KEY PRINCIPLES FROM THIS MESSAGE:
Sanctification is a function of being present.
The Simple Life, With a View – blog 8/24/18
“How sad it would be to come to the end of life and realize that most of our time was spent in slaving for what was already included in the ticket home to heaven!” — William MacDonald
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There is a multitude of facets that make up wisdom, but in the end, true wisdom is expressed in the simplest of terms. Jesus was so wise that pretty much everything He ever said was simple. Yet, we know that He understood every last nuance of the subject matters that He spoke of. This is one of my favorite things about Jesus. He spoke in primitives that, even under the most intense scrutiny and dissection, always held true. He stood on a mountain of Truth, forever inclined to share the view from the top for the sake of motivating His disciples. Jesus kept it simple and pure. Might we learn something from Him?
As Jesus taught, the best things in life are the simplest. Living a simple life of “faith, hope, and love” (ala 1 Corinthians 13:13) is the best life to live. This wisdom produces freedom.
Sanctification is a function of being present.
Augustine on Knowing God (Jn 17:3) Life consists in fellowship with God “who created us for Himself, so that our soul is restless unless it finds its rest in Him.”
The numbing of the soul through intoxication is not the remedy to “being present” with God.
Being present is a function of a grace-mindset.
A mindset is something that must be built from the ground up. We must “be transformed by the renewal of [our minds]” (Ro 12:2). As we are sanctified, we become more like Christ (2Co 3:18). Our job is to rely wholly on God’s grace (no manmade substitutes).
Mindsets are not built while “in the past” or “in the future”, they are cultivated in the “now”.
Jesus prayed for the sanctification of His Body, which was broken by sin. He prayed for its healing by the Word of God. This healing takes place in time (daily, in the “now”), not merely in the future.
Present-Active: an action the subject is performing right now.