|
The breath of life is like a
golden thread that weaves its way through every fiber of man’s lives.
Often undetected by the consciousness of man’s mind, it, nevertheless,
constantly influences and ultimately controls the living of man’s life. It
is the heart-beat of every action. For man continually strives to experience
the ultimate manifestation of life that can be experienced.
Sadly, however, since there is mystery in life, all men eventually struggle
with simply living. Although every man is driven from within to experience
the rich, full, and complete life, it becomes, for most, an illusive dream.
The proverbial carrot, which is continually dangled in from of man’s
hungering eyes, is never caught. When life comes to the end of its days for
the majority of people, there are too many songs that have not been sung,
too many books not written, and too many noble deeds that have not been
done. Very few people ever experience the power of the true intimacy of
life. The glory of what should have been is never experienced.
Every man has been graced to experience the ultimate expression of life.
When the first breath of air is taken into the lungs of the new born, the
miracle of life begins. It is more than just the physical breathing of air
by the body, which is miracle enough for the wonder of man. However,
something far more grand has occurred. A robe of flesh has been incarnated
with the Spirit of God. Man has been graced to experience the life of God.
Experiencing that Life is not only man’s greatest moment, it is also his
greatest challenge. The free flow of the grace of God is the issue of life.
For man, it is, in reality, the quest to know Jesus—the quest for life.
Since grace is the provision that God gives to His creation to enable them
to experience life, grace in its ultimate definition is Jesus. Jesus is the
provision by which all men live.
One of the major areas of concern, if not the top priority, in modern
Christianity is the need to return to Jesus as the breath and heart-beat of
life itself. With the market flooded with how-to books and formulas to
practice in order to gain the heart of God, Jesus, the only way to the
Father, has been pushed back to a secondary role at best.
Almost in an after-thought, stirring, charismatic preachers quickly add,
after giving their new found formula for success, that it is only Jesus that
anoints or makes the formula work. However, the difference between Jesus
helping or anointing the believer to live and Jesus being the actual breath
and heart-beat of the believer’s life is the issue that has plagued
mankind since the Garden of Eden. It is the difference between religion
(religion being defined as what man does for or to God) and the true Way of
God, Jesus Christ.
Although all men have been graced to experience the life of God, most men
fail to experience that life because grace is bestowed upon them in vain (I
Cor. 15:10; II Cor. 6:1). Surprisingly, it is the pursuit of life by man
that always frustrates the grace of God in man. Paul seemed to be expressing
that thought when he wrote to the Romans concerning the Jews: "For they
being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God" (10:3). Is it not the "going about to establish their own
righteousness" that prohibited them from "submitting themselves
unto the righteousness of God?" Mysteriously, man’s pursuit of life
always frustrates the life of God already given to him.
The only cure for the messenger of Satan that keeps inflicting its deadly
wound upon the heart of man is the revelation of the grace of God. It is
only the gospel of Jesus Christ (the good message which proclaims that God
the Father has sent His Son into the believer’s life to baptize him with
His Spirit to take the believer where he would not and could not go himself)
that saves and keeps man (I Cor. 15:1,2). The only way man will ever be
changed and stay changed is having the free flow of the grace of God that
dwells within him. Jesus Christ is the only Way to complete successfully the
quest for life.
|
