1Corinthians 1:7(NLT) tells us, “Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:3(NLT) cosigns this by also declaring, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” And to top this off, Ephesians 2:6-7(NLT) boldly proclaims, “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” These verses make it absolutely clear that the inheritance we have received from God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ is far beyond our expectations and imaginations. Our responsibility and privilege are to live up to this extraordinary treasure, and God has done everything through Christ to make sure that we can.
Our Heavenly Father has been unfathomably generous in blessing us, and Ephesians 2:9 tells us that salvation and spiritual blessings are not rewards for anything that we, ourselves, have done. We could never have earned the blessings that God has bestowed on us. In other words, we can’t take any credit for any of them. These are all gifts from God, and they demonstrate His unconditional and limitless love for us all. Everything we do in life, from the smallest to the greatest detail, is a response to what God has done for us through His beloved Son. It is either a confirmation of our belief and faith in God’s goodness or our denial of it.
When we respond to God with a heart of gratitude and thankfulness, He recognizes this as our response to His goodness. He accepts this heart of gratitude and it signals to Him that we understand the partnership we share with Him through Jesus Christ. This partnership is the firm foundation of our lives, and in it are all the blessings of God contained. Heavenly Father has established us, and no detail was left out. From start to finish, He has purposed and planned for us through Christ, and our identity is found in him. Jesus Christ is the masterful design of all God has created us to be. Our search for our identity ended when we made Christ the head of our lives. All that is left for us to do is to enjoy the sweetness and power of our partnership with our Redeemer by living through God’s goodness each day.
This requires surrender, and as men, many of us find this extremely challenging. We’re used to being in control, and this often leads to a false sense of security. We must have a hunger to go beyond the surface of initially meeting God and learning a little about Him. There must be a hunger in our hearts to know Him as fully as He can be known. We must see the destiny to which He’s called us as the ultimate treasure of partnership that it is. Because, seriously, this is GOD we’re talking about here! He’s the Creator of all that we survey, and through His remarkable generosity, He has ordained that we, mere mortals, should be partners with Him and partakers of His divine glory and power. Nothing in all eternity will come close to the wonder of this!
The goal of every man should be to cultivate a genuine heart of appreciation for all that God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Throughout the Bible, God has almost always placed the responsibility of leadership in the earth on the man. Whether this is in his family unit and circle of friends, or in spreading the Gospel and ministering to others, the man is called by God to set the example of Christ, and this requires a Christ level of faith, humility, and surrender.
1Corinthians 1:8-9(NLT) tells us, “He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” We often define our manhood by our physical or mental strength, but the truth is that you and I are not strong in and of ourselves. Our strength comes from God, and He will keep us strong as we grow in Christ and carry forth the mission Christ has given us.
Our lives are very important to God. It’s not about how many friends we have. It’s not about the amount of money we have in the bank, the job we have, or the degrees we’ve earned. None of this matters to God. What matters to our Creator is that we love Him and obey His Word. He wants us to have strong families with loving, devoted, and Godly wives, and children that are raised to honor Him. He wants us to succeed in the purpose for which He has called us, and sometimes this will require us to lay down our agenda for God’s agenda.
We must remember that Jesus Christ said in John 6:38(NLT), “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” Doing the Father’s Will is the most fulfilling and rewarding existence any of us could ever have, and we must have gratitude in our hearts that He’s made this possible. He’s given us access to partnership with Him, and He freely offers it to all that are committed to live in Christ. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Appreciating Your Partnership with God”, written by VMack for Springfield Fellowship, Inc., springfieldfellowshipinc.org© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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