Battle of Agendas I

Posted by anointedplace on January 15, 2014 · 5 Comments 

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I laid in bed early this morning thinking about my day, wondering how things would turn out. I honestly began to question events that hadn’t occurred yet. I thought to myself, will something frustrate my plans for today? Will something get in the way of my goals? Would I have to adjust and become flexible to make things work out? With all of these questions running throughout my mind within what was only a few minutes but seemed like hours, one verse came to mind. It was nothing about worry or making plans, it was nothing about having faith or even leaning on God‘s wisdom. What the Holy Spirit rushed to my attention was Galatians 2:20.

What struck me in Galatians 2:20 is that Paul announces that he is no longer in charge of the agenda of his life. This caused me to reflect on the things that clouded my mind and how are any of theses things had anything to do with Christ living in and through me? I thought to myself how often are we living our life according to our agenda? Is Christ living in us and what we do in this world as well as our interactions done by faith in the Son of God? If not then our lives are powerless and this is the source of our frustrations. I awoke with the world on my narrow shoulders with ever intention to carry it because nobody else could do it but me. If we are honest, we all think and feel this way. Our flesh is for the flesh, as our sinfulness seek to realize the dream of Adam and Eve in becoming like God in order to save ourselves. Every morning, believers and nonbelievers wake up with the same mindset that it’s all about us. We view the world and culture through this self centered perspective. So there is a battle waging within the depths of our being.

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

This morning I found myself in the midst of a battle but I had chosen the wrong side. What Jesus wanted, I wasn’t concerned about in the least bit. The desires of my flesh was consumed with how I would best run my life and how I would handle adjustments. My flesh was concerned about how I would live in order to control my destiny. I believe that I want Christ to live in me freely, doing the work of the Father. Christ has done more than I realize for me and others; all of which we do not deserve. To understand this causes a consuming fire within my soul to burn. The hotter the flame, the more my flesh calls my passion unhealthy. The greater my desire to run to Jesus, the more my flesh raises my awareness of taking care of self. My flesh stands against God’s law of loving the Father with all my mind, all my heart and all my soul. But more than any law, my flesh ultimately hates loving my neighbor as myself. My flesh battles against the spirit minute by minute with this. My concern is always for myself in every situation. Even in my acts of selflessness, my end goal is praise for me, debt to me, love for me, acceptance for me, admiration for me, affections for me and worship of me. When God tells me to love others, with that command comes His promise to care for me. But my flesh doesn’t trust God as if he is holding back all that I need. So we don’t obey God because we don’t have faith in Him but we have a bit more faith in us.

How can we live a life like that of Galatians 2:20? We can live that life if we intimate Christ as we follow and fix our hearts on him. Jesus had intimate knowledge of the Father as He dwells with the trinity for all eternity. Christ knows who he is and he knows his place within the GodHead. He is not identified by the call of the world and his desires take a back seat to the Father’s. From the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry he lived out the two great commandments. Living them in obedience and faith in the Father produced a humility to allowed God the Son to not count equality to the Father as something to be achieved. Even though we all see living life this way; the achieving equality to God for our own advancement. This desire to be in God’s position is the cause of our battles. In the garden of gethsemane it was trust in the Father, the sought after glory of the Father and the passion for the Father’s will that causes Jesus to pray “let thy will be done”.

At the root of the life that Jesus prepares before us is the love of the Father. This love is displayed in His promise to us which is displayed in a Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the life we cannot live in order to earn the righteousness that the Father demands. Such grace, love and mercy from the Father is made clear in the Son. God spared not even the Son so that His name sake or glory would not be undone. Even when our battles of agendas produces unfaithfulness in our hearts, God remains faithful. God is faithful to his glory and his promises, so where does this leave us? If these things are God’s priority were do we fall? Again it is these questions that lead to our rebellion but if we would stop talking over God and focus on Christ we would see. We must realize that what we fight for all day long, Jesus has already secured for us. But we can see it or believe it because it’s not how we want to receive it. On top of that we don’t agree with what God now tells us to do with it. We are instruments refusing to be used for the master’s purposes. God opens doors but we prefer running through walls because we want to be independent, shouting “we did it our way”.

To be continued…

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