Our struggle with excuses is the test of our commitment to Christ.  Make no mistake:  in a thousand choices to obey, we were faced with several thousand excuses to turn away.  All of them seem “reasonable.”

Look at the statement the lawyer made to Jesus:  “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Wasn’t that what Jesus was looking for?  Wasn’t that what he wanted every person to say?  But look how the lawyer addresses Jesus.  He called him “Teacher,” not “Lord.”  This lawyer lived in comfort and wealth.  He enjoyed Jesus’ teach, and he wanted to hear more, but all he wanted was intellectual stimulation.  Jesus saw this man’s heart, and he spoke to the cost of genuine commitment.  If we are serious about following Christ, we give up our demands for comfort and we follow him to reach both the rich and the wealthy, the robed and the lepers.  Our modern day example of this commitment was Mother Theresa of Calcutta, India.  Her calling was to the sick and dying of one of the poorest cities in the world, yet her compassion for the poorest of the poor gave her a platform to speak of the love of God to presidents and kings.  Foxes and birds may have homes, but the disciple of Christ doesn’t demand or expect comfort.  He follows his Lord anywhere and everywhere he leads.

The second man also stated his commitment to follow Jesus, but he had a reasonable request.  He wanted to fulfill a responsibility to his family to go and bury his father.  Bible teachers tell us that this man’s father may not have been dead yet, and this man’s responsibility was to take care of his father through old age.  Whether the man’s father was already dead or heading in that direction, Jesus replied that our first responsibility as a disciple is to him, even more than to our families.

You and I face thousands of choices:  some are large, some are relatively insignificant.  For some we need to pray about and ask specific direction; some are clear and we just need to obey; while in others, God’s word gives us general principles to follow.  Should I watch this movie with skin and violence?  Should I read my Bible?  Should I reach out to the anti-social new guy at school or the office?  Should I be respectful to my parents?  Should I carve out time to pray?  Should I be a kind to a person new to our church?  Should I follow God’s leading to give to a missionary?  Should I grab my tongue when I feel like cursing?  Should I spend time on the sofa with my boyfriend or girlfriend late at night with nobody else around?  Should I date a person because he or she look so hot?  Should I gossip about a mistake someone else made?  We face a zillion more choices just like these, big and small.

When those choices come, we often don’t think through them very clearly.  We just do what we’ve always done before – unless the Holy Spirit breaks in and says, “Hey!  You’ve got a choice here.  Be wise.  I’ll show you.”  Even then, we can think of lots of excuses to do the reasonable thing instead of the obedient thing.

Here are  few:

- I’m only going to do it just this once.
- Nobody’s looking.
- It’s not going to hurt anybody.
- Everybody’s doing it.
- Well, we’re not living in Biblical times.
- If I do what God wants, people will misunderstand.  They’ll think I’m a religious fanatic or something.
- Doesn’t God want me to fit in with my old friends?
- It’s just too hard to do what God wants.
- I don’t have time.
- Well, it’s not exactly like that situation in the Bible when God specifically said “No.”
- I don’t really know what God wants me to do.  Until he makes it clear, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing.

I think many of us hide behind the excuses of convenience and confusion.  We don’t do what God wants because it requires a little more effort and courage (OK, sometime a lot more effort and courage!) than drifting along like we usually do.  In this pampered culture, we don’t want to do anything that requires s more from us than we want to give.  We hide behind imagined confusion.  How many times have you heard people say (maybe even the person who looks at you in the mirror), “I’d do what God wants if only I knew what that was.”  Sometimes that is genuine and valid, but most of the time, we know good and well what God wants.  We just don’t want to do it.  We try to shift the responsibility back on God as if to say “Hey, God, you aren’t clear enough.  When yo decide to show me clearly, then I’ll obey.  I know this is what the Bible says, but….”  Do we seek God’s will with all our hearts, or do we hear the truth from scripture after scripture and a dozen people and still say we are “confused”?

Don’t feel alone in this problem of using excuses.  I struggle with them, too.  Several years ago, I went to Blockbuster to rest some videos.  The problem was that I went at 7 o’clock on Friday night.  I walked over to the “New Release” wall.  Nothing was left.  The shelves were empty.  I was bummed, but at that moment, one of the employees in a blue shirt came from behind the counter with a huge stack of returned videos to put back on the shelves.  Everybody in the store saw him, and it was like were magnetically drawn to him.  He headed for the “A” section and put a couple of video’s back up.  I grabbed one.  I didn’t really care what it was.  I just knew that I had to grab whatever I could get my hands on.

