"Occupy till I come!"

(Luke 19:13) “...Occupy until I come.”

This is the instruction to all of God’s disciples! Although we will not be judged for sin we will however be judged on this; how have we occupied with what God has given us! Remember the parable of the talents! Not all achieve their intended objective. Without now being overly wise and dissecting that portion of scripture, why that individual failed and was cast into outer darkness, it is obvious he was never saved, but that is not what the parable teachers. It emphasises they were given an opportunity to take what they had been given, different talents and to be found faithful with whatever the individual had been given. All where instructed to use their talent or talents and to make a profit! What is so encouraging is that all who are found faithful in what they were given were entitled to enter into His rest. Some are given more and others less, the point however is not how much you have been given but what you have done with what we have been given. Let us fasten our gaze on what the text teachers; I want us to learn from the parable; even now I want to learn from this parable with God the Holy Spirit as the overseer to the lesson. As I know I lack in this area of my life. Many things along the way have had their part to play, sin the forerunner! But on every side and every corner there is a lure to take our eyes off the ball and to hinder our progress, which is “to occupy until He comes”! What is the purpose of parables? To teach us to be God-centred and not man-centred, I am so far off the mark in this area of my life that it hurts to think how selfish I actual am! May God forgive me and help me change my lifestyle in this area of my life. This is the lesson from this parable; instead of singling out others let me reflect inward and examine myself against this parable as I would encourage you to do the same. But as a maths equation has a formula in reaching the correct answer, we must also understand that if we appropriate the wrong dimension to our understanding of how to achieve a God-centred mindset, we will fail! We must be found faithful to this truth! I would like us to consider this thought; “that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirits is spirit!” (John 3:6)

The Lord makes a distinctive statement, differentiating between flesh and spirit, He highlights this very clearly. It is important we unmistakably understand this; it would be rather difficult to speak with our ears and listen with our mouths. No! It would be impossible! Likewise is we try and walk in the spirit by the weakness of the flesh that will also be impossible. It is like oil and water that do not mix; they cannot change their properties without introducing other chemicals. If we remember and realise that God designed the human body, and He has arranged it as He has pleased. We have had absolutely no say in the matter as the created. We may affect our appearance as life progresses, some become obsessed with health and fitness while others end up lethargic and some even obese! What we do with what we have been given varies from person to person. It is no different to the talent God has given each of His children. I say children, because unless you are "born again" we are still dead in your trespasses and sins and spiritually we are incapable of being God-centred. Everything we do even though it may have an appearance of godliness will nevertheless be man-centred. How can I say that? The bible clearly teachers this; Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) 

Without a spiritual awakening we will always reason with human intellect and the next verse proves this; “Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

The point we must seize with clarity is this; “that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit.” But until our spirits are awakened to this truth we will remain in darkness. The difficulty we face after we have been saved and our spiritual eyes are opened, although we have now begin our journey in the spirit, we often and I am no different to most, forget this truth and we try to achieve a God-centred mindset by the flesh. All that really means is although we have begun in the spirit we try and find perfection in and through the flesh, humanism creeps in once again and robs us of our victory. It prevent us from glorifying God and his grace alone, we begin to think we can somehow do it in our strength. I do not believe we purposefully set out to walk with this mindset, but it often happens. The apostle Paul has this to say; “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain?” (Galatians 3:1-4)

It is imperative if we are to “occupy until He comes”, that we embrace the finished work of cross, that we remember from whence we have fallen. But we must understand, “That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit”. In order for us to be found faithful with the talent or talents we have been given, we must walk in the spirit! How do we walk in the spirit? We must feed the spirit! How do we feed the spirit? We give as much time as possible to it! All day and every day, we must be consciously aware of who we are feeding, our old man and their natures or the new man and the Christ in us. I have a confession to make; my life has been found wanting and I ask for your forgiveness Father, help me on a daily basis to remember to put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6:13-17). It is one thing to wake up and remember to spend time with you, but as soon as the clock strikes 9, then I somewhat feel that I have done my bit, I have been wrong and I repent of my sin. Help me “occupy until He comes” and I pray help all who fear and love you achieve this as tough times are on the horizon. How will we stand if we still reason as men? We have every good gift available to us and only because of our great Saviour, your glorious Son! Help us be faithful to seek out the weapons that will help us stand in the time of trial, I ask this for your glory and in the name of the only true Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Signing off

Tyrone