SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/29/2019
8:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 Christ
Centered
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 4:20
Message of the
verse: “20
But you did not learn Christ in this way,”
Paul states that we did not learn
Christ in this way which is speaking of what was written before this section, a
section that we looked at for several days before coming to this section which
we just began a couple of days ago which we stated is about the new walk, the
walk of the new self.
One of the things that we learned
when we first became a believer should have been is that we cannot trust our
own thinking or we cannot rely on our own way, something Paul speaks of in 2
Corinthians 5:15b where he says “they who live might no longer live for
themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” In 1 Corinthians 2:16b we read “But we have
the mind of Christ.” This tells us that
Christ is the only mind on which we can rely, that is of course talking about
believers. MacArthur writes “The
obedient, faithful Christian is the one for whom Christ thinks, acts, loves,
feels, serves, and lives in every way.
He says with Paul, ‘I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 delivered Himself up
for me’ (Gal. 2:20).”
We
have talked about what Paul wrote to the Philippians in the second chapter of
that letter, and learned that we are to have the same kind of attitude that Christ
had when He came from heaven to earth in order to accomplish what the Father
wanted Him to accomplish, which is providing salvation for all those who will
accept it. Paul writes in that section
from Philippians: “5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to
the point of death, even death on a cross.”
MacArthur adds “If the incarnated Lord sought the mind of His heavenly
Father in everything He did, how much more should we? The mark of the Christian life is to think
like Christ, act like Christ, love like Christ, and in every possible way to be
like Christ—in order that ‘whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together
with Him’ (1 Thess. 5:10).
“God
has a plan of destiny for the universe, and as long as Christ is working in us
He is working out a part of that plan through us. The Christ-centered life is the most
purposeful and meaningful life conceivable—it is part of the divine plan and
work of God.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I realize that there are times when it is
more difficult to be living the Christ-centered life because life is a struggle
and life has difficult challenges that come our way including temptations, for
as long as we as believers live in this body there will be temptations and
challenges that will come.
My Steps of Faith for Today: In the section from Philippians we read that
Christ humbled Himself, and as I have been focusing on humility that caught my
eye. Christ could humble Himself when He
came to earth because He is God, I have to learn humility.
Verse that goes along with the quotation
from John Wesley is Matthew 28:19 which is the “Great Commission.” “"Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit.”
4/29/2019 9:15 AM
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