Take O Lord

July 29, 2014

Take O Lord

“So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.”

2 Corinthians 4:16 (NRSV)

The Apostle Paul had but one ambition for his life, and for the lives of all the followers of Jesus, that “The life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11b NRSV). Paul had many ways of talking about this reality for the Christian. Sometimes he talked about putting on Christ, or living in Christ, or Christ living in the Christian, or life in the Spirit. I call it seeking to make the life in Christ my way of life. However we refer to this truth, the goal is the same; we want the life of Jesus to be made visible in our mortal flesh.

The Gospels reveal to us the heart of Jesus. We see his compassion, and we see his unwavering allegiance to the Kingdom of God. We see his gentleness and his unconditional acceptance of the last, the lost and the least of people. We see his zest for life, his true enjoyment in being with people, and we also see his uncompromising commitment to the will of God, regardless of the cost. Paul wanted the world to see those very same attributes in his mortal life. Saint Paul wants us to want that for our lives.

How do we achieve this goal for our lives? I have two suggestions, one very difficult and one not so much. First, the difficult. Pray for the courage to pray this prayer of St. Ignatius: “Take O Lord and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will. All that I have and possess you have given to me. To you O Lord I return it. All is yours. Dispose of it all according to your will. Give me your love and grace for this is sufficient for me. (St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1491-1556, was the founder of the Jesuits.)

Secondly, begin to dispose of your stuff. As for me, I have set the modest goal of disposing of at least one item of my stuff every day. I’ll let you know how that goes.

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. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.