2002-10-07
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Once again, the Lord leads me to a difficult subject, but I am directed to write about it anyway. As we prepare ourselves to witness to the Gospel message of salvation and peace, we must make often challenging adjustments to our lives to conform to the dictates of RO 12: 2. "Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect." We have an example in Jesus Christ of One Who shows us how to conform to the standards that the Father sets for us. It occurs to me that this preparation, if done according to God's will, will prepare us to do much more than simply witness. It is God's way of insuring that we will produce all the kinds of spiritual fruit mentioned in GA 5: 22-23. "But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is now law against such things as these." God's goal is clear. He wants us to join Him in His work and to have the opportunity to have our own sanctification furthered. Now to the difficult subject.
HE 12: 1-17 deals with the issue of bitterness. Bitterness is surely a blight on the human landscape. There are many reasons for why it comes about, but all of them lay a person open to heavy attack by Satan. If the bitterness persists, Satan gains a stronghold. HE 12: 2, "Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on Who 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." The example of political posturing in the workplace comes to mind. Employee A wants a raise and promotion. The position is given to Employee B. Employee A has a decision to make. He can either accept it and keep striving to do a good job, or he can become bitter against Employee B, who is now his superior, and try to cause trouble for him at every possible turn. In other words, Employee A must decide if he is going to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus waiting for God's timing for a promotion, or if he will be bitter. RO 8:18 reminds us that the suffering we endure on earth is small in comparison to the glory we will enjoy if we persist in being faithful.
HE 12: 3-6 asks us to think of what Christ went through, the hatred of sinners, the pain and misery of the cross. In our struggle against sin, we have not yet been brought to the point of being killed as He was. HE 12: 5-6 cites JOB 5: 17 and PR 3: 11-12 respectively. "My son, pay attention when the Lord corrects you, and do not be discouraged when He rebukes you. Because the Lord corrects everyone He loves and punishes everyone he accepts as a son." We all know what would happen if we were raising children and never corrected their inappropriate behavior. They would grow up without a sense of right and wrong. God, as our loving Parent, takes responsibility for the guidance of His children, so they can eventually gain eternal life with Him. The idea here is to cause us to put God's perspective on the decisions we make and the actions we take before they are begun. That may fly in the face of our natural instinct to act according to our feelings first and maybe not even think of our position in Christ and the consequences of our foolishness on innocents around us. This doesn't even deal with giving consideration for the loss of our spiritual lives that comes from evil behavior.
HE 12: 7-11 asks the question, Was there ever a son who was not punished by his father? We respect our earthly fathers who corrected us, so how much more should we respect God for doing the same? God's reason for correcting us is so we can share His holiness. At the time, we may think God is punishing us to make us sad, but later we reap the reward of a righteous life. God's will is made clear about making us so sad that we would give up in 2 COR 2: 6-7 in a discussion of forgiveness for an offender. "It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you. Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him in order to keep him from become so sad as to give up completely."
HE 12: 12-17 admonishes us to "keep on the straight and narrow path-so the lame foot can be healed" (13). I love this way of referring to that "hard path that leads from a narrow gate" [MT 7: 13-14]. Healing the lame foot is also a clear reference to GN 3: 15 which refers to mankind's bruised heel-his propensity for sinning given to him by the serpent, Satan. God's glory is only revealed when we live holy and peaceful lives. We should not cause trouble for others. Our task is to guard against turning back in rage to bitterness, because Satan loves for us to do this. Bitterness is like a poison which spreads. Satan dances in glee at the thought of us refusing to remember to ask ourselves the question when faced with a conflict that could potentially embitter us: What would Jesus do? The story of Lazarus and the rich man in LK 16: 19-31 reveals to us that if we continue to make wrong choices, we will eventually get to a place from which there is no return-the lake of fire and sulfur. If there is bitterness in our lives, we must not delay in expunging it.
PRAYER: O Lord, You are the great Healer in our lives. No human can accomplish the healing that comes from obeying You. While we often think of people being physically ill when the term "healing" is spoken, it also includes the healing of the emotions. The Psalms reveal Your wisdom, compassion, and patient guidance. PS 32: 8, "The Lord says, 'I will make you wise and show you where to go. I will guide you and watch over you." These are hardly the words of a Parent neglecting His children or refusing to help them to learn what they need to know to prosper spiritually. PS 19: 12-13 is in our hearts to say to You today. "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me." PS 25: 8, "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the Way." We capitalize "Way" because we know that hard path that leads from the narrow gate is the way the Lord Jesus has taught us to go. It is not easy for us, because we must go against our natural instincts and follow the path that Your Spirit leads us to take. Dearest Abba, let us pray these words to You from PS 31: 3-4, "You are in deed my Rock and my Fortress; for Your name's sake lead me and guide me, take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my Refuge." There are times when we are sorely tempted to be bitter and make trouble for others. We acknowledge Your superior wisdom, Your guidance, and Your goodness. We beseech You to help us have the courage to ask: What would Jesus do? We plead with You to give us the love and wisdom to avoid becoming bitter toward anyone. You have given us the power to break Satan's sway over our lives [EPH 1: 18-20], and we offer You our utmost thanks and praise for it. In humility, we confess our sins and offer You our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, diligence, loyalty, glory, honor, praise, and thanks. In Christ's name, amen.
There is more that I'm led to say about HE 12: 1-17, and that will be the subject of tomorrow's message. The Lord has so much love for us that He puts ideas in our minds, if we will only listen for them. One such picture that came to my mind would be walking into a Board meeting or even a governmental meeting where there has been bitterness and political wrangling, interrupting the arguing, and asking that compelling and seemingly too simplistic question: What would Jesus do? It takes courage to do that in a secular setting and even in some church or family settings where squabbling is going on. I would love some day to see what would happen. Only a person with the true faith in the love God has for us would do this. HO 14: 9, "The Lord says, 'Bring My people back to Me. I will love them with all My heart; no longer am I angry with them.'" We are so blessed that our Deity feels that way about us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn