The Cross is Enough 5
This is the last post in this series on the cross. The more I think about how much Jesus did for me there, the more thankful I am.
He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious).
Isaiah 53:11 - 12 Amplified
I want to point out is from these two phrases: "He poured out His life" and "He let Himself." Jesus chose to die for us. He made the decision in the garden of Gethsemane to do not what He wanted but to continue doing what God wanted. He made a choice and stuck with His decision even when the going got rough.
We make lots of decisions everyday, some without even realizing it. Every choice matters and there is no room in our lives for us to be irresponsible when it comes to how we live.
What we chose today will affect us and others tomorrow.
In Deut. 30:19, God asks us to make a decision - choose between life and death. He then goes on to tell us the best choice is life but He leaves the decision up to us. God wants us to make up our own minds and to think about what we are doing. He does not want us to do this based on our emotions but rather on what we know in our minds to be true. In other words, God wants us to think for ourselves and to not let our feelings dictate our lives.
For many years, I struggled with living by my emotions. I would get frustrated and upset when things did not go my way and I would take it out on the people around me. I didn't understand how people could stay calm when things suddenly took a nose dive into the toilet. My emotions would control me in these situations and I would react according to them. But God has patiently worked with me on this.
At first it was awkward talking to myself about separating my emotions from what I knew to be true before responding in a situation but through practice and perseverance I no longer say "I can't help myself" because the truth is I can. I can choose my responses and I can choose my words.
Saying, "I can't help myself" is, in reality, us making the decision to not try and control ourselves. But God has given us that ability through the cross and Jesus is our example. In the garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus asking God to change what was about to happen because His feelings were not looking forward to the cross. As He prayed and acknowledged His feelings, Jesus asked for God's will to be done and not His.
Jesus chose to obey God because even in His agony of knowing what was about to happen to His fleshly body, He could see you and me on this side of the cross and the ability we would have to control our emotions, make good choices, and overcome anything that tries to stop us from living the life God wants us to have. We can do the same. We can make choices and changes in our lives based on truth because Jesus did it and now He lives in us.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that not only do we have a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7) but we also have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have the power and ability to think about what we are doing and to make good choices. We can choose our words and responses based on truth and not on feelings. With the power of God living in us and the mind of Christ leading us, we can control ourselves.
Anything Jesus could do, we can do because the cross transferred the power of God to whosoever will believe.
The cross is enough to help us control ourselves and make good choices.
Heidirn
He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious).
Isaiah 53:11 - 12 Amplified
I want to point out is from these two phrases: "He poured out His life" and "He let Himself." Jesus chose to die for us. He made the decision in the garden of Gethsemane to do not what He wanted but to continue doing what God wanted. He made a choice and stuck with His decision even when the going got rough.
We make lots of decisions everyday, some without even realizing it. Every choice matters and there is no room in our lives for us to be irresponsible when it comes to how we live.
What we chose today will affect us and others tomorrow.
In Deut. 30:19, God asks us to make a decision - choose between life and death. He then goes on to tell us the best choice is life but He leaves the decision up to us. God wants us to make up our own minds and to think about what we are doing. He does not want us to do this based on our emotions but rather on what we know in our minds to be true. In other words, God wants us to think for ourselves and to not let our feelings dictate our lives.
For many years, I struggled with living by my emotions. I would get frustrated and upset when things did not go my way and I would take it out on the people around me. I didn't understand how people could stay calm when things suddenly took a nose dive into the toilet. My emotions would control me in these situations and I would react according to them. But God has patiently worked with me on this.
At first it was awkward talking to myself about separating my emotions from what I knew to be true before responding in a situation but through practice and perseverance I no longer say "I can't help myself" because the truth is I can. I can choose my responses and I can choose my words.
Saying, "I can't help myself" is, in reality, us making the decision to not try and control ourselves. But God has given us that ability through the cross and Jesus is our example. In the garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus asking God to change what was about to happen because His feelings were not looking forward to the cross. As He prayed and acknowledged His feelings, Jesus asked for God's will to be done and not His.
Jesus chose to obey God because even in His agony of knowing what was about to happen to His fleshly body, He could see you and me on this side of the cross and the ability we would have to control our emotions, make good choices, and overcome anything that tries to stop us from living the life God wants us to have. We can do the same. We can make choices and changes in our lives based on truth because Jesus did it and now He lives in us.
The Apostle Paul reminds us that not only do we have a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7) but we also have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have the power and ability to think about what we are doing and to make good choices. We can choose our words and responses based on truth and not on feelings. With the power of God living in us and the mind of Christ leading us, we can control ourselves.
Anything Jesus could do, we can do because the cross transferred the power of God to whosoever will believe.
The cross is enough to help us control ourselves and make good choices.
Heidirn
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