Holding Visible Things Loosely

Every week we hear of a brother or sister in Christ who has been robbed while walking the streets of a Brazilian city.  Robberies are now so common that there is  a common wisdom in Brazil for how to be safely robbed.  The wisdom is  “Do not resist”.  This wisdom will save your life because the standard behavior of the thief is “Kill all who resist so others won’t.”

Jesus told His followers these things about resisting certain kinds of people.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Matthew 5:38-42

Was Jesus predicting situations like robberies in modern Brazilian cities?  At first glance the “don’t resist” wisdom of Brazil sounds a little like Jesus’ wisdom.  Upon deeper examination one can see that Jesus’ wisdom is not about survival or avoiding pain , it is about holding tightly to love instead of less important things.

Jesus wants His disciples to value love over survival and material things.  He also wants us to hang on tightly to Him and to love and to hold loosely everything else.

The Apostle Paul gave the early Christians this wisdom.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things  which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things  which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  II Corin. 4:16-18

As disciples we need to understand that all visible things are in decay and any strategy to hold on to them tightly is not wise in Brazil or anywhere else.  On the other hand, all invisible things rooted in love are permanent and we must hold tightly to them even if it costs us our visible life to do so.  That is called carrying our cross.

So, here is the Jesus wisdom for all times and all places.
Hold the visible very loosely and hold your love (cross) very tightly.

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Luke 14:27

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Live Jesus Now and Forever

LIVE JESUS NOW AND FORVER

He had to come as He did (miraculous birth)
to be what He was (perfect).

He had to be what He was (perfect)
to do what He did (redeem).

He had to do what He did (redeem)
That you might have what He is (life).

You must have what He is (life)
        to be what He was (perfect).

Major W. Ian Thomas

The Gospel is 100% Jesus.  It is what He did perfectly for you.  It is what He perfectly gave you.  It is what He is perfectly in you.  All of this He perfectly did and perfectly is so you can live Him perfectly for all eternity.

“Jesus is all and is in all”.  Col. 3:11b   All he did, all He gave and all He wants to do forever through you is in you.  You will spend all of eternity receiving, rejoicing in and releasing as love all He is in you right now.

Since you have Jesus you lack nothing to live the Christian life right now. The entire Christian life is Jesus living in you right now.  All the Father expects of you is to live Jesus and all the Spirit will ever inspire you to do is live Jesus.  Live Jesus now and forever.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

A Plan For LIfe

If you had to choose between living your own plans and God’s plan in Christ, what would be your choice?  As simple as this question sounds, it is the essence of our daily struggle as disciples of Jesus.

We must become comfortable with God’s plan in Christ.  We must become comfortable with Jesus’ perfect presence in us as being God’s plan for our life.

We have spent so much time cultivating our own plans that we truly find it strange to stop the continual planning process and rest in the singular plan that is “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

If someone were to ask you what your plan for living this day is, what would you say?  Could you honestly say your plan is to live Jesus?

To become comfortable with this kind of living just take it one day at a time.  Start today by living a plan for life that says  “ For to me to live is Christ.”.   Let living Jesus be your plan and then be ready to move at the speed of Christ.

 

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Equality

From the beginning of our lives we begin to see the many ways that we are different from other people.  In our perceptions about reality we cannot help but find ourselves feeling unequal to some people.

Some are more beautiful than we see ourselves.  Some run faster and jump farther.  Some are taller and seem  able to draw attention to themselves with ease. No matter how beautiful, how athletic or how tall, no one escapes the sense of inequality.

There is one place, however, where inequality is defeated and must bow to Jesus’ perfect presence .  This place of complete equality is described as being  “in Christ.”   To be “in Christ” is to find the one place in our reality where we can completely lay aside all fear of comparison and inequality.

Being “in Christ” is the true Christian mystery and revelation. If the words “in Christ” were truly understood by every disciple the church would once again find  its most beautiful reality and power.

Every time you see the words “in Christ” read them as “I am in eternal spiritual union with Christ.”  Whoever is in this blessed spiritual condition has found the only equality that really matters.  If we could see each other as “in Christ”, we could literally begin to live the mystery  and revelation of Christ in us which is the hope of God’s glory appearing in all of our lives.  Only through this “in Christ” equality can we demonstrate the true power of being the body of Christ in action as one.

Those who would like to create a type of Christianity that begins with those who have spiritual equality and those who do not have the same equality destroy Christianity at its core.  We would all be wise to see every believer from the moment of their new birth as “in Christ”.  Only then we correctly see them as worthy to be considered spiritually equal to us at the core of their being “in Christ.”

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

 

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Good People

"Joe is really good people."

Having someone describe us as "good people" is an old american compliment.   Is it, however, a sign of Christian spirituality to be called "good people"?  Does Jesus in us as our source of spirituality produce a type of human being others would call "good people"?

Sometimes we create a vision of spirituality that measures activities linked to our church calendar, our private devotional time or our evangelistic proficiency.  Unfortunately being simply "good people" doesn't seem to describe much of our spirituality.

If we take a close look at Jesus' spirituality it becomes abundantly clear that He was "good people."  The impression He left wherever He walked was that pure goodness had arrived in human form.  When Jesus says "He who sees Me sees the Father", He was not speaking of His perfect attendance at the synagogue, His private devotional time or His evangelization of people.  He was speaking of the goodness of the Father that was continuously inspiring His goodness day by day.

