Duplicity

“I continue to dream and pray about a revival of holiness in our day that moves forth in mission and creates authentic community in which each person can be unleashed through the empowerment of the Spirit to fulfill God’s creational intentions.” [3]

Read more: http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/john-wesley-quotes-23-great-sayings/#ixzz2g5RpC300

An authentic community of believers begins with each individual person within that community so intentionally and unreservedly dedicated to Jesus Christ because they love Him with all their heart, soul and body that they model His character without pretense or self-awareness. If we "abide in Him and He abides in us" how we live and move within our community will be a demonstration of that reality without special regard or prejudice of any kind.

"Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him." (Oswald Chambers/ My Utmost for His Highest)

The title of this post is duplicity because the struggle which exist within our hearts to procure our own sense of embellished identity is a constant opposing and undermining force which must be subjugated so that Christ may indeed be formed in us. The apostle Paul made clear in the book of Galatians how we were to resolve our dilemma when he wrote " I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal. 2:20)

We understand the word duplicity to mean divided loyalties, but that is a misnomer. We can really only have one true loyalty, the other is always an imposter of sincerity and trustworthiness. It is deceitful because it is always keeping personal gain as its master plan.

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship  This means we can't live our lives with duplicity. It is not about us anymore, but it is all about Christ, and it will always mean that following Him with integrity will lead us to the cross and the consequence of this will be life to others.


^"always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 10-12)