The famous American author, Mark Twain, once remarked: “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”1 While Mark Twain was not a Christian, he did believe in an impersonal God. He didn’t believe that the Bible was an inspired book by God yet he, like many other non-believers, understood the Scriptures had a uniqueness to them.
I think that all of us, who call ourselves Christians, can relate to Twain’s statement in that obeying the Word is often not an easy thing to do. Obedience to the Scriptures requires a life of sacrifice, denial of fleshly desires, and the daily practice of Christian disciplines such as reading the Bible, personal devotions, and prayer. Yet obedience to what we know from the Word is essential to sanctification and growing in holiness.
Once we come to the Lord we are considered positionally sanctified. This is a one time event and happens at the moment of salvation. We then spend the rest of our lives working to become more like Jesus. This lifelong process is called progressive sanctification and like positional sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit. Our role is to surrender our whole lives to Christ and become totally dependent on Him for everything. As we yield to Christ in all matters we will find that with Him in total control we can not only become more like Christ but enjoy the entire process and journey.
As we see how wonderful Christ is and experience the amazing blessings of the Christian walk I pray that all of us would grow in our passion to serve Jesus. With this increased passion and zeal, we will find it much easier to walk a life of self-denial and obedience to Christ. In addition, daily Bible reading, personal devotions, and consistent prayer will become more of a joy and not a chore as we continue in total surrender to Jesus.
So often we as Christians say that we need to pray about what God would want us to do, when in reality we already know what He wants us to do and it comes down to a question of obedience not prayer for guidance. But the exciting thing is that when we do obey God’s leading we get blessed in so many ways. We just need to step out in faith and leave the circumstances to God.
On a personal note, the discipline I need to write this daily blog has become easier and easier as I grow in grace and realize that this is an important ministry the Lord has given me. In addition, my prayer life has become more disciplined and joyful since I started about nine months ago to develop a written daily prayer list that I pray over every day. In fact, if anyone reading my devotions has any specific prayer requests, please forward them to me. I would love to pray for you. You can email me at curt717@yahoo.com
I believe that discipline and joy can become delightful friends as we fall more in love with Jesus. Yes, the Christian walk is not easy but as we journey with Christ the joy we can experience is truly amazing! Self-discipline, self-denial, and obedience are not popular words in our society but for the Christian they are the pathway to the abundant joyful life that awaits us now as well as in eternity!
1 Mark Twain – It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I… (brainyquote.com)