Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Romans 15:5 KJV
There is room for humility in my walk with God; in fact, it is the one ingredient I cannot do without if my life will please God. There is no room for pride, as there is nothing I could have brought to the table that could have given me the right to stand where I am now. It is that admission that is the starting point of all that God can do in and through me. It is submission and surrender that open the door to the fullness of all that is Christ.
Paul writes to the church in Rome, charging them to live and love as Christ would. The loudest message about Christ is the one that is evident in my life. I cannot be bad-tempered or quick to anger; I cannot be easily provoked, but I must be patient with everyone who comes my way, as I may be the only message that the person gets to read, see or hear. Can Christ really say that I am his own, and that he is in charge of my life? Does he have my total surrender, and is his work in me evident upon my life? Can that which he has done in me be my consolation that no matter what anyone does to me, what I produce lines up with who Jesus is?
It was his patience that gave me grace to stand where I am now, and the best I can do is extend that same grace to other people. Even while I was in sin, his love just will not let me go, and while I was running away from him, he held out his hands to me and would not stop until I came to him. If I now claim to be a child of God, I cannot give any less than what I got. I find my consolation in God that no matter how happens this side of heaven, my life is secured in him. I am set free from unhealthy comparisons or competition, as there are enough crowns and rewards to give to all who make it to heaven.
The work is first inward, reflecting in patience and consolation, and then it manifests outward, in being like Christ in behaviour and attitude. I cannot give what I don't have and I can't fake what is not of God. Christ is the perfect example of all that is good, and all who follow him must make his known. I will not be a true child of God if men could not see him in me. I will not reflect Jesus if he has not first shone in me. Has he done the work of salvation in you? Does my life reflect his grace, favour and mercy? His time of favour is here.
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