Grace Gives Hope

John 3:14-16 says, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Because Jesus spoke these words to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler in Israel, he had intimate knowledge of this allusion.  It is likely Nicodemus never attached any future significance to what transpired in the wilderness over 1,000 years previous--but Jesus did.

After God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, they became discouraged because of the way He brought them.  They complained against God and Moses for their disappointment and accused God of plotting their demise.  Their biting words were returned in kind by the fangs of venomous snakes God sent among them.  Numbers 21:6-9 reads, "So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. ⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived."

The people realised their guilt before God and came to Moses in repentance. Moses prayed for the people and was given a strange command by God:  make a bronze image in the shape of a snake, lift it up on a pole, and all who look upon it will be healed.  The people asked for the snakes to be removed so no additional people would be bitten, but God made a way for those who were bitten to be healed and saved.  On the surface it seems odd God would command to do something forbidden by Law, as Deuteronomy 4:18 expressly forbade crafting an image of a creeping thing or fish lest they worship the image they had made (which later came to pass concerning the bronze serpent in 2 Kings 18:4).  It is no sin for God to make an image, for He created man in His own image.  The fashioning of the bronze serpent was divine foreshadowing of how Jesus Christ would become the express image of God in human form, be lifted up on Calvary, and provide salvation for those under the curse of sin and death.

It is amazing how God created man in His own image, and then humbly put on human flesh to provide atonement for sinners.  The grace of God through the Gospel cost God everything and offered forgiveness and salvation freely to all who will receive it because of His great love.  The children of Israel had given up hope for those already bitten by venomous snakes, but God was not willing for them to perish.  All had the chance of salvation if they would respond in faith to His gracious offer.  Most of those who were healed of their snake bites would fall in the desert, but those who trust in Jesus Christ have eternal life!

The Re-Commitment Trap

In the church I was raised, it was a common occurrence for the pastor to invite people to respond to a message by re-committing their lives to Jesus.  Many times under the conviction of sin I raised my hand or went forward in acknowledgement of my sin and desire to repent.  It is never hard for born-again Christians to see their need for repentance and forgiveness.  We could not be born-again again, so re-commitment was posed as the way back to God for a backslider.  This concept of re-commitment became an endless loop which rested on nothing more than my own resolve and self-control which always fell short.

There is a place for renewal and revival in the life of Christians, but I am convinced the option of re-commitment modeled for me in my youth misses the point.  The more I think about it, the more I am certain the idea of re-commitment is without biblical precedent.  Should Christians commit and entrust themselves to God in faith?  Yes.  But commitment can be independent of faith; it can be empty words of the self-deceived who refuse to repent.  Re-committing to God is not repenting of sin before God.  The biggest issue I have with re-commitment in response to conviction of sin is it is only one side of the coin:  the focus is entirely on me and my best efforts rather than reliance upon God and all Christ has accomplished.

God is more than "committed" to us, for He established an everlasting covenant with the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  When we are convicted for sin and made aware of our backsliding, the call is to return to God in repentance.  If every time we were convicted of sin we "re-committed" our lives to Jesus it is little more than a pledge from a hardened felon.  And that is why when re-commitment is an option, it never seems to stick.  We have not truly repented because we did not need to.  All that was required in that moment of soul-searching was to respond with raising a hand, walking to the front of the church, or seeking prayer and the pressure was relieved.  Having done something we were back in good standing with God again and life continued on as usual--that is, until being called out the following Sunday.

What is tricky about following Jesus is that in a sense it IS a commitment, but again this is only part of the equation.  Better than telling God what we will do, we should confess before God how we have failed and ask forgiveness on the basis of the covenant He has already made with us.  For those in the re-commitment rut their salvation often seems to hinge on their performance rather than receiving the grace of God through His promise.  If we are indeed born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, having been adopted as a child of God by grace through faith in Him, we ought to respond with the humility of the prodigal son in the parable who returned to his father.  He did not come back pledging to do a better job or to make up for his folly:  he said, "I have sinned."  He was filled with a sense of unworthiness and begged to be permitted to serve as a slave but his father hugged and received him as a beloved son.

If you find yourself caught in a perpetual backsliding re-commitment trap, there is hope in Jesus Christ.  Instead of pledging to do better, repent and return to Jesus Christ.  Only God can make a new creation and empower you to walk in the way that fully pleases Him.  Re-commitment is an empty hope based on our feeble efforts, but in Jesus Christ and in His covenant there is strong confidence.

