming grace, a word that describes the mysterious feeling in our heart when we begin to comprehend that almost everything we thought about God has been a lie and that God is exponentially better than we ever dared to hope or believe.

That realization brings us to a crisis of identity. Since all of us have perceived our value based on our performance or the value (or devaluing) messages received from those around us all of our life, we usually find it very difficult to accept God's communications about what He really thinks of us. Satan has accomplished a very effective work of thoroughly saturating us with lies, both about ourselves and about God, that has left us hopelessly incapable of living in the fiery presence of a God of infinite love, passion, full of absolute purity and justice. We are infected with a very real “demonic organism” that Paul sometimes refers to as “the flesh” or “our old self” etc. that hijacks our bodies and minds and keeps us enslaved. The only way out of our predicament is to die to the very thing that has defined our identity all of our life – a very terrifying proposition at the least.

The whole book of Romans is addressing this very situation using various angles and metaphors and stories to illustrate what needs to happen in our hearts and minds to bring us into proper relationship with God so we can live in His presence as we were originally designed and intended to do. It really doesn't matter whether we are coming from one group or the other, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – the very thing that brought Jesus back from the dead. So what are the incentives H uses to get us to move in that direction?

Well, since many of us have grown up only knowing fear as the mainspring of our existence and are mostly unacquainted with love, God has to resort to using that language of fear to get us started moving in His direction for awhile. He does this, not because He wants us to live in fear all of our lives or serve Him from fear, but because at first it is the only language that we can understand and the only message we will respond to. God has to use what we can relate to to lead us to a place where we will adopt the only really effective motivation in relationship with Him – love. In fact, as long as we hang on to fear as a motivation for serving God we are still unfit to safely be exposed to His overwhelming passionate love in His undiluted glory. But at first He does use messages of warning and fear to get us to realize our danger of continuing on in our present condition, either in open rebellion and sin or as deceived religious people trying to impress God enough to save us.

The most difficult transition point between living in our original condition and living a life in Christ is this requirement of death. We are naturally afraid of death in all of its aspects to some degree or another. Death is not just the loss of our physical body's life, it is losing our identity, our control over ourself and our existence and surroundings. It is losing control of our rights and privileges and advantages. Death is an end to life as we know it to be with little assurance outside our intellectual beliefs that there is anything else. Death is the ultimate weapon and threat used by fear to dominate, control and manipulate all of our lives. And yet Paul calls us to come and die if we ever want to experience the power of the resurrection of Christ in our life. It feels insane but there is no other alternative if we believe the Word of God.

To make things seem even worse, Paul says that we end up dying over and over again. He talks a great deal in Romans and his other letters about this issue of dying to sin and to ourself if we want to experience the power of God in our life. It is not a one-time choice that we can get through and then move on to a wonderful life; it is a continual fight that feels like we are fighting in the wrong direction – against ourselves instead of defending ourselves.

But die we must if we are ever to experience with Christ the resurrection-power of the glory of the Father. In fact, everyone must die sooner or later – there is no other alternative. Those who try to hang on to life now will be unprepared for the final exposition of the unveiled glory of God in the day of Judgment (Revealing). Those who surrender to die now as painful as that may be, will become literally part of the body of Christ which fits and empowers them to not just survive in the presence of the Almighty but will literally participate in the display of His glory before all of the amazed universe.

It is now that we live in the most critical time of our lives, the time called probation when, protected by a shield of grace, we are allowed to choose which way we will decide before our destiny is forever sealed and we are locked forever in the results of our present choices. We seldom think about our current life in these terms but it makes it no less true just because we fail to remain aware of the intensity of the time in which we live. “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

God, I am far too resistant and fearful of Your call for me to come and die. I ask You to transform my life through the renewing of my mind and heart and draw me to Yourself, remove my fear and fill me with real truth about You to melt away all my reservations. Implant in me a daily willingness to die so that Jesus can be resurrected in my life and that my spirit may come alive and display Your glory. I am still learning about these things but I want to experience them as well as learn them. Help me to fully identify with the death of Jesus my Savior so that Your glory will cause me to also fully be identified with His resurrection life. All of this is only so that Your glory can be more fully displayed and Your name more fully honored.

