“Attuned To His Will”
 

Friends, please “Walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.” (Colossians 1:10) A story is told about a vender who sold bagels for fifty cents at a street corner food stand. A jogger ran past and threw a couple of quarters into the bucket but didn’t take a bagel. He did the same thing every day for months. One day, as the jogger was passing by, the vendor stopped him. The jogger asked, “You probably want to know why I always put money in but never take a bagel, don’t you?” “No,” said the vendor, “I just wanted to tell you that the bagels have gone up to sixty cents.”

            Too often, as believers, we treat God with the same kind of attitude. Not only are we ungrateful for what He’s given us, we want more. Some people feel that God owes them good health, a comfortable life, and even material blessings. God doesn’t owe us anything, yet He gives us everything!

G. K. Chesterton wrote, “Here lies another day, during which I have eyes, ears, hands, and the great world around me. And tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?” Each day, whether good or bad, is one more gift from God. Our grateful response should be to live to please Him. Why? “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

“Living for Jesus a life that is true; striving to please Him in all that I do; yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free; this is the pathway of blessing for me.” (Chisholm)

Paul writing to the Colossians, “Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating” (Colossians 1:9-14 MSG).

Life is a gift from God to be lived for God. Genuine knowledge of Christ reveals itself in transformed character. Believers should equal the Lord’s standards; be holy as He is holy. The aim of believers in all their worthy conduct should be to please God in every way, anticipating and accomplishing His wishes in every aspect of life.

Merely pleasing people, is incompatible with being a servant of Christ. Four things result from a God-pleasing life: bearing fruit, growing, being strengthened, and giving thanks. As you manifest the fruit of faith, you grow in faith yourself, and you come to a deeper understanding of God. Augustine put it, “Faith is understanding’s step, and understanding is faith’s reward.”

Salvation is a personal experience with Jesus Christ, not merely the acceptance of biblical doctrines. Paul states that every believer in Christ has been “made full in Him.” Believers can, and should, experience daily growth and development.

Paul prays that they might experience this fullness in their daily lives. They might know His will. They would walk to please God. They would work to bear fruit. They would understand the Word better. They would know His glorious power. These are things heretics falsely promised their followers … blessings that can only be found in Christ.

What religious rules ever produced forgiveness? It is the cross that lifts Jesus Christ high above all. In Jewish tradition, worthy could mean “deserving of a reward.” Wisdom seeks those worthy of her. The righteous who persevered would be “worthy for God,” an acceptable offering.

Paul hearing that the Colossians were good, prayed they might be better! Knowledge of our duty is the best knowledge. Empty notion of the greatest truths is insignificant. Our knowledge of the will of God must always be practical.  We must know it, in order to do it.

Knowledge becomes a blessing when it turns into wisdom, thus, the importance of learning how to apply our wisdom to particular occasions, and match it in emergencies. Our endeavors as Christians should be filled with knowledge: The knowledge of not only knowing God’s will but knowing more of it. Our understanding becomes spiritual understanding when we exemplify it in our way of living.

“But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Good knowledge without a good life will not profit. The agreeableness of our conversation to our Christianity pleases God. We walk well-pleasing when we walk in all things according to God’s will.

Good words will not do without good works. We must abound in good works. Not just in those which are simple, suitable, and safe, but in every instance of them. There must be a regular uniform regard to the will of God.

            Where there is spiritual life there is need of spiritual strength: Strength for all the actions of the spiritual life. To be strengthened is to be furnished by the grace of God for every good work, and fortified by that grace against every evil endeavor. The Spirit is the Author of this strength, and He enables us to do our duty, while holding fast to our integrity.

Paul prayed that they would be strengthened with might. He means, that they might be mightily strengthened, even strengthened with might derived from another.

It seems unreasonable that a creature should be strengthened with all might, for that is to make him almighty; but he means, with all the might which we have need for. Therefore enabling us to discharge our duty or preserve our innocence. The grace which is sufficient for us in all the trials of life is able help us in any time of need.

It is according to his glorious power, which is the grace of God. The grace of God in the hearts of believers is the power of God, and there we find God’s glory in this power: An excellent and sufficient power. The communications of strength are not according to our weakness, to which the strength is communicated, but according to His power, from whom it is received. When God gives, He gives like Himself, and when God strengthens, He strengthens like Himself. 

The special use of this strength was for suffering work: That you may be strengthened unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness. He prays not only that they may be supported under their troubles, but strengthened for them. The reason is there is work to be done even when suffering. And those who are strengthened according to his glorious power are made stronger.

When patience has its perfect work, we are then strengthened in all patience. When we not only bear our troubles patiently, but receive them as gifts from God, we become thankful for them. After believers have found the benefits of redemption in their hearts, they’re then led by those streams of grace to the original fountain-head of life … Christ Himself.

Grace is spoken of as the work of the Father, because the Spirit of grace is the Spirit of the Father, and the Father works in us by His Spirit. Those in whom the work of grace is produced must give thanks to the Father. If we have the comfort of it … He must have the glory of it.

The conversion of a sinner is the translation of a soul into the kingdom of Christ out of the kingdom of the devil. The power of sin is shaken off, and the power of Christ submitted to. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death; and this is the kingdom of the beloved Son.

Those who are not saints on earth will never be saints in heaven. Those who are designed for heaven hereafter are prepared for heaven now. Those who have the inheritance of sons have the education of sons and the disposition of sons.

Here are some reasons why people are lost and in need of God’s salvation. 1) It is the effect of God’s divine power to change the heart, and make it heavenly. 2) They are lost because of disobeying their own conscience. 3) They are lost because of their relationship to the world. 4) They are lost because of their relationship to Satan. 5) They are lost because of their relationship to sin. 6) They are lost because of their lack of relationship to God.

It’s never too late to consider God’s promise for your life, to change direction if needed, and to “press-on” to achieve His plan. When God works a change in us, He can change others through us. God honors no drafts where there are no deposits!

Jim Jack