The Enduring Word

Well, it's official:  Google hates me.  I probably shouldn't say anything because Google is always listening and recording (perhaps even hiding from plain sight) what I write.  Over the years I have wondered if changing algorithms negatively affected search traffic to the blog, but recently I discovered something which leaves little doubt.  Occasionally I will look up a keyword of an old post as a point of reference.  I was pretty sure I've mentioned MacGuffin on the blog before" and tried to search it with the blog address.  By the way, anyone who has watched movies would be familiar with MacGuffins (but maybe not the name), a device in film that drives the plot but has little significance otherwise.

When I searched on Google Chrome I was surprised to see only one page of results and none from marchforth2oz.blogspot.com.  After navigating to the blog in the search bar I typed "MacGuffin" and bingo:  the single mention of "MacGuffin" from 2017 was revealed!  On a hunch I loaded the Bing search engine, typed in the same query as I first had in Chrome, and the first page was flooded with successful results.  I'm not much of a conspiracy theory person, but the disparity between the Chrome and Bing search was notable.  It's all a bit fishy, and this isn't the first time I have been unable to find blog posts outside the blog itself (using Google, that is).  It leads me to conclude one does not need to live in a strict Communist regime to have Christian content quietly disappear.

The glorious truth for Christians is even IF all our words are suppressed or obscured, the Word of God endures forever.  It is God's Word and will which drive the plot of our lives according to the Holy Spirit, and we do not need to fear anything.  Worrying about declining traffic or algorithmic censorship is only one of many real-life MacGuffins people can obsess over and lose sight of the awesome God this blog is intended to glorify.  God knows if a person does a good deed with the hope of being seen by men, and that person has their reward whatever the opinions may be.  Those who do things with intent to glorify God, whether or not seen by men, will receive a reward from the LORD which cannot be corrupted or stolen.  Praise the LORD!

1 Peter 1:22-25 provides a fitting conclusion:  "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, ²⁴ because "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, ²⁵ but the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you."

The Cost of Convenience

Convenience often comes at a price, and the consumer decides if they are willing to pay for the luxury.  Prepared foods typically cost more than buying the ingredients separately.  Convenience has a universal appeal because it reduces extra work and saves time.  For all the allure of convenience, however, there can be a downside.  The cost for convenience is not always paid in money but with countless distractions, intrusions, oppression, and even bondage.

For almost two weeks I was without a mobile phone.  A month ago the screen developed a fault which daily increased to the point of the screen being completely fuzzy.  For days it was like trying to view emails and sites through the bars of a virtual prison.  Since the phone was under warranty, it was shipped off to the assessment centre and I was told it would be 5 to 10 business days until the job would be complete.  For the job to be done the phone would be wiped, and I drove home phoneless.

I started thinking:  how should I handle navigation?  I would have to print out directions again.  How will I check email account?  I would need to log into each account individually at my computer.  How inconvenient life suddenly became when I could no longer check all my email accounts with the tap of a screen.  At the prospect of being weeks without a phone, I was more annoyed with the inconvenience of it all than anxious.  But an interesting thing happened:  as much as I missed the convenience of a phone, I did not miss the burden of having it and carrying it around.  I began to realise how many times a day I would check the phone and how at any time--in the middle of studying, conversing, driving or eating--a text or notification would come through.

Because of my forced phone fast I found I was reading more books.  I was spending far less time online, only checking my emails once or twice a day.  Days passed without checking messages on Facebook.  Whilst I appreciate the convenience of a phone, I found it was more apt to waste my time than save it; it was likely to command my attention as a slave rather than serve me.  When I went to pick up my phone yesterday it was a perfect illustration of how I had been feeling.  Those without a phone are more observant of how many people have and use them all the time.  As I stood at the door of the shop waiting for it to open, for 15 minutes I watched people walk by.  Approximately 50% were actively scrolling with heads down, 25% were talking, 20% had earbuds in, and one or two people did not have a phone in their hand.  As I watched a woman walking with her son's hand in hers, she smiled as she saw something on the screen held in her other hand.  She held her son's hand but her other hand was being held by something even more interesting at that moment.  She gripped her phone, but the phone held her.  Convenience has a cost.

Now don't get me wrong:  I am not anti-technology or think the correct course of action is to ditch our phones.  I am glad to keep mine, thank you.  But I do think it is wise to honestly consider how and how much we use them.  When we are locked into our phones we don't realise how much life we are missing out on, how distracted we are.  Being without a phone showed me I do not need it to lead a fulfilling, productive life.  It opened my eyes to how I allowed my phone to unnecessarily intrude upon my life and become more a burden than a blessing.  Phones are the Swiss Army knife of technology with countless features and useful apps, a practical tool in our digital age.  But as useful as mobiles phones are because of our human condition they can be wielded as weapons which wound us and damage relationships with others too.  That's far too high a price for convenience.