"...the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." (Col 1:26-29)
Jesus Christ is the mystery hidden from ages past and Christ is indeed in us, the hope of glory. How do I realize this mystery more fully? How do I embody the "mind" of Christ in everything?
I mentioned in my previous post the way in which I see the Spirit empowering us as Jesus' followers. It is all related to living a life of love, and it is only possible if we learn to surrender and empty self (kenosis) in response to God's great love and mercy in Christ Jesus. It is a constantly repeated cycle in our lives as we journey with Jesus. This cycle draws us closer and deeper to Christ-likeness (maturity - "perfect in Christ"). 1) God acts in Christ through the Spirit and we choose whether we respond. This certainly happens when we first experience that grace, but it also happens daily and even in the moments of our lives. God is truly at work in our world (or maybe it's His world). The question is: will we respond? 2) Our response is always surrender (kenosis). This is the heart of what it means to worship God with our all, and it is a response to God's mercy (Rom 12:1-2). 3) The surrendered life is empty and can be filled by the Holy Spirit. We are filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 4) Only empowered by the Spirit can we live the life Christ Jesus has called us to live - a life of love.
"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Eph 5:1-2)
This is what I long to live. I have come to see that it is only possible through the Spirit because love is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). We are to keep in step with the Spirit in order to live this out (Gal 5:25), which necessarily means that we not be full of self (Gal 5:26). Herein lies the glorious and mysterious partnership we share with God: in response to God's love, we empty ourselves (kenosis) and are filled by the Spirit and empowered to live as Christ in the world. This is a life of love in response to love. We learn it as we practice it!
Living a life of love can therefore be synonymous with living a life of worship to God. For that matter, it is also synonymous to living a life of prayer. How are these things different? This is the life God has called us to: to love God with all and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt 22:37-40). This is what a life of worship or a life of prayer looks like. This emptying self in response to God's love and mercy, then, is key to our worship, our love, and our prayer. None of this was designed for us to live apart from one another. We were designed for this life of love/worship/prayer within community. Paul calls us to this surrendered life in response to God's mercy and clearly articulates that we are each to bring our bodies (plural) as "a living sacrifice" (singular) (Rom 12). In other words, we each individually choose to respond to God or not and those of us who surrender in worship to God do so as a singular, corporate, living offering to our worthy God.
Lord Jesus, I surrender to your great love and empty myself. Please take my pride, my titles, my achievements, my failures, my dreams, my fears...my everything. You have constantly, miraculously, overwhelmingly, passionately, extravagantly demonstrated this love over and over in my life. Thank you! Please take this offering and fill me with Your Spirit that I might love as You love. That I might love You well! That I might love my family with this same extravagance with which You love me. That I might love my neighbor, my friends, my fellow Jesus followers, the stranger, the poor, the world as You love them. I recognize that I have no capacity to love like this without the Spirit of Jesus alive (resurrected) in me! Please do this for Your sake - for Your glory! I love You my Lord, my God - Father, Son, and Spirit - always living in loving community together. Let it be! Let it be! Let it be!
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