2007-06-29
Good Morning Cherished of God,
I'm led to continue the discussion of MT 6: 22-23 about "The eyes are like a lamp for the body." When Christ was giving this part of His Sermon on the Mount, He was dealing with the issue of temptation. When one goes all the way back to the Ten Commandments, he finds EX 20:17, "Thou shalt not covet." What does that word "covet" mean? In more modern English it is, "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns." Why bring that up here? because coveting is the one sin that can lead to all others, if left unchecked.
In writing the prayers for our congregation's prayer chain, I often, under the Holy Spirit's direction, include IS 26: 3-4, "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You. Trust in the Lord forever; He will always protect us." If we look at the words, "keep their purpose firm" and "put their trust in You," we will see the call for us to take actions. These are actions that require a firm commitment, something that these days our younger people and others new in the faith have trouble making. Yet, a commitment to the teaching of our Lord is exactly what is necessary to have success in learning to trust the Lord. He invites us first; then, we are to act on His invitation. Our great Covenant Partner has committed Himself to loving and protecting us. Now, we must commit to living by His standards [RO 12: 2]. Christ's words in JN 10: 27-30 bear a second inspection. "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from Me. What my Father has given Me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care. The Father and I are One." When our commitment to our Covenant of Grace relationship with the Lord is firm, then so is our ability to overcome temptation placed in our paths by the evil one. Another translation of IS 26: 3 helps illuminate how powerful a message this is. "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the Eternal Rock." The Lord knows that we need "perfect peace" in our lives, considering some of the challenges to it that we must face. Here, He is telling us outright how to have it!
One way for us to understand this concept of keeping one's eyes fixed on the Lord is found in HE 12: 1-2. "As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on Whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for Him, He thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and He is now seated at the right side of God's throne." Why mention a crowd of witnesses? Paul is urging the believers to set an example for others who might potentially come to faith. The tough job spoken of here is getting rid of things, sins, which get in the way of our keeping our eyes on the Lord. They are an individual matter. For example, in my life, my most serious sins have to do with overeating. In another person's life, it might be some other sin. Whatever the situation is, we need to commit to asking ourselves, "What would our Lord Jesus do?" He surely wouldn't be standing in the kitchen eating what He shouldn't to avoid dealing with hidden emotions! He would be out there "doing good everywhere He went" [AC 10: 38]. In HE 12: 2, we are given the example of Christ's determination to overcome the temptation to save His own physical life to face the pain of death on the cross, taking all mankind's sins with Him there. Any temptation we might encounter is easier for us to overcome than that! It's hardly overkill to cite MT 20: 26-28 here. "If one of you wants to be great, he must be the servant of the rest; and if one of you wants to be first, he must be your slave-like the Son of Man, Who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life to redeem many people." Now there's an example of how to keep one's eyes fixed on the Father.
Not only does the Lord Jesus give us an example, but He also is here with us 24/7 to help us to overcome temptation. Every bit of goodness that is on this earth has come from God. Remember, JN 10: 30 has told us outright, "The Father and I are One." Believe me, that isn't the first time such a concept of the Trinity being One God in three persons is mentioned in the Scriptures. The Jews of ancient times didn't know it, but they used the Hebrew word, "Eloheim," in GN 1: 27 and GN 2: 7, for example. That is a pleural word, not a singular one. The Lord Jesus was with the Father, creating the earth [JN 1: 1-4]. David uttered PS 16:2, "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from you." PS 31:19 gives us impetus to trust God and to keep our eyes on Him. "How wonderful are the good things You keep for those who honor You. Everyone knows how good You are, how securely You protect those who trust You." The motivation is here for us to trust God, and now, we must learn from Him how to keep our eyes fixed on Him. That is how He can help us to overcome temptation.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne with our eyes fixed clearly on You. The Scriptures, Your own words spoken and written by others who are focused on You, have given us reassurance that You really have given us power to fend off the evil one's temptations. PS 89: 17-18, "You give us great victories; in Your love You make us triumphant. You, O Lord, choose our Protector; You, the Holy God of Israel, give us our King." It's hard for some to believe that this verse comes from the OT-written long before the Lord Jesus came to serve His mission of redemption on the earth. And yet, it is a reference to Him. Your plan has always been in place to save as many of Your human creation as will listen and believe [JN 6: 39-40]. And yes, Dearest Abba, it can't stop at belief in the Lord Jesus alone. This must be followed by apostolic action-action taken in conformity with Your direction and will. Many of us stand by the gate to Your sheepfold, hesitating to go in. That is because we have not had the courage to shuck off the lies and temptations the adversary tells us; we have not believed enough the assurances Your words give us. Of Satan, You said outright that "he is the father of all lies" [JN 8: 44]. You gives us these words in PS 121: 5-7, "The Lord Himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life." How badly we need to submit to You! We pray this now: PS 31: 1-5, "I come to You, Lord, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are a righteous God; save me, I pray! Hear me! Save me now! Be my Refuge to protect me; my Defense to save me. You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God." We pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
As you can see, there are times when the Scriptures can express our pleas to God better than we can. That is because the Holy Spirit is working within us to help us win the battle we have between Him in us and the desires of the flesh [RO 7: 14-25]. RO 8: 26-27, "In the same way the Spirit, also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit Himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, Who sees in to our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His will." Next week, the Spirit leads me to write more about dealing with temptation. Every time I'm led to write on a subject, it astounds me how much the Lord has already given us in His words on it. While it is easy to state His teaching, the hard part comes for each of us in learning how to apply them to our lives. We are under the command, "Be holy because I am holy" [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2; 1 PET 1: 16]-easier said than done. Yet, the Lord wouldn't have repeated this command as many times (and those citations given are not the only ones), if He didn't feel it is important and want us to obey it. Once again, we must remember that we are never given by the Lord any command or task to do that we are not first equipped by Him to do. That may be hard to believe, but it is true. Our Lord is not trying to induce guilt (which is in itself a sin) in us; He is trying to put us on the eternal life track. That's how much He loves us. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn