Going for a Walk

It is wise for us to work towards obtainable goals.  A goal can be a motivation as well as a guide to focus our efforts and remember why our labours will be worth it in the end.  Whether your goal is to fit into last year's pants again or to make the perfect pavlova, there can be great satisfaction in accomplishing what we set out to do.  It is also wise to consider our motivations in setting goals:  one could want to slim down for health reasons and another out of vanity and pride.

This need to examine our motives can ring true with goals like planting a church or increasing church membership.  People can be enthusiastic to obtain their ends like a dog that chokes himself on the lead his master uses to restrain him.  I have walked dogs that pulled so violently on the lead during a walk it almost resulted in their own strangulation!  Outside the confines of the yard some dogs are so excited to walk and explore they frankly lose their minds.  Why?  Because they have never been been trained to heed verbal commands.  Such dogs cannot be trusted to have the lead removed because they would never "come when called" or pay their master any heed but to run when their begging owner drew near.

It is interesting a dog can be so forceful to pull in a direction and not even know where he is heading.  Perhaps without the fence in the way the instinctive goal is escape!  When my brother took our dog through obedience training, it made walks much more enjoyable for dog and owner because our dog realised who was in charge.  How we need this reminder as sheep of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, as fellow labourers under His yoke!  The shepherd has plans the sheep cannot comprehend and daily provides for all the needs of the sheep under his care.  A sheep that trusts the guidance of the shepherd does not need to set goals for itself, and in following the Master we are led into new pastures and to still waters, to explore vast horizons we never imagined existed.

Going for a walk is basically taking a series of steps, one after another.  Walking the dog is good for exercise and training yet in itself never really accomplishes anything because the starting and finishing point is the same.  The walk of faith in Jesus is very different because we are fundamentally changed and transformed from within as we walk by Christ's side.  He takes us to places we never imagined and helps us navigate all manner of obstacles and difficulties through His wisdom.  He has goals for us we perhaps shrink from and has plans that are greater than our grandest dreams.  Every day is an adventure in His grace as we learn obedience by what He allows us to suffer.  Jesus' sheep hear His voice, He knows them, and we follow Him.

If pursuit and obedience to Jesus Christ by faith is our goal, we do well to labour to accomplish this.  All other goals we set for ourselves may be nothing more than resemble a dog straining at the lead to sniff a plant on the other side of a street busy with traffic.

The Valiant Man

"Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days."

1 Samuel 31:10-13

After the death of King Saul and his sons, the Philistines hung their desecrated bodies on the walls of Beth Shan as trophies of their victory.  When the men of Jabesh Gilead heard of the death of their king, all the valiant men arose and traveled all night to retrieve the bodies and give them a proper burial.  Early in the reign of Saul the people of Jabesh Gilead were delivered from Nahash the Ammonite when Saul mustered all Israel to battle at the report of their trouble.  He had saved them from the reproach of having to gouge out their right eyes, and they saved him from reproach and derision after his demise.

I am impressed with the valiant men of Jabesh Gilead who traveled a great distance to honour the memory of their deceased king.  They did so at the risk of their own lives with no motive to receive titles, lands, vineyards, flocks, servants or monetary reward.  These men demonstrated bravery and courage they had personally benefited from when they were in trouble and there was no one to help and gave as they had received.  If these men saw fit to take such a risk and make this sacrifice for their king who had perished, it follows we should be at least this valiant to honour and rejoice in our risen King Jesus Christ.

When we were without help or hope in the world, Jesus came to the earth to save sinners.  We were dead in trespasses and sins when God had compassion on us and sent His only begotten Son Jesus to redeem us.  Jesus did not come to risk His life but with full knowledge He would lay down His life and die on Calvary for sinners who did not know or love Him.  Having received salvation, forgiveness and atonement by His blood, our hearts should be full of gratitude and thankfulness.  Knowing God has saved us from certain death by His sacrifice, we should be glad to lay down our lives for Him.  We are His prized trophies of grace.

The awesome truth is we serve a risen King who reigns in eternal glory who is also our great High Priest who sits at the right hand of the Father and ministers for our sakes.  We are able to have communion with the Most High by grace through faith and our aim is not to help Him "save face" but to worship Him in spirit and truth, to glorify His name, to honour and extol the KING OF KINGS by our conduct and speech.  The bones of Jesus are not secreted under a tree or in a tomb but Jesus lives, and the miraculous reality is He lives through us.  The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead are an example for us we see believers follow in the New Testament and to this day.  Because Jesus has overcome death we can walk in the exhortation of 1 Corinthians 15:58:  "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

What the men of Jabesh Gilead did was not a waste or an unnecessary risk:  in their act for their deceased king we see a shadow of courageous and valiant deeds we ought to do for our risen King.  Isn't Jesus more valiant still, choosing to lay down His life for all who are dead in sin?  May we consider how we ought to live in light of His brave example.

Everyone Listen!

