And no, I’m not talking about the extra pounds I put on over the Easter holiday...rather I was reflecting on the verse from Chapter 4 verse 10 of Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” The thought that occurred to me as I read this verse was that the reality of my life is that, too often my life is more often a reflection of me, of my human nature and not often enough a reflection of Christ and His nature.
I have found over a period of many years that it is a good idea, from time to time, to conduct a personal survey. The first question I need to ask is simply, “Do I manifest in my life the essential sweetness of the Son of God or the essential irritation of myself?” In other words do I let life’s troubles distract me from who I am in Christ? If I am honest with myself, which is an essential element in personal growth, I find all too often I allow my old human nature to show its ugly head.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.”
To understand what that looks like I use the verses in Galatians 5, beginning in verse 19, as a guide, or a measuring rod, for my behavior. These verses compare the things of our human nature with the contrasting gifts of the spirit - the old versus the new! In other words, things like jealousy, hatred and discord versus things like kindness, forgiveness and peace (to name but a few).
Earlier in Galatians 5 Paul states, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” The key to avoiding that is simply, “Less of me, and More of Christ!”
More of the sweetness and love of Christ and less of the essential irritation of myself.
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