MOVING BEYOND YOUR FORBEARS IDEAS
24/01/23 13:40
Intelligence matters as does correct knowledge. But what matters more than these is Christ woven into our being. This is incarnation.
Francois Du Toit writes, “Our own thoughts, words, choices, habits and attitudes continue to turn and empower circumstances, events and people, which in turn touch and shape our destiny.” We might summarise this as ‘We will either multiply life or diminish it.’
LIFE-GIVERS
The main aim of our Christ-life is to make us Life-Givers. The new creation that arrived in Christ is the mustard-seed that grows infinite life into half-lives and non-life. Christ our life is all life. Knowledge of good and evil formed religion is bits of life and bits of death. The pure in heart see God because they have entered beyond the veil into total life. Should we have another husband of any kind, the people and circumstances we touch will be diluted of life. Thus we will either dull others’ lives or ignite them.
We are not at liberty to promote ‘another gospel.’ For this reason we side with Jesus who declared that He is life and Paul who promoted the Gospel of Christ our life.
THE WORD IS ALIVE
The Word of God is the person of Jesus Christ. ‘For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ Heb 4.12 NIV. The main referent in this scripture is Christ the Word.
In Adam all are dead. In Christ all are made alive. The preaching, teaching and speech of a person for whom Christ is life is cogent, concise and charged with spirit and life. It’s fair to say that a new covenant person lives a sharper life. But not because they are superior or in some new kind of religious designation. They do what Father and Son are doing because they and Father are one. They are the pointy end of His life where they are.
SPIRIT AND LIFE IS KINGDOM
‘The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life’ John 6.63 NIV.
We can live a culturally defined life as a Christian and achieve modest gains. We can live incarnationally as a daughter/son and be a fountain of exquisite life. There’s a difference between being a nice guy and being a son of God flowing with spirit and life. One is a pleasant chap and the other as Himself is a channel of the life of the trinity.
IN OUR INHERITANCE
This comes to us not because we are superior or have jumped through any hoops but because we believe. Believing the truth is more energising that believing some truth. The truth is that in this age you are an expression of the Christ and an extension of our Father. You are a son.
Francois Du Toit writes, “God is so much bigger than religious or philosophical debates about him; as much as experiencing him is bigger than religion’s most eloquent definition of him. Someone once said: “A man with an encounter is not at the mercy of a man with an argument.” (1)
ALIVE IN HIS LIFE
In religion we are tied to Adam and Moses. In this mindset we will turn life into words and fail to be a word of life as a self.
Should we live in religion we will be living in shared beliefs and arguments. Should Christ be our life we will be incarnated with God and a manifestation of Him. Let’s be clear. Because of Jesus and the achievements of heaven Bob and Hilary are manifestations of the trinity. They may share common understandings. But this is not the essence of them. Christ as them is their essence.
FULLY HUMAN AND FULLY ALIVE
To be human is a great privilege. Better than being a cow or a pig by far. But we can be better than Just human beings. We can be who we are with spirit. Sons and daughters of God – because Christ is in us and is our life and because of this we are the manifestation of Him. This is the Lord’s Table lived.
Being alive in grace and truth matters when we consider that Jesus endured the cross so that we can be 200% alive in spirit and soul, not just 40, 60 or 80 percent. The former is life without limit. The latter is a cripple.
(1) Du Toit, Francois. God Believes in You (Kindle Locations 426-429). Mirror Word Publishing. Kindle Edition.