As soon as I looked at the title, I knew I had a decision to make.  It was not the kind of video a committed Christian would watch.  There are certain things that break the heart of God, and it’s that cut and dry.  Watching this kind of movie was one of those things.  But immediately, I thought of a zillion excuses to shut up the voice inside me (the Holy Spirit) and rent that video.  Wasn’t I a strong enough Christian to overlook the bad parts and enjoy the good ones?  Strong Christians don’t let those things bother them, right?  Wasn’t watching it going to help me relate to other people more effectively?

I picked up a couple more movies and walked to the counter to pay for them.  I gave the guy my credit card, signed for the videos, and he put them on the counter past the magnetic theft device.  As that instant, I can imagine God leaning over and saying to his top angels, “Hey, Michael.  Hey Gabe.  Watch this.  Nasser’s gonna get busted!”

When I walked past the magnetic thing and reached out to grab my videos, a student walked up to me.  “Hey, David!  Nasser!  What’s up?”

I said, “Hey bud!” (which is ministerial for:  “And you are…?”)  “You don’t remember me do you?”  He grinned.  “You spoke at a camp last year, and God changed my life.  I’ve been going to a Bible study and growing in my faith.  It’s been fantastic!  Some guys from the Bible study are coming over tonight to watch movies at my place.  I know there’s not much left at this time on Friday night….”

I could see the wheels turning.  This guy had a brainstorm.  “Hey David, why don’t you come over and we’ll watch whatever you’ve rented!  What did you get?”

I wanted to say, “Oh, The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur.  You know, the same old, same old.”

His eyes darted over to the stack of videos on the counter.  There weren’t any others up there, and he had seen my hand reaching from them a few seconds earlier.  There was no way out of this one.  He saw the title of that video I know broke the heart of God, and this guy’s smile vanished.

A blanket of conviction came down and enveloped me.  After an incredibly awkward moment, I turned to the blue shirted employee who didn’t have a clue what was going on in this conversation, and I said quietly, “I don’t want these videos.”

“Do you want your money back?”

“No.  Just take them.”  There was nothing more to say.  I turned and walked past the stunned student and got in my car and drove home.  When I got there, I went into my room, closed to the door, and turned off the lights.  I felt much more comfortable in the dark that night.  I thought, What have I become?  Is the only for God to speak to me for him to physically put someone in front of my and tell me, “Hey David!  You are messing up!  You are feasting at the wrong banqueting table!  This is poison!”

When I was standing in the aisle with that video in my hand, I was well aware that God was omnipresent.  He was watching me.  I hadn’t forgotten that.  But I thought, So what?  God is a God of grace.  He doesn’t expect me to be perfect.  I’m only human.  It won’t be a regular thing.

Don’t misunderstand.  This is not about setting up rules about not watching videos or about becoming a legalistic Pharisee.  This is about becoming like the one who suffered and dies to rescue you and me from hell.  If we have the slightest clue about being bought by the blood of Jesus, we don’t see how much we can get away with.  We’ll see how much we can honor him.  True, there is not a sin that you or I could muster up that would make God say, “I don’t love you anymore.”  But that doesn’t mean we have the right to take his grace for granted.

Some people think that overcoming excuses and living out a genuine commitment to Jesus will make them really tough, and that toughness is a mark of real spirituality.  I once heard a guy say, “If people don’t hate me, then I must not be walking with God!”  A radical commitment to Christ doesn’t make you obnoxious.  It makes you different.  If it doesn’t make you different, then it’s not the real thing.  Every time we say “No” to one of our excuses and “Yes” to Jesus, we know we must be closer to his heart, sensing his love.  What kind of impact did Jesus have on people.  Even the hardest sinners knew one thing about him:  he love them.  Only the self-righteous religious leaders drew harsh words from Jesus, and that’s because they were leading people away from God.  To the prostitutes and other sinners, Jesus was the kindest, most loving person they had ever known.  As we know him better, we will be kinder, more loving, more compassionate…different, in a good way.

Recognize the excises you use to say “No” or “Wait” or “But” to Jesus, and repent.  Ask Christ to help you turn from those excuses and say “Yes” to him.  It’ll change your life – in a good way.

Be still.  Listen to what God is saying to you.

The messages in these pages have been pretty brutal so far, haven’t they?  The call to die requires a will of steel to persevere and make those hard, thankless choices to honor God instead of serving selfish desires.  (Remember Philippians 4v13.)  But is it a thankless task?  Is there encouragement to keep going?  You be there is!