The spirituality of Jesus was born in the presence of the Father that was abiding in Him moment by moment.  Jesus was "good people" because of the goodness of the Father that was living in Him.  Jesus' visible goodness 24/7 proved that God is good all the time and all the time God is good.

Jesus in us is the source of all of our goodness.  Jesus in us is what makes us "good people".  Jesus in a disciple will always inspire the disciple to be "good people".

Can you imagine Jesus applauding  the spirituality of one of His followers while knowing that His disciple was not "good people" in His neighborhood?  We would do well to be "good people" all the time and all the time be "good people".  "Jesus was "good people" and is "good people" in you right now

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

The Challenge of Genuine Spirituality

Can the spirituality of the early church be ours today?  Yes it can if we accept the challenge of living Jesus' spirituality and not ours. 

 

The great challenge for genuine spirituality in Christians is to move away from attaining spirituality to receiving spirituality.  We must move away from the current personal spirituality paradigms of believing doctrines or creeds, perfecting our personal thought processes, practicing lists of so called Christian principles or living intense church activity.  We must move to the perfect and perfecting spiritual presence of Jesus who abides in every disciple.  We must move toward Jesus in us as the source of all authentic spirituality.  We must live His already perfected spirituality not develop our own over time.

 

When we are in the presence  of people, we are impacted by their presence.  In fact, some people's presence will drive us crazy over time!  Jesus' spiritual presence, on the other hand, spiritually heals us and makes us sane for love over time.  Pursuing a Jesus in us spirituality is not a spiritual therapy we master and then walk on our own.  It learning  to live continuously in the presence of Jesus who is the perfectly Spiritual Person.  He goes with us and is in us until His spirituality is our spirituality and His life is our life.  Jesus in us spirituality is learning to abide in Christ.  It is to go to Jesus alone for spirituality and stay there forever.

 

All who long for a return of a genuine, original Christian spirituality the path to spiritual life will need to move from increasing their own spiritual information or spiritual activity to increasing their awareness of Jesus' spirituality in them and their cooperation with His eternal spiritual life.  

 

Only when the church's primary  concern for believers is seeing Jesus' spirituality formed in every disciple will we see Christianity expressed in spiritual power as it was in the beginning of the church.

 

By the Spirit of Christ in us there is enough genuine spirituality  in us to make us perfectly spiritual.   Our job is to receive and release His spirituality.  He gives it and we live it.

 

Are we up for the challenge to live Jesus' spirituality?  By His Spirit Jesus in us certainly is ready and all we need to do is receive His spirituality moment by moment and release it as fruit.

 

"For to me to live is Christ."  Phil. 1: 21

"It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me."  Gal. 2:20

 

Bud McCord

Abide International14

The Temple and The Sanctuary

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

I Corin. 3:16

Temples and Sanctuaries are not unique to Jews and Christians. All the major religions of the world have holy places where disciples gather to know their source, consider the meaning of their life and seek healing. What is unique to Christians is that we are the Temple and in the center of each of us there is the Sanctuary of God.

As a Christian where do you go so God can show you Himself, to find healing and to see your future? Do you go within? Do you know how to find the Sanctuary at the center of the Temple of God you are? Do you know how to enter into and abide in the presence of the God who dwells in you?

Jesus said: ... nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21

Thomas Kelly said: "A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary."

Major Ian Thomas said: "Relate everything, moment by moment as it arises, to the adequacy of what He is in you, and assume that His adequacy will be operative..."
For much of my Christian life I made my church my Temple and my Bible my Sanctuary. The result of this was a limited intimacy with God and a lack of inner healing.

The Bible never says it is the Sanctuary. The visible church building is certainly no Temple where God now dwells.

Today in the light of the Scriptures and as a part of the visible church I know I am the Temple of God and I know I must enter the inner Sanctuary in me to begin and continue to live in the Spirit of Christ.

This is part of what happens when I quietly enter the Sanctuary in me where I meet the Trinity within.

I enter empty. I leave with abundance. Matthew 5:3
I enter mourning. I leave comforted. Matthew 5:4
I enter releasing control. I leave calm. Matthew 5:5
I enter hungry. I leave satisfied. Matthew 5:6
I enter wanting to be merciful. I leave merciful. Matthew 5:7
I enter with pure intentions. I leave seeing God. Matthew 5:8
I enter wanting peace. I leave as a son of God. Matthew 5:9
I enter persecuted. I leave knowing my future. Matthew 5:10
I enter hated and falsely accused. I leave joyful. Matthew 5:11-12
I enter without meaning. I leave as salt of the world. Matthew 5:13
I enter with a heavy load. I leave as light as light. Matthew 5:14-16

Learning to practice the perpetual return of the soul (mind, emotions and will) into the inner sanctuary is to learn to simply abide in the true Vine. Learning to relate everything moment by moment as it arises to the adequacy of what He is in me is to walk in the Spirit or walk in the light as He is in the light.

Isn't it time you visited the Sanctuary in your spirit and learned to live in the Presence of your God? The Bible tells you where the Sanctuary is and the church should teach you how to enter. Even so, you must enter alone.

Bud McCord

Abide International