2007-04-27
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was led to write about Whose opinion matters? Do we believe in God's promises? He passed along this advice for me to share to answer these questions: Ask God to show us how to live according to His will. Ask Him to reveal where in our lives we are in danger of departing from it. If my own experience is any teacher, we can't live righteously without His intervention. Our loving God is eager to lead us to a holier life if we are open to receive His direction. Our prayer last week was one of confession, citing PS 51: 10-12, "Grant me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant a willing spirit, to sustain me." God wants us to let Him know that we are aware of our faults and that we want to get them out of our lives. Our motivation for doing this must be first and foremost to please and honor Him. Easier said than done? Of course. However, taking the "what's in it for me?" approach doesn't lead to a life of being "in Christ," that life of holiness that the Lord has repeatedly asked us to have. "Be holy, because I am holy," He has said [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2; 1 PET 1: 16]. To Him, those words of PS 51 said in sincerity really matter.
This transformation of our hearts was promised in EZK 36: 26-27, "I will give you a new heart and a anew mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put My Spirit in you and will see to it that you follow My laws and keep all the commands I have given you." I believe that for those willing to lay their hearts open to it, God is in the process of keeping His promise. I say "in the process of" because we are going through a gradual sanctification; the latter doesn't come all at once, or we would all be glorified [taken into heaven] with the Lord right now. RO 10 :9-10 reveals to us an important truth. "If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that that we are saved." Now you may ask what does this have to do with materialism? My answer is, "a lot!" When we have true and sincere faith in the Lord Jesus and repent of our sins, we will also have changed attitudes about the acquisition of material things in our lives. We will "store our riches in heaven" MT 6: 19-21].
The influence of other believers around me has made me realize that the Lord wants us first to confess our sins, then to have sincere faith in Jesus Christ, and lastly to live out a life of righteousness in which He and His word are in the center. All of that must happen before the process of our sanctification can be forwarded. Two verses come in to the picture to illuminate these notions. Paul writes these words to the Corinthians. 2 COR 1: 12, "We are proud that our conscience assures us that our lives in this world, and especially our relations with you have been ruled by God-given frankness [some versions say "holiness" here] and sincerity, by the power of God's grace and not by human wisdom." Later while in Macedonia, Paul wrote these words of TITUS 2: 7 to church leaders about holding to sound doctrine. "In all things you yourself must be in example of good behavior. Be sincere and serious in your teaching." The picture is clarified by these words telling us to let God be in leadership in our lives, to intervene in them, and to not stray from sound doctrine. This certainly applies when making decisions about material things in our lives. None of this is easy, which is why we are given the comfort of knowing that God will bear our burdens. Another matter for us to remember is what we learn in PS 68: 19-20, "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, Who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God Who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death."
So, we are asked to confess our sins, repent, believe in Jesus Christ, follow sound doctrine in our decisions and actions. This is the head, heart, hands connection. Believe that God is in control of it all, if we will only let Him. Head: 1 JN 1: 9, "But if we confess our sins to God, He will keep His promise and do what is right: He will forgive us our sins and purify us from our wrongdoing." Heart: PS 46: 10, "Be still and know that I am Lord. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 1 JN 4: 12, "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us." Hands-truth: 2 TIM 1: 13-14, "Hold firmly to the true words I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, guard the treasure [God's word] entrusted to you." Remember Christ's words in JN 8: 32, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
We actually owe it to the Lord to allow this connection to be completed, to allow His love to be completed in us. IS 53: 4-5, "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced or our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Yes, Dear Ones, Christ died on the cross, so that we might be saved and live lives of holiness.
PRAYER: O Lord, the words sincerely spoken, "we need You," are no understatement. Those who have had You in their lives for a long time and who have opened their hearts to the Holy Spirit know that this is the way to true and lasting happiness. No amount of material wealth will replace the love having You in our lives gives us. Your riches are truly stored for us in heaven. PHIL 4: 19, "And with all His abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs." The truth in that magnificent verse is huge for us, Dearest Abba. When I think of all the worrying that I personally have done in my own life about material needs being fulfilled, I am ashamed. And yet, You have patiently and compassionately waited for the day when I finally came to the end of myself and began to rely on You, trusting You to keep Your promises. You are not asking us to be lazy, nor are You suggesting that we don't have our own responsibilities to fulfill. After all, Dear Father, that covenant relationship requires that both parties to it bring something to the table. We need never worry that You won't fulfill Your end of the agreement. The problem is always with us. Long ago You said in PS 81: 10, "I, the Lord, am your God, Who brought you out of Egypt. Open your mouth, and I will feed you." This statement was not only for my people, the Jews, but it also was for those Gentiles who were "in-grafted to the cultured olive tree"- Gentile believers in the Lord Jesus [RO 11: 17-24]. Happiness is keeping our promises of the Covenant of Grace. We dedicate ourselves to living lives of holiness, as You have commanded us to do. We offer You our undying love, loyalty, adoration, worship, thanks, and praise. You and Your word are the greatest blessings of our lives. We pray to You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Next week I have been commanded to review five key statements of faith in the context of materialism. Throughout the last nine years, Peter and I have lost many material things that were a part of our lives. This was though no fault of our own, but with perfect 20/20 hindsight ?, I have to believe that God's purpose in this was to teach us lessons He wanted us to have. He wanted us to know that acquiring material things wouldn't bring us in closer relationship with Him. Each of us had areas of weakness. His was in electronic devices; mine was in books and fabric to sew. None of these things in moderation are bad. Acquiring so many of them, making them an idol is. I believe that each of us can examine his own life and find some things like this in it. We are sinners, but our Lord is a patient, caring God Who will help us to learn to see the differences between wants and needs. I believe that with open hearts, He will guide us to using our material wealth to do His work. In my case, there isn't time enough to read all the books I have, although I have read many of them. Surely there isn't much time to sew; I regret that. Some of the most satisfying projects I have had, like sewing hats for cancer patients, stick in my mind as giving me the most happiness. Some great friendships arose out of that. Our Lord gave me the ability to cook, and that helped to pay college tuition, allows me to entertain my dear friends, and gives me a lot of pleasure. But the Father's work is first now, and I'm not sorry about that. God will give the same happiness to anyone who dedicates himself to serving Him. JS 24: 15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." None of these words were put in the Scriptures as waste. They are for all of us. Be blessed in building a loving relationship with the Lord, now and forever.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn