God Makes Holy

I love reading through the Law sprinkled in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  The commands and prohibitions may be tedious to some, but I find them fascinating and illuminating.  There are commands which impact all parts of the lives of God's people, from the clothes they wore to the food they ate.  There were boundaries placed on their sex lives and how they should treat foreigners.  The more I read the more it emphasises how God wanted to impact every aspect of life, for He dwelt among them.  I am convinced God did not load His people with commands because He is a nitpicky, grousing, or sensitive Being who is easily offended.  He gave them commands because without His guidance His people would bear no resemblance to God's holy and righteous character or practice whatsoever.

This is the place where the children of Israel lost the plot, thinking they could be made righteous through keeping a Law which could not save.  The Law could only condemn.  Through the revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we understand that nothing is evil in itself, like wearing clothes of mixed fabrics or sowing different seeds together.  Both circumcised and uncircumcised in flesh can be accepted by God through faith in Jesus Christ.  God gave His people commands so that every part of their lives would be lived in acknowledgement of His Word and love for them as LORD and Saviour.  Jesus said that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments.  God's Law was an opportunity God provided His people to demonstrated their love for Him, for they were to love the LORD their God with all their heart, soul, and might.  The Law of God was a revelation of God's righteousness to be responded to, not a means of obtaining eternal life.  As it is written in John 1:17, "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

When I read through the Law I realise there are areas of my life I do not naturally consider God.  I do not necessarily think about God when I dress myself in the morning, during a meal, or when I meet a stranger.  But as a child of the Living God who has filled me with the Holy Spirit, I can and should.  I am no longer under the yoke of Law but under grace which requires far greater sacrifice and supernaturally assisted obedience.  The scribes (sofer) who copied the Torah were required to know and observe about 4,000 laws concerning their conduct to properly handle God's Word, and the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus has baptised His followers with the Holy Spirit, and He helps, comforts, teaches, and guides us into all truth.  As His purchased possession through the shed blood of Christ, God has the right to be included into every aspect of our lives even as in the day of Moses:  what we eat, drink, what we say, do, and how and why we do so.  The Law dealt with externals, and because Jesus has transformed our hearts His presence affects infinitely more.

As children of God's Kingdom, we should live our lives unto the LORD by the power of the Gospel, even as God made a distinction between the Jews and the surrounding nations in Leviticus 20:22-26, "You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. ²³ And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. ²⁴ But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. ²⁵ You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. ²⁶ And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine."  Instead of having lives which resemble those who live in darkness, may the Light of the World shine bright through us as we walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

Love Meets Needs

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰  And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God."

Leviticus 19:9-10

In the Law, God made provisions for the widow and fatherless, for the poor and the stranger.  It was forbidden for the Israelites to harvest all the crops which grew in their field so those without an inheritance could gather food for their survival.  All the crops produced in their fields was a gift of God, and He gave them enough to spare.  God was a generous Father for  His people, and through them He would bless the fatherless.  Those whose husbands had died would find practical needs met by God through the people He had betrothed to Himself.  The children of Israel had experienced poverty as foreigners in Egypt, and they were called to remember their humble beginnings so they might retain humility.

Further on God said in Leviticus 19:18, "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD."  The children of God were to consider the needs of others and love them without bitterness or resentment.  The measure of their kindness to others was according to the preference we naturally extend to ourselves.  When Jesus came, He immeasurably increased the standard we ought to follow, for He said in John 15:12:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  The love of God expressed through Christ's life and demonstrated in His death is beyond measure, and only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we begin to fulfil His glorious command.  As we have freely received from God we are to freely give to God and others.

James 1:27 reads, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."  Jesus has come to us, and it is fitting we would visit those who are in trouble, motivated by the love Jesus has given us.  God has shown His love to us practically by meeting our spiritual and temporal needs, and we too can show the protective and providing love of a husband and father to those God brings across our path.  God does not change, but may we be changed into His loving likeness, willing to sacrifice and give for the benefit of others and the glory of our God.

Black and Whites

Yesterday during the discipleship course I am leading we discussed a message delivered by a precious sister in Christ, Corrie Ten Boom.  Once when she was being interrogated in the concentration camp Ravensbruck about her "misdeeds," her judge showed her "dangerous" papers which contained damning evidence of her efforts to save Jews.  When she realised the papers had particulars of people she loved and wanted to protect, she said she had nothing to say about them.  She was elated when the man opened the grate and threw all the papers into the stove.  All the handwriting which condemned her and others was gone without a trace, and how grateful she was.

Later in her life, Corrie spoke with her biographer about a troubling incident which filled her with resentment and bitterness - which did not involved the Gestapo or concentration camps - but a mean thing done by fellow Christians.  When the biographer gently probed concerning how the situation had been resolved Corrie said gladly, "It has been forgiven and forgotten and I will not speak about it anymore."  Her friend continued to dig about how the offending party had been since.  "They take it easy," Corrie offered.  "They simply say they have not done it.  They can say that, but I have everything in black and white in the letters they have written me."  "What?" said her friend in surprise. "Say, where are your sins?  You have said that when you brought your sin to the LORD, He has thrown them into the depths of the sea with a sign that says "No Fishing Allowed," and for the sins of your friends you have black and whites?  O LORD, give Corrie the grace to burn all the black and whites of sins of others as a well-smelling sacrifice to you."  And she did.  She exhorted her listeners, "You can't forgive and I can't either, but Jesus can."

