Applying for Unemployment - C S Lewis

From Weight of Glory, by C. S. Lewis



We have in our day started getting the whole picture upside down. Starting with the doctrine that every individuality is "of infinite value," we then picture God as a kind of employment committee whose business it is to find suitable careers for souls, square holes for square pegs.

In fact, however, the value of the individual does not lie in him. He is capable of receiving value. He receives it by union with Christ.

There is no question of finding for him a place in the living temple which will do justice to his inherent value and give scope to his natural idiosyncrasy.

The place was there first. The man was created for it. He will not be himself until he is there. We shall be true and everlasting and really divine persons only in Heaven, just as we are, even now, colored bodies only in the light.


To say this is to repeat what everyone here admits already--that we are saved by grace, that in our flesh dwells no good thing, that we are, through and through, creatures not creators, derived beings, living not of ourselves but from Christ.

                              

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Ephesians 2:10 --

"We are His masterpiece (handiwork), created in Christ Jesus, to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Where is His Tabernacle Now?

 

In Hebrew, the word 'tabernacle' means 'dwelling place' or 'residence.' It refers to the portable sanctuary carried by the Israelites, which the LORD directed Moses to build. Read about it in glorious detail in Exodus 35-38. Later  Solomon's Temple became the permanent sanctuary. But while wandering in the wilderness, they carried the tabernacle.

  Where is God's dwelling place now?  He lives in us.  - our heart is His tabernacle!

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During the wilderness wanderings there came a wonderful moment. God had instructed Moses to build a tabernacle for Him. Once the project was complete, the majestic cloud, which had hovered above them, descended and entered the holy place. From that moment on, every child of Israel could point to the tabernacle and say, "God is there!" Read about that amazing event in Exodus 40:34-38.

Now gesture to your Heart and say "God is here!" On the day you decided to follow Jesus, an unseen miracle occurred. The Holy Spirit descended from the heavens, and stopped directly over your body. He took up residence in you! He turned your heart into His tabernacle. Paul describes it in Ephesians 3: 'That God may grant you, through His Spirit, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," or as another version says 'that Christ may settle down and be at home in your heart by faith.'

  1 Corinthians 3:16 - 'Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple?'

Without question, one of the most remarkable Christian doctrines is that Jesus Christ Himself, through the Holy Spirit, will actually enter a heart, and make it His home. 

And He will live in any heart that welcomes Him!

Keep reminding yourself all day: "He is here! He is our Immanuel"

Don't worry about the clothes!

A favorite old hymn - sung by our pioneer ancestors -

Come ye sinners, poor and needy,

Weak and wounded, sick and sore;

Jesus ready stands to save you,

Full of pity, love and power.

Come, ye weary, heavy laden

Lost and ruined by he fall;

If you linger till you're better

You will never come at all

Let not conscience make you linger

Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness He requireth

Is to feel your need of Him!

These amazing words were written by Joseph Hart, who born in 1712 and died in 1768. It is recorded that this song was one of Daniel Boone's favorites.

He was well-educated, became proficient in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, (which he later taught)  and spent much time translating and writing poetry.

He lived in London, served as pastor of Jewin Street Chapel, and had a large congregation.

But Joseph Hart was not a Christian, believing as many people of his day, that the atonement of Jesus Christ was a myth and all one needed to do was believe in God and salvation was assured.

He even wrote a tract denouncing Christianity and ridiculing the popular preacher John Wesley. He titled his piece, The Unreasonableness of Religion Being Remarks and Animadversions on the Rev. John Wesley's Sermon on Romans 8:32.

But he had persistent doubts about his own salvation.

Maybe, he considered, righteous acts were the key, and he began to concentrate on living a good life and performing deeds that would honor God.

The doubts persisted: was he really and truly saved?
Did belief in God take care of it? Did righteous deeds?

He prayed for a sign, some special revelation from God, and writes later that he had sincere torments "for more than a year."

Just before Easter, 1757, Joseph Hart, "had such an amazing view of the agony of Christ in the garden [of Gethsemane]" that he began to understand that all Christ's sufferings were for him and for his salvation.

