Tuesday, May 13, 2008

• MILK, COFFEE, OR JESUS

   

   

  Learning About God's Amazing Grace!

   

   

  "Christianity is not an external behavior modification it is an internal heart transformation."
   

  ~Christine Caine

   

  "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

  ~Jesus of Nazareth

   

   

  I stole the quote by Christine Caine from my Xanga daughter Marti .  Go by and visit her sight, I really like her latest post.  

  Yesterday she had the Caine quote posted by itself, but her latest post elaborates on what the quote means to her.   It reminded me of another one of my stories. 

  About 10 years ago I was attending a small Pentecostal church here in my home town.  The pastor of this church always had some very deep spiritual insight, and some of his sermons were pretty cutting edge.  One Sunday he had a bus man's tray (you know the wide, gray colored, low sided tray, busboys carry to clear tables in restaurants), a glass tumbler, a small container of milk, and a pitcher of water.   It was puzzling to say the least.  His message that Sunday centered on the way to be changed was to continually abide with Jesus.  Or as he put it, "You need to hang around the spout where the glory comes out!"   He then placed the empty tumbler in the center of the bus man's tray, he poured a full glass of milk from it's container.   He pointed at the glass full of milk and said, "See it's completely opaque, you can't see through it all."   Then he said, "But if you hang out with Jesus He'll pour of Himself into you, and you'll change!"   Pastor then took the pitcher of water and poured it into the glass.   The water quickly displaced the milk and what was once impossible to see through became clear as....well, water in a glass.  

  I don't know if it's that pastor's original idea or not, but I've always thought he had the right answer.   It is God's grace poured into us which changes us.   It is a life continually lived in God's presence which really changes us.  I've got a great many answers for what ails the sexually broken person, but it's God who makes it all work.   God is the one who takes the knowledge from the head to the heart.  There are lots of people who have the same information I do, but don't benefit from it the way I have.  I'm not better than anyone else, but I learned early on that if I was going to change God was going to have to do the changing in me.  He was going to have to pour his spiritual power into me changing me; conforming me to the image and likeness of Christ.   Change would come, but it came as I walked WITH God, obeying what He told me to do.   I can study the facts and figures until my head grows old and falls off, but it is God who makes it all work in my life. 

  Monday morning at work I was making coffee, and telling the lady who cleaned the furniture store we worked for, about this sermon the day before.   I got so involved telling the story I botched the coffee I was making.   Since the coffee was ruined anyway I thought I'd do the same illustration Pastor had done with the glass of milk, but using the botched pot of coffee.   Don't ask me why, maybe it was the coffee pot's narrow opening and wide body, but the transformation didn't work right.   I took the pot of nearly black water and held it under the running faucet of the sink in the break room.   Even with the water running full blast into the coffee pot the water didn't lighten....I mean it took several long minutes, before anything happened.   I don't know, 3-5 minutes before the water started getting lighter.   It did get lighter and lighter, but my gosh it took FOREVER!!   

  Then it hit me:  God's work in us takes a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time!!   If we will hang in there, and keep walking with God He will change us!   And those changes will be eternal changes.   WE have to sell out, and get our "opening" under the spout where the glory comes out....We have to hang out with Jesus.   

  "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.   I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." 

  ~Jesus of Nazareth

   

  "Abide" is the word used in some versions for "remain".   To abide means that you leave the place where you've been living and move or abide someplace, or in this case, with someone else.   To remain or abide means that you move in with Jesus and hang out with Him 24-7-365.  It's not just about reading a Bible, going to Church, praying, and hanging out with Christians....It's about immersing yourself IN Jesus, and believing Him enough to obey what He teaches.   What Jesus calls faith which saves is centered in obedience.   Faith then is:  Doing what Jesus commands.  In fact Jesus tells His disciples that if they love Him they will do what He teaches, but if they do not love Him they won't do what He teaches....That's pretty blunt, and we're left with only 2 choices;  either love/obey or hate/disobey.    Jesus left us with no 3rd option.  

  God promises a heart change which will change the direction of believers....It's His change, and He alone can work it in us!  That's the working of God's Amazing Grace!!!

   

  Lonnie 

     

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