Renewed Every Day
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January 23, 2011 |
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 "I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily." (1 Corinthians 15:31)
We have to be renewed day by day by the works of the Holy Spirit in the Lord. It is true that we cannot be transformed on our own but we can be renewed every day only if God works within us. It is then that we can give glory to God through our renewed life. The apostle Paul, because he was renewed every day and transformed into a man of spirit quickly, could lead countless souls to the path of salvation. We also have to cast off all former manners of life of the old self and be transformed into a man of truth. What can you do in order to be renewed every day and glorify God?
First of all, you must not have ulterior motives.
Even though you are very faithful, you will give a hard time to others as long as you have ulterior motives. Galatians 5:24 says, "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Especially as pastors and church workers, you must not have fleshly affections or desires. They have to consider their flock more precious than their own parents and children. Not just greed, but they have to cast away pride and arrogance, and desires for fame and authority. They must cast away all desire to be recognized and praised.
Those who do not cast away such ulterior motives, even after listening to so many messages, always give excuses to justify their actions. When they promote a particular event or a certain kind of work, they do not consider the opinions, situations and desires of the leaders and church members, but they just do what they see fit. Then, it is difficult for the hearts of the members to be united, and the fruit of their efforts will also be fleshly fruit. Also, when such pastors give testimonies of their flock, they tend to furtively bring attention to themselves. Sometimes, they think that the flock is supposed to serve them because they are pastors. At times they cause difficulties for those who do not serve them.
When you do a certain work or speak a word, check yourself again and again as to whether or not you are trying to reveal your work rather than seeking the will of the Lord. Do you have the desire to benefit others or to possess things, to be served, and to take things for your personal benefit?
Second, you always have to think about the spiritual things.
If you put your mind on the fleshly things, such as eating, drinking, resting, and getting drunk, then your mind will incline towards flesh even more. You won't be able to control yourself feeling you've had enough. You will only seek more and more fleshly things. Just like your thirst will increase when you drink sea water, as you take in fleshly things, your heart will fall towards flesh more and more. Eventually, you will commit sins.
Surprisingly, there are workers who are supposed to have faith, who pray hard and attend all worship services, but yet, they still commit grave works of the flesh. They did not commit such grave sins from the beginning. The problem all began as they accepted small things thinking it was not such a big sin.
To the extent that you allow flesh and fleshly thoughts in your heart, the fullness of the Spirit will go away. If you begin to commit trivial sins, you will have walls of sin between you and God. Your ears will become more dulled to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, and your heart will also become numb. You will eventually commit grave sins leading to death. What you have to harbor and think in your heart until the Lord comes back are spiritual things. You have to think only about spiritual things, such as "How can I arm myself with the Word more? How can I pray more? How can I change more quickly and please God by bearing good fruits in spirit and body?" You will not lose the fullness of the Spirit if you just think of spiritual things and fill your heart with the spiritual things.
Third, you must live a life of obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 says, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams." Many people say they will completely trust God and obey Him when they are full of the Spirit. They say, "I can give my most precious thing to the Lord just like Abraham offered Isaac. I will obey any command of God, even if it doesn't agree with man's thoughts." But in fact, it's not easy to find those workers who really obey. Most people would begin to use various fleshly thoughts if they were in the same situation as Abraham had been. They think, 'God said He would give me descendants through Isaac! Is He changing His promise now?' If you have such thoughts, the fullness of Spirit will fall, and you might even resent or complain against God for commanding you to do such a thing.
If you obey only when you are happy and only when the command is in agreement with your idea, we cannot say you are obeying. You must be able to do anything that God the Father and the Lord want. In order to do that, you must cast away ulterior motives and fleshly thoughts.
Even though you make up your mind to obey, you will show disobedience as long as you have flesh. Using your fleshly thoughts, you disobey even the things that you can surely obey, and yet you give excuses. So many people just obey within their own limits.
For example, when you hear, "Think of spiritual things only," then you respond with 'Amen', and you pray that you will have only spiritual thoughts. But soon, if you have fleshly thoughts following your old habits, you do not cut them off immediately. You immerse yourselves into the thoughts that arise, and you might even take after the flesh following your thoughts. If you stay at the same spot this way, your faith will be on hold and you cannot improve.
The quickest way for you to go into spirit and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit is for you to obey the truth immediately. Only then will God lead your life, the Lord walk with you and you can give glory to God by the help of the Holy Spirit.
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