Reading Jim Cymbala’s Fresh Faith challenges me from time to time. In chapter 12 Addition by Subtraction, he talks about the fact that we can only move on by losing some things in life. There are certain things we must give up in order to move ahead and follow the Lord. In other words, we must empty ourselves in order to be filled with. Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk. 1:15) Repentance points to the reality of being emptied; trust, to the reality of being filled with God’s blessing in Christ. This is a kingdom principle in the life of faith.
Jim Cymbala wrote:
We have to face the fact that in order to be what God wants us to be, he will have to take away things in our life that don’t belong. In any life or ministry devoted to him, we must stop and ask, “Are there attitudes here that grieve the Lord? Are there habits that need to be broken? What are the impurities that must go? How about that desire to be seen, that competitiveness, that seeking for glory and acclaim? What about the prejudice or judgmentalism toward others?” We must be absolutely open in inviting God to thoroughly search us and take away anything he sees fit. (Kindle location 2346, 2356).
In the process of growth, God gives us more by first taking things away from us that don’t belong to us as God’s children. “His process is to subtract in order to add. He will never make a treaty with our secret pockets of sin.” (Kindle location 2337)
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