I read a quote in my morning devotion that hit me right between my eyes:
When our faith becomes obedience to our Savior, then it is true faith, indeed! The difficulty we modern Christians face is not misunderstanding the Bible, but persuading our untamed hearts to accept its plain instruction. Our problem is to get the consent of our world-loving minds to make Jesus Lord in fact, as well as in word.–Tozer
Tozer is the man . . . That one line kills me . . .
“The difficulty we modern Christians face is not misunderstanding the Bible, but persuading our untamed hearts to accept its plain instruction.”
That is so stinking true! I recently finished a book that we’ll be publishing soon centered on helping youth workers be better teachers of the Bible. My take is that discipleship is all about repeated and real encounters with God. The Bible is God’s primary way of revealing Himself to us. Thus, becoming awesome Bible teachers is really helping create for more and better encounters with God. Simple, right?
During the writing of it, I had several moments where I really came face-to-face with this vast chasm that runs through the heart of every Christ-follower . . .
On one side is what we know and what can be known about God and His ways. On the other side is this picture of a real follower of Christ.
The chasm in the middle is where we live our lives. Obedience, which is nothing but conformity to Christ, is the way in which we bridge this gap. It’s the means by which we become and are becoming Christ-followers.
Conformity to Christ, obedience, is Spirit compelled (thank God). But there is the large matter of our wills. As we become disciples and lead others in their personal discipleship journey, let’s keep the image of Christ in front of us. Let’s trust the Spirit to continue His work in bending and shaping us in Christ’s image. But let’s double our own personal diligence in seeking to live as Kingdom citizens, embracing God’s call to holiness and Christ-likeness.
And let’s call others to do the same.
