Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
How can we as followers of Jesus get through this ever-present barrier of the love of self? How can we as individuals learn how to die to self? More serious yet--how can we, as a corporate body, as a church, be "crucified with Christ"? Is it possible now? Or must we be like Israel at Kadesh-Barnea when they failed to enter their Promised Land for 40 years of "wandering" (Numbers 14)? Must we be sent back into the "wilderness" to die off so a fresh new generation can arise to scale the barrier of "self" that has weakened our witness for thousands of years? Could this be the "mother" of Christian problems?
Straight off, we know that a newly invented legalism program is not the answer. Trying harder is not it; more "works" is not it. The only way out is for the love of self to be crucified "with Christ," not just re-tortured through new forms of anxious fear.
The sanctuary in heaven that the Book of Hebrews talks about is God's office headquarters, His Pentagon where the great war between Christ and Satan is planned and executed. There is intense activity right now. Heaven is awake! As followers of Jesus we are soldiers in the army. But the "fight" is the "good fight of faith."
Christ is the High Priest ministering there in a special closing work that has never been fully accomplished in the past--a final and complete reconciling of alienated human hearts to the Savior. This special work reproduces in every believing heart and life the character of Christ. It makes possible the ending of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
There must be a new fresh element that enters in during these last days. It's a clearer grasp and therefore deeper appreciation of what Christ went through on His cross, when He saved us. Beholding that sight leads to self being crucified with Christ. It's not a works trip; it's a faith trip.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 18, 2003.
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