From her talk there are indicators which help us know if we have truly forgiven others from the heart as Jesus has forgiven us.  The first is when we intentionally free others from the burden of guilt of their wrongdoing in light of how Jesus has lovingly forgiven us.  This is illustrated in the parable Jesus told of the servant who owed his master an enormous debt.  He fell down at his master's feet and begged for mercy.  His master had compassion on him and loosed him from the debt, forgiving all.  Another way we work towards forgiveness is to refuse to ruminate on how we have been wronged and wallowing in self-pity.  Bad feelings and resentment are signs we have yet to fully forgive others.  We take critical ground in forgiveness when we never again feel the need to mention - to the offender or to others - the situation in detail.  In her message Corrie never laid out exactly what had happened or who had done it, but how God used it to change her.  A negative was thus made positive.  Finally, we must burn our "black and whites," even destroying evidence we would use to prove others wrong or to protect ourselves in the future.  Corrie had forgiven her "friends" in her heart, but burning those black and whites was the final nail driven home into the coffin of unforgiveness.

How about you?  Have you black and whites?  Perhaps it is time to pertinently delete those old emails, burn those hurtful letters, or decide that you will never recount that story you tell about how you were wronged or betrayed by those you trusted.  Praise the LORD God does not have a secret stash of the evidence of our sin, just waiting for an opportunity to throw it in our face.  He has taken all our sins and put them as far from us as the east is from the west.  Like Jesus on the cross we can say with compassion, "Father, forgive them - even if they know what they are doing."  If we refuse to forgive others after receiving such great forgiveness from God, we torture ourselves needlessly (Matthew 18:34-35).  Let us love and forgive our enemies, even when they are brethren.

Ability and Availability

A cliche is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as, "A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought." I agree with this assessment, even when it comes to commonly used cliches in Christian circles.  Since truth can endure careful inspection, it is wise for us to carefully evaluate Christian cliches rather than smugly repeating them.  I do not judge anyone for using cliches, and as I continue to follow Jesus I have found cliches to be far less useful than the plain word of God.  When a statement is recognised as cliche, it is a wise practice to filter it through scripture.  Often there is a more biblically accurate description than commonly parroted ones.

One cliche I considered this week is, "God is not looking for ability but availability."  On the surface this seems true enough, but look deeper and substance is clearly lacking - it is a cliche, after all!  The use of alliteration makes it more convincing like a famous one-liner from years back:  "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit!"  A reason for using the ability/availability cliche may be to stress a person's perceived lack of ability is no hindrance to God accomplishing His will through them.  People greatly used by God were often reluctant like Moses and Gideon because they did not see themselves capable to answer God's call.  And it begs the question:  are "available" people those whom God is looking for?  Isaiah 66:2 tells us who God is looking for:  "...But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word."  2 Chronicles 16:9 reveals, "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him...".  Also Jesus said in John 4:23:  "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."  Based on these verses God is not looking for "ability" in people or "availability" but He for God-fearing hearts which are humble, contrite, loyal, and worship Him in spirit and truth.

Based on the cliche, it seems "availability" is a chief qualification of usefulness by God.  After considering this carefully, my concerns of this emphasis are two-fold.  The first problem I see with this is the terminology is passive.  In one sense it is putting the onus on God to "use us" rather than us actively serving Him in practical ways.  There is nothing passive about the Christian walk.  We are called to be filled with the Spirit and intentional in prayer: trusting, obeying, giving, asking, speaking, and doing the will of God.  We are called to seek the LORD whilst He may be found, not just free up our schedules or momentarily set our plans aside when we deem it worthy.  The second problem is bigger still, because it suggests we maintain the right of full ownership and control of our lives when we as Christians have been bought with a price and are no longer our own (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  Imagine if a soldier said to his commanding officer in preparation for battle, "I'll be available soon, maybe next week."  Being an employee "on-call" sounds a lot closer to reality than "being available."  Saying "Here I am, LORD. Send me!" has a decidedly greater commitment than availability, for it is a voluntary choice to honour and obey God in faith.

We are not able, but God is able.  He has given spiritual gifts and talents according to His will, and we ought to seek to use these for His glory.  As we humbly seek Him, God will provide supernatural abilities and resources to accomplish His plans.  When God looks at your heart, He is looking for particular characteristics which are indications of a life transformed by His love, grace, and mercy through the Gospel.  Those who wait on the LORD will be fruitful by His grace.  We never earn the right to be used or increased fruitfulness, but as we walk with Jesus led by the Holy Spirit He will make us useful.  Praise the LORD He is able and available for us at all times!