Learning Response

One thing I have learned very well and that is that every action has consequence. Covenant requires action. There must be response to a covenant expectation. God created covenant for the very purpose that mankind would be partners with Him in the creating of man in God's image. So every covenant requires response or action on both sides. This creates a flow or a circle. God gives us His expectation or commandment and we respond with an action that God can respond with His action, that we can respond with our action, and so on and on until we reach God's goal.

The Spirit spoke something to me that was startling to me. Every person does God's will one way or another! The Sanhedrin of Jesus' day fulfilled God's will by crucifying Jesus. That action came out of their Adamic nature that they had not allowed to be subdued by the Law. They had carried out the letter of the Law, but they had not responded to God to be led by the Law to understand Him. Instead, they used the Law. Religious action does not change the human nature. So the very ones who stood in the office of teaching the Law did not know God. There is an action of refusal to respond to God's expectation. Keeping the control in yourself to make judgments, to have your own way, and react out of your human nature are actions that will result in judgment for this keeps one in darkness. Paul addressed this in his letter to the Galatians. Galatians 6:7-8 NLT 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.

To "work out your salvation with fear and trembling", you pay attention to your actions and reactions. Do they come from your adamic nature or are they the response trained by the Spirit as you feed on God's Word? The difference in your own nature and the nature of Jesus that is produced in you by the Holy Spirit is outlined by Paul. Galatians 5:19-26 NLT 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.

Actions for either nature will have consequence. You are either building or tearing down. Speaking is an action. Even feeling or thinking is an action. Paul exhorts us to meditate on God's Word. Jesus spoke to us of eating or feeding on it. The Psalmist said, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O God, my strength and my Redeemer." We are warned to "guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life." Listen carefully to your own words and measure your actions. For we are becoming slowly and step by step into the being that will live in eternity -- somewhere.