The Work of Believing

S - Acts 26:20,30-32 (NIV): "First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. … The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. They left the room, and while talking with one another, they said, "This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment." Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.""

O - Jesus calls us to not only think differently about sin but about everything because the Kingdom of Heaven in near.  This thinking produces more than a change in mental dynamics.  It inspires and ultimately insists on deeds in keeping with the change in thinking.  The term "deeds" is  ejvrgon: literally work.  It the same term used in Romans 8:28 assuring us that God is working everything for good. It includes the dynamics of toil, labor and action. The point? We're to be working to think and live according to the Kingdom which is near and the purposes God is working on earth.  I think Paul had to work at his thinking at the end of this  appearance before the authorities.  If the goal was Paul's freedom, then he just blew it big!  If only he hadn't appealed to Caesar.  However, the assignment, according to Jesus, was for Paul to get to Rome and speak there as well.  Hmmm … following Jesus requires everything, even this world's freedoms and rights.  Paul expresses no regret or remorse. Paul continues to work with Jesus; if it was only for Jesus he could have paid Felix the bribe and been off to whatever he thought best a couple of years earlier.  Instead, he's proving his repentance by his deeds … thinking like Jesus, speaking, living, loving, following like Jesus.  He's off to Rome to testify in keeping with God's will on earth like it happens in heaven.  Sometimes this repentance produces such ease in us … other times it requires our intense cooperation and focused work.  

A - Sometimes the work of repentance involves the toil of putting away activities which only produce death (i.e. sin).  Most of the time the work is the work of child-like thinking and living so I will not miss entering the Kingdom.  Or, it is the work of staying in the boundaries of today while it is called today.  The work of the life which is repenting (thinking differently because heaven is near) includes staying focused on the person and presence of Jesus not a plan, principle or even a promise.  The work includes keeping in mind the things of God rather than the things of well-intended humans.  I am working quite hard these last few days … and I do feel some fatigue (self-pity too)as a result.  I am working and thinking about today, believing, following, staying near, staying little and relying on the Lord's love.  I am leaning into him accepting the truth that we will do more than give me strength; but that he himself will be my strength.  Today, I will be little, work with Jesus and take my confidence from his presence and believe.

P - Lord,
Today I will be little by relying on your presence, not my resource, skill, information or history.  I will be little by being teachable unto to change, transformation and new wineskins.  I will be little today by defaulting to trust, to fierce personal loyalty, whenever I'm afraid, freaked out or even when I'm awesomely blessed.  I want to do the work of believing, and thinking like Jesus, loving like Jesus, acting and speaking like Jesus.  I turn to you the face and not the back and say, I love you back.  I welcome everything you want to do and will follow no matter where you lead. Please cause your life to come into me and out of me unto that which is too wonderful for me.
Steve