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Glory of the Father - Prodigal Son

During the sermon yesterday God gave me a wonderful example of the glory of the Father. The pastor shared with us the story of the prodigal son and I was impressed inwardly that this was part of what I am searching for in relation to understanding what the glory of the Father means. In this story Jesus conveys to our minds and hearts a more accurate picture of the Father's attitude toward sinners. The more clearly we perceive this spirit displayed by the father in this story the more we are attracted to our Father in heaven. I know that the last few times that I really got into this story I was deeply moved, even to tears as I personally felt the power of the love displayed toward the two sons.

One of the common elements that makes this so powerful is the key word “with”. Romans 6:4 says that “we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

“With” brings to my mind the true meaning of the word “joy”. Again, joy is when someone is glad to be with me, who values and cherishes me no matter what is going on, through thick and thin. The father in the story Jesus told displayed an overwhelming desire to be with his sons, and that included the elder son as well. The reason he was so excited about the younger son returning home was that he could once more be with him. And his sadness over the elder son was that even though he had physically been with him, emotionally he had not yet returned “home” to really be with his father and enjoy his love. This father was the embodiment of a person who thrives on joy. And this story I believe sheds a lot of light on Romans 6:4. Luke 15:32 quotes the father as saying “we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live....”

I am reminded of a statement that I learned when I was young that is very appropriate here.

Every true turning to the Lord brings abiding joy into the life. When a sinner yields to the influence of the Holy Spirit, he sees his own guilt and defilement in contrast with the holiness of the great Searcher of hearts. He sees himself condemned as a transgressor. But he is not, because of this, to give way to despair; for his pardon has already been secured. He may rejoice in the sense of sins forgiven, in the love of a pardoning heavenly Father. It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them from sin, and to clothe them with the garments of salvation. {PK 668.3}

The only reason the prodigal son returned home in the first place was not just because he thought he could get a better job there than in the pigpen but because in his deepest heart he knew that his father really cared about him. He decided to bank all of his future on the hope that his father would still want him to be with him even if it was in a diminished relationship of that of a servant. What he didn't realize was the overwhelming intensity of his father's undying passion for him that would swallow him up in the arms of love as soon as he appeared on the horizon. Likewise, “It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them from sin, and to clothe them with the garments of salvation.”

So how does this relate to Romans 6:4? The phrase “as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” describes the “formula” for how we are to live “in Christ” as thriving Christians. I believe that it is crucial to have a deeper understanding, at the heart level, of the attitude of our Father Who is passionate and eager to encircle us in His arms of love just as we are if we are willing to come to Him. He longs to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from sin and clothe us with the righteousness of His own Son.

“As Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father” also tells me that God's passion to be with His own Son (joy) was so powerful that not even death could prevent them from being reunited. At this point we must not forget the verse in 4:25 that inextricably links us in with this event as well. Jesus was “raised because of our justification.” According to this, Jesus could not have been raised if our justification had not been accomplished. So the very fact that Jesus is raised from the dead “through the glory of the Father” proves that we really are justified. And we can not only know that we are justified but can also have the glorious assurance of the very same passion toward us from the Father as He had for Jesus when He raised Him from the dead so they could be reunited in joy. “It is God's glory to encircle sinful, repentant human beings in the arms of His love...”

This is just the beginning my understanding of this part of Romans. Paul goes on to emphasize the importance of being identified with Jesus death if we are to live in the joy of His life. Romans 6-8 address this point over and over. But I will leave that for another time.

Father, I want my heart to really believe the truth about You that I am uncovering here. My head can acknowledge the words but my heart is much slower and often still suspicious of Your feelings toward me. Give me the heart of flesh that You promised in Eze. 36 that can respond and come alive with Your love. Remove my heart of stone and fill me with Your Spirit. I want to feel encircled by Your arms of love, not just theoretically but intensely. I need constant reassurance of how You really think about me to dispel my fears and doubts and replace the hundreds of lies about You that still hide inside of me. Fill me and surround me with Your presence and Your joy – for Your name's sake.

