"Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A
spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the LORD.”
Hos. 5:4
God, out of LOVE, calls us to live a holy life. (1
Thess. 4:7) As we better understand this divine love affair, we are much less
likely to be seduced by “the show”.
“The show”: Society’s theater, where in the masses
blaspheme in matters they don’t understand. Like unreasoning animals their idea
of pleasure is to carouse with eyes full of adultery, mouths full of empty and
boastful words, appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, and enticing the
vulnerable with promises of freedom, while they themselves are slaves of
depravity. (2 Pet. 2:12-14; 18-19)
Yet Gal. 5:1 encourages us:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not
let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!”
People frequently comment on the banner of blessing (vs. a yoke
of slavery) that our family lives under. All we can say is thank you, Lord Jesus. The primary “secret”? ~Amidst inevitable
difficulties of this life, we Cleary’s pray that we each will continually make personal
choices that honor our Lord’s binding covenant with us.
This is a profound concept to understand, but likened to
Jonathan and David’s example of covenant (1 Sam. 18:3-4), we too have exchanged
our identity, our defense, our strength and our very life with Christ.
We exchanged our identity with Christ by choosing to
take off our sin nature and put on His robes of righteousness … His character.
(Jesus clothed Himself in our humanity and took upon Himself the sins of
mankind, past, present and future. Out of LOVE, He paid the ultimate penalty
for our sin --the cross--, and now sits at the right hand of the Father making
continual intercession on our behalf.)
And we’ve exchanged our defense and strength with Christ
by taking off our independent “me-me” life, putting on His armor (Eph. 6:10-18),
then taking on our covenant partner’s (Christ) enemies, with His strength (His
Holy Spirit within us), whilst trusting Him to take on our enemies, both
tangible and intangible.
~Praying this is making sense to you.
The cool thing is that this kind of faith and power is not
limited. Through developing an intimate and trusting relationship with God by
means of studying His Word, prayer, and obediently living out our days in the
joy of His presence (no matter how difficult the circumstances), the flow of
His blessings is limitless.
Living through the power of His love and strength this week, ~Shaun and Betsy
