"The [one] saying in Him to be remaining is obligated just as that One walked also himself to be walking."
-Our goal is more than simply to make His acquaintance, this One Who loves us so. It’s more than just a foot in the door, so to speak. One toe in the water. The goal is to get all the way in. Way in, unashamedly so and with abandon. Like Reepicheep. "My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east (towards Aslan's land) in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country...I shall sink with my nose to the [Sonrise]..." Further in (and further up!). And to stay in. It is to be so in that we are remaining in Him now and forever. It is the soul so enduringly and thoroughly saved as to have a permanent Son-tan. Ours is not a fading glory (unlike Moses - cf 2Corinthians 3.7). We’re talking about an eternal, ongoing relationship which endures and produces real glorious transformation in my life (2Corinthians 3.18), such that it can truly be said that "Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2.20).
-Just as that One walked. JUST AS He walked, Jesus, Messiah. This One Who came, and served, and bled, and gave His life a ransom for many. He is our Guiding Star, our True North. We fix our eyes on Him and run with the quickness to walk just as He walked. nd we’re not talking about "being like Mike". The old commercial said, "I wanna be like Mike". Michael Jordan. But what’s here is more than pulling on a pair of Nikes and eating your Wheaties. We’re talking about metamorphosis. Total transformation arising out of total commitment. He must increase, I must decrease. All in... and all gone. No longer I who live but Christ Who lives in me. All replaced...!
-So there is that which I ought to do, which I am obligated to do, not because I am trying not to lose something but rather because it is who I am. I go all in, because I am having been (re)created to be an all in-er. And it (re)begins as it began, with surrender. Daily dying to self, to what I want. Living into "not what i want, but what You want". Which is precisely how Jesus lived, right up to the end, always doing that which pleased His Father. Again, we’re not talking about perfection, we’re talking about mindset. It’s about our heart. One of gratitude and surrender, because He is worthy, He is deserving of nothing less than our all. All of me. And while the language here speaks to a debt that is owed, one which we are definitely under obligation to pay, ours is not a heavy load of debt. It is not the obligation of a slave. Rather it is the freedom of a son or daughter (who wants to be like their dad - or their older Brother). Freedom IN the Son. His yoke is easy, His burden is light. Truly His loves compels us to live unto death for this One Who lived and laid down His life for us (2Corinthians 5.14-15). And we are not trying to paying Him back. That would be ludicrous. We owed a debt we couldn’t pay to begin with - that’s why He stepped down out of heaven and took our place. So we essentially now owe a double debt. But we are not paying Him back. We are not really paying Him anything. We’re certainly not talking about cracking open our miserly little hands and dribbling out a measly 10%. There, I've done my duty, now I can do whatever I want. No. A thousand times no. Jesus paid it all. What we owe to Him now is our lives - He bought us. Everything. My life is not my own - I belong to Him. All of it, every last cent and second and ounce of strength, all in (like Reepicheep). Christ doesn’t get my spare change, my spare time. It’s all His. Surely in Him we live and move and have our being. We owe everything to Him, all that we have, our salvation - not to mention our very existence - to Him. And if we are truly in Him, and He in us, there will be this steady perseverance. Abiding and increasing Christ-likeness. Following Him, wherever He leads, in His steps. I wanna be like Jesus...
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