The Daily Word of Righteousness

Preparing To Appear With Christ, #4

Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16—NIV)

Therefore every characteristic of the Servant necessary for the performing of the tasks God has assigned must become true of us now. We will not be given the power now because we are not prepared to handle such awesome responsibility. But we must be made ready to receive the fullness of Divine authority and power so we can rule with Jesus Christ.

We must learn obedience. We must form the habit of looking to the Lord Jesus for every decision we make throughout the day. From the moment we arise in the morning we are to be calling on the Lord to help us in every choice set before us, from putting on our clothes, to what we eat, to the balance between stress and relaxation, to what time to go to bed at night. Absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing!—is to be left to chance. Little by little we must bring every aspect of our personality and every thought we think into obedience to Christ.

How many times we have condemned people, only to find out later we were mistaken in our judgment. If we had asked the Lord He would have enabled us to judge righteous judgment. And so in every area of life.

Every saint who appears with Jesus Christ will have learned to abide in Him, to obey Him in every detail. It is vain to speak of our appearing with Christ if He has not become our very life. It is not going to happen by grace, mercy, or God's love. Either we are living in Christ or we are not. If He is not our life we will not appear with Him.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4—NIV)

It seems to me that the Spirit of God is placing great emphasis on preparing us for the Lord's appearing, so His coming must be close at hand.

Are we just and upright ourselves? If not, how could we bring justice to the nations? Now is the time for us to come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain the wisdom and power necessary for transforming us into Christ's image in the area of justice and uprightness of personality.

He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. (Isaiah 42;2—NIV)

When I first was saved I was advised that every Christian is to "burn out for Christ." We are to accost everyone and tell him or her about Jesus. God is waiting in Heaven to see if we will go out and rescue souls from Hell. I never found this exhortation in the New Testament, but this was what I was taught nevertheless.

Being a conscientious person I was much troubled by this. I could hardly eat my lunch thinking that I was wasting time while everyone was going to Hell.

To be continued.