The Transformed Life - Day 325 Through the Bible

“Suffer the Little Children” by Ben Long IV at  the Crossnore School, features the faces of the school’s children – near Mt. Celo Church - part of the Benjamin F. Long IV Fresco Trail, sponsored by Blue Ridge Heritage Area.  The trail extends into Asheville, Charlotte and surrounding counties.  

My Meditations on Today’s Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

Key Words / Phrases: a new heart of flesh, not of stone; My Spirit within them,; pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy, of good fruits, without partiality or hypocrisy, righteous

The Necessity of the Transformed Life – Ezekiel 35 and 36 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized – Mount Seir and all Edom Toward Israel and Judah: Anger – Envy – Hatred – Spiteful Minds - Blasphemies God’s Response: 1) Because you have had an ancient hatred, 2) and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the power of the sword…at the time of their calamity 3) because you said…”These two nations shall be mine, and we will possess them…although the LORD was there.”  “Therefore…thus says the Lord GOD, “ as you rejoiced because the inheritance of Israel was desolate, so I will do to you.  You shall be desolate.  Then…they shall know that I am the LORD.”  God Toward Israel and Judah: You have been desolate…swallowed up on every side…become the possession of …slandered…plundered…mocked….by your enemies…forsaken.  God reminds Ezekiel of the Chosen Nation’s wickedness, idolatry and sin that led to God’s judgment and punishment…at His hands.  BECAUSE of His Name’s Sake…"These are the people of the LORD…yet…wherever they went…they profaned My name.”  “But I had concern for My Holy Name. Yet: Thus says the LORD, ‘Indeed, I am for you…and will turn to you …rebuild you. I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings.’ Why God is Restoring Israel and Judah:  “I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.  I will sanctify My great name…and the nations will know that I am the LORD…when…I am hallowed in you…before their eyes.  The Transformed Chosen People:  1) I will cleanse you from your filthiness and your idols. 2) I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.  3) I will take the heart of stone out of you, and give you a heart of flesh. 4) I will put My Spirit within you…5) and cause you…to walk…in My statutes…and you will keep…My judgments…and do them.  Then…you shall dwell in the land I gave your fathers, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.  Principle: God is reminding Ezekiel and the Chosen Nation of why they are undergoing their present suffering.  He is also promising just retribution on all their enemies who have taken pleasure in their downfall.  A future restoration is promised of the Chosen Nation, but this will happen when they have undergone the transformed life – a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit within them enabling and causing them to walk a life of obedience and honor to God.  This is the new creation, which every New Testament believer has undergone as well. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

What This Transformed Life Looks Like in an OT Saint – Psalm 132:1-9 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) From King David – “A Man After God’s Own Heart” – 1) LORD, my heart is not haughty, 2) nor my eyes lofty, 3) neither do I concern myself with great matters, 4) nor with things too profound for me.  5) Surely, I have calmed…and quieted…my soul.  5) O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever more. Principle: King David was not a sinless man by a long shot, but he was a man that continually sought God, repented (changed) when he sinned, and was fiercely loyal to God and His honor.

What This Transformed Life Looks Like in a NT Saint – James 3:1-18 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) 1) Bridles his tongue. 2) Shows by good conduct that his works are done in…the meekness of wisdom. 3) Does not have bitter envy.  4) Is not self-seeking in his heart. 5) Shows wisdom from above…that is first pure…then peaceable…gentle…willing to yield…full of mercy…of good fruits…without partiality…without hypocrisy. 6) The life will yield fruit of righteousness…sown in peace…by those who make peace.  Principle: Charles Stanley, Life Principles Daily Bible, pg. 1418: “God’s wisdom…leads to harmony and peace…while human wisdom…leads to arrogance and dissension.”

My Lessons and Applications:  I fall short of this transformed life, as I am sure most of us do while we are still struggling against and in our flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (Galatians 5:17)  Note Dr. Stanley’s comment above – that this is the struggle between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom:  arrogance and dissension vs. harmony and peace.  I long for the latter and find myself constantly enmeshed in the former or against the former.  So…I come back daily to meditation on His Word, seeking to apply it in my life, to draw near to Him in prayer, to be Christ to the world – but always being reminded by Scripture: Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)  And so…I continually re-set my mind on Christ. Romans 8:6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Charles Spurgeon on The Wisdom of Faith – Morning and Evening: Wisdom is the compass by which we steer our lives across the wasteland of life, for without it we would be rudderless ships.  We must be prudent in a world such as this or we will find no good at all and will become prey to countless ills.  The proper way to handle a matter wisely…is to trust in the Lord.  This is the unfailing clue to even the most intricate labyrinths of life, for if we will follow it, we will find eternal blessings.  Lord, walk with me this very moment through the garden of life and teach me the wisdom of faith.