From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66
When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must “walk in the light” of that vision (1 John 1:7). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t “walk in the light” of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, “Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?” You have to “walk in the light” of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the “heavenly vision,” do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— “. . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.
Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one whom either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter. Oswald Chambers / My Utmost for His Highest 12/29
Philippians 3:7-16
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord , for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Here is the work of grace. A gracious heart accounts all the world dung and dross to be conformable to Christ in His Sufferings. There is that much excellency and glory in the sufferings of Christ. Evil of Evils ch. 42
When we receive Christ as savior and continue to doubt that we are truly forgiven, we engage in a debate wherein we “think differently” from that which God has clearly stated. We add human conditions and understanding onto the finished work of Christ. We choose to differ with Him on that which was and is His express purpose for coming to this earth, namely to offer Himself the perfect final sacrifice and redeem us from our sins.
Believers must never engage in this type of mental disobedience. These are vain speculations which must be taken captive to obedience in Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Further when we refuse or attempt to justify our unwillingness to forgive those as Christ has forgiven us, we rebel directly against God. We put our self in the most dangerous of all places, where our sins cannot be forgiven.
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
If you find yourself “thinking differently” than this, God will “make it clear it you”. The reality here is you are not even entitled to these pretentious arguments for there is not a speck of honesty or truth in them. But God loves you so much He will hear you out, take the whole mess you’ve created and “make it clear to you”.
As fast as you can, drop these vain speculations against the power and truth of God’s word. As fast as you can obey God and forgive others as He has forgiven you.
Take God at His word.
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