2002-11-22
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I stand amazed at how the Holy Spirit brings me to a topic and reveals so much more than I would have ever expected. Such is the case with what God has to say about Satan’s fiery darts directed at one’s mind. Back in ancient times, the Israelites were struggling with the spread of disease. God had to have known this, so He instituted certain laws for clean practices to deal with this problem. His laws regarding unclean things in clay pots discussed in LV 11: 29-34 serves today as a metaphor for explaining the spread of sin. “Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean. Whoever touches them or their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. And if their dead bodies fall on anything, it will be unclean. This applies to any article of wood, cloth, leather, or sacking, no matter what it is used for. It shall be dipped in water, but it will remain unclean until evening.” This is not a pretty mental picture for us to dwell on, but a salient point can be made here. There is no such thing as a being a little sinful, anymore than there is of being a little pregnant. Either you sin, or you don’t. Either something is clean or it isn’t. There aren’t that many simple dichotomies in this life, but that’s one of them. In view of the blessings that come our way as a result of expunging sin in our lives, this should stand as motivation for us to get our spiritual houses in order. 1 COR 6: 19-20 reveals why spiritual cleanliness is so important. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in you and Who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; He bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.” We must remember that sin often begins with evil ideas, which get translated to evil actions and practices. Yes, Dear Ones, God is telling us to be clean of both body and spirit.
There are great perks that come our way and God’s when we make the decision to get rid of sin in our lives. GA 5: 22-23, “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.” God’s perks are that when we trust and obey Him, these fruits of the Spirit are produced; this enables Him to get His work done through us. Our perks are the peace that goes beyond human understanding and real happiness. We can bask in the warm glow of knowing that we are leading our lives in conformity to God’s will, pleasing Him.
When we put on the helmet of salvation, we are empowered to deal with Satan’s efforts at attacking our minds. Consider the temptations Satan sends discussed in 2 TIM 2: 24-26. “The Lord’s servant must not quarrel. He must be kind toward all, a good and patient teacher, who is gentle as he corrects his opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth. And then they will come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will.” Picture this: we meet up with someone one the job who believes that padding his expense account book once in awhile is okay. As his supervisor, you notice that this is going on and you bring it to his attention. One way to do this is to be very aggressive and accusatory. The person being supervised gets defensive and begins to either argue or to deny he ever did anything wrong. On the other hand, suppose the supervisor before going to his errant subordinate reviews the rules for what is allowed on an expense account and then prepares a thoughtful mini-presentation on what the long range effects of people padding their expense accounts would be on their co-workers and the company. Then, the supervisor, in private, goes to the Lord in prayer to ask for His wisdom and His guidance. Finally, he meets with his subordinate, beginning this short session by telling him what he has done that is good. At the right moment in this brief conversation, he gives the other the information he has put together about expense accounts. Truthfully, there are some people who would still reject this message, but I would like to believe that there are enough others who might recognize its value enough to stop their offensive behavior. Privately, he would feel remorse, even if he didn’t express that to his boss. Over a period of time, the supervisor’s godly example might gradually change the errant worker’s mind enough to make him want to be more like his supervisor, i.e. more godly. Who knows? He might even ask the supervisor what gave him so calm and effective a demeanor. We never know where God will provide an opening for us to witness to our faith, but it certainly makes sense for us to keep our eyes open for these opportunities that can really be life-changing.
Should we believe that we have the power to rebuff the devil at his own game? You bet we should! We can do this on the grounds of the cross, by joyfully putting on the helmet of salvation and letting the Lord have leadership in our own lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, the devil sometimes comes to us through our dreams or through fantasies conjured up in our minds while we are awake. Whatever form of evil ideas he sends, they can easily be translated into evil actions. These may be anything from padding an expense account to sexual immorality to holding grudges or whatever. You have called us to lives of holiness. 1 PET 1: 14-16, “Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped by those desires you had when you were still ignorant. Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God Who called you is holy. The Scripture [LV 11: 44-45] says, ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’” We praise You, Dear Father, because You have empowered us through the Holy Spirit to recognize when an idea is not right with You and to stop Satan’s fiery arrows mid-course before they poison and destroy our minds. Your way of enabling us to carry this out is to command us to spend time with You daily in Your word and in prayer. You also call us to become involved in congregations where Christ is in leadership, because You know that we learn about You from each other and faith is built that way. You have lessons for us from the circumstances of our lives, lessons designed to help us identify and get rid of sins we have and lessons designed to teach us how to interact in faith-building ways with other believers. You have called us to witness to our faith and provide opportunities even outside of our congregations by bringing us together with potential believers. We must know to look for these witnessing opportunities and be sensitive to the needs of those whom we encounter. You have also given us the courage to stand firm in our faith when it is sorely challenged. That is why the Psalmist could write in PS 63: 7, “Because Thou hast been my Help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” We praise You for Your wisdom, Your constant love and presence, and Your leadership in our lives. We join with David as he beseeched You in PS 27:11, “Teach me how to live, O Lord.” We dedicate ourselves to being alert for Satan’s traps and to having the courage of faith to fend him off in his efforts. We know PS 119: 105, that “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light for my path.” In humility we confess our sins and offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, thanks and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to discuss how a child of sin is not ready to join God in His work. Then, we will look at God’s perspective on a believer’s situation. When God made the decision before the world was created to send His only Son to be incarnated and then to give His life on the cross for us [COL 1: 15-20; 1 PET 1: 20-21], He revealed love beyond what any human is capable for us. The person young in his faith reading the Scriptures for the first time might miss this, but with persistence of study and prayer, this is revealed in all its splendid glory. The picture of heaven that we get from IS 14, EZK 10 & 28, and REV 21-22 is a mere glimpse of what God wants for each of us, believers and potential believers alike. We might ask why God doesn’t just reveal the whole thing now, but it must be understood that heaven is only for those who don’t reject our Father and His Son. It is entirely possible that we don’t yet have the capacity to fully recognize how wonderful heaven will be and won’t have it until we are fully perfected in the process of sanctification. Whatever the explanation for this is, we can be assured that God’s motives are always righteous, always grounded in His profound love for us. His desire is always in our best long-term (eternal) interests. We should take comfort in that and always know that our God will never stop loving us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn