We were made for so much more. Fearfully and wonderfully made, we were created a little lower than the angels in the image of God. God has gone to extraordinary lengths—even the death of His Son—to conform you to His image. And there is much to do.

The great tragedy of life would be to live below your birthright, to miss the highest and best use of your existence. Sadly, most humans do.
The Corinthian Example
In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul gives a stunning passage on the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we are believers, God lives in us! We can understand things that only He understands. We can communicate them in Spirit-driven ways. We can literally have the mind of Christ because of His presence in us.
He follows this with a strong rebuke of the Corinthians.
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
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Everyone who cried out was lifted by God’s lovingkindness. None deserved it. None knew how to receive it. None could have done it themselves. They simply, humbly cried out, and God lovingly, kindly helped them.

One of the richest words used in the Old Testament Hebrew is “hesed” or “chesed,” often translated “lovingkindness.” It is used 250 times in the Old Testament and most often used to describe God Himself. It is defined this way:
LOYAL LOVE: an unfailing kind of love, kindness, or goodness, often used of God’s love that is related to faithfulness to his covenant. Mercy, compassion.
It is not merely love, but loyal love; not merely kindness, but dependable kindness; not merely affection, but affection that has committed itself.
Psalm 107 calls us to “consider the lovingkindness of the Lord” (Vs. 43). Each paragraph illustrates God’s lovingkindness to a different group of people, always people who did not deserve it. See if these describe you right now or have in the past.
The Wandering
Those who “wandered in the wilderness in a desert region … they were hungry and thirsty and their soul fainted within them” (Vs. 4-5).
The Imprisoned
“Those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore He humbled their heart with labor” (Vs. 10-12).
The Foolish
“Fools, because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities” (Vs. 17).
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He knew the depths of his mourning. Now he comes deliberately to him to announce His resurrection. God knows us. He gives us what we need when we need it. Even when we have blown it royally, He reminds us of His resurrected and powerful life—a life we enjoy because He lives in us. 

The Lord had been crucified, and his disciples were left in stunned disbelief. All of their hopes and dreams had been nailed to a cross. They had left everything to follow Him, and now He was dead. Think of the myriad thoughts, questions, and fears filling their minds!

Now, after the resurrection, an angel appears to three ladies as they came to place spices on Jesus’ tomb. He has risen! And they were instructed to go tell the others.

But notice the angel’s precise instructions:

“Go tell the disciples AND PETER…” (Mark 16:7)

Peter had been clearly marked as a leader among the disciples, along with James and John.

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Jesus was not enamored by human recognition. His one desire was to do the will of the Father. And He knew He could not do God’s will if He did not know God’s will. He knew He would have no Divine energy without Divine connection.

But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness (“deserted place”) and pray. Luke 5:15-16)

Everything about Jesus’s lifestyle should be studied and sacred to us. For He not only came to show us the Father but also to show us what a man, rightly related to the Father, must be and do.
Jesus was drawing crowds, which is explainable. But what is not explainable or normal for most men is his practice to “often slip away to the deserted place and pray.” Most leaders of such fame would milk the crowd moments. He would tell us of his busyness and admit he had little time to get away. But not Jesus.
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Want to live an uncomplicated life? Get in the right posture every day (dependence upon God and a humble willingness to follow the promptings of His Spirit and the illumination of His Word). Follow His leadership. God (and His love) will flow through you, and you will fulfill everything He desires. You will be astounded by His love … and so will a watching world.

Years ago, I decided to do a multi-week preaching series through 1 Corinthians 13, the great chapter on love. What I thought would be a simple, short, warm-and-fuzzy series turned into 20 challenging and life-changing messages.
The Opposite of Love Is …
If asked before this series, I would have said the opposite of love is hate. But I discovered that is not true. The opposite of love is selfishness. Love is that “God-quality that always responds in self-sacrifice.” One of the words translated as “love” in the Greek language is the word “eros,” which means self-seeking love. “I will love you if you love me. I will love you for what I get.” But the word used in 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 13 is “agape.” It is used only of God’s love.
His Love in Me
Man’s natural quality apart from God is eros. But if I am a true believer, this “agape” love is in me because Christ is in me. When I defer to His leadership and follow Him, this quality flows out. “The love (agape) of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,” Paul says in Romans 5:5, and the “fruit of the Spirit is love” (Galatians 5:22).
The list of love’s qualities in 1 Corinthians 13 proves agape’s nature.
Love is patient; love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
Study these qualities deeply, and you will discover they all flow from a desire to serve others. Nothing in this is about self; it is always about caring for the other individual more than yourself. This is what God is like.
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Here is the truth: You don’t have to sin anymore! You are no longer a slave to sin as a ruler, but you are a slave to Christ and His grace. You have a choice and a power that you never had. You have been made right because of Christ, and you can use each day for His glory, others’ good, and your growth!

