Stand Fast

Liberty and the Standards of Jesus (My Utmost for His Highest)
http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free . . . —Galatians 5:1

A spiritually-minded person will never come to you with the demand— "Believe this and that"; a spiritually-minded person will demand that you align your life with the standards of Jesus. We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One whom the Bible reveals (see John 5:39-40 ). We are called to present liberty for the conscience of others, not to bring them liberty for their thoughts and opinions. And if we ourselves are free with the liberty of Christ, others will be brought into that same liberty— the liberty that comes from realizing the absolute control and authority of Jesus Christ.

Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty— the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness. But never water down the truth of God. Let it have its way and never apologize for it. Jesus said, "Go . . . and make disciples. . ." ( Matthew 28:19 ), not, "Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions."

This was the "My Utmost for His Highest" devotion for today, and I received a lot out of it. The points that really stuck hard to me are the ones I pasted in bold. Personally, I find myself battling with measuring myself to the worlds standards and selfishly measuring others to my standards. It's tough to stand firm when the media and everything around you is raging war against God's standards. I like the picture above, it expresses the very emotions I find myself going through to block it all out.

Another issue that comes up are those times I find myself losing patience with people who (to me) purposely and stubbornly refuse to come to know Christ as he really is, and instead choose to be fed the lies that Jesus is just some foolish cartoon that the world makes him out to be. BUT that's where this comes in, "Don’t get impatient with others. Remember how God dealt with you— with patience and with gentleness." I have no room to talk, I too was once that person drowning in my own selfworth, my own motives, my own knowledge, my own ways, and my own garbage. I wonder how many times God sent people to speak or demonstrate his truth/love to me, but I missed it, or purposely chose to pass it by and do my own thing. I know it happened plenty of times on my end, yet even with the crap, the garbage, the unfaithfulness, the disgust, the filth, the stains, the shame, the guilt, and more... he kept his patience with me, and with great gentleness and mercy he forgave me, and now calls me child/friend. My most favorite of all is that he says he loves me with an everlasting love. WOW. I guess I have no room to talk, and now only love to give. I wish it were just that simple, but it's not and that's why I need Him, standards and all. That's why I must come back to the truth, and it's in the truth where I am reminded that, the Word is surely Something Worth Chewing on.

Matthew 4:4 - Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."