One of the most important principles  in the Bible is the law of sowing and reaping.  We see this principle working over and over again.  Paul stated it in his letter to the Galatian Christians:

“Do not be deceived:  God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
[Gal. 6v7-9]

The “law of the harvest” means that we reap what we sow, we reap more than we sow, and we reap after we sow.  When a farmer scatters wheat seed, he doesn’t expect to see corn growing there the next day, does he?  No, he expects to harvest wheat, but he know it will come several months later.  He will be very disappointed if he doesn’t reap fifty or a hundred times the amount of wheat he sowed into the soil in the Spring.  The same principle is true for you and me, and it operates on both ends of the spectrum of sin and goodness.

If we spend our time and attention in the pursuit of success, we may achieve wealth and power, but we also continually compare our success with other people.  We all know people who are obsessed with their rank on the pecking order of success, whether in school or business.  They can’t even enjoy the money of prestige that brings because they are afraid of slipping behind somebody – anybody – else.

In our day, many people yearn for perfection in some area of life.  Some strain for that perfection in academics; some try for it in business or in their appearance.  Many people work out incessantly and read all kinds of magazines to get the latest tips on how to have the perfect body.  Where does it get them?  They may have firm abs or trim thighs or great pecs, but they are also preoccupied with themselves all day every day.  A small world.

Many people desire approval more than anything on earth.  To get a smile and a nod, they do anything to please people.  They change how the dress, what they like, how they talk, and what they do – just to fit the mold they think will impress that other person.  What do these people reap?  Worry.  They are constantly anxious to know if they have done just the right thing.  A person’s rolled eyes or smirk destroys the approval addict’s life.

And some people have only one simple goes in life:  to be #1.  They are driven to be on top, to dominate, to control their lives and the lives of those around them.  They may use blatant methods of demanding and yelling, or they may be much more subtle in manipulating others to get what they want.  Either way, people around them feel used and resentful, and the driven person’s real need to be loved and to love in return is crushed in the vice of power.

All of these are attempts to be the center of attention.  They may springs from insecurity or pride, but the result is the same:  heartache.  The desire for power and attention always reaps a painful, destructive harvest.  The Lord said to a may who wanted power:  “Should you then seek great things for yourself?  Seek them not” (Jeremiah 45v5).  That is God’s message for you and me, too.

On the other hand, we can easily see the law of the harvest at work on the positive side, too.  When we sow love and encouragement, we receive kind words back, if from no one else, from Christ.  When we give freely to others with no strings attached, we get welcome surprises in return.  When we speak truth, people are honest with us.  To be sure, this is not a hard and fast rule.  Just as weeds grow among the wheat the farmer sows, we aren’t immune to some weeds of hurt others put in our lives when we sow love and kindness.  But look at the overall pattern, and you’ll see the law of the harvest working incredibly well.  One conclusion we reach is that it is just plain silly not to sow truth, respect, and kindness.  After all, that’s what we want from others, isn’t it?  For sure, it’s what God wants from us and for us.

If we experience the love and forgiveness of God, our hearts are transformed.  The Spirit changes our hearts so that we want more than anything else for God to be honored.  As we grow in his love, we won’t care as much if anyone even notices us.  If our goal is to be happy, thousands of obstacles will get in our way, but if our goal is to honor God, we can accomplish that goal no matter what circumstances we encounter.  The young German, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was committed to honoring Christ, so he took an unpopular stand against Hitler and his Nazi regime.  Bonhoeffer was imprisoned form speaking out boldly against Nazi oppression.  Alone, facing a future of prison, loneliness, and death, Bonhoeffer never regretted his stance for Christ.  He wrote:  “I am sure of God’s hand and guidance…You must never doubt that I am thankful and glad to go the way which I am being led.  My past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy, and, above all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified.” (The Cost of Discipleship)

The desire for success, pleasure, and approval had been removed from Bonhoeffer’s heart.  He lived only with Christ’s pleasures as his pleasure.  Over and over again, he was dragged into court.  The Nazi judge demanded that he recant.  Again and again, he calmly explained that as a Christian, he was an enemy of Nazi Socialism, so they threw him back in his cell.  Late in the war, some friends plotted to free Bonhoeffer, but he quickly realized that his escape would endanger the lives of his family and friends, so he refused.  On the day he was executed, Bonhoeffer went to the gallows with his head up and his heart full.  His faith and dignity impressed his fellow prisoners, and even the guards.

