Tag Archives: obedience

Jan 15 -Let God Be God

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Job 49-42

We know that Job was a good man who feared God. We know he had been careful to follow God’s law even before the Law was given to Moses. Job offered sacrifices for sins his children might have committed. He was rich, he was healthy, and he was respected and honored by the people who knew him.

Then he lost it all. Throughout the book of Job we hear him defend himself over and over. I’m not guilty, he said. I don’t deserve this. God isn’t being fair, he cried.

But at just the right time God spoke to Job. And Job listened. Job learned that acting like a believer isn’t enough. Being a good person doesn’t make God your debtor. It wasn’t until Job saw God in all His holiness and power did Job “retract” and “repent.”

Yes, even this very good man needed to fall on his knees and ask God to forgive him. The lesson I take away from reading Job is to let God be God.

Stop trying to manipulate Him or demand anything from Him. God doesn’t owe us a thing. And we certainly aren’t God’s equals. He made that point pretty clear.

When Job repented, God blessed him with health, wealth, and family. If the book of Job were the only book in the Bible I might be tempted to think we could expect the same. But remember, Paul was never healed. Stephen was murdered for his faith. Moses never stepped foot in the Promised Land. There are others who stayed true to The Lord even when their circumstances didn’t change.

I want to, with Job, give up control and let God be God. I want to turn over every detail of my life and enjoy the fellowship I have in Him. I take back any words of self-satisfaction, of any pride. And I lay my questions aside.

Because this God wants to bless me beyond what I ask or even think. I’d be foolish not to want that, too.

 

 

Jan 13 – Why Bother?

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Job 35-37

Have you ever wondered why you bother being a Christian? I mean, you go to church every Sunday, maybe even teach a SS class, give sacrificially with every pay check. You don’t drink or swear. You’re honest and kind.

Then you go to the doctor and hear the “C” word. Or you lose your job when the company down-sizes. Your neighbor, who makes fun of your Christianity drives a new BMW, and your clunker needs new tires.

You might think about making choices to give in to temptation, to get drunk, have an affair, sleep in on Sunday. There, God. Take that.

Elihu, in Job 35 asks: if you sin, do you take anything away from God? And if you are righteous, do you add something to God?

We’ve got to remember God is above us, God never changes, and most of the time God’s ways are not our ways. Your obedience doesn’t make God stronger or wiser or better. And your disobedience doesn’t make Him weaker. Satan would have us look at circumstances, or our neighbor. Satan would have us envy what we do not have, and blame God for our not having it.

If you serve God in order to get what you want – don’t bother. You’re not going to change God with your obedience or disobedience. But God can – and wants to – change you. Maybe not your circumstance. You.

And that’s why I bother to be a Christian. I like the way God has changed me. As a Christian I have a relationship with this unchanging, all powerful, ever present God of mine. I can live my life with confidence that whatever happens, I have the God of Creation right here living in me. And this awesome God wants to bless me with Himself every minute of every day.

Let my neighbor have his BMW. Give me Jesus.

Jan 3 – And He Died

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Genesis 8-11

Noah’s death is marked in chapter of 9 of Genesis with the words, “and he died.” Noah, who was one of only eight people saved from the flood. Noah, who built the ark according to instructions given by God Himself. Noah, who can be traced to be the father of us all. He lived an extraordinary life.

And he died.

God is reminding me today that that just about says it all for all of us. You will  have quite a few years less than Noah’s 950 years on this planet. But your days are equally extraordinary because you are the only you. Your experiences have never, and will never be repeated. Your choices are your choices. Your joys, your hardships, your dreams, your accomplishments, and your failures are yours alone.

And in every second of every day you live, God is seeking you as though you were the only person on Earth. Your’s is an extraordinary life.

And you will die.

And just like Noah, or Adam, or Peter, or Paul, or Suzie Q down the street, you will stand before God to account for your extraordinary life. The only thing that will matter at that point is your relationship with the living God. Did you believe or not? Did you obey or not? Are you a child of God according to Scripture (and not according to your own thinking) or not?

Dear God, I am reminded that this life I am living is going to end some day. I will die. And, although I don’t want to obsess about that event, I want to live my life with the goal before me. I want to enjoy these days as I prepare to meet You face to face. You, who died for me, who frees me from the chains of sin. You who loves me, guides me, molds me, uses me, and blesses me every day. You make my life extraordinary. And I love you.

I Can’t Sin (read on)

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John says anyone who has been born of God cannot sin. (I John 3) He even says, if you sin you’ve neither seen God nor know Him.

As one who is born again, born of God, I am confused because I sin. Just the other day I told a story that was half-truth, half-lie (I almost called it “creative license” but that wouldn’t be the truth)

Even Paul said he struggled with doing what he shouldn’t, and not doing what he knew he should. Jesus pointed out sin in his own disciples, even calling Peter Satan moments after telling Peter he would be the Rock.

I know some dear people who believe they lose their salvation every time they sin, because this verse says a Christian can’t sin. I’m not sure about that interpretation. But because this verse is in the Bible, it’s clear that God wants us to know His children can’t sin. So…?

If you read the whole section, and not just this one verse, it makes sense. There is an “if” there. IF we abide in Him, sin can’t exist in our lives because there is no sin in God. I believe that when we sin, it’s an indication that we have stepped away from Him. And all sin – even my embellished story – is of Satan.

If I abide in the Father by spending time with Him in His Word and prayer, if my walk with Him is intentional, if I pay attention to the warning signs He so lovingly puts in my way, and if I purposefully acknowledge His Presence with every breath I take – I cannot sin. Sin and God cannot exist together.

So this verse is true… and it’s a challenge. As I consider this portion of Scripture and the story I told the other day, I realize that during my telling God whispered in my ear, “you know that’s not what happened.” But I continued telling my tale. The thought again came to me… “why are you’re lying?” but that, too didn’t stop me. It was an entertaining story. I wanted to see how it ended.

As I look back on the decades since I accepted Jesus as my Savior and was born into God’s family, I see that there have been times when my walk with the Lord was my first priority. And I see that during those times, the temptation to sin was more easily ignored. I recognize that God was actively helping me to win the battle with my enemy, and we won time and time again.

But it was at those times that I held the Lord at arms length, those times when I didn’t want to turn my back on Him exactly, but I also didn’t want to include Him in every detail of my life, that I was weak to resist temptation. It was at those time I sinned, I rationalized my sin, and I ignored the One who loves me to death.

I am challenged today to abide in God. I want Him to be such a part of my life that sin has no control over me, that I am incapable of sinning because God and I exist together. The ability to live a sinless life is available.

If.

 

Do You Need A Lift?

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In chapter 4 of his book, James is pretty clear about what being a Christian looks like. He reminds us God resists the proud, and gives strength to the humble. Then he makes a life list:

  • submit to God
  • resist the devil
  • draw near to God
  • cleanse your hands
  • purify your hearts
  • weep, mourn
  • humble yourselves
  • don’t speak evil
  • don’t assume you have tomorrow
  • do good

(the last three are implied)

I believe a person who follows these will represent Jesus. And will do so intentionally.

It takes an act of will to submit to God, to die to self, and be honest enough to admit our helplessness before a Holy God. There is effort involved in drawing near to God through prayer and reading His Word every day. It takes discipline to turn away from sin and determine to use our abilities to further God’s kingdom, and to do it from a pure heart with no thought of anything other than honoring God.

It takes a purposeful look at our lives, our sin, our lostness, and when we do our response can only be complete devastation, sadness, mourning, over the fact that you and I sent Jesus to the cross. We’ll look at sin differently from that moment on.

And it takes a little courage to let go of “self”, like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, and trusting God with the outcome, recognizing our hopelessness apart from Him.

The rest will come as a natural outpouring from God’s grace. We won’t speak evil, we won’t take today for granted, and we won’t tire of doing what needs to be done for the good of others and for the glory of God.

Because, as James so beautifully puts it, when we humble ourselves, when we give ourselves to God to break us down…

He will lift (us) up!

