The Knowledge of Evil

When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they got their first taste of knowing personally what evil is.  Human history is the story of each of person getting a taste for evil and paying the price for this taste in pain, misery and death.

When Jesus came as the last Adam He was born with no taste for evil and never tasted evil when tempted.   With no taste for evil He became the bread of life we now eat to rid ourselves of our own taste for evil.  As we eat from Jesus’ holy life day by day we lose our taste for evil and begin to live only to love with Him.

The first Adam introduced us to the taste of evil. The last Adam takes away our taste for evil one day at a time.   Eating from the bread of life day by day we will lose forever our taste for evil.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Is Jesus Enough?

Is Jesus Enough?

Each generation and each person must answer the question “Is Jesus Enough?.” It may inspire us to know that others felt He was enough in the past.  Even so, we must know He is  enough right now.

Consider this inspired statement written by the Apostle Paul nearly 2000 years ago.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.  And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”  Colossians 1:15-20
The Spirit of God inspired the Apostle to know Jesus was enough in his day.  Day by day the Apostle answered this question with a resounding “Yes!.” The same Spirit will inspire you to know He is enough today.  Ask and you will know.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

Only By Death

"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell."

Matthew 5:29-30
 

God does not want you to sacrifice your body one piece at a time. What He is after is the alignment of your will to His 100% of the time.

They way we use our eyes and our hands is a public demonstration of just how out of alignment we are. This becomes so obvious to us that we grow deeply offended at our own state and we get frustrated enough to even consider cutting off that part of us which offends us and God.

What Jesus is pointing us toward with this shocking illustration is not a part by part process for human reform.  He is saying that nothing less than public, permanent death can end the battle of our will and God’s will. To live His will we must be willing to see our will publicly die and His will publicly live.

Fortunately for us this death of the human will already took place and all we have to do each day is believe we have already died and are now living God’s will in Jesus.

Paul put it like this in Galatians 2:20:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

The Christian life is not a piece by piece, part by part human sacrifice.

It is a once and for all death and ressurrection in Christ. Can you see this?

Your death with Christ on Calvary should be as clear as it would be to you to look down and see where one of your hands was cut off because it offended you and God. If Jesus’ death is not that clear to you, look again to the Cross and see not just His public death but yours.

Now seeing yourself dead to sin and alive to God, live the will of God in union with Christ who lives in you day by day.

 

Bud McCord

Abide International

A Plan For Peace

 

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You."
Isaiah 26:3

“Whatever gets your attention gets you.”   This simple statement carries a tremendous power because it is true for all of us.  There is nothing more important to evaluate in our lives than what gets most of our attention.

Attention  becomes even more powerful when attention is combined with trust.   Attention can be mixed with many forces for good or evil, but attention with trust is the greatest of all  human forces.

Giving something or someone one’s attention is one thing.  Giving attention and trust is another much more powerful thing. In fact, there is nothing more precious that we can give to another person than our attention and trust.  

This is why Jesus told people who wanted to do the works of God that they needed to believe on the One He had sent.  To believe is to give one’s attention and trust and this is what God wants us to work at toward Jesus moment by moment.

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them,

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

John 6 :28-29

The single most significant thing I can do to cooperate with God day by day and  be kept in perfect peace by God in the process is to give my undivided attention to God in Christ with growing trust.  The quality of my inner life will be determined by giving my attention with trust to Jesus moment by moment. The quality of my love will also depend on my attention and trust in Jesus.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  John 7:37-38

We cannot really know what a new year may bring to our day to day lives.  What we can know is how to plan our peace for any new year.  We can simply plan on being kept at peace by God as we give Jesus our attention with increasing trust moment by moment and day by day.
Make paying attention to Jesus with increasing trust your plan for being kept in perfect peace at all times this year and every year.
 

Bud McCord

Abide International