So what were Bonhoeffer’s rewards for a life on faithfulness, obedience, integrity, and eventually a martyr’s death?  His ultimate reward was the glory that he brought God, not only in his life, but also in his death.  It honored the King.  He felt the presence of God as only those can who live for Christ in the midst of great adversity.  He possessed the “peace that passes all understanding.”  We can be assured that he is now experiencing incredible rewards as he sees his Lord face to face.  Paul wrote about believers’ future rewards:

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If is is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”
[I Cor. 3v11-15]

This is not the judgment regarding heaven and hell.  Believers don’t go through that.  Judgment for believers is called The Judgment Seat of Christ.  On that day, I will stand before Jesus and my entire life since I trusted Christ will be put on a “big video screen”:  every kind work I’ve spoken and every time I’ve gossiped or been sarcastic; every time I’ve gone out of my way to help someone, and every time I’ve selfishly turned away; every time I’ve believed God to work in a difficult situation, and every time I’ve given up on him.  On that day, all the things I’ve done that displeases God will be burned up like “wood, hay, and straw.”  Swoooosh.  Gone.

But everything I’ve done to honor God, he will smile and say, “Well done.  Enter into the joy of your Master!”  I will receive a reward to enjoy for eternity.

Please don’t misunderstand.  We’re not rewarded only for standing strong for Christ as we face execution.  We are rewarded for even the smallest thing we do to honor God.  Jesus made this point when we told people:

“Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.  And  if anyone gives even a cup of cold water tone of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
[Matt. 10v41-42]

A kind word…a helping hand…a note of encouragement…a cup of water.  If these are given because of our love for God, even the smallest act will receive an eternal reward.  We may not be called to stand before a Nazi judge to defend our faith, but we have opportunities all day every day to extend love to the undeserving and unlovable, as Christ does to us.

I love the movie Chariots of Fire, the story of a Scottish athlete, Eric Liddell, who ran in the 1924 Olympics in Paris.  Liddell was a Christian with strong convictions about keeping the Sabbath day for God.  In the film, when he learns his first heat is scheduled for Sunday, he refuses to run.  The British Olympic Committee and even the Prince of Wales encourage him to abandon his convictions just this once, but his decision is firm.  Liddell, the greatest runner in the world in the 100 meters, take himself out of the race.  The news of Liddell’s decision to put God ahead of his country is the sensation – and the controversy – of the games, but the story doesn’t end there.  Another British athlete who already has a medal offers Liddell his place in the 200 meter race on Monday.  Liddell gratefully accepts.

One that day, as Liddell carefully digs out his starting spot, an American runner hands him a piece of paper.  Liddell reads:  “In the Good Book is says, ‘He who honors me I will honor.’ “  The starting gun sounds, and Liddell runs with that piece of paper in his hand.  He wins the race, and all of England and Scotland thrill in his victory!  Eric Liddell becomes a national hero.  However, even if Eric had lost the race, he had won an opportunity to bring glory to God through his actions.

Liddell was faced with honoring God or pleasing his King.  He chose his God.  As the American already knew, God would honor him for that decision.

He will honor you, too.  Sometimes we enjoy the harvest of rewards for walking with God soon after we sow good attitudes and actions.  In other cases, the reward will come in the next life.  But we can be sure of this, God notices, and he doesn’t forget.

We will reap what we sow, more than we sow, after we sow.

Be still.  Listen to what God is saying to you.

We are incredibly self-absorbed people.  We think about ourselves all day every day:  “Do I look good today?”  “I wonder how I can get him to like me better?”  “How can I get what I want when I want it?”  “When am I going to get the promotion I deserve?”  Self-absorption leads to two extremes:  cockiness and shame.  If we think we are doing well, we feel superior to other people but if we perceive we aren’t measuring up, we feel like failures.  Pride and shame are both products of being self-absorbed.

In the Christian world, we sometimes unconsciously reinforce this self-absorption by focusing on “my growth,” “my progress,” and “my development.”  We talk about wanting to “be like Jesus,” and some of us focus all our attention on comparing how we’re doing today to how we were doing last week and last month.  A friend of mine told that this teaching almost drove him nuts.  Instead of loving Jesus, he spent all his time comparing himself and worrying that he wasn’t growing fast enough.

The prophet Isaiah was minding his own business one day when God broke through and revealed himself in a vision.  Isaiah described the experience:

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of him robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings:  With two wings they covered their faces, with two the covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  They were calling to one another:

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE LORD ALMIGHTY; THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY.

