Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

Self-Expenditure

The problem with many ministries today is mingled seed--the Word of God "plus" Freudianism, humanism. To be a friend of the world doesn't mean you go out and party; it means that you embrace their philosophy. The world system is all about the deification, independence and success of man; it lifts man up. That's the root that we have to guard against. We live in a "sound-byte society" where everything is glazed over and image; when it's one phrase that sounds good. What is the root operating behind all of this?

There's a false premise that the Word of God can be understood intellectually. The Word of God is illuminated to men; it must be revealed. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness. Good counterfeits are dangerous. That's why we as Bereans must search the Scriptures to find out whether what's being said is true or not. We judge what is being said by asking, "How does it apply to the Word of God? What is the emphasis that's coming forth? Is this message about being holy, Christlike, separate from the world, bearing a cross, enduring persecution for righteousness sake? Or is it about me feeling better about myself, being more palatable to the world, more popular to the masses?" Ask yourself, "Is this the gospel message?" If it is, where is the cross? What are the treasures that are being emphasized? Who's being spoken of the most --Jesus or me? Then you can conclude what the source is. If the source is not eternal, if it is not the glory of God, if it is a "cross-less" gospel and meaningless temporal treasures, then you can be sure the message is of the world. The world is the source, and the world is who it is to. And to be a friend of the world is to be the enemy of God. Isn't it simple being an absolutist? You don't have to make any decisions being a Christian; you just do what you're told. You get off track the moment you depart from the simplicity of the truth. "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17).

Does divesting yourself and being Christlike appeal to you? This is a great quote by Oswald Chambers: "Self-realisation is anti-Christian. All this is vigorous paganism, it is not Christianity. Jesus Christ's attitude is always that of anti self-realisation. His purpose is not the development of man at all; His purpose is to make man exactly like Himself, and the characteristic of the Son of God is not self-realization but self-expenditure." That's the difference. Anything that is of the cross is death to self, the emptying of self. It's not betterment of self. There's nothing good in us! We don't need a better you; we need more of Jesus being seen in you. The key is that good is not always God. Are there good things being said? Yes. That's not the point. What's the source? Whose kingdom is it of? Make sure that's it's not a mingled seed that you're feeding your spirit.

We need to always have a teachable spirit, a desire to come to the truth, to hear the truth about ourselves. Childlike faith is knowing that we don't know anything. We don't ever want to think we know how to run our own lives. We want to be ever, momentarily dependent upon the presence of God, the power of God, the revelation of God. The ability to walk in the moment and be totally dependent upon God is to experience eternity.

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