Title: Be reminded
By: J.O. Lawal
Date: January 31, 2021
Series: From Pastor’s Desk
Number: Vol. 9, No. 39
Beloved: grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Welcome to another week of this year. My prayer is that, as we move into a new month in the week, you will be led to experience God’s favour and goodness in ways you have never experienced them, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now among the things we must continually remind ourselves of, as believers in Christ Jesus, is that we are not of this world. Yes, we live in this world and use the things of this world. But the word of God makes it very clear that we do not belong to this world but to God and His eternal kingdom. (Cf. John 15:19 & 17:14) And it is important that we always remind ourselves of this so that we may yield ourselves to be educated in the knowledge of who we really are and be empowered to walk in the light of this knowledge.
Many really do not know that all of us who are new creations in Christ Jesus need to be educated in the light of who we now are and how we are supposed to live. But Paul says to the Colossian brethren, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:9-10NIV) Did you see that? We who are now in Christ Jesus have taken off our old self and have put a new self in Him. And this new self, as the apostle makes clear, is being re-educated to know what it means to be the image of God the creator.
That, of course, would mean that man lost the true knowledge of what being the image of God means when he fell into sin. So, instead of always living like one who has been created in the likeness of the living God, most of the time we find him living less than his real worth; we find him living like little demons or like animals. But now, in Christ Jesus, man is able to gain that knowledge of who he really is again and receive strength to live in the light of it.
Unfortunately, many that claim to be in Christ Jesus are not making any serious effort to learn what God has to say about who they are and how they to live in the light of who they are. And that is largely because their spiritual leaders are not constantly calling their attention to these things. They do not regularly remind them that they are no longer of the world and must not live again like those of the world. And they do not give themselves to patiently teaching them those things that will renew their knowledge about who they are before God and how they are to live to please Him.
But look at what Paul says to the Thessalonian brethren: “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1Thess 4:1NIV) Did you see that? These brethren had been educated in the will of God and also shown how to live in it by Paul and his ministry associates before he wrote this letter to them. Yet, since he was no longer physically present with them, he wrote to remind them to keep putting to work the things they already knew about living to please God.
In like manner, we too need to be continually educated in the knowledge of who we have now become in Christ Jesus and also to be constantly reminded to walk in the light of this knowledge. Otherwise we are going to forget who we are and begin to live lives that are inconsistent with our new nature in the Lord. Perhaps you have already forgotten that you are now a new creation in Christ Jesus, a child of the living God, a joint-heir with Christ Jesus and a master of Satan and his demons. I want to use this space to remind you that these are what you are and that you need to rise up and begin to live responsibly in the light of them. And may you be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in your inner man to do so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Do have a great week.
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