“I AM”

“I AM”

“I am the way, the truth, and the life . . . .” John 14:6.

How amazing, that the Father and the Son are what they are, instead of Them supposed to being it, which is usually the case with converted and unconverted people.

According to 1 Corinthians 13:2, the vast majority of people are nothing!!! Maybe they were converted many years ago, believing in the atonement, and when they die, they are nothing more than a Nothing.

“God is love.” 1 John 4:8. “He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.” Paul writes, “For the love of Christ constrains us . . .” (2 Cor. 5:14), that is if we possess it in our inner man. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul writes, “But by the grace of God I am what I am . . . .” He had also been a simple Nothing, just like the rest of us, but the evidence is overwhelming and clear that he had really become something—even very much— through God’s tremendous grace! Therefore we do not need to remain just a Nothing. On the contrary!

He says in this passage of scripture that he had worked more than all the others. Therefore, he had become a very important fellow worker of God, driven by the love of Christ. He wrote that he had become this. There is no doubt that this is true. He also wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live . . . .” Gal. 2:20. And, “For I through the law died . . . .” V. 19.

When you are nothing, you are also not able to do anything that God can acknowledge, for then all the “good” you do is contaminated by sin. But listen to this unspeakably glorious word that Paul wrote: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13. This is something completely different than being a Nothing who is obviously unable to do anything godly. For example, he was able to love the saints increasingly more, the less he was loved by them! 2 Cor. 12:15. What a masterpiece! What a divine work! He, in whose flesh dwelt nothing good whatsoever, who was one great Nothing, who was a furious, zealous adversary of the church, who breathed threats and murder—he had now partaken of divine nature to such an inexpressibly high degree that he was more than a conqueror in all situations! “Being such a one as Paul, the aged . . . .” Phm. 9.

He also gives this exhortation: “Follow me . . . .” 1 Cor. 11:1. Therefore he had to think and believe that it was possible for everyone to become like him. What we are not now, we can become by God’s great grace during our time of grace! “God . . . calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” Rom. 4:17. All this, because He is mighty to work in us so that it comes into being!

Micah says in chapter 3, verse 8: “But truly, I am full of power . . . .” It is certain that this hadn’t always been the case, but it had become like this! Glory to God! David sings in Psalm 120, verse 7: “I am all peace . . . .”

In Acts 26, verse 29, Paul wished that all those who heard him on that day might become altogether “such as I am.”

“Then he will have his praise only according to what he is . . . .” Gal. 6:4. Here we clearly see it is God’s unmistakable will that we, by His grace, shall actually become something that is worthy of honor and praise while we are here in the time of our sojourn, and not remain a Nothing!

“For we are the circumcision [true children of God] who worship God in His Spirit, whose boasting is in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh [neither our own flesh nor others’ flesh] . . . .” Phil. 3:3. Boasting in Christ Jesus means that you praise Him for what He was able to do in us, for that which did not exist before but has now come into being and which now is by God’s great grace. Therefore it has truly become an accomplished fact, a reality. It is visible and audible, and up to a point, you can even touch it with your hands! 1 John 1:1-3.

If we will, the exalted, glorious life we are called to partake of during our sojourn can be rightly expressed with the following words: We are called to be personified love, peaceableness, righteousness, truthfulness, patience, longsuffering, meekness, humility, generosity, gentleness, strictness, etc., etc., so that we are loving, righteous, peaceable, truthful, patient, etc. God be highly praised for His glorious calling and that He is mighty to let us attain it!