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One of the most profound
truths of the mystery of life is the reality that the joy of living
always comes through the struggles of life. Whereas this is the reality
of living, most in their interacction with people desire to experience
the joy of life without the actual living of life. They want to tiptoe
through the tulips without thinking or dwelling upon how the bed of
flowers happened to be there in the first place. All of us in our most
basic instincts want the bloom of the flower without the planting of the
seed.
Just as a seed that falls to the ground to bring forth its fruit, the
human genre also germinates and grows in the same manner. The seed, with
all the potential essence of the particular plant contained within its
being, is moved on by the forces of nature to perform its designed goal.
Likewise, humanity accomplishes its intended purposes by experiencing
the grace of God. As with the seed, God works his will on the lives of
all men.
When the likeness of the outward hull of the seed in man is being
destroyed to bring forth the essence of true life from within the seed,
the believer must understand, like Jesus, that it is for this cause that
he has come. The man who experiences the faith that knows this does not
falter. He realizes that the heavenly Father is at work to bring forth
the glory of his Son Jesus Christ. Just as the fragrance of a flower
comes only in the bloom, the glory of man comes only in the
manifestation of Jesus Christ.
The experiencing of the kingdom of God, the manifestation of the life of
Jesus from within the believer, is solely in the control of the heavenly
Father. Since it is within the times and the seasons of God, the
believer will struggle to trust God from a two-pronged assault. First,
the believer will struggle to understand how it can be done: "So is
the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And
should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and
grow up, he knoweth not how" (Mark 4:26). He will also be tempted
continually to try to make the good life happen within his own time
frame: "And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye
shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not
see it. And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after
them, nor follow them" (Luke 17:22–23).
Jesus does not leave the believer without hope. After he informed his
disciples that "the Father hath put in his own power . . . the
times and the seasons," He stated, "But ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). With the word
"witness" meaning "martyr", Jesus is stating that by
the power of the Holy Spirit the believer can be taken to the end of
himself to enable Christ to be raised out of him. The believer can be
girded by another and be taken where he could not and would not go
himself.
This salvation for man must come from outside his present frame of
reference, his conventions, or his thinking. God must reach down to him,
not through his mind but through the Spirit who dwells within him. The
solution for the problems of life for man can come only by God reaching
the heart of man through his Son Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit. It was
what God intended from the beginning--man experiencing life because he
was hearing and experiencing God in his heart. |
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