Turning in my membership card to the Christian social club

Andrew Murray's "Waiting on God" (Day #27) - For Redemption.

Luke 2:25,38 -  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

One of Satan's great ploys is to keep the children of God as children in the faith.  A great many, it would seem, go through life "thumbs up", got the ticket, bought the insurance policy, but have no real maturity in their faith, and no real relationship with God. 

They live not apart from this world, but are deeply ingrained in the world, and frankly, only call upon God when trouble arises.

I know, I belonged to this "Christian" social club.

In this chapter, Andrew Murray turns up the theological flame considerably.  He points us to Simeon, and Anna, both righteous Jews waiting for God's promised redemption.  Then he drives home the point that redemption has come!  We, on this side of the cross, are living in the era of redemption.  The Promised One came, died, and made possible our eternal security, in the presence of God.  And through Christ's atonement, we are granted direct access to the Holy of Holies.  Clothed in Christ, with the Holy Spirit residing, God looks upon us, and sees us as Christ.

And now we wait.  We wait for the completion of this redemption, our resurrection, and eternal life with God.

So, Andrew Murray would challenge, if you believe this, will not your waiting on God, "which began with special needs and prayer, will it not be increasingly concentrated, as far as our personal life is concerned, on this one thing:  "Lord, reveal Your redemption fully in me; let Christ live in me."

Andrew Murray:

"Learn from Simeon and Anna one lesson.  How utterly impossible it was for them to do anything toward the great redemption - towards the birth of Christ or His death.  It was God's work. They could do nothing but wait.  Are we as absolutely helpless as regard the revelation of Christ in us?  We are indeed.  God did not work out the great redemption in Christ as a whole, and leave its application in detail to us."

The secret thought that it is so lies at the root of all our feebleness.  The revelation of Christ in every individual believer, and in each one the daily revelation, step by step and moment by moment, is as much the work of God's omnipotence as the birth or resurrection of Christ.  Until this truth enters and fills us, and we feel that we are just as dependent upon God for each moment of our life in the enjoyment of redemption as they were in their waiting for it, our waiting upon God will not bring its full blessing.  The sense of utter and absolute helplessness, the confidence that God can and will do all - these must be the marks of our waiting as of theirs.  As gloriously as God proved Himself to them the faithful and wonder working God, He will to us also."

It seems most likely, no, imperative, that if we truly desire all that God promises for us, this side of His second coming, then we must pass through this understanding. 

Our natures recoil at such talk.  Feebleness?  Dependence?  Utter and absolute helplessness?

We are babes.  We travel through life thinking we are wise, yet, in the eyes of our infinitely wise Creator, we are foolish ones.  We easily forget that He is God, we are merely clay.  Even that statement recoils a great many.

But here's the simple truth:  Do you believe in God?  Do you believe that you were created by God?  Do  you believe that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good, all-loving, everywhere present?  Yes?  Then who are we to presume anything on God.  Who are we but dust? 

We must come to grips with this, or reject it at our possible peril.  It is impossible to read the whole of the Bible and not see this constantly present.  We get ourselves in trouble when we make of ourselves gods.

I do not know how to decipher the true child of God.  Only God knows that.  I do read that, in the final day, a great many people will find themselves locked out.  " Go away, I never knew you".  These words should strike fear in us all.

So...boy...there is much to consider here.  I am through this door of understanding.  I understand, and accept this teaching.  But, it would seem, I have been knocked on my keister with this truth, and haven't stood up, and moved forward.

Ok.  Onward, and upward. 

My soul, wait only upon God!