Jesus Reaches Down To Help Us

Meditations for Ragamuffins

These meditations are inspired by the writings of Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, and many other books. 

June 22, 2023

Jesus Reaches Down To Help Us 

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 

The most distinguishing mark of the Christian faith is that our God died in our place so that through faith we may live eternally. In no other religion does their deity stand in the place of humanity to receive punishment for the sin of humanity. But our God doesn’t stop there. There is yet another distinguishing characteristic of the Christian faith, one that also separates Christians from every other religion in the world. Because of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Christian lives in Christ and Christ lives in the Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is this truth that enabled the Apostle Paul to proclaim:

 “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13), 

and

“For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

It is because of this truth proclaimed by Paul that the Christian can easily embrace the imperative of Romans 12:2. God doesn’t give us an arduous and seemingly impossible task and then stand back to observe and judge how well we do. No, we are not called to do the heavy lifting alone; Jesus bends his back and reaches down to help us.

Jesus told his disciples that “What is impossible for people is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Now, because the Christian lives in Christ and Christ lives in the Christian by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have a new way of looking at the impossible. God is inviting us to make a leap of faith and believe that through our transformation to become the children of God, the impossible has become possible.

My Takeaway: I sense God is calling all the followers of Jesus to revisit the seemingly impossible chore of dying to the customs and behaviors of this world that are contrary to life in Christ. In the words of Psalm 46:10, God is calling us to “Be still, and know that I am God!” Because with God the impossible has become possible, “let God transform (us) into a new person by changing the way (we) think.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.