A clear Instruction!

(Proverbs 12:15) “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

What an amazing contrast between the wise and the foolish. This truth can be witnessed throughout all of scripture, great emphasis is place on the difference extremes in one’s rational and many examples have been used through time to illustrate the point. The wise have peace with God but the foolish often lay licking their wounds. Obviously life is a journey and it is there to teach us to become wise.

Yet in the back of my mind I still seek out an answer for our (my) deliberation, our role in the body of Christ. My friend Malcolm reminded me that after salvation we are baptized into the body of Christ, not that I did not know this, but a reminder is sometimes needed. We are the church and if so we must take up our roles with more urgency.

Interestingly I have been lead to examine the difference between the wise and the fool. Like I have mentioned before I do not believe in co-incidences and neither should you, not if you believe in the sovereignty of God. Everything has been mapped; all we need do is find the path and seek out God’s wisdom for our lives; - “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24) - Anything outside of this must be classed as foolish.

Our journey does however consist of many different categories and I think Paul best explains it; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) – And yes, life is a test, which will help us determine what God’s will is for our lives and we see that our lives consists of what is acceptable, good and perfect. Some facets being more importance than others in our lives…

Where we live and what standing we may have amongst our community would fall under the “acceptable”, whether we drive a car or catch taxis has very little bearing on the perfect will of God. Our financial status has very little relevance on God’s perfect will. All we have been taught by scripture is to owe no man anything, except to love our neighbour as ourselves: - “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:7-8) 

We must grow to understand that any debt is not part of God’s will, this is clear from scripture; The Lord Jesus has paid the debt for our sin in full, by dying of that cruel roman cross, a picture of God’s perfect will. Do we see the principle that should be taken into our lives as we learn to live accordingly? Debt in any form or shape is not the will of God! Now obviously I speak after our old natures, anything to do with sin must be pushed aside, or at least we must will it out of our lives. We must give no opportunity to the flesh if we want to find God’s will for our lives, at times, easier said than done, but nevertheless the truth. We are in fact debtors, not to the flesh, but to the Spirit of God. And yes this is the perfect will of God; can this be proved?-“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"” (Romans 8:12-15) 

What now of our roles in the body of Christ, it is obvious that it is God’s will that we find our place as active members in His church, remembering that we are part of the bride of Christ. What partner in any upcoming marriage is not involved with their partner and the upcoming wedding arrangements? How can it then be any different for us if we are not willing to get involved with other brothers and sisters in Christ? I think we sometimes forget that we are only a piece of the puzzle, one member of His body and that without the other members we are rendered useless. Have you ever seen a nose operating independently of its body? How ridiculous, but I say it is no different if we look to operate independently outside of the body of Christ; - “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1Corinthians 12:18-27)

We must learn to actively take up our role in a local church, wherever we may find ourselves.   

With that said what of my dilemma? I am fully persuaded that God’s perfect will for every believers life is to take up their place in  the body of Christ (the church), but what is one to do if one sees error? Two wrong definitely do not make a right, all it does is compounds the error.

This topic is far from over, until tomorrow then…

Signing off

Tyrone