SWEEPING AND VITAL QUESTIONS – PART 3 – ‘LIFE WITHOUT BOUNDARIES’
by John Beaumont….
All of the above leads into my sharing things that have been stirring
within me for some time. . . .
Here are some sweeping questions: What is the main purpose for
which the Scriptures were given by inspiration from God? Why has God
deposited eternity within us, provided for our redemption, equipped us for
triumphant godly living through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and
made possible a foretaste of heaven now as well as an assured entrance
there when we leave this life?
I doubt if anyone can fully or even adequately answer these questions
which cover the breadth of eternity and the scope of life without boundaries.
I simply want to paint with a broad brush things I have been pondering,
trusting that they may be a means by which the Lord graciously blesses
each reader.
I am convinced that the main purpose of the Scriptures and also of
God speaking within our individual hearts is first of all to reveal Himself to
us. Who is He? What is his nature? We could make a list: His divine
attributes include perfect love, radiant holiness, absolute wisdom, ultimate
power and abundant, eternal life. You may well want to add other
attributes to these.
God’s love involves His goodness, kindness, mercy and grace, and
also His hatred of all that is of a contrary nature. His holiness involves His
total purity and abhorrence of all that is nasty, evil and sinful.
God’s absolute wisdom spans eternity and is expressed in all that He
has desired, created and formed. That includes you and me! There is no
limit whatever to God’s power, except the limits that He Himself may place
upon it, in harmony with all that He unchangingly is. God’s life is radiating
light, able to reach beyond any boundaries and to dispel and banish
darkness and death.
God always acts in accord with what He is. In this He never changes.
When one contemplates the breadth and depth of God’s wisdom, love and
power – and His desire to exercise all that He is towards and within each
and every one of us, one can but bow in awe, admiration and love before
such an amazing, glorious God. He desires to be all that He is towards
all mankind, even the least, the last and the lost. That certainly
includes you and me.
DO POSSIBILITIES DWARF PRESENT REALITIES?
Even as I write like this I marvel with a tinge of disgust and shame at
the puny and needless issues and boundaries over which fellow believers
contend with one other, manifesting attitudes that are carnal and un Christlike.
Even some who boast of being free are far from living a life without
boundaries.
We are not truly free of anti-eternity boundaries simply because we
abandon some of our old [religious] ways, hypocritical attitudes and
sometimes deadly routines. We only enter into that when we die to self,
take up our cross daily, yield our all to the Lord Jesus and discover the full
reality of life in the Spirit – understanding and entering into a true walk of
vital faith in God.
Limits that God sets for us are for our ultimate good and for His glory.
Man made boundaries restrict, hinder and deprive us of heaven’s best.
HIGHEST PRIORITY AND AMAZING PROVISION
Shouldn’t we all give utmost priority to discovering all that God is, so
that we may begin to understand God’s desire and purpose for our lives?
Both the Scriptures and the indwelling Holy Spirit are given to us in sacred
trust so that we may understand what God is like and, following that, see
that He desires to establish what He is in each one of us.
Just as God is love, so He makes full provision not only that we should
do kind and loving things, but that love becomes an integral part of our own
nature. He intends that we reflect His goodness, kindness, mercy and
grace, and that all we do comes from what we are – by His grace.
A holy God makes possible a cleansing from past sin, and a purifying
of inward motivation, desire and thought. He freely provides us with a
capacity to walk day by day in a continuing cleanness.
By His grace we can know experientially a humble, pure and joyful
walk in the light that keeps us clean from worldly contamination. He would
have us loathe all that is nasty, evil and sinful, not with a ‘holier than thou’
attitude, but realising that ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ We need
to walk with a humility of godly desire, being very aware of our own
weakness and fallibility.
WE NEED GOD’S BEST
Surely you, like me, cannot be content with man’s best effort in
personal living or in the wider spheres of Christ’s building His church . . .
preparing His bride. Over many years I have observed believers as
individuals and as local churches of one kind or another, making choices
and decisions on the basis of human reason, logic, understanding and past
experience. In other words, restrictive boundaries that grieve and limit God
are seen as right and acceptable. I could go on, but just want to think with
you briefly about God’s absolute wisdom.
I grew up believing this way to be the norm for us all. We were not
taught about the inner guidance, inspiration and revelation the Holy Spirit
desires to make known to each of us. Far too many of us worship at the
altar of teaching, learning and knowledge rather than adoring a God
of unimaginable insight and stupendous wisdom which He wants to
exercise on our behalf.
In far too many Christian lives there is a huge discrepancy between
God’s nature and His provision for His people on one hand, and their
standard of living on the other. This ought not so to be! It is an appalling
situation that sorely grieves the Holy Spirit and robs God of the glory He
deserves. It also deprives unbelievers of the vibrant testimony of godly
lives which would clearly point them to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Let’s make no mistake about it, [1] God gives priority to
revealing His heart, character and nature to us. [2] Following that,
He deeply desires that we know and understand that in His
matchless grace He has provided, and does provide for all that is necessary for triumphant godly living. [3] The third thing to
understand is that all that God is and all that God does is vitally
linked with His desire that we live in such a manner that He is
central, and truly reigns in every aspect of our lives.
To be continued…