I was once discipling a man who had come to Christ years earlier but had never realized all that had happened to him. Each week he became more excited as he discovered what God had done for him. He told me, “I feel like I received a glorious present years ago, but I am just now unwrapping it!”
If God’s grace has saved you through trust in Him, several astounding, eternal changes have occurred.
A New Position
Your spiritual position before God has forever changed. You were once sinful, condemned, and cut off from the presence of God. You couldn’t do what God desired because you were separated from Him. You were enslaved to sin as a ruling principle.
Now, as Romans 5 describes, you have peace facing God! You can stand in His throne room anytime and are invited there because of the introduction you’ve received through Christ by faith. You now stand in a state of grace, forgiven, uncondemned, and welcomed!
A New Man
But there is more. If you are in Christ, the old man you once were has died. Paul describes this “old man” in Romans 6. Think of the word translated “baptism” in these verses in its original meaning: immersion.
Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism (immersion) 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. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with (literally, rendered powerless), so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. (Romans 6:4–7).
When Christ died on the cross, who you were in your sins was joined to Him. He stood before God on the cross and bore the penalty you should have endured, the righteous judgment of God against sin. This penalty was separation from God and is heard in Christ’s cry on the cross, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” The One who had forever been with God was separated because of our sin.
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The Apostle John says everything in this world was created through Christ (John 1). With that understanding, picture Him in His “workshop” creating the world. See Him “rejoicing always” before the Father and “rejoicing in the world, His earth.” Then, see Christ creating man, the apex of His creation, in the image of God. You will see Him “having (His) delight in the sons of men.”

I am a pastor, but I am also a shade-tree carpenter, like my grandad and dad before me. I don’t spend much time in my shop now, but when I do, I love to create. The things that I make, as crude as they are compared to real carpenters, are delightful to me.

God’s Joy
Did you know that God delights in what He creates? That it brings Him joy? And that includes you?

In Proverbs, Chapter 8, wisdom is personified. But there can be little question that this is the wisdom coming from God and, many believe, a reference to Christ Himself. Notice His joy and delight…

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When we have genuinely made the turn, we don’t live for ourselves anymore. We live for Christ and the others He loves. Our conversation does not orbit us but Him. Our service is not to help yourself but others (with no thought of ourselves). We enter the blessed, liberating state of self-forgetfulness and find the biggest and most joyful life possible.

If there is one word that describes the focus of our lives, it is simply “self.” Dozens of words tag along to this root: selfish, self-absorbed, self-focused, self-inflicted, self-appointed … the list is endless.

A Foundational Secret

Against this litany of words is Christ’s small but staggering statement that is designed to break our myopic view and lift us up to right living.

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

“If you have this desire,” Jesus said, ” if there is something inside of you that longs for a transcendent life above the pettiness of mere humanity and wanton selfishness, then you must stop against yourself.” It is summed up in two words: “Deny yourself.”

A Two-Way Turn

The two words combined are pregnant with meaning. What does this mean?

Bible translations help us with this phrase. “Deny himself (forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests)” (Amplified); “Give up your own way” (NLT); “Let him begin at once to lose sight of himself and his own interests” (Wuest).

Jesus speaks of a determined choice to turn from a selfish, self-consumed life. Do you always think first of how something or someone will affect you? Are you consumed with other’s opinions?

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You shouldn’t be deceived when you become discouraged by how vicious, religious, yet foolish men or women can be. They will always come to a tragic end, for God will not be mocked. A lack of integrity will always be found out.

I have watched my own life and the lives of those around me for 72 years. My particular field of view has been churches and the Christian communities where I’ve ministered.
The church is often, sadly, a microcosm of the world. Many churches contain both wise and foolish men and women. Jesus was the one who declared that there would be both “wheat and tares” even in the church, i.e., people who were genuine believers and those who profess to be believers but are not.
It was the religious but lost people who led the crowd to crucify Jesus because He challenged control of their lives and institutions. If a man has not submitted to Christ (although he professes to be religious), he can be very dangerous and destructive. He is capable of nefarious things while proclaiming his innocence and supposed spirituality.
The End of the Godlessly Religious
The book of Proverbs is filled with contrasts between the wise and the foolish. It tells you exactly what they will do and how they will end.
I have watched small, loud groups of controlling people in many churches. I’m watching one now as they are destroying a church and a good pastor…and they are relentless. And they’re doing it publicly. It is discouraging and disturbing, but it is not the first time.
Most pastors I know (including me) have been on the receiving end of some controlling individuals in a church at some point, particularly when good leaders are trying to bring about needed change. It’s never pretty and is designed by the great Enemy to hinder the gospel and destroy the light of God’s church. What’s particularly disturbing is those in the middle—humble, well-meaning people who get confused by the loud voices of others. And also tragic, is the ammunition a church fight gives to the Enemy as he seeks to keep people in the world away from God and His kingdom.
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