Do We Have It?

We know from studying Christ's life of many of the things that He did and the many things He faced in order to fulfill the Father's purpose for His life among us. By examining His life, we may come to ask ourselves many questions that are provoking and potentially life changing.

For example;

When Christ accepted His mission in His life on this earth to work out the Father's purpose in it, He knew what He faced. He knew why He was here and what end it would bring in His days among us. But He lived it out anyway. It was a choice that He made courageously. A decision to accept what the Father desired because of His faith in the Father.

Do we have courage to do what the Father asks of our lives whatever it may cost?

When Jesus healed the sick and performed the miracles that brought glory and fame to the Father, He did it with faith that the Father would honor His request because of the condition of His heart and His motives and because there was no room to question what He knew of the Father. As we walk among men on our own God given mission in the lives that He's given us, do we do so hoping that the word of our Father is true or with the confident knowledge that what He has spoken is indeed fact? Do we believe in our minds or know solidly in our hearts? Do we exercise our walk as hopeful religion or do we live it as a rock solid fact? Is it indeed fact to us or do we secretly hope that it's true?

Do we have faith in the Father and all that He's spoken?

If we say that we have faith and that we believe the words of our Father, then we bear the burden of response and bear a huge responsibility to live according to His word in all areas of our lives. In order to do so, we have to know what He's spoken. We have to know what's required of us in order to fulfill the obligation of these burdens. Knowing in our hearts that what He speaks is truth and not seeking out what He requires of us would be reckless and irresponsible in the deepest sense of the words. If we know, we must react or risk offending the Father.

Do we have knowledge of our Father's word?

Even after all that He suffered at the hands of His tormentors, Jesus at the very end of His life among us made certain that forgiveness was extended to them lest they bear the eternal damnation due them by their acts against Him and be lost to the Father. His heart was for the very ones who hurt Him and for their potential loss to the Father. After all the humiliation that they heaped upon this, the King of Kings, Jesus forgave them. After the brutal beatings and the flesh tearing lashes of the whips they used in an attempt to destroy His spirit ... He forgave them. We, being imperfect beings created perfectly, have many occasions to offend and be offensive to one another. But can any offense that we suffer in this life be held up to match by comparison the offenses that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator Himself bore and forgave so compassionately? Can we simple human beings suffer any offense greater than our own offenses to our God for which He has forgiven us?

Do we have forgiveness, not only for ourselves, but enough to lavish in loving compassion on our brothers and sisters who offend us?

And speaking of love, what greater example of love could we have than the undeserved love that Christ lived out among us? We all cross paths with people everyday who need love. We were created to need it. No matter who they are or what they may say, they need it desperately. The hardest of hearts need it most. And who are we, the undeserving upon whom Christ lavishes his love, to deprive even the seemingly most unworthy (to horde) of what we've been given and commanded to share? After the commandment to love our God, the next greatest commandment of Gods heart as spoken by our Savior is to love them whoever they are.

Do we have love? Christ's love, even for those we deem most despicable? How despicable were we to God before Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us even while we were still despicable?

Living in the body of Christ, we are all given some measure of these things. Some things in greater abundance to some people. Each of us having the nature and spirit of our Lord to share what we are given, we are all strengthened. And by having the humility to seek out and accept those things that we need, we become whole by His grace.