Excerpt from book:
Open Letter to His Majesty and Excellency Christ-Jesus
TRANSFORMATION – Part 2 (Open Letter pages 27-29).
And now, Lord, I would like to print the following lines in red, in bright red color.
The power of life in our blood causes our physical growth from a babe up to a young person, then keeps us living. This process is automatic with only our basic cooperation required – eating, drinking, breathing, walking, sleeping. This power of life in our blood does nothing less – but also NOTHING MORE!
Similarly, the power of Life in the Blood of Christ causes our spiritual growth from a babe up to a young spiritual person, then keeps us living. This process is automatic with only our basic cooperation required – eating, drinking, breathing, walking, sleeping (resting). Now, this power of Life in the Blood of Christ does nothing less – but also NOTHING MORE!!!
Is there something more? O beloved Lord, I wish I could use a bright red ink and write this:
The power of life in our physical blood CANNOT make us wise or foolish, it cannot make us good or bad, it cannot turn us into a tennis player, pianist, athlete, university professor, theologian or anybody else! WE MUST consciously exercise our will and DECIDE to become wise, good, a tennis player, pianist, athlete, university professor, theologian or anybody else! AND THEN, we must be willing TO PAY the price! Then, and only then, we may have a hope to achieve what we decided to become. Our blood keeps supplying the life, for if we are dead we cannot even decide, let alone achieve anything.
Similarly, the power of Life in the Blood of Christ CANNOT make us spiritually wise or foolish, it cannot even make us “good” or “bad” – it CANNOT put off the old man which is rotten and cannot be made good, nor can it put on the new man which is holy and cannot be made bad! It CANNOT turn us into servants of Christ nor to friends of Christ nor yet to the Bride of Christ; it CANNOT make us love Christ nor love one another, it cannot produce our robe of righteousness, it cannot grow within us any spiritual fruit, it CANNOT even cause us to follow Christ after being saved!! (Mt.16:24). WE MUST consciously exercise our will and DECIDE to follow Christ AFTER being saved and AFTER being sufficiently grown up! THEN, we must be willing TO PAY the price of that following! Then, and only then, we may have a hope and faith that Christ Jesus, which You are, will accept our decisions and enable us to follow Him! (Our decision alone is not enough!)
And, yes, Lord, we definitely must be sufficiently grown up, for no toddler and no teenager ever decided to pick up a cross of their own. In fact, very few Christian adults have ever made such a conscious decision.
Now, in the very same way, WE MUST DECIDE … AND PAY … to become wise, to become true servants of Christ … true friends of Christ … true Bride of Christ – in that order; to learn to truly love Christ and one another, to cooperate in producing our own robe of righteousness (Rev.19:8), build up ourselves on the most holy faith that Christ Jesus, which You are, has built within us (Jude 20; Heb.12:2), to grow spiritual fruit of eternal value so that we would not come to You empty-handed. The power of Life in the Blood of Christ keeps supplying the spiritual life, for if we are spiritually dead, we cannot even decide, let alone achieve anything in the spiritual world.
Thank You, Lord, for Your simple but marvellous truth and wisdom, for enabling us to see and understand this truth and wisdom; still, later on, to become that truth and that wisdom and, finally, to perform deeds of that truth and live that truth in that wisdom and power of Your Spirit.
(To be continued)
brother Hanola
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