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Glory of the Father

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

For some time now I have been pondering what the significance of this phrase is. That it is vitally important is becoming very clear but the implications seem to be growing more every day. I keep coming back to this phrase and then carry it in the back of my mind as I read the surrounding passages to see how it is connected. It is starting to appear in my mind to be something of a lightening rod, a focal point, a small slit in the wall through which intense beams of light leak into my consciousness alluring me to widen the opening and see more clearly the source from which it comes.

I also sense that I will never come to the end of excavating the significance of this phrase in the context of the book of Romans, but if I am willing to spend some time digging for awhile the rewards may be much more than I expected. It is like a source of light that, if I carry it with me and shine it on other verses they suddenly explode with new life and meaning that I could not see before. Though I have not gone very far with this study I feel that I want to capture in writing what I am beginning to see so far. I will ignore the taunting voices inside warning me of wild speculation and accusing me of pious conceit. I am ready for the adventure of new discoveries with the accompaniment of God's Spirit as I mine the Word.

For starters I decided to look up the original word for “glory” which was not a lot of help. Then I decided to search the Word to see where it is used and to see if that sheds more light on it, especially in the same book. That began to unveil more helpful insights. This is a work in progress, not an exegesis of a finished study, so it may appear a bit rough. I am simply recording in real time what I am learning and observing and the tentative conclusions that I come to.

One aspect of this phrase that alerted me to its importance was the way that it is used to illustrate how we are to live. Throughout this whole chapter (6) the death and resurrection of Christ is used as a parallel to how we are to think and view ourselves and relate to the problem of sin within ourselves. Since this has always been quite confusing to me and difficult to grasp I am very interested in following any clues that will help to clarify my mind in this area. This parallel implies that the more I identify myself with Christ's death the more likely I will experience the power that He experienced in His resurrection. But somehow that resurrection power is realized through the glory of the Father – whatever that means! And whatever that means is vitally important for me to understand if that is in actuality to be my own experience as well. I need to understand what is meant by “the glory of the Father”, especially since it is the very means by which Jesus was wakened from death and is the same means by which I am empowered to live a new life. I am not ready to settle for simplistic pat answers on this; I want to get closer to the bottom of this truth and feel the difference it will make in my own life.

Inherent in arriving at a correct understanding of this phrase is a more accurate concept of what the Father is really like, a better picture of God than most are familiar with. For whatever this “glory” is, it has a great deal to do with who God is and what He is like.

I have been seeking a better understanding of the word glory for many years now. I realized that the typical idea of a bright, physical light emanating from a powerful, supernatural being was far too limited to be a correct understanding of this word. While it may include that idea, it has to be much more than simply a bright light. It also is much more than raw power, which too many have become addicted to in their craving for spiritual control.

Glory, I have come to understand, has much more to do with the all-around influence emanating from what a person is like, their personality as well as their characteristics and preferences. We generally sense that the more attractive a person is the more glory they have. In fact, the very act of glorifying someone is to ascribe honor and affection and adulation toward them, to express our attraction to what they represent to us. If we step back just slightly from the intensity of the crowd at, say, an American Idol show and objectively consider what is going on in the minds and hearts of the adoring fans, we can observe that they are pouring out praise and intense feelings that even enter into the arena of worship for those on the stage who make them feel good inside. Their feelings of synchronization with the performers, the perfection of the music along with how much the performer expresses what seems inexpressible in the hearts of the listeners causes them to literally give glory to the people who represent them through their superior talents. It may well be that we might be able to learn a great deal about the idea of glory if we can objectively analyze how it is expressed even in wrong settings.

The reason it may be much easier to unveil the meanings of glory in these settings more clearly than in correct worship of God is that there is so little real worship of God around us to observe. There is a great deal of glory-giving going on that passes off as God-worship but too often it is just a religious label covering over more people-worship in the guise of glorifying God. If the truth be known, most of us are too often more fond of our forms and styles of worship than we are of God Himself. We use God's name and try to say all the right spiritual-sounding things, but when the symptoms in our lives are carefully analyzed we would have to admit that we are more protective of our “form” of worship than we are of our vital relationship with God Himself.

