Walking Circumspectly

In his book Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis talked about putting off telling his mother about a toothache.  He waited until he couldn't stand it anymore even though he knew she could relieve his pain because it also meant he would be required to see a dentist!  Like most of us he didn't so much care for the cause to be addressed but the relief of negative symptoms.  Lewis used this analogy to point out we might realise we have a problem with anger and cursing and want to have God deal with it because it is a source of embarrassment but how God also wants to deal with our lust, bitterness, and unforgiveness.  God's intention is to give us the "full treatment" when we would rather half-measures according to our preferences.

God is gracious, merciful, and patient in convicting us of sins.  Our eyes are opened to our sins one by one and we begin to realise how interconnected they are with our unbelieving and selfish hearts.  Through repentance and faith in Christ we are given victory over sins which continue to pester us for seasons throughout our lives.  Sinful thoughts and deeds are so natural to the flesh they can stealthily cohabitate inside us for some time until God's Word or bad feelings tip these squatters off.  This is part of the battle we are responsible to fight, to bring thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and see they are bound and arrested.  No one should be more joyful or at rest than a Christian for who God is and all He has done and promised to do--but sin seeks to rob us blind.

Just today I found myself battling anger which welled up quickly and threatened to overthrow self-control.  The LORD helped me to take stock of why I felt angry and stressed:  I felt frustrated by people, feeling stress because I have a lot to do but not much time, and how unexpected expenses keep piling up.  Then I considered, hasn't God promised to provide for all my needs?  Are not my times in God's hands?  Is it hard for God to change the hearts of people--even my own?  It is written in Proverbs 21:1, "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes."  God used feelings of anger to cause me to stop and consider Him, to turn my heart back to Him again rather than focusing on all that seems to go wrong.

Giving vent to anger doesn't change our circumstances or other people:  sowing to the flesh through outbursts of wrath further corrupts us.  God's love, on the other hand, edifies us and others.  Horses wear blinders to force them to look straight ahead, and sin is like blinders fitted on us which focuses on ourselves and the faults of others.  We are to walk circumspectly as children of light giving thanks to God for all things as it is written in Ephesians 5:15-17, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  God has taken off our blinders and revealed His will, given us the Holy Spirit without measure, and may we make the most of the time He has given us as we walk circumspectly.

Calamity Redeemed

When things seem to be going well in our lives it is easy to acknowledge the goodness of God.  But in the face of tragedy or calamity doubts about God's goodness suddenly crowd our thoughts.  Reflecting on my own experiences however, when I have praised God in the midst of suffering, the comfort and peace I enjoy triumphs over "good" times when I took God for granted.  Would to God His people would demonstrate the faith of Job when confronted with grave personal tragedies in Job 1:21-22:  "And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." ²² In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong."  Trust in the goodness of God in the land of living brought Job to praise God when circumstances knocked him to his knees.

In a series of rhetorical questions Amos posed before Israelites of the northern kingdom, he concluded with a flourish in Amos 3:6, "If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?"  For whatever reason it is easier for us to believe if life is smooth it is the blessing of God and when things are tough Satan is to blame.  We imagine people who suffer are deserving of punishment for some hidden sin, or those who are "blessed" have "done something right."  But what of the grace of God who causes rain to fall on the just and unjust, Who daily loads us all with blessings and benefits?  Even judgment for sin is a providential gift from the hands of our heavenly Father who loves us.

God is never a passive player in the universe or caught unawares by satanic plots.  Not one calamity occurs without His knowledge and intent to redeem it fully for those who trust in Him.  Joseph provides a good example of man intending things for evil but God using it to save many people alive.  Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery in a foreign land but God redeemed it.  It was a painful season for Joseph to be betrayed by his own flesh and blood for a pocket of silver, but later Joseph was given the insight to realise it.  He said to his brothers in Genesis 45:5, "But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life."  It was like Joseph needed to remind his brothers over and over to convince them of God's guiding hand in his past, for he said in Genesis 50:19-20:  "Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."

Now take care believer:  it is one thing for Job to praise God despite his own suffering and Joseph to credit God for sending him to Egypt, but we must not presumptuously speak for God concerning the suffering of others.  Explaining why they might be suffering or how it can be redeemed can be false hope which distracts from the goodness, grace, and mercy of God:  He has done it but remains good.  Are not God's ways higher than ours?  Aren't His means and ways of redemption beyond our vision?  It was not good Job lost all his children to tragedy in a day but God was able to redeem it for good.  It was no way "good" the righteous Son of God was pierced on Calvary's cross, but God redeemed it to save many alive.  Death was never the will of God, but it was God's will Jesus go to the cross to save many alive.  Sometimes God opens our eyes to the why of a calamity, but better to realise Who God is to us, gracious and good, and despite our pain to draw near to Him in faith.  He is the only One who can save.

