Now we believe. . . .” But Jesus asks, “Do you . . . ? Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you . . . will leave Me alone” (John 16:31-32).
Many Christian workers have left Jesus Christ alone and yet tried to
serve Him out of a sense of duty, or because they sense a need as a
result of their own discernment. The reason for this is actually the
absence of the resurrection life of Jesus. Our soul has gotten out of
intimate contact with God by leaning on our own religious understanding
(see Proverbs 3:5-6).
This is not deliberate sin and there is no punishment attached to it.
But once a person realizes how he has hindered his understanding of
Jesus Christ, and caused uncertainties, sorrows, and difficulties for
himself, it is with shame and remorse that he has to return.
We need to rely on the resurrection life of Jesus on a much deeper
level than we do now. We should get in the habit of continually seeking
His counsel on everything, instead of making our own commonsense
decisions and then asking Him to bless them. He cannot bless them; it is
not in His realm to do so, and those decisions are severed from
reality. If we do something simply out of a sense of duty, we are trying
to live up to a standard that competes with Jesus Christ. We become a
prideful, arrogant person, thinking we know what to do in every
situation. We have put our sense of duty on the throne of our life,
instead of enthroning the resurrection life of Jesus. We are not told to
“walk in the light” of our conscience or in the light of a sense of
duty, but to “walk in the light asHe is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7).
When we do something out of a sense of duty, it is easy to explain the
reasons for our actions to others. But when we do something out of
obedience to the Lord, there can be no other explanation-just obedience.
That is why a saint can be so easily ridiculed and misunderstood.
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