Spiritual Paradoxes, 2of2

~ Where’s the Profit? (Occupational Therapy) ~

A number of years ago there was a well-known television commercial in which an elderly lady looking at her hamburger asks, “Where’s the beef?” In other words, where is the heart of what I ordered? Apply that concept to the Christian life and ask, “Where’s the profit?”

The following excerpt is from a sermon by R.G. Lee (1886-1978) entitled “Paths of Disappointment” which was based on a single verse from Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived). “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

What shall it profit a man if he be a great artist and know not Jesus, the One Who is Altogether Lovely?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great architect and know not Jesus, the Chief Corner Stone?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great baker and know not Jesus, the Living Bread?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great banker and know not Jesus, the Priceless Possession?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great biologist and know not Jesus, the Life?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great builder and know not Jesus, the Sure Foundation?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great carpenter and know not Jesus, the Door?

What shall it profit a man if be a great doctor and know not Jesus, the Great Physician?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great educator and know not Jesus, the Teacher?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great engineer and know not Jesus, the New and Living Way?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great farmer and know not Jesus, the Sower and Lord of Harvests?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great florist and know not Jesus, the Rose of Sharon?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great geologist and know not Jesus, the Rock of Ages?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great astronomer and know not Jesus, the Star of Bethlehem?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great horticulturist and know not Jesus, the True Vine?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great judge and know not Jesus, the Righteous Judge?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great jurist and know not Jesus, the True Witness?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great jeweler and know not Jesus, the Pearl of Great Price?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great lawyer and know not Jesus, the Sinner’s Advocate?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great philanthropist and know not Jesus, the Unspeakable Gift?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great philosopher and know not Jesus, the Wisdom of God?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great sculptor and know not Jesus, the Living Stone?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great student and know not Jesus, the Incarnate Truth?

What shall it profit a man if he be a great sinner and know not Jesus, the Lamb of God?

application:  How about you? Is your life spiritually profitable? Are your riches in heaven or on earth? What priorities in your life need adjustment? 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

If you found this post personally interesting or helpful, you are welcome to add a link to it on your own blog or website. 

If you would prefer to copy this post, please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight (http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/).

Spiritual Paradoxes, 1of2

~ The Upside Down Spiritual World ~

Those who understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ realize that spiritual values are quite opposite of the our natural values. Values are reversed. Consider some salvation paradoxes.

Weakness Is Strength  ~  God’s strength can be displayed through us when we realize our own human weakness. “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). 

Lost Is Found  ~  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works’” (Matthew 16:24-27). The Apostle Paul lost his life for Christ, renouncing everything including his pride, and suffered in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.  In the process he found true meaning and purpose.  This passage contains a second paradox:

Death Is Life  ~  “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it’” (Matthew 16:24-25). “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins live for righteousness—by whose stripes we are healed” (1 Peter 2:24). It is only through death of our personal desires that we gain true life. Jesus Christ Himself gave His life in loving self-sacrifice for us. The Apostle Paul died to his own desires in order to please Christ, renouncing everything including his pride and suffered in order to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.  In the process he found the abundant life which is only in Jesus Christ.  

Leading Is Serving  ~  The way of the Master. Jesus said, “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26). Jesus gave us the example by His own life, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Self-seeking is really self-losing!

First Is Last  ~  “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30). “So the last will be first, and the first last” (Matthew 20:16a).

Loss Is Gain  ~  Martyred missionary Jim Elliot is famous for his journal notation, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” More than likely this was his paraphrase of John 12:25 (he knew the Word so well that it may well have been a subconscious paraphrase). “Whoever loves his life loses it,” [so he gives what he cannot keep] “and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” [to gain what he cannot lose].

Down Is Up  ~  In summary, the way up to heaven includes holding down pride and self-confidence and realizing that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:4-10). 

Humility Is Exaltation  ~  “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:10). Christians are exalted in God’s eyes when they possess true humility.

In But Not Of  ~  These paradoxes are all related to this basic concept. Jesus said, “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:14-15). 

consider these additional thoughts: 

“The greatest use of life is to spend it on something that outlasts it” (unknown author).

“At the root of all the miseries of mankind is a miscalculation of the value of things” (Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790).

“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least” (Goethe, 1749-1832).

“I’d rather lose in a cause that will ultimately succeed, than succeed in one that will ultimately fail” (Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865).

“There are two things that characterize the teachings of our Lord. Number one is this: the worth, the infinite, heavenly, eternal worth of the soul.  And the second one: the transitory, temporal, ephemeral, ultimate worthlessness of everything else” (W.A. Criswell, 1909-2002).

Finally, one of my favorites is, “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate” (unknown author). 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Are you rich? Eternally rich? What change in your current priorities are appropriate?

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

If you found this post personally interesting or helpful, you are welcome to add a link to it on your own blog or website. 

If you would prefer to copy this post, please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight (http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/).

A Discipleship Model, Part 1of7

~ Step 1:  Embrace an Apparent Paradox ~

NOTE:  This Discipleship Model is a special 7-part series showing a clear path to spiritual victory. One step will be posted each day for a calendar week. After completion of this series Abundant Life Now will “resume regular programming.”

The Christian life and the Christian faith have many “apparent paradoxes.” Each of these is like a coin—having two sides, but in truth is only one coin. Both sides need to be fully embraced. This Discipleship Model starts with the recognition that as a disciple you are Totally Dependent upon God and also Fully Responsible before God.

Totally Dependent  ~  Most Christians understand this. Here are two well-known verses from God’s Word. “I [Jesus Christ] am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

When dependence upon God is properly understood, the proper reaction is to be regularly in prayer. “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1, emphasis added). “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8a, emphasis added). “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16b).

Fully Responsible  ~  Even with God’s help the process of discipleship is hard work. He expects us to be responsible before Him. While it is not easy, it is worth it. Keep in mind your exciting prospect of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ your teacher. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). 

This is the normal and expected pattern of all Christians. “But we all [Christian disciples], with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Your responsibility before God grows out of the fact that you have been given everything you need to live a life that pleases God and to grow increasingly like Him. 

Peter, who so many of us can identify with, stumbled many times, but he learned these truths. Listen to Peter, “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1b-11, emphasis added).

Since you have been given the tools, you also have the responsibility to train yourself in Godliness. “Exercise yourself toward godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7b). 

Step 1:  Paradox  ~  Understand your partnership with God.

The next step will focus on a key for lasting spiritual change.    

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW