Secret to being where God wants you

(will have new article tomorrow for certain)

Cleaning out the basement of my childhood house after my dad died, I came across an untouched paperback that had been given him soon after we moved to Loudonville, Ohio.

It was from a new colleague, Dr. Abraham Kuttothara, a surgeon from the Malabar coast of India. As a little note to my dad inside the cover, he wrote in pen something like, "I know you have your faith but I recommend you take a look at this."

The 1973 book was called The Awakening of Intelligence, by Jiddu Krishnamurti, considered the greatest Indian "guru" philosopher of all time by his adherents. I kept the book and eventually did read it. He was very cunning and crafty in how he stole from God's Word without acknowledgment and twisted it, putting a New Age spin on it.

One concept he heavily focused on was the idea of "no justification, no condemnation." His message was, "I don't get puffed up, but I also don't beat myself up, dwelling on shame and guilt. I forget about the past and move forward, using my mistakes to teach me. I don't try to rationalize with, 'Because of this I did that, and if this or that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have acted the way I did.' "

Another area of discourse had to do with the indulgence of humans in the act and game of comparison and in competitive thinking. It's just not an intelligent way of going about life, he said in many different ways throughout his book. 

*****

Listening to a really old audio cassette (Pastor Jordan joked about Alex Kurz’ son, still in high school, wearing tennis shoes to a wedding) on my way to Ohio over the Memorial Day weekend, the point was emphasized repeatedly that the real secret to successfully living the grace life is to know in the truest, fullest sense that God loves you (indeed, is crazy mad about you!) despite you not being worthy—despite you “not being able to keep the cheese on the cracker.”

In another message, Jordan says, “One of the great lessons you learn under grace is it’s okay to look like you lose. It’s okay to look weak. It’s in your weakness that His strength is made perfect, so it’s okay.

“I had a Brother comment to me just today, ‘You seem to have great peace about your physical problems.’ My question would be, ‘Why not?’ You have peace WITH God; you have the peace OF God. . .

*****

“Paul writes in Galatians 5: 24-26, ‘And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.’

“Provoking one another means envying and competing with one another; making yourself look good by making others look not so good. Putting yourself in front of them. You see someone else have a victory and a triumph that you . . . so desirous of having the praise that they’re getting.

“All that’s over there and Paul says we’re over here, living in this, not that over there. Religion, religious status, focuses over there and it wants self at the center, out in front, never satisfied with anything less than first place, always thinking about yourself and how it affects you and so on.

“You know, it dawned on me many moons ago—look at what Paul says in verse 24: ‘They that are Christ’s.’ If you belong to Jesus Christ, and you’re in Christ, don’t you already have first place in Christ? People are striving to get first place—you already got the first seat in Him! So it’s okay just to relax!

“Philippians 1:15 says, ‘Some indeed preach Christ of even of envy and strife.’ Notice he didn’t say error is preached? Here’s some people preaching Paul’s message; some out of sincerity, knowing it came from Christ through Paul, teaching it for the truth of God, but others doing it out of envy and strife.

“Some people took advantage of Paul’s imprisonment to gratify their own jealousy of him by pressing themselves to the front. The thinking was, ‘He’s in jail, he’s on the shelf now; we’ll do it!’ They’re making themselves the issue. They think, ‘We can have first place now!’ Paul says, ‘That doesn’t bother me; what matters is Christ is preached and truth is proclaimed.’ ”

*****

"Over the years, the definition of humility has undergone a gradual but nonetheless profound change," explains a college professor of the New Testament. "Especially in the intellectual community. In the modern day, humility has basically become synonymous with another word: uncertainty. To be uncertain is to be humble. To be certain is to be arrogant. Thus, the cardinal sin in the intellectual world is to claim to know anything for sure."

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1 that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

He then emphasizes, [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
[31] That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jordan says, "Knowledge 'puffs up' if you don't let it edify you; it doesn't have to puff you up. One of the things you learn as you go through the Christian life is that you grow, and as you grow you gain confidence, and then you come to the place where you say, 'Uh oh, it's not me.' You have to have that 'Not I' moment.

"Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

"You have to keep having those 'Not I' moments so that you'll back up and say, 'Well, it's Christ.' If you're walking, you make progress: 'Not I, aghhh, it's got to be Christ. Okay, now I can take another step,' and then you go another step. That's how you grow; you learn more and more that it's not you. The moment you think you've arrived that's the 'Not I' moment.

"Paul says, 'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' And old Southern preacher used to say, 'The closer you get to the light, the better you see the dirt.' Well, the closer you get to the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the more you see how inadequate you are in yourself and you see how wonderful that means He is for you.

"This lesson is the heart, the soul of the Christian life. It's not just that I'm going to die and go to heaven because my sins are forgiven. I have a fellowship with the Creator of heaven and earth through His Son. I have access unto the Father. The whole of the godhead I fellowship with.

"That's why you're transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's an internal thinking process. You replace the old human viewpoint with divine viewpoint and that Holy Spirit takes that doctrine, that divine viewpoint, and energizes.

"As Paul says in Romans 12, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
[3] For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

"It's the Word of God that works effectually in you that believe. It energizes your inner man and produces the activity. You do all that that you may prove; test and try something to demonstrate its value. When you prove something, you test it and you test it to see whether it works or not.

"You know how when you give a demonstration of something for someone, you say, 'Well, I hope it works this time.' God's Word ALWAYS works. That's why Paul says, 'I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.' He never questioned the fact that the gospel works. It will prove itself every time to somebody who trusts it."