As I sat down to write, Doug’s words “Do as unto the Lord” reverberated in my head.
Do as unto the Lord….
When I was approached this morning and asked again to write, and as Tom encouraged you brothers to read what I had written last week, the battle within me began. Do I write and desire to be read to gain public acceptance and inwardly boast? Right away the demons of my egocentric, narcissistic past began to rear their heads, seeing the inroad into my heart.
But, I’m sharing thoughts spurned by biblical teachings and reflections born of prayer and study….I should take some pride in what I’ve done and how I’ve been able to use the gift God has given me. There is nothing wrong in the slight expansion of the chest that I feel. Right? Notice how many times “I” arose in my thoughts.
Do as unto the Lord……
The Judaizer’s motives, against which Paul battled and wrote about in Galatians, were made clear today: acceptance, avoidance of persecution, and boasting. Those who promoted circumcision did so to gain acceptance in the eyes of the world, so as to avoid persecution, with the goal of being able to boast of their accomplishments. While their end goal may have been to bring people to God, it was their motives that were twisted.
But don’t we all desire to be accepted? Don’t we all wish to avoid the pain and discomfort of persecution? Does it not feel good to achieve and be recognized and lauded for our accomplishments? It does not take more than a few seconds see how the world promotes and encourages us to strive to be accepted. People and organizations are making millions of dollars developing programs, strategies and ways in which we can fulfill our desires, be recognized and praised for our accomplishments, and develop a legacy in our name.
Was Christ accepted? Did Christ avoid persecution? When He was praised and recognized for his healings and miracles, was he prideful? On all three accounts the answer is a simple, no. Why? How?
Christ did as unto the Lord. His motives were external, selfless…for us, so as to glorify the Father. Are we not to live like Christ? “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). If we are to embody this verse and allow it to guide our motives it becomes clear that we cannot allow OUR desire for acceptance, OUR fear of persecution, and OUR desire for glory to taint what we do…even if what we do is in the name of the Lord. For whatever I may do in the name of the Lord it is not I who does it, but Christ who does it through me. No longer is it “I” which supersedes.
So I come full circle. It is my prayer that my writing is nothing more than a vehicle through which Christ reaches out and touches my brothers. It is my prayer that each letter I type would be done so in the fullness of the Spirit, so that I may never boast. I have already been accepted, sin ridden, by God….what greater acceptance can there be? As I continue to die to myself and walk in the Spirit I can be assured that each time I am asked to write, to share, to speak….that my motives are like that of Christ and that whatever I do….I do (as Christ did) unto the Lord.