Every Day with Jesus (8 page)

It is Christ living through us that is the secret of victorious Christian living. It is not us living for Jesus, but Jesus living through us. Failure to understand this simple truth is the root of all legalism and the performance mentality. The law focuses on the outer man and tells us what we must do. Grace focuses on the inner man and tells us what is already finished in Christ. When we focus on what we must do, we put ourselves under law; but when we focus on what Christ has done, we walk in the supernatural strength of His grace.

The Christian life is not just hard to live; it’s impossible to live in your human strength. The only way to be like Jesus and do the works of Jesus is to let Jesus live through you. Just as the life of a root is found in the soil, a branch in the vine, or a fish in the sea, your true life today will only be found in union with Jesus.

March 10: Something New

Matthew 9:11-17; Mark 2:16-22; Luke 5:30-39

And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

Luke 5:36-37

Why didn’t Jesus act according to the Old Testament religious traditions and expectations? (Matt. 9:14; Mk. 2:18.) Jesus answered that question in these two parables. He said He had come to do a new thing that would not mix with the familiar Old Covenant ways. (Isa. 43:18,19; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:7-13.)

A new cloth sown on an old garment would shrink the first time it was washed. Then it would tear away from the old garment that was already shrunk, making the hole worse. This illustrated that Jesus did not come to patch up the Old Covenant but to replace it with an entirely new one. (Heb. 7:18,19.)

New, unfermented wine had to be put into new wineskins to allow for the expansion of gases within the skin as the wine fermented. An old wineskin would simply burst from the gases produced by the new wine. The Old Testament laws could never stretch enough to accommodate the New Testament truths of mercy and grace. (Heb. 10:1-10.) Jesus completely set us free from the judgment of the Old Testament laws. (Rom. 6:14; 7:1-4; 8:2; 10:3,4; Gal. 3:12-14,23,24; 5:4; Phil. 3:9.) He replaced living by the Law outwardly with living by the grace of God within us.

Today do not make the same mistake these religious scribes and Pharisees (Luke 5:30) did by trusting in your own efforts to produce your right standing with God. Jesus did not come to accept your sacrificial acts! He came to sacrifice Himself so that you could be free of sin and have a new life of grace in Him.

March 11: Living Holy

John 5:1-15

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

John 5:14

Jesus said that sin causes the tragedies of our lives. He asks us to live holy lives because if we give in to sin, we yield ourselves to Satan, the author of sin. Yielding to sin is yielding to a person—Satan. God doesn’t impute sin to believers (Rom. 4:8), but the devil does. Therefore, our actions either release the power of Satan or the power of God in us.

Although God is not imputing our sins unto us, we cannot afford the folly of sin because it allows Satan to have access to us. When we sin, we give the devil an opportunity to produce death in our lives. The way to stop this is to confess the sin. First John 1:9 says that God is faithful and just to release forgiveness and wipe out that sin in our flesh. The blood of Jesus continually removes Satan and his strongholds from our lives.

Our sins don’t make us sinners any more than the righteous acts of unbelievers make them righteous before God. Sin is a deadly thing that even Christians should avoid at all costs, but whether or not we sin does not determine our standing with God. Born-again believers are in Christ. They are not “in” the flesh even though they may choose to walk “after” the flesh from time to time.

What is your motive for living a holy life? You live holy supernaturally because your nature has been supernaturally changed. You have been given God’s nature. Today, do not live holy in order to obtain relationship with God; live holy because of the relationship you already have with Him.

March 12: Rest in Jesus

John 5:16-27

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

John 5:16

The Sabbath was first mentioned in Exodus 16 when the Lord started miraculously providing the children of Israel with manna in the wilderness. The Israelites were commanded to gather twice as much manna on the sixth day because God would not provide any on the seventh day. Shortly after this, the Lord commanded the observance of the Sabbath day in the Ten Commandments. (Ex. 20:8-11.) In this command, God connected the Sabbath with His seventh-day rest after creation.

As revealed in Colossians 2:16-17, the Sabbath was symbolic. According to Exodus 23:12, one of the purposes of the Sabbath was to give man and his animals one day of physical rest each week. Today’s medical science has proven that our bodies need at least one day of rest each week to function at their peak. Deuteronomy 5:15 also clearly states that the Sabbath was to serve as a reminder to the Jews that they had been slaves in Egypt and were delivered from bondage—not by their own efforts, but by the supernatural power of God.

In the New Testament, there is an even clearer purpose of the Sabbath. In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul reveals that the Sabbath was only a shadow of things to come and is now fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 4:1-11 talks about a Sabbath rest that is available to, but not necessarily functional in all, New Testament believers. This New Testament Sabbath rest is simply a relationship with God in which we have ceased from doing things by our own efforts and are letting God work through us. (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 4:10.)

The Sabbath is not a day, but rather a relationship with God through Jesus. Rest in His love, and let Him use you today.

March 13: About Those Scribes

Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23; 3:6; Luke 6:1-11

And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him.

Luke 6:7

The scribes copied the Holy Scriptures. They preserved the oral law in written form and faithfully handed down the Old Testament. Ezra was a scribe during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, and he was a godly man. The office of a scribe was a worthy one, but Jesus often rebuked the scribes of His day for having gone beyond the job of copying the Scriptures. They had a large volume of interpretations based on traditions. They added to the Scriptures and thus made “the word of God of none effect” (Mark 7:13).

