Dear friends, greetings in the blessed Name of our Lord Jesus. I trust that you are prospering spiritually and materially in the Lord Jesus and His Holy Spirit. God Almighty is a Genius and His creation is rich in diversity. He made some of us to be extroverts and some to be introverts. Some of us like staying indoors and enjoy a quiet meal and watch a movie, while the rest of us like to hit the town. There are those among us who may not fit into either category, which is just as unique and wonderful. Our personalities aside, all of us seem to suffer from hidden guilt and anxiety while enjoying God’s bounty.
I’d like to refer to Matthew 11:19 (Luke 5:27-32, Luke 7:34) to further our discourse. These passages of scripture allude to the criticism that the Lord Jesus received from the Pharisees for feasting with penitent tax collectors and prostitutes. The Pharisees were of the opinion that a Holy Man wouldn’t be drinking wine, eating meat, or just enjoying God's bounty. These well meaning yet unregenerate people couldn’t understand our Heavenly Father’s heart and intent. Had they known or understood God’s purpose they wouldn’t have condemned an innocent man (Matthew 12:7). Let’s face it, we all have that Pharisee nature in us. But God in His infinite love and Omnipotence can do the impossible and regenerate us with His Holy Spirit (Luke 18:27, Ezekiel 36:26).
We focus so much on the spirituality of the Lord Jesus that we forget that He was the Perfect Man who lived the God-Man life, a life that God wants all of us to live. We tend to separate the sacred (prayer, worship, church) from the secular. However, in the Lord Jesus the sacred and secular always co-existed (John 1:14). Whether He was enjoying company at a wedding reception (John 2:1-11), having an intimate conversation with the women He dearly loved (Luke 10:38-42), eating with a capitalist (Matthew 9:10), riding victoriously into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:7-11) or dying on a cross (Matthew 27:50), His Heart was always with His (and our) heavenly Father (John 16:32). The Lord was spiritually disciplined by God our Father (Luke 5:16), but we have to understand that His spirituality was on-going and never ceased (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Have you ever wondered what He prayed about in His times of solitude? You may be surprised to know the answer: He prayed for us saints (Luke 22:32), as He did for the Apostle Peter before the latter disowned the Lord Jesus.
Adam and Eve’s sin destroyed God’s original plan for our lives, i.e., to walk with God and live forever (Genesis 2:8-25). In this era of pollution and congestion, can we even imagine how beautiful Eden must have been?! God had given Adam dominion over the entire world, to rule it, and live of it forever (Genesis 1:28-30). That was the life that Satan robbed us off when Adam yielded to sin (Romans 5:12), and that is the life and much more that the Lord Jesus Christ won for us on the cross (1 Corinthians 2:9, Romans 8:30). So friends, let’s stop yielding to the yeast of the Pharisees and Satan (Matthew 16:6), and let’s live this life with joy giving thanks to God. This world may be controlled by Satan (Matthew 4:9), but this Universe belongs to our Heavenly Father (Isaiah 65:17). So let’s not apologize for living this blessed life (Ecclesiastes 5:19) with our hearts set on heaven (Matthew 6:21). Instead let’s give thanks to God for the blessings in this life before we are called to our Eternal Home.
Dear friends, I’m quite certain that all of you are sanctified, Holy Ghost baptized saints. Should there be any among you that don’t know the Lord yet, I pray that the Lord of the Universe will set you free from sin and disobedience into His glorious light and freedom. Amen.
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