Andrew Murray Quote

A quote from Andrew Murray was recently shared with me from a friend battling cancer, and it is a great reminder how God is sovereign and good regardless of our health, circumstances, or feelings.  Because of the depth of suffering, pain, and sorrow we face in this life unless a person knows God they cannot accept this statement as remotely true.  But for those who know God, knowing they are known by Him, they can affirm the words of Andrew Murray when he wrote:

In time of trouble, say, first, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest. Next, He will keep me here in his love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as his child. Then say, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons he intends me to learn, and working in me the grace he means to bestow. And last, say, in his good time he can bring me out again. How and when, he knows. Therefore, say, I am here (1) by God's appointment, (2) in His keeping, (3) under His training, (4) for His time.

It is faith in God which allows us to walk in the love, joy, peace, and patience required to endure and press on.  Because God is faithful to His Word and His promises we can rest in Him even if the earth shakes and mountains are thrown into the sea.  This globe we inhabit will one day be dissolved in flame with everything on it, but those who hope in the LORD lack no good thing.  It may be that death is the passage we must travel to enter into eternal glory, but God's glory will not be tainted by the strain of the journey.  Though I have not experienced cancer, I have received great encouragement from passages like Isaiah 65:17-18:  "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. ¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy."

I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to new heavens and a new earth--plus a glorified body free from sickness, pain, and sorrow.  I almost shed a tear thinking about how good it will be to have God wipe away all tears from our eyes.  There is part of us that holds onto memories of this life, good and bad.  In the eternal state we will be perfected and know what we need to know.  Since we will not be God and know everything we will rejoice to be ever learning of our awesome God and resting in His truth without fiery trials and the burden of this perishing flesh.

Praise the LORD He is creating a joyful reunion for all those who fear His name, and we do not need to wait for eternity to experience His love and peace.  We have His comfort and rest today, if we will trust and seek Him, and we will also enjoy His presence forevermore.  It is only the Christian who can say regardless of the season, "All the time God is good!" and experience rest in our loving Saviour who is our life.

Sanctification Cooperation

"Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. ⁸ And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you."

Leviticus 20:7-8

God gave Moses His laws to deliver to the nation Israel so they might keep His covenant.  The context of these verses follow God saying He would set His face against those who did wickedly, defiled His sanctuary, or profaned His holy name.  The peoples of the ancient world worshiped demons and not God, even burning their children alive on altars before images made by hands of men.  God's people were not to imitate these abominable practices of the heathen, and were forbidden in the Law of Moses to make images or representations of man or beast lest their hearts turn from God in idolatry.  God sanctified His people, and thus they were to sanctify themselves.

To "sanctify" is to "cleanse, purify, make holy, to set apart, or appoint for sacred use."  The mistake people can make is to believe sanctification can or must be earned, yet scriptures reveal God sanctifies people by His grace--not based on performance.  God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants not because he, Isaac, or Jacob were more worthy or pious than others.  God called Abraham out of His goodness and Abraham responded with faith in God.  The sanctification available to whosoever will repent and trust in God must be received first, and only then can we sanctify ourselves.  Like a marriage relationship requires cooperation, communication, and contribution of both parties so does our relationship with God.  The Jews in the Old Testament were under the covenant of Mosaic Law, and Christians today relate to God through the new covenant made with the shed blood of Jesus.

We are justified by grace through faith and our sanctification is also a gift freely given we receive.  No effort of our flesh, no volume of sacrifices could earn such favour from the holy, almighty God.  God has made us holy and sanctified by the sacrifice of Christ, and therefore we ought to aim to live a life that is sanctified--set apart and appointed for God's use.  Paul wrote in Galatians 3:1-3:  "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ² This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"  After we are born again and converted there must be a continual reliance and trust in God marked by humility, not imagining we become worthy or acceptable by ourselves.  Gentiles in the early church, misguided in their zeal to please men, began to teach keeping the Law of Moses was critical to sanctification and salvation.

Now the Law remains good but God did not call Gentiles to live as Jews or for Jews to put aside their observance of Law as legalism.  Jesus kept the Law of Moses, but Christians are not sanctified by keeping the Law:  it is Jesus who sanctifies us by the indwelling Holy Spirit in real time.  It is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth in keeping with the Bible and the law written on our hearts, no longer governed by words written on tablets of stone.  Remember the message Jesus preached on the mount when He called His followers to a standard far higher than that of Law, and we can only sanctify ourselves to achieve such humility and surrender to His will only after He first sanctifies us.  Having been sanctified by God, we by His grace and strength sanctify ourselves.  We do not receive the Holy Spirit by grace and then are perfected by our efforts.  It is God who works in us both to will and do of His good pleasure, and thus we crucify the flesh and mortify the deeds of the flesh in surrender to Him.

Human sacrifice to idols is an abomination before God, but having been raised to new life with Christ we are called to be living sacrifices.  Romans 12:1-3 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ³ For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."  Let us not think there is any power in our flesh to sanctify ourselves, but having been sanctified through the Gospel we are transformed and helped to do God's will.  The sanctification partnership works when we die to self and the life of Jesus is lived through us.