The scribes became an independent company of interpreters of the law and leaders of the people. Even they sought to evade some of their own precepts. (Matt. 23:2-4.) They clashed with Jesus because He taught with authority and condemned the external formalism they fostered. (Matt. 7:28,29.) They persecuted Peter and John (Acts 4:3-7) and had a part in stoning Stephen. (Acts 6:12.) Although the majority of scribes opposed Jesus, some did believe. (Matt. 21:15.)

The scribes appeared to be holy outwardly, but their hearts were far from God. They missed Jesus, their Messiah, altogether. This can happen to us when we get caught up in studying and knowing all about the Bible and forget our personal intimacy with God. Our heads become filled with knowledge, and the Bible says “knowledge puffeth up” (1 Cor. 8:1). We become proud, judgmental, and demanding like the scribes.

Today let your heart be tender and receptive to the Holy Spirit as you read God’s Word. Worship Him as you study. Let your relationship with Him guide you.

March 14: His Amazing Mercy

Matthew 12:15-21; Mark 3:7-19; Luke 6:12-16

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

Matthew 12:20

God’s mercy relieves the misery of fallen people. Many times His mercy is called compassion or lovingkindness. It is expressed toward sinners because of the misery sin has brought upon them.

Jesus compared the unbeliever to a “bruised reed.” The reeds that grew in the marshy areas in the land of Palestine were very fragile and could be easily bruised or broken. The term “smoking flax” refers to a linen wick that was made from flax and burned brightly when floating on oil in an open lamp. However, when the oil was depleted, the flax would just smoke until the oil was replenished.

The meaning of these illustrations is that Jesus ministered in mercy to those who were bruised or broken by sin (Luke 4:18) and had lost their oil (spirit). He came to fill them anew. (Matt. 5:3; Acts 1:5; 2:4.) The Jews were used to the judgment of the law, but Jesus came to minister grace and truth (John 1:17), even to the Gentiles. (Matt. 12:18-21.) He came to take their sins away and light their spirits with His Spirit.

As believers, we know our great salvation was given to us because of God’s mercy and not something we merited or earned. As the apostle Paul states, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:5).

Today you may feel like a bruised reed or a smoking flax, but no matter what you have done wrong or how you may have sinned, God’s amazing mercy is available to you. Receive it and be restored! This is the victory Jesus came to give you.

March 15: The Law of Sowing and Reaping

Luke 6:17-49

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Luke 6:38

This verse reveals God’s law of sowing and reaping. It works in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical world. Just as we “give” seed into the ground to receive multiple seeds in return, so it is with everything we give. Whether it’s money, possessions, emotions like love or hate, prayers, or our time, we will reap a harvest of whatever we give. We reap the same thing we sow, and we reap in proportion to how much we give. (Gal. 6:7,8.)

“He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6). This law works on positive or negative things. If we sow condemnation, we will reap condemnation. However, when we catch ourselves in this sin, the greater law of God’s forgiveness can help to overcome the harvest of condemnation we have sown. The negative things we have given don’t have to come back to us if we apply the greater law of forgiveness. (1 John 1:9.)

Likewise, the good things we have sown can be voided if we don’t continue in well doing. (Gal. 6:9.) If we pray for finances, God is not going to make counterfeit currency and put it into our wallets. He will use people to get the money to us. We need to believe the Lord hears and answers our prayers, and then pray for the people He’s going to use to deliver the answer. This could mean an employer or the people who buy your goods.

Today, purpose in your heart to give whatever the Holy Spirit prompts you to give, whether it’s your time, your compassion, your prayers, or your money. Do this in faith, knowing that you are operating in one of God’s laws.

March 16: Whose Faith Was It?

Luke 7:11-17

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.

Luke 7:13-14

The widow’s son being raised from the dead is often used to demonstrate that Jesus did some miracles without any faith from those receiving the miracle, that He could move by His faith alone. However, the prayer in Mark 6:5-6 shows that Jesus could not (nor would not) do many mighty works in His hometown because of the people’s unbelief. Many other Scriptures reveal that faith must be present to receive from God. (Mark 11:23,24; James 1:5-7.)

Whose faith was present in this instance? First, the mother of the boy responded to Jesus in faith. For this woman to allow Jesus to interrupt the funeral procession and tell her to stop weeping has to be viewed as faith! These people were no different from mourners at funerals today. If she had rebelled at Jesus’ intrusion, the crowd would have sided with her because of pity, but none of these reactions are recorded. Jesus was in command the moment she obeyed Him.

Second, it cannot be proven that a dead person has no choice in what happens. People don’t cease to exist at death; they simply leave their bodies. The woman’s son was very much alive in his spirit. Many people who have been raised from the dead have mentioned that they had a choice in whether or not to enter their bodies again. Although this principle cannot be verified by Scripture, it cannot be ruled out by Scripture either. We do know that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He didn’t ask His Father to do it; He simply told Lazarus to come forth (John 11:43), so Lazarus heard Him. Interestingly enough, it was Martha’s faith that brought the miracle. (John 11:22.)

Whatever you are facing today, have faith. Choose to believe that whatever God has promised He will perform and reach out in faith to receive your miracle.

March 17:Being Yoked To Jesus

Matthew 11:20-30

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

Yokes were made of wood, with two hollowed-out sections on the bottom portion. A yoke rested on the necks of two oxen, which were hitched to a plow or a cart. Figuratively, a yoke symbolized servitude or submission. Jesus was admonishing us to submit ourselves to Him, for true rest comes from serving Him—not ourselves.