I will acknowledge that to be easily hurt, offended, intimidated, alarmed, or upset is really a manifestation of the self-life; it is because I am not getting my own way, or I am not accorded the place I think I deserve, or I am not given the share I think I am entitled to. To feel forever cheated, deprived, alienated, or isolated is to taste what the unregenerate man will taste forever—hell.
Christ died not only to forgive my sins but to break sin’s hold on me. Why should He bind the strong man only to release him to renew his attacks on me? To indulge sin is to forfeit one of God’s richest privileges, the personal power of the cross in my life. The power of the cross and the power of sin are mutually exclusive; one or the other dominates me.
I will look for good in others, but I will not be surprised if I find evil, If I find evil, I will not feel personally rebuffed, as in the case of a friend who has failed me, or someone who has not lived up to my expectations. To feel rebuffed or hurt in such cases is an expression of the self-life. I will accept human beings as I find them—persons capable of redemption but just as capable of evil—and I will accord them the same treatment as Christ did. He did not rely on them, but neither did He exclude them. He was not personally hurt by rejection, only sorry for the rejecter. He was not vengeful or vindictive toward those who hurt Him.He gladly forgave and kept offering forgiveness. When He saw a glimmer of faith and love, He rejoiced.
The glory of Christian discipleship is to see the miracle of the emerging person, “the new man in Christ,” and to realize I have had a part in his newness under the hand of God. Then I am able to say with Christ, “I and the children God has given me” (Hebrews 2:13, Berkeley).
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24–25).
Daily with the King 