8/31/2022 • Desk of Dennis Piller
Exceeding Abundantly – Beyond Anything We Could Ask!
Commitment is both an act and a habit. The last three chapters of Ephesians begin with: “walk worthy of your high calling with a walk of adoration”. They teach us how to demonstrate our commitment as a habit of the soul in the common actions of daily life.
Eph 4:1-4 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;”
As we look at this piece of scripture so should we look at our own experiences. Commitment lifts us up into the heavenly places to return to this earth so infused with its blessings that, all our attitudes and actions prove that our whole life is devoted to God alone.
Notice again our scripture, how it brings us to the very root of the Christian life. “Walk worthy of your vocation, with all lowliness and meekness, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace”.
Can you see that the great mark of the call of Christ upon us as believers is humility?
The next verse says we should “walk in one body and spirit”. It is this one spirit that is to be maintained in our daily relationships with fellow believers. In the midst of all the ugliness that is around us… All of the diversity of character… all the evil that is around us., the first mark of true commitment, is a life wholly devoted and given up to God! “Walk,, with all lowliness and meekness”
To us men, that means walking without anger, without prejudice, without judgment. It means walking in humility
We MUST realize that we cannot do this in our own strength. Before we can be one body in one spirit… We must be so, personally… in Christ.
There must be a paradigm shift.
We must look at the first three chapters in Ephesians and think of the heavenly blessings which God has blessed us with in Christ.
We must think of the exceeding greatness of his power to those who believe!
We must think of the Holy Spirit through whom we have access to God in Christ and are, built up, as a dwelling place of God.
Think of the doxology concerning his ability to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us”, WHY? So He can make all these promises true in us!
We must take time beyond the short reading and form a true conception of the wonderful standard of spiritual life indicated in these words.
And then I pray you might note the transition: “walk worthy of this high calling in all loneliness and weakness”. Humility will be the truth that God has come to you and revealed himself and brought everything like self and pride down into the very dust under our feet.
We must realize that this is not just our disposition and attitude towards God alone, but especially towards others. “In all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love”.
There is no clearer proof that God’s spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus have reached and mastered a man than humility in his relationships with his fellow men.
Think about this, my friends. The exceeding greatness of God’s power in us who believe…raising us out of death…of self and sin to Christ Jesus on the throne… that we are seated with him in the heavenly places… That should make you realize that we are becoming like Christ… willing to wear a servant’s garments and to do servants’ work.
What is impossible with man is possible with God.
https://www.facebook.com/castingcrowns/videos/805840673439892/
Casting Crown Scars in Heaven
Excerpts are taken heavily from Andrew Murray’s book.. The Believers Call to Commitment