A Twinge or an Amputation. Your Choice.

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The older I get, the more frequently my body aches. Just yesterday I felt a twinge in my knee as I got up from the couch. It hurt when I put weight on it, so I intentionally kept my foot straight, my hips in line, as I walked. I didn’t want to do damage by twisting it. And, after a bit, it stopped hurting.

Then I read Hebrews 12:12 this morning and had to smile at God’s timing. Because I had put the whole knee-thing out of my mind and am sure I would not have given it another thought had I not seen what was written there:

“…make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” (NKJV)

I am not kidding. Coincidence? I think not! I am blown away at how intimately interested God is in me, how personal, and how He longs to teach me every day.

So what is the lesson here? The writer of Hebrews is talking about God’s discipline of His children. I think the example in 12:12 says that when we sin, it can result in something like a twinge in the knee. God’s discipline could be in the form of guilt, or shame, or regret. But if I keep repeating the sin I cause damage. The discipline, then the consequences become more and more intense.

But if I intentionally walk straight, repent of the sin, if I resist repeating the sin, there is healing. There is forgiveness. And that’s what Jesus died to provide. That’s what God wants for us.

If you continue reading Hebrews 12 you’ll see that Esau is used as an example of this. Esau sinned for a bite of food. And in keeping with my analogy, he didn’t just get a twinge in his knee, he lost his leg. No amount of tears could bring that leg back.

Sometimes God’s discipline is a twinge. But if we choose to ignore it, we could lose the whole leg. Sometimes God’s discipline feels like guilt. But if we choose to ignore it, it could cost us so much more. And we might find ourselves living with devastating consequences of a sin that could have been stopped at the twinge.

Dearest God, I pray that we will recognize that twinge of guilt as Your discipline when we sin, or even think about sinning. Guilt doesn’t feel good. Yet so often we ignore it and continue in the sin. Thank you that you don’t amputate the first time we sin. We’d all be limbless! I pray that we will be sensitive to the way You work in our lives, that we will be quick to learn from Your discipline so that we won’t have to suffer further consequences for our bad choices. And, God, thank you for reminding me today how intimately interested you are in each one of us. I love you.

My Heart

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Earlier this year a friend of mine posted a picture on FaceBook of her twenty-something son, standing on the beach, a beautiful sunset behind him, looking lovingly into the eyes of another young man. Below the picture she had written, “Comments welcomed.”

My heart broke as I remembered her son who had been a student of mine in middle school. A quiet, shy, nice boy. A really good boy from a good family.

One of the comments I read said, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” And it made me think of Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things.

There is nothing in our hearts that want to obey God’s Law until that heart is given to God. Without a repentant heart we are self serving, ego driven, self centered people looking out for number one. Like Muslims who obey Allah so they’ll be surrounded by virgins when they die, or Christians who go to church for a worship experience.

A true believer obeys God for Jesus’ sake. They go to church, resist sin, share the Gospel, not for what they gain, but because they just love Jesus so much they can’t help themselves. They don’t go to church to be entertained or to avoid hell. They go to church to give God the worship due Him.

Scripture tells me to guard my heart. And the best way I know how to do that is to give it to God. Take myself, my control, my desires, out of the picture. I want to love Him like He deserves to be loved, serve Him like He demands, fellowship with him through prayer and reading His Word like he longs for me to do, and share Him with those who don’t know Him because he died for them.

Here’s my heart Lord. Guard it. Use it. Take it. Keep it beating or don’t. It’s Yours. For Jesus’ sake.

God Loves A Cheerful Giver

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Tithing is a touchy subject for many churchgoers. And woe to the preacher who feels led to speak on the subject during a Sunday morning service!

A lot of time we use our finances as means of control. “Don’t shop at that department store because they accept gay marriage”. “Don’t buy that soap because the company donates to Planned Parenthood”. “Don’t buy that brand because they advertise during that ungodly TV show.”

Money talks. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing in the above examples. As stewards of God’s provisions, we need to be intentional about where we spend our money. But does the same principle apply to the money we give to our churches?