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and temple was filled with smoke.

“Woe to me!”  I cried.  “I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
[Isaiah 6v1-5]

If and when we get the slighest clue what God is really like, we quickly realize that we fall short – way short.  The seraphs in this passage are angels with six wings.  They used two of them to cover their eyes because God is so holy they had to protect themselves from his blinding light.  These seraphs repeated this attribute of God three times:  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.”  I think they wanted to make a point.  His majesty and holiness swamp our petty selfishness, and our pride is shattered.  We are broken, helpless, and hopeless – unless God himself touches us.  I’m afraid that we have dumbed Jesus down to our level these days.  We treat him like a buddy we meet at the mall, or we call the Father “the man upstairs.”  Yes, Jesus calls us his friends, but be sure of this:  Jesus stoops from the blinding majesty of his heavenly throne in order to stand next to us and call us friends.  He didn’t come from the next street over.  He created the entire universe.

Isaiah’s response to the holiness of God is, “Woe is me!”  This is the seventh time in his writing that the prophet proclaims “woe” on somebody.  All the other times are God’s judgment on others’ sins.  Now it is because his own sin is exposes in the light of the presence of God.  At that moment, Isaiah recognized his true condition.  He was ruined.

And in that sense, God wants to ruin our already dead lives in order to resurrect in us real life.  Remember, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the “Fun News.”  It is the “Good News,” but we can’t realize how good it is until we become aware – painfully aware – how bad we are.  That realization always brings us face to face with change.  All our self-centered plans and goals will be ruined.  Relationships, how we spend time and money, laziness, and discipline, how we love, and who we love and obey…everything will be turned upside down.  Our lives will then be driven by conviction, not just convenience.  God doesn’t design this experience to crush you, but to cleanse you and fill you with himself.  Out with the old life, in with the new, true life.

No one can make us have this kind of vision of God.  God himself must reveal himself to us.  We can prepare our hearts and put ourselves in a position to be receptive to God’s voice but ultimately, the Lord himself must break through our calloused hearts to show us  what he is like.  In my experience, this happens most often when I am aware of my need – my need of seeing the bigger picture.  That’s what happened to Isaiah, too.  Noticed that this vision of God occurred “in the year that King Uzziah died.”  The death of a king caused tremendous turmoil in a country.  No one knew who would try to seize power through a coup or who would be kicked out or executed by the new king.  The new man might continue the old policies and practices, or he may change everything.   The whole culture could change overnight – and if often did just that.

In that unstable time, I believe Isaiah felt insecure.  He was more open to God, and the Lord used that opening to speak to his heart.  When you and I insecure, we are more open to God speaking to our hearts.  Stability often produces passivity:  the same old same old.  But upheaval – a move, graduation, a job change, a broken relationship, sickness, a deep disappointment – breaks our hearts, reveals our needs and somehow opens us to listen.

God revealed himself to Isaiah.  As he got a glimpse of a holy, holy, holy God, Isaiah got a glimpse of his own depravity (unholy, unholy, unholy,…).  The prophet said, “I’m ruined!  I’m not what I should be!”  He had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no way to fix him problems.  So God touched him:

“Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the alter.  With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guild is taken away and your sin atoned for.’ “

Remember, Isaiah had identified his sin as “unclean lips.”  Did that mean he cursed or gossiped all the time?  Perhaps, but his sinful words were symptoms of a deeper problem.  I believe he knew, as Jesus reflected centuries later, that “our of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”  Our words reveal our hearts.  Griping, gossiping, self-pity, and bitterness reveal a sin-filled heart.  Encouragement, thankfulness, and love reveal a heart that accepts the fact that it’s forgiven.  Isaiah knew his unclean lips were the outward expression of the sin in his heart.

When a wound is infected, a doctor may stop the infection by cauterizing the wound.  He takes a red hot tool and sears it, burning away the rotten flesh and leaving only what can heal.  It is a drastic method, but it is effective.  The seraph used that same healing touch on Isaiah.  He picked up a burning coal that touched Isaiah’s rancid lips.  The flame seared the sin and burned away the guilt.

Some of us have a very wrong view of guilt and forgiveness.  We think  that we have to feel bad enough long enough to feel forgiven, but that’s not forgiveness; it penance.  Others of us think that forgiveness is a simple, legal, emotionless act.  But genuine forgiveness involves genuine sorrow.  Paul wrote about this in his second letter to the believers in Corinth.  He described the difference between “godly sorrow” and “worldly sorrow”:

“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it…I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.  For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any ways by us.  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

[II Cor. 7v8-10]

Denial (saying, “Oh, it wasn’t all  that bad.”) isn’t godly sorrow.  Self-hatred (saying, “I’m such a jerk!  I can never be forgiven for that!  I’m hopeless!”) isn’t either.  Godly sorrow is the willingness to say, “Yes, Lord.  You’re right.  That is sin, and I’m guilty.”  But it also involves allowing God to do spiritual surgery to cauterize the infected wound and forgive us.  Just because  we don’t know how to forgive others or ourselves doesn’t mean God doesn’t  know how.  The sorrow God intends for us brings the refreshment of feeling forgiven, the determination not to sin again, and a focus on God, not ourselves.  Worldly sorrow brings “death,” that morbid self-hatred that we are so bad we can never be forgiven, so we are helpless and hopeless.  One results in joy and life; the other results in bitterness and depression.

Let me give you a word of warning.  Sensitive, conscientious people run the risk of going overboard about finding and rooting out their sin.  They desperately want to please God, and they think they can help him by looking for in in the lives.  They analyze every conversation and every actions looking for sinful motives and wrong behavior.  If this goes on long enough, they being to find sin where there is none, and the focus of their lives becomes morbid self-absorption.  Their noble desire to root out sin becomes a spiritual death trap of beating themselves up for any and all perceived wrongs.  If you are a conscientious person (and you wouldn’t be involved in this call to die if you weren’t very serious about pleasing God), be careful not to try to do God’s job for him.  Relax.  You can be very certain that the Holy Spirit will point out sing when he wants to.  At that point, allow him to burn it away with the fire of his holiness and forgiveness, and give thanks for his grace and mercy.  Then move on.  I’ve seen the zeal of too many men and women lead them to destruction instead of joy.  Don’t let that happen to you.

And what is the response of someone whose deepest, darkest sins are exposed in the light of God’s holiness and forgiven by the fire of his love?  Isaiah tells us his experience:

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?’  And I said, ‘Here am I.  Send me!’  He said, ‘Go and tell this people…’ “

(Isaiah 6v8-9)

God’s questions were not only for Isaiah.  His call is for everybody who will listen and respond.  The prophet heard and instantly responded, so God sent him to tell everybody who would listen about the greatness and healing power of God.  Isaiah was eager to respond because all of his excuses had been burned away by that hot coal.  When our sins are exposed in the light of God’s  presence, we feel ruined; but when we experience forgiveness in the depths of our souls, we become fresh, clean, and new.  We are eager to please God in any way we can.  When he calls, we hear and go.

Something else strange happens in us when we go from ruined to forgiven:  we develop an unquenchable thirst for God.  “Well,” you may ask, “doesn’t this experience of forgiveness deeply satisfy us?”  Yes, it satisfies more than anything else in the world, but paradoxically, it leaves us longing for more; more of the goodness of God, more of his kindness and hos power, more of his healing touch and the direction he gives.  King Davis had a very close, intimate relationship with God, yet he wrote:

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

[Psalm 63v1]

Have you had an experience like Isaiah had?  Have you realized how wonderful Jesus is, and in that realization comes face to face with your own sinfulness?  If you have, I hope you didn’t respond in prideful denial or in self-hating shame.  I hope you recognized the fact that you are ruined, and allowed the burning coal of God to cauterize your sin and heal your heart.

If you haven’t had this experience, don’t try to manufacture it.  That won’t work.  God must do it in his way and in his time.  Your role is to prepare yourself by feeding your mind and heart on the truth of the Scriptures and getting as close to God as you can.  He’ll do the rest.  Count on it.  The apostle Paul promised “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1v6).

Not long ago, one of my best friends, Michael John, was driving his SUV along the road one night and his a deer.  He called me on his cell phone a few minutes after it happened.  That deer was stunned, but wasn’t hurt.  Neither was Michael John’s SUV.  Because there was not damage to his vehicle, the collision had no effect on Michael’s driving habits.  A few weeks later, I was in a friends care on night, and a deer ran out in front of us.  We tried to miss it, but that deer went right over the car and landed behind us.  It was shaken up, but it limped off into the woods.  That car had some minimal damage.  The encounter left us a little shaken, so it really affected how we drove for the next few weeks.  A couple months after that, a friend told me about a guy and his wife who were driving along on a pretty day with their windows down.  They saw a deer stumbling  down a hillside next to the read in front of them.  They weren’t too alarmed.  They saw the deer all the time, but this time the deer couldn’t stop his slide.  It got the bottom of the steep hill right as their car drove past, and the deer somehow dove headfirst into the open window of the car!  It was jumping and jiving in the woman’s lap!  The situation was starting the dangerous!  When it was all said and down, there was major damage to the car, and the experience forever changed the driving habits of that couple!

All three of these stories involved a collision with a deer, each with very different results.  In the same way, each of us will have an encounter with God.  For some of us, an encounter with God produces no change in who we are and how we live.  For others, God might collide with us, and it changes us temporarily.  However, for some of us, a head-on collision with the living, holy God will ruin us – alter us forever.

Which will be true of your collision with God?

Be still.  Listen to what God is saying to you.

During the middle period of his ministry, Jesus was popular – as popular as a top athlete or a rock start today.  Thousands of people came to see him, hear him, and watch him.  He didn’t disappoint them.  They saw him heal the sick and raise the dead.  “Man!” they probably said to each others as they smiled and elbowed each other.  “This guy is incredible!  What’s next?”  At home point, fifteen to twenty thousand people (five thousand men and their families) stood on a hillside to see Jesus.  They stayed a long time.  Too long, in fact.  They had nothing to eat.  They couldn’t make it to the local drive-thru, so Jesus took a boy’s lunch and miraculously fed them all – with plenty left over.  The crown couldn’t get enough of him.

But popularity was never Jesus’ goal.  He wanted to make disciples, not points.  So at the height of his fame, he made sure no one misunderstood.  He told them in no uncertain terms that he was God himself.  He said, “I am the bread of life.”  Sounds pretty simple, huh?  But to the people of Jesus’ day, his “I am” statement sounded very much like the time when God revealed himself to Moses and called himself “I am that I am.”  Jesus was claiming to be the same God – with the implication that he should be worshiped, too.

“Wait a minute.  I like the healing and raising and eating, but I know know about this Deity thing…”  They wanted Jesus to back down, to say, “Well, I sure don’t want to offend anybody, so let me re-phrase that statement.”  Instead, Jesus cranked it up a notch.  He told them bluntly, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

Eat his flesh?  Drink his blood?  That was too much for them, so the crowd melted away and the thousands of people went back to their homes.  After watching them all walk away, Jesus stood there with only the Twelve next to him.  Jesus gave them the same choice.  He asked them, “You do not want to leave, too, do you?

What do you think that moment was like for these guys. Wow, what a crossroads moment!  This was the point at which they had to decide who Jesus was to them.  Their man had been the front car at the motorcade.  The cheerleaders were doing cartwheels around him, and the mayor had given him the key to the city.  (Maybe eve a Nike sponsorship, who knows?)  Things had been going great!  Then he claimed to be worthy of worship and obedience and all the people – that’s all the people in the crowd…left.  I can imagine the Twelve disciples shifting their feet and looking at the ground.  Kind of embarrassing for all of them.  Then Peter shrugged and said simply, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  So the Twelve stayed with Jesus.

Jesus didn’t come to entertain us.  Jesus’ ultimate goal in coming was to bring glory to the Father.  Yes, in that lies the good news of our salvation through his death and resurrection, and the opportunity to be worshipers of him.  However, there’s a huge difference.  It’s not the fun news, but the good news.  If we expect only to be entertained, we will leave him at the first request for sacrifice and obedience.  The people in the crowd did.  Many of us, too.  But hard words are just as much a part of being a disciple of Christ as all those promises we love to hear.  In fact, if you don’t hear any hard words from God, it’s a good sign that you’re aren’t his child at all.  Solomon wrote about it; so did the writer of Hebrews:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
[Proverbs 3v11-12, Hebrews 12v5-6]

Only a loveless father refuses to correct his son or daughter, and our Heavenly Father is not that way at all.  He loves us so much that his heart breaks when we get off the path he has charted for us, and he lovingly taps us on the shoulder and says, “Hey, it’s me.  Listen.  You’re messing up.  Don’t go that way.  Come with me.”  At that point, we have a choice to respond or ignore him.

What are the hard words he speaks to us?  These words usually identify something we value and that we insist on putting at the center of our lives where only Christ should be.  It could be at the center of our lives where only Christ should be.  IT could be a cherished dream, a position we want to hold, money, possessions, or a person.  When God needs to speak words of rebuke, he make himself crystal clear.

A rich young man came to Jesus.  He was, by all outward appearances, a very committed believer.  The disciples probably looked at him and thought, “Hey here’s a guy who is on the same page with Jesus.”

