An Empty Self

To be truly free of insecurity and pressures that draw our hearts and attention to the empty lure of this world, Christ must live in us. In order for Christ to live in us, we must be crucified with Him. Raised to new life in Him. Then, and only then, can we live a crucified life. To live – to be free – we must die. Not literally, of course. It’s the death of our old self, the one that didn’t know Jesus as Savior. It’s the death of our will and our flesh, along with old ways and thoughts, lies we’ve been told, misconceptions we’ve believed, ways we’ve always done things.

 

It is Philippians 2:1-8:

 

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

 

The key to it all is having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, which begs the question: WHAT IS THE MIND OF CHRIST? We have only to look to this same passage: He made Himself of no reputation. In the Greek, it means He emptied Himself. He did only what the Father told Him to do, and He served, always putting others first.

 

Having the mind of Christ is to sacrifice. To set aside what we want for what others need, like Jesus did in Matthew 14:10-14. He had just learned of the beheading of John the Baptist, and verse thirteen tells us Jesus departed to a deserted place by Himself. Don’t you know He just wanted a moment to Himself? And yet, the multitudes followed Him, and when Jesus saw them, He didn’t respond with exasperation, as I would have. No, verse fourteen tell us, “He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”

 

Do I do that? When I sneak off to the restroom or my bedroom for a moment of peace and quiet and my kids follow, how do I respond? With compassion and ready to minister to them? Or with frustration and anger, thinking only of myself?

 

Jesus set aside offense, as we see in Matthew 26:34-49. Jesus has just explained to Peter that he would deny Him three times when He goes with the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He says to them in verse thirty-eight, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me.” He leaves to pray, and when He comes back, He finds His disciples sleeping. This happens THREE TIMES, and then Judas betrays Him.

Don’t you know Jesus had plenty of justifiable opportunities to be offended? Peter, then the disciples, then Judas. What do I do when people disappoint me, when they don’t do what seems like the simplest, most considerate thing to do? Do I respond like Jesus, with yet another characteristic of the crucified life: forgiveness?

 

In Luke 23:32-34, Jesus is led to the cross with two other criminals. He lived the perfect life. Never sinned. And as they are crucifying Him, He says: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Has anyone done anything worse to me than what Jesus endured? To live the crucified life, I must forgive as He forgave!

 

And become obedient to death. Thy will not mine be done.

 

Again in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing the road to the cross that lay before Him, in verse thirty-nine, Jesus prays: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

 

THAT’S SEEKING JESUS AND HIM CRUCIFIED!

 

When I’m suffering or face certain suffering, am I searching for a way to get myself out of it or am I surrendered to the Father and to His will no matter what?

So we determine not to know anything except Jesus and Him crucified. We do this by living the crucified life. And we live the crucified life by having the same mind that was in Jesus Christ. We seek the Father’s will and obey unto death, death of self, and perhaps one day, literal death. As we do, the chaos in our minds and lives and the things that don’t belong begin to fall away. The slates of our minds and hearts remain clean for the Father’s will.

 

I challenge you to take a blank note card sometime today. On one side write out 1 Corinthians 2:2, and on the other, using just one or two words for each item, write down everything that’s cluttering your mind. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the source of any mental and emotional chaos, and write it down. When you’re done, take a black permanent marker, and as fat and large as you can, write “JUST JESUS” across your list. Now, tape your card your mirror or keep it somewhere you’ll see it all the time. Memorize the verse, and when things start getting stirred up in your head and your emotions, ask yourself: Am I seeking only Jesus and Him crucified in this?

 

In 1 Corinthians 2:4-6, Paul goes on to say:

 

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

 

As we determine to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified, what we say and do will be in demonstration of the Spirit and of power! Our faith won’t be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God! We won’t speak the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age! We won’t live by the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age WHICH IS COMING TO NOTHING!

Lord, transform us into woman who are secure, who know to whom we belong, who desire to belong in the right places for the right reasons, who see through the world’s temptations in order to remain dedicated to heavenly objectives. Let our days be lived full throttle just for You, Jesus, as we become more wholly Yours each day.

 

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Am I Determined?

Continuing from last Thursday (http://shaunawallace.blogspot.com/2012/09/just-jesus.html), anticipation overwhelms me as I long to convey the magnitude of God’s deliverance. The immediate relief He brought to my insecure mind when I read Paul’s words in I Corinthians 2:2: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The practical application I hope will bring relief to you in whatever area you may be struggling.

