A Call To The Remnant

But it is the in the exercise of love in our practical Christian life that our chief lessons in walking in the Spirit must be learned, as our heavenly Teacher leads us in detail through the blessed yet often painful discipline of the school of experience, and grounds us not only in the principles, but in the most difficult practice of this heavenly grace (A.B. Simpson)

Every part of who we are and all areas of our lives are part of the classroom curriculum of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us in the way that we should go. In the great battles we face He molds us. In the most mundane of things of our every day lives He teaches us. Many of us rise to the challenge of the great tragedy, but it is in the little things that we are surely molded. Patience and kindness and love for those who are in our sphere. Our spouses, our parents, our children, our dogs. Patience in the car when we are driving. Patience with our coworkers. For the shy He calls us to speak out. For the bull headed He calls us to remain silent. The bold learn meekness and the timid learn courage. Those with bad tempers learn to shut their mouths.

There is a revolution going on inside of you and it rises from within. We change from the inside out. Christ in us touches every part of who we are. The very intelligent among us are humbled. The man or woman who were of no great intellect are given wisdom beyond what they could have imagined. Our characters, our personalities have been given over to the Lord. We died when we came to Jesus did we not? We sing “I surrender all,” with great emotion not truly considering the absolute revolution of those words. Those who once sought riches now seek the glory of God. Those who once were paupers God raises them up to walk with Kings.

No matter what your background is, no matter what personality and character traits you have. No matter if you are black or white or rich or poor, you are one in Christ and the one thing you will have in common with your brothers and sisters will be the painful lessons of discipline that will be worked out in the very experiences of your lives. Each of us are unique so therefore there is a unique cross to take up daily. Never try and put your cross on anothers back. The Lord knows you intimately and the cross that you will bear at any given time is intimately yours. Every day you must pick it up, and depending where you are in your sanctification, the cross will change. It always fits your back perfectly but it changes.

You may ask “when does it end?” It does not end brothers and sisters. Not in this life. The crosses that are ours will be ours until the day we come into glory. Now to many this will bring dismay. Yet to the saints of God they have learned to embrace the cross for the cross is victory. The cross is death to their flesh. The cross is the markers along the narrow way that point us to heaven. The cross is the entryway into the Fathers heart. Cross after cross leads us deeper ever deeper. The cross, which represents death to the world is the key to life in the Kingdom. The natural man will be repelled, the spiritual man will be drawn. It is life to one and death to another. It is a sweet fragrance to one and a foul stench to the other.

The cross causes the one who bears it to willingly decrease and the Lord in us to increase. As we die to ourselves then the Lord in us is lifted up and if He be lifted up then He will draw men to Himself. And this process plays out every day in saints from every tribe and every tongue. No matter what your culture is, this same process plays out. The rich man, the poor man, the man who lives in the middle of the jungle or in the middle of a city. It does not matter. Every single saint has the equal opportunity to glorify Christ in their everyday lives. God is no respecter of persons in this matter. We all have the same calling in this regard and we all have the same training. We are called to yield and to be disciplined and to surrender. Yield today brothers and sisters and let this revolution have its way in you. This revolution that was taught in the sermon on the mount is as strong today as it was in the beginning. Let Christ be glorified in us.