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May Christ Rule Over My will



              The Christian life is not about religion.  Religion is about following a specific set of behaviors.  It is more about what we do.  It is about why we do what we do.  When Christ is ruling over our wills, our mind-emotion-actions fall into order.
              When Christ is ruling over our wills, we act from the center of His presence in our souls.  It seems to me that all the work of the Old Testament was given to reveal that although our minds and emotions wanted God’s rescue from our sins, we needed something greater than ourselves to set us free.  The New Testament exposed the mystery that was known to God from the beginning, that we humans had been depleted of the will-power to follow God without His help.  Ezekiel 36:26 explained it this way: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”  That heart of flesh is Jesus.  When we believe that His life, death and resurrection was God’s gift to us, we receive this heart of flesh.  Not only was Jesus incarnated into human flesh but also after His resurrection our belief opens the heart of our human flesh to receive Him personally.  His presence in our lives is the power to give Him reign over our wills.
              Without Christ reigning over my will, all my good deeds, kindness to others, appearances of virtue only make me feel good about myself; they do not connect me to the love of God.  There are a lot of people who do a lot of bad things in this world.  There are a lot of people who do a lot of good things in this world.  It’s not the doing of the things we do that reveals that Christ reigns over our wills, but in the reason we do what we do.
              There was a rich man who generously addressed Jesus as a good teacher and asked what he needed to do to be included in the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:16).  Jesus did not seem to appreciate the accolade by questioning his compliment.  However, He moved forward in the conversation to ask him to reveal what He knew the man knew—the commandments of the Scripture.  Jesus listed only six of the commands—the ones that pertain to our relationships with other people.  The rich man responded that he had kept all of those commands and wondered what he still lacked.  Jesus was quick to show him what he lacked by giving Him a behavior that would reveal it. 
              Jesus told the man to go and sell all that he had and give it to the poor.  Why?  Doesn’t that sound like works salvation?  You do enough good things and you can participate in the kingdom of God?  If you think carefully you will notice what the rich man did not notice.  The first four commandments—the ones about having a relationship that connects you to God - were not mentioned by Jesus.  These commands come first because they are the foundation for any good will that we do.  The Great Love Chapter (1 Corinthians 13) and all of Scripture teaches us that everything we do means nothing to God if we are not doing it in oneness with Him. 
              Uniting our will with God’s will is what it means for Christ to reign over our wills.  This happens in my life when I work through my mind to understand which emotions are true and make a decision in prayer about what God is asking me to do.  One hint here, He usually asks something that we would not naturally think up on our own.  What does God want me to do today?  He’s ready to answer if we are ready to ask and listen.
Copyright © 2018  Deborah R Newman  teatimeforyoursoul.com  All Rights Reserved.
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A daily devotion for Advent and Christmastide. Advent reveals the truth about who we are and why we are here. As our souls open to Advent, a reality that transcends the traditional warmth of the season comes into focus. The message of Christmas is to receive God's gift of His Son. As you count down to Christmas through the time-honored tradition of lighting a candle during each week of Advent, you will find guidance for getting off the Christmas-Pleasing Merry-Go-Round and discover the true hope love, joy and peace that Christmas brings.
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