If you were to receive a Traveler’s Guide for Elizabethan England (late 1500’s), what information would you like included to learn about?
I’m not posting this to research the period itself. I’m posting to find out what people want to know about the place and time in history. If you are a fan of Renaissance Faires then your input is especially valuable for this project.
Thoughts?
We often try to think of ourselves as our own masters. We have free will, sure. But the things we do with that free will… they’re things that we’re told to do.
Jesus offers us freedom in serving Him. It sounds backwards, but that’s the way the world wants us to see it… backwards. However, Jesus wants us to see things just as they are. He wants us to know the truth. And to do that, we must continue in His word.
We can, of course, choose to go “our own way.” But that’s a deceptive way of saying it, because really it isn’t our own way. It’s sin’s way. If we reject Christ, we become slaves to sin. Sin becomes our master. All of us have sinned, and allowed sin to have dominion in our lives.
And sin doesn’t like to let its servants go. It pulls them deeper and deeper into servitude. It will let them think they are the master if that’s what it takes to keep them.
If we want true freedom, we must become a servant. Sounds confusing, but if we want to understand the truth of it then we simply need to continue in His word. We need to love and obey Christ. Only then will we know the truth that sets us free.
Often times those of us who are Christians neglect or forget the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. We wonder just how exactly He’s working in our lives. It can be hard to recognize what’s us and what’s Him. But that is only made worse by our neglecting Him.
What’s easy to recognize is that Jesus spoke of the Spirit as having a powerful and active presence in His people. Notice here in John 7, Jesus doesn’t tell us that we will have a dripping faucet of the Holy Spirit. He speaks of the Spirit as One that we “drink” and receive as “RIVERS of living water.”
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, `From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ “ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
We certainly don’t want to assign our fallen actions to the living God. But what a tragedy for Christians to not even pay attention to God within. What a sad thing that we as people can think so highly of ourselves that we cannot even differentiate between ourselves and God.
He works mightily within His people. Let’s make sure to give proper credit where credit is due. If we come to Jesus, and if we abide in Him and love Him, we will learn to appreciate the Rivers of Living Water that flow within the Christian soul.
It should be easy to remember when rivers flow within oneself.
In John 7 Jesus answers the question that many people have today. People wonder how they can really know that Jesus is who He said He is. They wonder how they can know that His words are true.
Jesus said:
“My teaching is not My own. It comes from Him who sent Me. If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own. “
All one has to do is seek God’s face and do His will. If they can do that, if they can act upon an earnest desire to know the truth, then it will be made clear to them.
One thing I’ve noticed as a Christian is that this isn’t just something that happens once. The more I abide in His will, the more I see the truth of what Jesus taught. I have no doubt that Jesus spoke the truth, but He is proved over and over again the more I walk through life.
And I am all the more convinced that true life is only found in Him.
Choose to DO God’s will, not your own, and you will come to see the truth of Him too!
Writing for Christ! 