John 1:12 “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.” I am called to sonship. God has changed my worm-like nature to the nature of His Son! Hallelujah!
Let us give God the ascendancy and glory/credit for what He has accomplished through, and in, our lives. “For in Him we live and move and have our being,” Acts17:28. We can do nothing apart from the Lord giving us breath and ability.
It is right for me to give honour where it is due to others, to praise and encourage, but it is wrong to take that credit to myself, instead of recognising that God is the Enabler. His grace and power in me enables me.
The credit is all God’s. Romans 11:36 declares, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him ARE ALL THINGS, to whom be glory for ever.” What can you, or I add to that? Nothing! It is complete. The wonder of this great mystery is that this divine completion lives within me in the form of God’s Son, when I am “born again” by His Holy Spirit.
A recipe for spiritual tragedy is not giving God the glory due to Him. A foundational building block of spiritual life is as John the Baptist put it, ” He must increase, I must decrease.” So often a divine blessing becomes a stumbling block to the person and others, when the due glory is not given back to God, but kept to themselves in pride.
If I do not recognise the source of my abilities and give God the credit, then He withdraws the grace from my life. In Ezekiel 36:26 – 31 the Lord promises His people to replace their stony hearts with new ones of flesh, increase their crop yields of field and orchards to replace famine, to rebuild and inhabit ruined cities…..BUT……here the Lord gives a stern warning that in the times of great blessing, NOT TO FORGET where He has brought us from and delivered us out of.
God recognises the danger in great blessing that we often fail to see. It is easy to become complacent with, and even take for granted His blessings, becoming careless with our stewardship of His provision.
In our ever changing world, secular organisations require qualified employees to take Refresher Courses, to remind and update their memories to all important procedures and requirements relative to their particular field. This is done for the safety and benefit of the company and it’s employees.
So it is with us Christians. We need a “Refresher Course” occasionally. It is healthy to “take stock”. God’s warnings, (Ezekiel 36:31), are for our greatest good and spiritual health. It is vital that we do not become complacent and sloppy with this great treasure God has given us, the life of His Son! May this truth sink into the very depths of my being and become the fabric of my everyday life: Christ in me produces the hope of God receiving the glory for His work in, and through my life.
God enabled B. Rhodes to pen the words to the great and well known hymn; “My heart and voice I raise, to sing Messiah’s praise……” The last verse proclaims:
Hail, Saviour, Prince of Peace,
Thy kingdom shall increase,
TILL ALL THE WORLD THY GLORY SEE…….
Where will this great kingdom increase? The Kingdom of God is within us when we are “born again” of His Spirit. As we yield to, and are led by, the Holy Spirit the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” will come forth in us as we lose our identity in Him. God’s glory will be manifest through us……….LIVING EPISTLES – to the glory of God!….for His divine purposes.
THINE IS THE GLORY!
