This
Message
by
Mike Rule
I
have struggled for some time with how to describe what we teach.
Some people I am associated with call it The
Message of Life.
Others call it this message.
Still others call it the Abiding Life,
the Deeper Life, Grace
Life, the Christ-Life or Exchanged
Life.
As the list of these terms goes on and on, I struggle with the
exclusivity that each “handle” inadvertently carries.
Why is it we feel we have to invent new terms for God’s truth?
I
realize that we develop labels for things so we can wrap our minds around what
it is we are talking about. However, almost without fail, when a handle is given
to a teaching, the label ends up becoming an end in itself.
A particular teaching becomes more the focus than the One being taught
about.
As I have wrestled with this I have been blessed to realize that God has
thus far not allowed me to grab hold of or invent a new name.
He is calling us to proclaim the gospel – the good news – that Jesus
is everything we desire.
The good news is as much for Christians as it is for the unbeliever.
Jesus wants to save us from our internal, external, and eternal hell!
Praise God for Jesus, from whom all blessings flow!
Verses
for Reflection:
In
that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in
you. John
14:20
LITV
And
this is everlasting life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom You have sent. John
17:3 LITV
I
in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected in one; and that the world
may know that You sent Me and loved them, even as You loved Me.
John
17:23
LITV
But
of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, both
righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1 Corinthians
1:30
LITV
Jesus
is not only the way, but the end as well. Since
the disciples had seen Him, they had seen the Father.
Thomas
said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You go, and how can we know the way?
(6) Jesus said to him, I am
the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me. (7)
If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on
you do know Him, and have seen Him. (8)
And Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for
us. (9)
Jesus said to him, Am I so long a time with you, and you have not known
Me, Philip? The one seeing Me has seen the Father! And how do you say, Show us
the Father? John 14:5-9 LITV
God
desires to have us for Himself.
He is the end, the purpose, the all-encompassing goal of life with Him.
And
all things are from God, the One having reconciled us to
Himself through Jesus Christ, and having given to us the ministry of
reconciliation, (19)
as, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not charging their deviations to them, and having put the Word of
reconciliation in us. 2 Corinthians
5:18-19 LITV
Predestinating
us to adoption through Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Ephesians 1:5 LITV
Who
gave Himself on our behalf, "that He might redeem us from all lawlessness
and purify a special people for Himself,"
zealous of good works. Titus
2:14
LITV
So
they shall be for a people to Me and
I will be for God to them. Ezekiel
37:23 LITV
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