He began re-reading the Bible and searching for answers.

Shortly after, on Whitsunday (Pentecost), he was converted under the ministry of George Whitefield, and began to feel the confidence that God had indeed, through the sufferings of Jesus Christ, eternally saved his soul, and that all those who trust in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, would find salvation.

He apologized publicly to John Wesley and the other Christians he had ridiculed and his life became a living testimony to the grace and goodness of God.

He wrote a number of hymns, but in the days of colonial America, "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy," was the most popular, as newly arriving settlers from England came to these shores and brought the song with them.

When he died, in May of 1768, it was reported that tens of thousands gathered around his graveside at Bunhill Fields.

What makes these words to appealing to us today, as well as then?

To me it is these phrases: if you linger till you're better, you will never come at all...and All the fitness He requireth, is to feel your need of Him....

Is it foolish to try to fix yourself up in order to come to Jesus. We are unable to do that. All our righteous acts are as "filthy rags" as Isaiah says.

We're just wasting time and energy trying to be good enough!

We come to Jesus just as we are...poor, wretched, and needy. That is how we are and that is how He receives us.

Come now!

Then He clothes us in His righteousness and forever sees us in the radiance of His glory!



To God be the glory --- such great things He has done!

I sought the LORD and He answered me;

He delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to Him are radiant;

Their faces are never covered with shame.

--Psalm 34:4-5

I delight greatly in the Lord;
My soul rejoices in my God.
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation
And arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.
--Isaiah 61:10

Good News - At the Last Minute!

 

                               Good News -- At The Last Minute!

   The man sat on the floor of his cell.  His head was buried in his hands and his shoulders quivering as he sobbed. The time was approaching -- either very fast or very slow -- he couldn't tell. But soon the jailor would arrive to take him to the site of his execution.

He was more grief-stricken and hopeless than afraid. He was guilty for sure. But he tried everything to stop the process. He had written the governor begging for a pardon. He had exhausted his appeals. Had a retrial. But -- the verdict was the same: "Guilty as charged" and he now waited for the jailor to come a take him. No possibility of another chance.

He heard someone coming. Sounded like the jailor. Then the sound  of the keys clanging loudly at the cell door.

Yes, the jailor was here.

"Yes, I came to get you," he said. "But it's good news -- they took Jesus instead. You are free to go! Right now! You are FREE TO GO!"

What happened? Grace!

Grace happened...and he was free!

Refresh your memory everyday -- that one day Grace appeared and paid your debt and set you free!

Who Was Jesus Looking For?

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease among the people."  Matthew 4:23

As Jesus began His ministry, He walked the dusty shores of Galilee, calling fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James and John. He healed a leper who dared approach Him. He welcomed a paralytic who was lowered through a hole in the roof to see Him!

He even invited Matthew, a despised tax collector, to be His disciple. These were not random encounters -- they were intentional invitations, not to important scholars and leaders, but to the ordinary people, some who were often rejected and forgotten. Invisible.

How about you? Ever feel alone and alienated from "the important group"?

No one expected you to sit with the "cool kids" at lunch? That nobody ever saved you a seat for you? That you were never a part of the "in" group? Always "outside"?

Does it seem that Jesus usually chose those kinds of people to build His kingdom?

It does seem that way to me...and I am forever grateful.

When Jesus noticed people, when He called them, it seems He was not deterred by their weakness. Actually, it appears He was drawn to it! He doesn't wait for us to be strong and confident. He steps into our pain, heals and restores and then sends us out with a purpose. In a world where status determines influence, Jesus flipped the model. The broken became His messengers!

Jesus' actions remind us that ministry doesn't begin with perfection - it begins with surrender! We bring our imperfections to Him and He greets us with healing and restoration. If He can use fishermen, tax collectors, lepers and paralytics, He can use us, too!

He still walks into the lives of the outcasts and invisible and ordinary people today. He does it through us! Ask Him to open your eyes and show you someone who needs to see Him! And then show that person Jesus!