June 7 I Friday

2 Chronicles 28-29

John 17

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”   —Matthew 5:6

When I was 12 years old, I became a Christian on a Saturday night after seeing a film at a meeting. That night, I said, “Lord, please take over my life.” At that time, I did not know if anything had happened, but the next day, I went to the church and for the first time, the service was interesting. I even went to the evening service and, again, for the first time in a long while, what the preacher said made sense. I thought to myself, “This is incredible! These people have changed over night!” But actually, what differed was that something had happened to me. Before, the service was dull and boring, but now it was interesting and alive, because God put into my heart what He puts into all of our hearts when we believe: a hunger and thirst for righteousness.

But I had a bad track record with righteousness because I tried to change the way I lived, only to discover that I could not. I would go from meeting to meeting, getting dedicated, rededicated, re-rededicated, and re-dedicated dedicated. I even got consecrated because it sounded deeper. For several years after being a
Christian, I kept trying and trying but was left with an utter sense of frustration.

That is, until one day, I made a discovery that transformed my life: the Bible never tells us to dedicate ourselves to God. Instead, it tells us to die to ourselves because the only one who can live the Christian life is Christ Himself. Christ is not up there in Heaven as some faraway example to be copied but by His Holy Spirit, He is down here, in us, making our body His home.
At my epiphany, I did not receive anything that I had not already received the day I became a Christian. Because the day I became a Christian, God gave me Himself––this is all we need.

I realized, it was not what I do for God but what I let Him do for me. Spiritual reality derives from the measure to which God becomes the explanation for our life because we are living in dependency on and obedience to Him. As Paul tells us, “...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good
purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

If our Christian life can be explained in terms of our abilities, gifts, personalities, disciplines or interests, it requires nothing supernatural. But when the explanation becomes “God is at work in that life”––in your life and mine––then it is the real thing.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank You that the day I chose to become a Christian, I received Your righteousness by faith. Lead me to encounter a real change in my daily
walk with You.