What does God look for in His people?

What does God look for in His people?
By Paul Ravenhill

There are two forms of judgment:
A judgment based on what is right and just...
And a dimension of judgment based on the measure in which a life
corresponds to the Truth!
A judging by the measure in which it participates in the Truth.

My father used to say that the goal in the New Testament "is not salvation; it is not sanctification... the goal in the new Testament is PARTICIPATION."
That is, beyond "Christian experiences" what God desires from us is a participation in what He is.

God measures us by the measure of our participation in the truth in His life.

To what extent is there an agreement, a harmony, a corresponding between the nature of our lives and the nature of His life?
Is our nature like that of the world around us?
Or has it been transformed to the likeness of the nature of Jesus?

Peter presents the glorious desire of the heart of God for the redeemed:
That they may attain to "be partakers of the divine nature." (II Peter 1:4)
Paul speaks of:
"A perfect man... the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)
And both Peter and Paul affirm what the Spirit of God proclaims through all the sacred text, that in Jesus Christ there is provision for this to be fulfilled in the lives of all His own.

I believe that with such a high calling,
and with such a complete provision, it is inevitable that we
who are called by His Name should be judged by this truth.

There comes to mind another saying which my father used to repeat, "Christianity is a very simple and yet a very profound thing - it is... to live under the eye of God and by His help."

His help, His invitation, and His desire is that we may not only turn our backs on the world and the devil but also on our own limited abilities, and enter into His Grace, His Strength, His Life.

The secret of the Christian life is not based on external experiences but on our coming into the place of contact with God Himself, for it is this that opens a fountain in the inner being which flows with a Life constantly renewed, sufficient for every circumstance... a river which leads us to know, in an ever increasing measure, all the fullness of the resources of Life and Grace which find their existence in God.

So, we may be free from all the things with which the world binds the sons of men.

So, we may come to the PARTICIPATION in the fullness of His Life.

Home Page Spanish Messages Articles Meditations Biographical Sketches Maxims Books Archive Tapes E-Mail Subscribe