There is no reasonable justification to compare God to a cruel, ruthless murderer.  The good reputation of men and women are often smeared by their enemies, and it seems the almighty God is no exception.  Those who believe God created the heavens and the earth in His wisdom celebrate the brilliance of God for fine-tuning the earth and celestial bodies to sustain life on this planet.  No one complains about the natural law of gravity that is perfectly suited for our survival, but plenty of people oppose the spiritual law that sin ultimately brings death.  God is gracious to reveal this reality before the penalty is imposed, and when it comes to fruition He has been much maligned.

God has done everything to take the sting out of death for people created in His own image by experiencing death Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.  The God who is the same yesterday, today and forever desires none would perish and that all would come to repentance.  This desire to preserve life is seen in the Old Testament as well.  Jeremiah 26:1-3 reads, "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying, ² "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word. ³ Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.'"  Because of their sin God's people in Jerusalem courted destruction which only faith in God demonstrated by repentance could turn away.

God knew the wayward and stubborn hearts of His people, yet He sent Jeremiah to them with severe warnings about what would occur should they continue in their current course of wickedness.  Jeremiah was one of many prophets God sent to notify His people of their guilt so they might heed and turn from their sins.  Even though God knew they would not listen, He sent Jeremiah anyway.  In no way did He infringe upon their right of choice to heed or deny Him, and He would make their decision to stand.  Their refusal to hear and obey the word of the LORD would condemn them when His intent was to relent concerning the calamity He would bring upon them as a just Judge.

In a court of law it is possible to have a judge who goes beyond legal precedent to punish citizens, who receives bribes, gives preferential treatment or turns a blind eye to corruption.  This cannot be said of God who is righteous, just, merciful, loving and gracious.  He has sent Jesus Christ to shine in the darkness so we might repent of sin and turn to Him in faith so we can be spared from destruction, forgiven and receive eternal life.  God has not withheld this opportunity from the worst of the worst because He says, "Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way."  For all who believe in Christ and repent, God will relent from bringing eternal disaster upon us and will draw us to Himself forever as His own.  God says in Isaiah 45:22, "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other."  When we turn our eyes to Jesus lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, we see God drawing all people unto Himself for salvation.

The Divine Curveball

When I played baseball as a kid, I enjoyed batting practice.  That was the most fun part of training that never lasted as long as I wanted.  Sometimes we went to batting cages where the ball was spit out from a machine at a preset speed.  While batting in the cages was good to improve hand-eye coordination, balance and bat control, there were several drawbacks.  It wasn't long before a batter began to suffer fatigue and potentially develop bad habits (as well as blisters!).  The worst drawback is the repetition of the same pitch, pace and location caused batters to anticipate it.  Unlike a machine, a pitcher who knows you are looking fastball will throw a curveball or changeup, some off-speed pitch to throw off the timing of the batter.  Unless the batter is able to quickly recognise the pitch and adjust accordingly, he is an easy out.

I believe the Bible is full of "curveballs," unexpected spiritual truths and applications the natural or carnal man will always miss.  If we carefully observe the flow of a passage and consider what we might do, say or conclude in a given circumstance, the Bible is full of surprises.  God's intention in doing this is not to mislead or confuse us but to show us how totally different His ways and thoughts are from ours.  Isaiah 55:6-9 says, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. ⁸ "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. ⁹ "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."  God doesn't want us just to obligatory nod our heads in agreement but to personally apply His truth to our lives so our ways will be patterned after His.

A recent study of the book of Jude was a perfect illustration of this for me.  In this brief epistle, Jude wrote to believers to earnestly contend for the faith because many had crept into the church unnoticed who used God's grace as an excuse to sin and denied Jesus Christ.  The body of the letter is filled with warnings about the dangers of apostasy, the coming judgment against them, and he used murderous Cain, greedy Balaam and power-hungry Korah as examples to avoid.  Then Jude switched his focus to address sin that was not ancient history or "out there somewhere" but was present in their love feasts and fellowship.  He reminded his readers that apostles had warned in the last days there would be murmurers, complainers, and flatterers who walked according to their own lusts and did not even have the Holy Spirit in them.

Now after hearing this, what would be a natural conclusion?  Perhaps to become suspicious of others in our fellowship or the church in general; to bring this ugly truth into the open to confront others for their guilt; to ferret these ungodly people out of the shadows and excommunicate them to rid ourselves of the evil.  And this is exactly when Jude twirls up that curveball in Jude 1:20-23:  "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²² And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."  The implication of what Jude says is, "That wicked person can be you."  Jude was not asking people to go on a "witch hunt" to purge a fellowship of dubious members but to build themselves up on their faith, praying in the Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, look for the mercy of Jesus, show compassion and do what they can to save others from destruction.  The application is a personal one, not the censure or judgment of others.

The purity and uprightness of the church  does not rest on the vigilance of the members, though we are called to righteousness, holiness, faith and love.  The strength of the Body is increased, not by the removal of sinners, but when Christians build themselves up in faith and keep themselves in the love of God.  For those who are concerned of the lamentable condition of the church, look to yourselves and to the LORD and repent of your sin so you do not become a Cain, Balaam or Korah under judgment.  Jude 1:24-25 is a perfect conclusion that extols the omniscient supremacy of God:  "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."  That's a curveball we should rejoice in and smash out of the park by faith in Jesus.