What if we had a secret place where we could
think anything and be outside the purview of God, where God would never know.
Remember what we say and do are just manifestations of what we think, so
everything starts with our thoughts. If we wish to fulfill the command to
examine ourselves to see whether we are demonstrating our faith by an ever
increasing manifestation of Christ within, this would be the ultimate test.
Would we continue to manifest Christ in our secret place, or would we release
the buried lusts of our old flesh-life and fully indulge. Would Christ reign or
would Self reign? Be honest... Honesty is death to performance!
For
many saints their mind is their “secret place”, the place where their real Self
hides from the world while influencing their every thought, word and action.
But there is no secret place safe from the all knowing, all powerful,
everywhere God we serve. The command for Self examination reads like this in
the Amplified Bible:”Examine and
test and evaluate your own
selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves -- not Christ.
Do you not yourselves realize and
know, thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience, that Jesus Christ is in
you—unless you are counterfeits, disapproved on trial and rejected”? Christ is not on trial, we are. And the
fruit-proof that bears witness we are ‘holding to our faith” is “an ever-increasing
experience that Jesus Christ is in us.” Saints, we all realize and know whether
we are passing or failing this test. We can hide in our secret place and
pretend God doesn’t know... but, deep inside we know He knows. He wants to
restore us to that place of an ever-increasing experience of the indwelling
Christ-Life. He wants us to hang our secret place on the Cross. He wants us to
be honest: An honest life is transparent, and does not try to control the
reaction of others to itself, or give others the façade they expect. Most of
all, an honest life does not try to fool God... Honesty is death to performance.
The
battle for control of our heart is won or lost on the battlefield of our mind. And
make no mistake, it is a battle. Our thoughts, inside the bastion of our mind,
are treated as sacrosanct, outside the purview of man and God. Thoughts do matter,
for from our thoughts precede our words, our choices, and our actions,
establishing the course of our life. Thoughts determine who will control us,
Self or the Holy Spirit: We cannot experience the progressive reality of Christ
within without right thinking, which is critical to accessing the overcoming
life Christ died to provide. Jesus said “thinking sin” was just as bad as
“doing sin.” Paul admonished that we bring every thought into obedience to
Christ, even giving us a list of things to think on – to help us “set” our mind
-- for “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” The right setting of the mind
is critical to living in right standing with God and being led by His Spirit. “Seek those things which are above... For those who live according
to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit ... Set your mind on things above, not on things on the
earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with
Christ in God.” God wants to renew our mind: He wants to give us the
mind of Christ. Remember saints, we are what we think: Jesus knows what is in
our heart... knows what we think... knows what we are... and we know too!
HONESTY IS DEATH TO PERFORMANCE...
(Mk.
7:20-23; Matt. 5:27-28; 2 Cor. 10:4-5, 13:5; Phil. 4:8, 2:5; Prov. 23:7; Rom.
8:5; Col. 3:1-3)
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