2016-03-25
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As promised, we are beginning a new series of messages called “Knowing God.” Our God loves each and every one of us, and He wants us to better know Him, His heart and His will for one’s life. As anyone who knows me well knows, I have a strong personality and can be stubborn, if I want. In past times, all of that was mixed with foolish pride with no shortage of impatience. Because of the original sin, each of us has inherited sin and has added our own sins to it [GN 3: 1-6, 15, and 21]. Our wise and loving God uses His supernatural power to wake us up to this sorry state of affairs at exactly the right time, and then, allows circumstances to very gradually rectify the situation. I wasn’t raised believing in Jesus, but even those who are raised with Him still have to go through a personal conversion to faith and reliance on Him. We all do. Over the course of human history, God first gave mankind the law, so they would know what pleases Him and what doesn’t [EX 24: 7-11]. Sadly, the problem of His chosen people, the Jews, becoming legalistic and emphasizing format of rituals over understanding the content of God’s teaching arose. This needed to be changed. Up to that point, only the Jews had been taught to worship the one and only true God [DT 6: 4-5].
It was at that time, that God decided that His teaching must be made available to both Jews and Gentiles [non-Jews; RO 1: 1,16-17]. Then, at His perfect choice of time, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to serve a ministry, to suffer, and to physically die on the cross (taking our sins with Him). That was done, so that believing mankind could be justified (deemed acceptable in the Lord’s sight [RO 4: 3]), saved for eternal life [JN 3: 16] and eternally forgiven for the original sin and those they committed up to that point in time [1 JN 1: 9]. Long ago God had said in DT 8: 3b, “…Man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” When that was written, Moses (who worked from 1526-1406 BC) was the prophet of the Lord. This teaching was repeated in the NT in MT 4: 4 and LK 4: 4. Jesus responded with it after the devil told taunted Him to change stone into bread during Christ’s trials in the wilderness.
Up to this point, I’ve written about what God has done for mankind. His work with us as individuals isn’t done yet, or else we would have already been glorified and would be at His side for a blissful eternity in heaven. All of us need to come to faith in the Lord Jesus and to genuinely repent. Then, we are saved, justified, and eternally forgiven-not just forgiven for one year as the traditional Jews teach. So, the question must be asked, “What about sin still hidden from our notice or sin we commit after we come to faith in Jesus?” It is for this reason, that we enter into a covenant relationship with the Lord when we come to faith. A covenant is a two-way promise. God promises to gradually perfect (purify) us, and we promise to reveal, genuinely confess, and expunge any sins after the point of our conversion. This on-going process is sanctification. As mentioned above, God will glorify believers when He feels the time is right and we are sufficiently perfected for it. As for the many people in the world who reject Christ serially, they will not gain eternal life and must suffer the unthinkable consequences of their decision. They are a great disappointment to our loving God, Who wants as many people as possible to choose eternal life as their goal.
Coming to Christ has a cost, but that cost is not nearly as dire as the one He paid as a Ransom to free us from the market place of slavery to sin [1 COR 6: 20; HE 9: 15]. That cost is that we must deal with opposition to the courage and commitment of our convictions. Christ spoke about that in LK 14: 25-33. We cannot value our own family and our life over our Lord, in order to be Christ’s disciple. Such a statement demands explanation. To be a disciple of Christ, we must “carry our own cross,” we are told in (27) and LK 9: 23. This means that Christ must be First and the Center of our lives! In every devotion I’ve written this notion has been described in one way or another. This harks back to EX 20: 4-5a, “You shall not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down and worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” We must complete what we build, and this is not meant just materially. It is meant that we must be fully committed to our faith, to Kingdom-building, to our Lord Jesus. We must give it our all, over everything else in our lives. Think of the commitment Jesus made when He spoke of true greatness. MT 20: 26-27, “Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a Ransom for many.” I was once asked: Who is the most important person in my life?” I was young in the faith at the time and answered, “Peter Johnson, my husband.” Immediately heads shook to indicate this answer was dead wrong! Then the explanation came: “It is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! If you put Him first, all the other relationships and things in your life will work out for the good.” Now, that’s the answer that pleases God!
PRAYER: O Lord, we hear You telling us to humble ourselves before You. We acknowledge You are greater. JN 3: 30, “He must become greater; I must become less.” In all we do, You are calling us to put You first, to faithfully obey and serve You. As we do this, every other relationship in our lives will be lifted up and blessed. Through the Holy Spirit, You will teach us to be an example for others—one that will make non-believers want the inner peace You give us. You not only want us to put You first, but You want us to know You better. It is for this reason that the Father tells us in 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good deed.” In addition You open a two-way channel called prayer. PS 86: 5, 7, “Your are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to You…In the day of my trouble I will call to You, for You will answer me.” It is through these two, study of Your word and prayer, that we learn Your will for our lives and gain Your wise direction. As our sanctification progresses You work to forward our spiritual maturity. PS 86: 11, 13, and 15, “Teach me Your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may have reverence for Your name…For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave…But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Your words, which we treasure, and prayer, which is a foundation in our lives, greater reveals Your loving heart and caring intervention in our lives. We stand united with You and ever-grateful for Your presence in our lives. We acknowledge You as One Who deserves our forever thanks and praise! This prayer is uttered in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit wants me to continue with introducing this series by means of giving an overview first. Then getting into the details after that. So next week this introduction/overview continues. The issue of commitment to one’s faith comes up at a time like this. I can’t help but think of the young female teenager, who was student at Columbine High School at the time two very evil boys, who had been stockpiling rifles and other arms, entered the school library, taking a number of students hostage. One of the boys leveled the barrel of his rifle at this girl and asked, “Are you a believer in Jesus Christ?” She confidently answered, “yes.” The sudden percussive sound of his rifle delivering a bullet into her body and sending her to our Lord in heaven was heard. She had set an example of commitment for us for the rest of our earthly lives! No one really knows until such an awful moment happens if we will have the courage of our convictions, as this young lady did. All we can do is hope that we have our priorities right with God and can leave a legacy of obedient faithfulness behind us when our time to be judged arrives. I know in my heart that this teenaged girl from Columbine is in heaven. It’s a matter of faith, and HE 11: 1 tells us, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is a gift we can only get from the Holy Spirit. Either one has it, or he doesn’t. I will end today with 1 COR 2: 15, “The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment.” Praise and thanks be to the Lord!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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