I want to take the time to check out all the references to “glory” in the book of Romans and see how their may be linked to each other. In my mind it seems like they might be like a giant organism that grows under the surface with deep roots that is only visible when it produces another visible growth above ground. This visible point may be each time the word “glory” appears in the text. Maybe that is not the case, but for now I am going to go with it and see what emerges from that line of thought. It is a study that will take a number of postings to cover and maybe even days or weeks to explore so I will not attempt to tackle it all at once. Any thoughts, suggestions and feed-back is much appreciated.

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Disilluionment

I have been noticing over the past few weeks how much God is teaching me about myself, about life and about reality through the traumatic experience that I was forced to pass through a few weeks ago that ripped apart part of my family. As I read My Utmost today that became very clear to me again. It seemed that this reading was written specifically for me and my heart needs to absorb it much more fully.

Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgments in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgment of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they really are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea.

The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way—if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and every rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being what he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone. (Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : July 30)

This first disillusionment spoken of here perfectly describes all too well the spirit of the person who wounded me recently. Of course, my great temptation was to respond in kind with a spirit of self-defensiveness and fault-finding. I struggled very hard to not indulge in that spirit but I was not completely successful I am sad to say. I realize that because of the symptoms that betray me – the symptoms of bitterness and suspicion. I certainly experienced disillusionment myself through this experience and to some extent that was necessary to correct my faulty thinking about what it means to trust and love those around me.

What became very clear to me in this passage was the underlying reason why this other person did what they did and continue to do toward me. Their former view of me was based on an idealistic expectation of what they wanted to think about me as “delightful and fine”. When they realized that I was not completely perfect and they were demanding of a human being what I could never give them, that disillusionment left them cynical and unkindly severe in their judgment of me; their opinion of me switched from delightful and fine to mean and dastardly. They realized somewhere inside themself that I could not satisfy the aching abyss of their heart and so they became very bitter and suspicious of me.

This was very painful and even confusing to me for some time until I began to understand what was really going on underneath and see the bigger picture. I still love this person very much and want to relate to them in a spirit of forgiveness and kindness. Right now, because our communication has been cut off by them, I can only pray for them and trust the goodness of God's heart to work in their life to mature them, bring about healing and draw them to Himself in love. I pray that God will give both them and myself a spirit of forgiveness and humility and compassion and reconciliation.

As for me, I have certainly experienced a great deal of disillusionment myself through this experience. Upon reading this passage today I realize that this disillusionment can be a very positive growing experience for me if I will learn to become more like Jesus in the way I relate in trust to other people. I have been learning very important things about this topic repeatedly listening to Clarissa Worley's sermons which have greatly helped to clarify these issues. This reading today solidly confirms many of those things even more and I feel God pressing me to more thoroughly absorb these truths so that I can reflect the attitude of Jesus more accurately.

There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why Our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man was so perfect that He despaired of no one.

I now see that I too need to receive the severe words of Jesus about my relationships. While my family needs to be high in my priority, if I allow trust for anyone in my heart that is not based on loyalty to Jesus first then I am set up for another disaster. I need to learn to trust my heart only to God and with those in whom I see the spirit of God actively accomplishing His will. But at the same time, my choice not to trust my heart to someone should never produce a spirit of suspicion or bitterness. I too need to remember that no human can satisfy the emptiness of my heart. Only Jesus can fill the void inside of me that demands attention and I need to correctly configure the doors and windows of my heart to only receive life from the Source of real life.

I choose to rest in confidence in God's grace and what He can and wants to do, not only for me but for those who have deeply hurt me. I am sure that I too have been a source of deep pain for others, either intentionally, or far more often quite unintentionally. To expect some human to fill my needs is to make them a false god for me. To lead someone else to look to me to fill their emptiness is to set myself up as a false god for them which will only result in judgments, recriminations and bitter disillusionment. “There is only one Being Who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Jesus, please come to these people in my life who are hurting so deeply right now with a spirit of bitterness and vindictiveness toward me and bring the light of Your truth and love to their hearts. Melt away their fear and defensiveness and show them the truth about You that they cannot feel right now. You are the God of reconciliation so I ask You and give You permission to do whatever it takes to bring honor to Your name in this situation. Teach me to always make loyalty to You first in all of my relationships and to receive life and satisfaction first and foremost from Your heart. I trust You in this matter and rest in Your plans for my family. You gave me assurance this morning of Your promise in Isa. 43:5,6 that You will bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Your heart is towards us and Your desire is to bond us together with cords of love that can never be broken. Glorify Your name in my life today and over the coming weeks and months. Thank-you for Your word and Your power to save and redeem. I praise You and rest in You.

Living in the Present

Today's reading in My Utmost stayed in my mind during the day and grew deeper as I thought about it and then talked about it with a friend. It ties in very much to what I have been learning and sometimes expressing about the relationship of the presence of God to our learning to live in the present moment in peace of mind. Let me explain more after reviewing what Oswald Chambers had to share.

We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.

What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process—that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.

God’s training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.

God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present; but if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious. (Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest July 28)

The more I thought about this in relation to many of the things I have been learning over the past few years the more sense this made. From a sinful, human perspective we are used to living in a culture of goals and objectives and jobs that we intend to reach, achieve and accomplish. In the process of living this way and being motivated by society around us with this kind of thinking we come to believe that satisfaction and contentment will be realized when we reach our goals. How many times do we find ourselves saying things like, “When I get married...”, “When I graduate then...”, “When I get enough money...” and any other endless number of goals and desires we have for our life. But what we often overlook is that this kind of thinking usually robs us of the ability to face and enjoy the present moment as we experience it. We have this same kind of thinking in our religious lives that simply reflects our humanistic point of view of reality. We expect to do great things for God, put a lot of emphasis on the numbers of souls won (to our point of view), give great praise and notoriety to the accomplishments of missionaries and “successful” preachers, and the list goes on.

But it does not take too long in living life to begin to realize that reaching many of these goals often leaves us with a subtle or not so subtle feeling of disappointment when the immense feeling of satisfaction and release that we were inwardly expecting does not fully materialize. I think this phenomena explains a great deal of the problems that occur right after things like graduations, proms, and all sorts of other achievement-oriented events that are too often followed by drunkenness, immorality or other attempts to achieve pleasure and find satisfaction. This is often because after the accolades are over we come to the realization that we are still the same person and life must go on from here. What we have not really learned in all of our goal-oriented lifestyle is how to live well in the present moment, each moment, with joy and satisfaction and peace that produces a deep sense of thriving and ongoing excitement about being alive.

If I think about this from what God may see instead of our human viewpoint it seems to me like maybe God is not hardly interested at all in achieving goals and job-oriented living. That is because quantifying life into packets labeled as jobs or carefully segmented time periods of education etc. means that each one of these segments has an end. From heaven's perspective things that have an end can look an awful lot like death, which has no place in heaven's order of living. Therefore, in a sense, when we finish a job or four years of schooling or whatever other segmented goal we use to partition our lives with, we are in a way coming to the death of that part of our lives. Unfortunately too often at that point we are still no more practiced in how to really live life in the present at these preset times of “death” and so they become something like frustrating celebrations of futility.

We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.

As I try to see life from heaven's perspective it makes much more sense that God is very interested in training us how to live in the present moment every moment with the right perspective and the right skills learned to live in healthy relationships with those around us. This is because we are designed to live forever, an eternity of being more and more fully alive with no endpoints – ever! So to prepare us for that very different kind of life-mentality God is trying to teach us what it looks like to live with a view of how to live a continuous-type of life instead of a goal-reaching kind of life that we label as “success”.

His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God.... His end is the process—that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.

I see now more clearly that God's desire for me is to learn how to be fully alive and live constantly in the awareness of His presence and His love for me. That is the real backdrop that empowers me to be able to remain calm and unperplexed no matter what is going on around me. It is learning to listen to the very quiet voice of God in my heart and mind with a spirit of instant obedience. This requires tuning out the other noisy interference that normally drowns out or numbs my ability to hear and feel His gentle promptings.

God’s training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.

God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present; but if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

This is the most important training that we have in this life because it is this skill that prepares us to live not only “successfully” in any sort of circumstance in this life but prepares us to become a very intimate and real part of the fully assembled body of Christ when it is fully revealed in the day of Judgment. For His body will be composed of those who have learned to live in the immediate present, drawing their identity and life from their sense of the presence of God in that immediate present and experiencing through their sacrifice of obedience the preciousness of life in the immediate present/Presence.