 

Let’s start by looking at the meaning of know in the Greek. It means “to perceive with any of the senses; to notice, discern, and discover; to turn the eyes, mind, attention to, or observe; to inspect or examine; to look at and behold; to experience; to have an interview with; to get knowledge of and understand; to have regard for one or cherish”(Strong's 1492 www.blueletterbible.com).

So to know Jesus and Him crucified means to perceive, notice, examine, experience, get knowledge of, and cherish Jesus in order that our eyes, mind, and attention are on Jesus ONLY in every circumstance and relationship. It’s making a purposeful decision to make known the cross of Christ in everything we do. It’s seeing things as Jesus sees them, examining things according to how Jesus would examine them, “interviewing” Jesus – in prayer and through His word – and responding as Jesus would respond.

 

In every area of my life, I am beginning to ask myself:

Am I determined to not know anything except Jesus and Him crucified in this area or relationship? Am I making known the cross of Jesus?

 

With my friendships, am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about whether or not we’re being included in weekend gatherings and dinners out, parties or trips or other activities and events?

 

With my book, am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about whether or not people will or won’t buy my book, read my blog, ask me only questions I know how to answer well?

 

With my body – whether it’s my skin, my size and shape, what I eat, what I wear, or whether I exercise – am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about whether or not I’m perfect on the outside?

 

With my family and my extended family, am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about their approval and whether or not I’m the perfect wife, mother, sister, daughter, daughter-in-law, etc.?

 

With my clothing and my home, am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about whether or not I wear the latest and greatest most fashionable clothes or have a magazine-worthy house?

 

With my activities and the things to which I commit my children, am I determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or am I concerned about whether or not my kids are doing the right things to be accepted by the right people in order to have the right future?

 

When there’s chaos, insecurity, worry, over-commitment, difficult relationships, a thorn in your side – ask yourself: Am I determined to know nothing but Jesus and Him crucified?

By simply asking myself this question, the slate of my heart and mind is available for God to pen His will. There’s room to receive answers and guidance from Him. It has caused me to say no, to say yes, to stay the course, to change course abruptly, to set aside what I want for another’s needs, to do the right thing even when it’s hard.

 

To determine to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified is to live the crucified life Paul talks about 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.

 

It is for Christ to live in us.

 

That’s great! But how does that happen? What does the crucified life look like?

 

We have only to look at Jesus. Join me Thursday as we do just that.

Jesus, You are our perfect model. You are all we need to know to live the crucified life that leads to joy and peace. Lead us there as we become more wholly Yours today.

 

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

Crumpled Grave Clothes Litter My Heart

Resurrection Sunday. It is early. I am still. Lord, what do I say? We celebrate Easter with bunnies, baskets, hidden eggs, and squeals of delight, while an empty tomb beckons. An empty tomb. One day a dead body. The next, only burial clothes. One day a fortified cell. Defeat. The next, a symbol of hope. One day the finality of man’s worst punishment. The next, the finality of God’s eternal deliverance.

What is here for me at the mouth of the empty tomb? The resurrected life. Alive in Christ, having died in Him. God shows me: Selfishness cannot live in the face of sacrifice. The dying to self of the crucified life is absolutely necessary for the glory of a resurrected life. What may appear to be a checklist of good works (see Thursday’s blog, “The Crucified Life: Dying to Self”) is but the natural result of a crucified self. But there is nothing natural about it. Not when God sums up the condition of man’s heart as “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Job 17:9). We can honestly say we were born that way. For that, Jesus died. Brutally. Innocently. Without sin. For what we deserve. To pay the eternal penalty we owe for our sin. Every one of us. No exceptions. Jesus’ shed blood is the only verdict that will stand in the heavenly court of law when we stand before a holy God. To put our faith in Jesus as the only source of our salvation, to be saved by grace through faith and nothing else, is to die to self and be raised in new life in Christ. Just like He was. Resurrected from death to eternal life. Yes, eternal life in heaven when we are saved. Guaranteed. Because of one man’s sacrifice. The Son of God.

How do we not see? How do we not fall on our faces in joy and sorrow? How do we not rejoice? How do we not receive the free gift He offers? How do we not respond with the one simple requirement: faith. In Him, and Him alone. How do we not love Him because of His great love for us?

The empty tomb awaits. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Where once our tomb was a place of hopelessness, uncertainty, death, and bondage, in Christ, it is now empty.