Paul speaks about the giving record of the church in Corinth in the 9th chapter of his second letter to that church. He talks about their promised financial gift. He tells them about the importance of financial support of the ministry, and likens it to seed sown for a harvest.

Scripture tells us to bring our tithe to the storehouse and leave it there.

I remember, when I was a teenager, I was standing in the foyer of our church on a Saturday. A woman who lived in the neighborhood walked in and handed me an envelope. “This is my tithe,” she said. “But you tell the treasurer I don’t want a dime of this going to the preacher’s salary.”

I did what she asked. The treasurer said for me not to worry about it. He said she does this all the time.

Dear one, that’s not Scriptural. If you don’t like how money is spent at your church – tithe anyway. Go ahead and become an elder, or get on the governing board if you want. Voice your opinion. If you are convinced that God is not in the running of that church, and you’ve tried and failed to make a difference, find another church. But remember, God didn’t tell us to give 10% with strings attached.

It’s our responsibility – and privilege – to plant seeds for the kingdom. That’s what your tithing is intended to do.

And God loves a cheerful giver.

All Of Me

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“… those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8)

Paul is talking about what it looks like to be a child of God: Led by the Spirit. Putting to death the deeds of the body. Suffering for Jesus’ sake. Setting our minds on the things of the Spirit.

The opposite is true for those who are in the flesh. Their focus is on “self”: Self-confidence, self-gratification, self-acceptance, self-love. They are led by the things that benefit themselves without a thought of what benefits the Kingdom of God.

Or are they?

Can’t a Christian have a tiny bit of “self” and still be ok? Does God really insist I lose my identity?

I don’t see Paul making provisions for anything other than total submission. It seems he is telling us we are either led by the Spirit, or we’re not.

Oh God, I don’t want any of me left in this body. I want you to fill me, to transform me, to live in and through me. I want to look like You, talk like You, live like You lived while you were here on earth. I want to see people like You see them, love them like You love them. Forgive me for the times when I allow myself to be led by anything other than your Spirit, even if those things sound good. I want to please YOU alone. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Black and White

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Saul meant well. He didn’t want to go into battle without going to the LORD first, but Samuel wasn’t there at the time. (I Samuel 13). What would be the harm in making the sacrifice himself? After all, he was king, wasn’t he?

Saul’s reign over Israel was blessed by God for only two years before Saul tried to go around God’s rules, rules that Saul knew and understood. After only two years, God announced that he had given the kingdom to someone else as a direct result of Saul’s disobedience.

But wasn’t Saul’s heart in the right place? It’s not like he was sacrificing to an idol. What should it matter who lit the fire on the altar? Wasn’t God a bit harsh?

Here’s what I believe God would have us understand: You’ll never hear him say, “I’ll go ahead and overlook that sin because you meant well,” or “because you were sincere,” or “because you’re a good person.” God’s law is black and white, and he’s very honest about that.

In fact, God’s black and white consideration of sin in the only fair way. His demands aren’t one thing for you and something different for me. Sin is no different today than it was fifty, or a thousand years ago. We never have to guess at what is and isn’t considered sin.

And the wages of sin is death every time. (Romans 6:23). Every sin comes with a death penalty price tag no matter who you are or how sincere you are or how nice you are. Hear God tell us that EVERY sin requires the shedding of blood. (Hebrews 9:22)

And here’s the good news: Jesus shed his own blood to pay that price tag for you. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Don’t try to get around it. There is no other way under heaven that can save a soul. No matter how special you think you are, you need Jesus.

Jesus promises to forgive you, to give you what his blood bought for you IF you ask him. Read his Word. It’s there in black and white.

Dear Jesus, thank you for shedding your blood for the forgiveness of sin. I pray for those reading this blog today who know you as Savior. May we be convinced of your Truth. And may you give us the strength and commitment to stand for what you have inspired men to write in your Holy Word. I pray for any reading this who have not asked you to forgive them. I pray that they will realize their need, and turn to you according to your Word. Thank you for being fair, for requiring the same of all of us. And thank you for being that requirement for us all.