Doomed
Doomed
(#314 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
It ultimately brings the purest of joy when you release it completely. Release what? Everything that supports your belief that there is any good in you whatsoever. And on this narrow road, where you come face-to-face with the truth, you will encounter a sobering paradigm. “If you were left to your own devices, you would be doomed.” The fullest appreciation of what salvation offers (the ongoing process of your mind being saved) is directly related to your acknowledgement of what you are saved from. “I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.” (2 Corinthians 12:5) Boast in Him because weakness is the finest you can boast of.
The best you can come to the table with is this; “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Almighty.” (Isayah 6:5) And if you are humble you will remember how deeply wicked every aspect of your conscience would be without Yahweh’s Spirit. Any climb from the pit you were in is only because of His grace. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of Yahweh. (Ephesians 2:8)
How many of you have been purchased from the grave by His grace only to start believing the preposterous idea that somehow you became “good” because of it. Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? (Galatians 3:3-4) Have you become judgmental, haughty, self-righteous, self-assured, rather than mournful, desperate, humble, and sober? Come near to the Almighty and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8) Perhaps you would be so bold as to ask Yahweh; “How wicked am I apart from You?”
When you have a revelation of the enormity of the wickedness of your personal “self” desire, you too will be terrified of the alternative of being left to your own devices. The mind of one who knows this is ever mournful, desperate, humble, and sober. And once we bear His mark, we confess that the reverent fear of our destiny without Him will keep our eyes fixed on Yahshua, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
“I know that whatever Yahweh does, it will be forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. Yahweh acts, and men will revere Him. That which was, now is; and that which is to be has already been, and Yahweh requires an accounting of the past.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15)