Do you see it? When we place our faith in the resurrected Christ, all things are made new. Where there was once sin and destruction, there is now an empty tomb. A place of hope. A new life. In Christ. Where alcoholism once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. We are raised to new life in Christ. Where sexual immorality once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. Only grave clothes. We are raised to a new life in Christ. That old self is no longer there. Where anger and strife once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. We are raised to a new life in Christ.  Where ambition once sealed us in our tomb, it is now empty. Jealousy, envy, and discontentment? Only grave clothes. Eating disorder? Only grave clothes. Hurt, brokenness, unforgiveness, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, broken marriage, broken home, drugs, stealing, murder, homosexuality, hatred, judgment, gossip, unkindness, selfishness, self-seeking, pornography, impure thoughts, vulgar language, coarse jesting? Yes, grave clothes!

In the emptiness of the tomb we find the sobering uselessness all our pursuits for a substitute. The uselessness of the counterfeits Satan offers to distract us from true salvation. True deliverance. True joy. True security. We find that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And as He continues in that verse, “No man comes to the Father but through me.”

Will you come to Jesus? Maybe for the first time. Perhaps, like me, for the fifty millionth time. To find forgiveness. To find peace. To find hope. To find the crumpled up burial clothes of a life once eternally condemned. To find an empty tomb because you’ve been raised up in Christ to a new life where all things are made new.

Are there  burial clothes you need to find crumpled on the bed of your heart? Sins you need to confess? Bondage from which you need to be set free? When you go to the empty tomb, do you find yourself wearing your burial clothes again? Jesus died for it all. He secured victory, once and for all. The sins we’ve committed, are committing, and will commit. It is all on Him. It is only on us to come. And to return. Romans 8:1 assures us, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” We must take responsibility, but condemnation is not ours. Not in Christ.

Thank you, merciful, gracious, heavenly Father for the gift of Your Son. The sacrifice. The empty tomb. The hope. The forgiveness of our sins. Forgive us now, Lord, for the sins we have committed, are committing, and will commit. We stand at the mouth of Jesus’ empty tomb and rejoice. Death is defeated. Eternal life a guarantee for those who put their trust in Jesus. Jesus, we place our faith in You and You alone. Thank you, Lord, for sending the Holy Spirit as our helper. We ask for help now to take responsibility for our obedience. Responsibility to come and to return. May we find grave clothes crumpled in the tombs of our hearts every day as we become more wholly Yours.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His

The Crucified Life: Dying to Self

Laying in bed last night, I tried to imagine Jesus. What He bore. The pain. The humiliation. The suffering. Are those words even adequate? Is it even possible to grasp the magnitude of what He willingly, in love for us and obedience to His Father, submitted to in order to pay the penalty for my sin? Our sin. So that we may be saved. So that we might live a crucified life. Comprehension eludes me. The smallest glimmer of understanding crushes me. At this very time, several thousand years ago, He willingly submitted to the worst man could inflict in order to make God’s best available to you and me. He didn’t want the flogging. The spit in His face. The hateful taunting and humiliation. The nails driven cruelly in His hands and feet. The suffocation. The loneliness. The rejection of His own Father. He knew what was coming. Cried to His Father, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). He longed to be spared the cup of crucifixion to the point of sweating blood. “Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:43-44). But His death was necessary. Our death is necessary, too. Death to self.

The crucified life.

Not my will, but Yours. Obedience.

“Though He (Jesus) was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9). We, too, learn obedience by the things we suffer. Paul said it like this: “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” (Galatians 2:20).

What can I say this Holy Week, this day before Good Friday, that would hold any significance in light of Jesus’ sacrifice? Nothing. My words are totally inadequate. But His aren’t. The word – the lamp unto our feet and light unto our path – illuminates the way to the crucified life. The following scriptures, stepping stones. Leaps, perhaps.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

Leap…

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4).

Leap…

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 (Romans 8:12).

Leap…

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1).

Leap…

Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 5:2).

Leap…

...lay down our lives for the brethren (I John 3:16).

...wives, submit to our husbands as is fitting in the Lord (Colossians 3:18).

…husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:25).

…children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord (Colossians 3:20).

…Fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks (Ephesians 5:3-4).

…owe no one anything except to love one another (Romans 13:8).

…do good and share (Hebrews 13:16).

…give as you purpose in your heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7).

…put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice (Ephesians 4:31).

…judge not, condemn not (Luke 6:37).

…be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). (Even when you’re not asked.)

…be subject to rulers and authorities, obey, and be ready for every good work (Titus 3:1)

…speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men (Titus 3:2).

…continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name (Hebrews 13:15).

…rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Mission impossible? Yes! For me. In my own effort or power. But with God, nothing will be impossible (Luke 1:37). We can do everything through Him who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13), because His grace is sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Why the crucified life?

We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. 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 (2 Corinthians 4:7-5:5, emphasis mine).

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:1-4).

Let us each live a crucified life today as we become more wholly His.

Shauna Wallace

Holy His