My Sassy Spellchecker…
I was feeling rather overwhelmed the other day. I began writing to myself… I intended to write, “Lately, I really don’t think I can do it!” But fumbles on the key pad typed “Lately, I really contbthinm I can do it!” Leaping immediately to my rescue my spell check guessed a fix and put “Lately, I really confirm I can do it!”
Don’t you just hate it when your computer puts you in your proper place?
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” writes Paul (Phil. 4:13). For many of us that verse rolls off the lips most easily. In context, a better translation might read “I can do all these things through Christ who strengthens me.” What things? Paul has just listed a few: abasement, abundance, satiety or hunger. But that first one covers a truckload! (See 2 Cor. 11:23-29).
Of course the thing that makes this possible for Paul is that last bit: “through Christ who strengthens me.” Though Paul was in a most severe “lockdown,” (a Roman prison,) and separated from companions, he could never be separated from Christ. Nor can you… if you choose.
This is the truth Elder Don brought to us this past Sunday. “The Lord is with you when you are with Him.” (2 Chron. 15:2). It’s really the one thing we need do most, as Jesus commanded “Abide in Me,” and with it, “I in you” (John 15:4-11). Again, “The Lord is with you when you are with Him.” Hurried life or dull drudgery, this must be our primary aim. Hear Chambers on this,
“We must maintain a position of beholding Him, keeping our lives completely spiritual through and through. Let other things come and go as they will; let other people criticize us as they will; but never allow anything to obscure the life that ‘is hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3). Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him. This is an easy thing to allow, but we must guard against it. The most difficult lesson of the Christian life is learning how to continue ‘beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord….’” – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Abide in Him: He really confirms that together you can do it!
More tomorrow…
To hear Don Longworth’s Sunday message, go to the Facebook page of Lincoln Baptist Church, or link to the livestream from the church website.
thebrokenrunner 