Enjoying Christ to Apply the Cross (1)
1Cor 1: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews astumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 But tothose who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the powerof God and the wisdom of God.Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer Iwho live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life whichI now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Sonof God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The crucified Christ as God's power and wisdom can be appliedto the problem we face with our temper. Without exception, weall are bothered by our temper. Who can say that he has neverlost his temper? I know of some sisters who, shortly beforethe day of their wedding, made a vow that they would neveragain lose their temper, especially never lose it with theirhusband. However, in every case this vow was broken. Not onlyin married life but in all kinds of situations in our dailylife, we are troubled by our temper.
Many Christians who love the Lord and seek Him have prayedsomething like this: "Lord Jesus, You know how easy it is forme to lose my temper. Lord, You are Jehovah the Savior. I askYou to save me from this sin of losing my temper. O Lord,deliver me from this." Although many have prayed in this way,none have been delivered from their temper as a result. Inourselves we simply do not have either the power to overcomeour temper or the wisdom, the way, to do it. We may think thatprayer will give us power and wisdom. However, even when wepray, we still do not have power and wisdom. But when we callon the name of the Lord, enjoy Christ, and are filled with the life-giving Spirit, we have no problem with our temper.Spontaneously we have both the power to overcome our temperand the way to deal with it.
We may also apply the crucified Christ as God's power andwisdom to our need for patience. We value patience and wedesire to be patient, but we cannot be patient. However, whenwe experience the crucified Christ, we automatically havepatience. This crucified Christ becomes to us both the powerand the wisdom for patience. As a result, we have both thestrength and the way to be patient. Actually, we do not try tobe patient. We simply are patient through our experience ofChrist crucified.