The make asked a good question:  “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

Jesus repeated some of the Ten Commandments (which the young man already knew very well), “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

The young man responded, “All these I have kept.  What do I still lack?”

At that moment, Jesus saw an open door.  He undoubtedly had seen it earlier in the conversation (after all, he’s God!), but he waited until the man asked for more.  Jesus saw deep into this man’s heart.  His money was most important to him, and Jesus pointed that out:  “Go, sell your possessions and give them to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

Matthew tell us:  “When the young man heard this, we went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matt. 19v16-22).

I’ve heard some speakers say that this passage shows that Jesus wants us to sell all we have and give the money to the poor, but I don’t believe that’s the point.  The real point is that if we genuinely want to follow Christ, we need to be ready for him to point out those that come between us and him, the thing or the person we cherish more than him.  He knows that thing, that dream, or that person will be a wet blanket over our spiritual lives unless and until we move it to its right place.  Sure, we can go to all the meetings and sing all the song, but until it is removed, it will clog up the lines and short out the connection between us and God.

God’s Spirit will shine his light on your particular idol when it’s time.  In some cases, God will say hard words to you about a secret sin you harbor:  pornography, going too far physically in a relationship, lying, or harboring a grudge.  But in many cases, the idols are not hidden at all; they are your greatest strengths and your most valuable possessions:

- He may show you that you love your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or yourself more than him.
- He may expose your bad attitudes.
- He may show you that academics, sports, or your daydreams are taking too much time and attention.
- He may show you that you care too much about popularity and acceptance.
- He may reveal the bitterness that resides in your heart.
- He may show you that your books, clothes, car, music, or some other possession is in his place in your heart.
- He may show you that your selfish ambition or jealousy is stealing your heart away from God.
- He may show you that you want to avoid making decisions, that you wiggle out from under authority, and that freedom has become your God.

We can’t program when, how, or where the spotlight of the Spirit will shine on the hidden part of our hearts.  God will do it when he’s ready, not when we think we’re ready.  Do you think the rich young man expected Jesus to point out his attachment to money?  Not a chance!  He fully expected Jesus to be impressed with him commitment to God and to praise him for being such a good guy.  But Jesus had a different agenda.  Similarly, you may be proud of your commitment to Jesus and shocked when he points out an idol in your heart.

God may shine his light on you when you are working on today’s material in this book, or he may do it when you are riding down the road some day next month.  This point is, be receptive.

When he speaks, be still.  Listen.  It’s not necessarily audible.  It’s even louder.  It is straight to the heart.  God doesn’t need your ears to get your attention.  Obey.  Will it be hard?  You bet!  You can count on it.  But he speaks those hard words because he loves you so much, and he honors your commitment to follow him with all your heart.  Think of him as a coach.  He wouldn’t be a good one if he didn’t point out how you could be the best you can be, would he?  You’ve chosen to be on the team, and it would be foolish not to listen to the best coach in the world.

Only this coach is your Father and Savior and Friend.  He is kind at heart.

Has Jesus said some hard words to you already?  How did you respond?  If you didn’t respond very well, you may need to remember that he didn’t come to entertain us.  He came to be our Lord.  He’s not an actor or a comedian; he’s our Savior.  If you and I have responded to him by saying, “Jesus, I will follow you,” then he was the responsibility to show us those things that stand in our way.

Our “entertain me” culture has made us spiritually soft and emotionally mushy.  We expect things to happen simply by pushing a button or clicking a mouse.  Repenting of spiritual idolatry is hard, brutal work, and this culture has not prepared us for it.  Still, it is essential if we intend to walk with God.  When God shows you that something besides him is occupying the center of your life, don’t expect it to just melt away.  It won’t.  Don’t expect it to step down graciously.  It won’t.  Don’t expect it to come out without a fight.  It won’t.

Don’t be shocked when the Holy Spirit taps you on the shoulder, points to something in your life, and says, “My friend, you love this more that you love me.  I will help you tear it from your heart and put me there.”  You will find a dozen reasons to leave it right where it is.  Your heart will plead for more time or another chance.  Be ruthless.  Be brutal.  Don’t start to bargain.  Grab the dragon by the throat and slay it with the Sword of Truth (the Bible).  Don’t listen to it plead or scream.  Be done with it.  The devil doesn’t go easy on us.  If you try to get rid of the sin gradually, it will find a was to hang on and you will be defeated.  The quicker method is harsh, but it is the only effective way to deal with sin.  Ask God to help you not get hung up on making excuses for your sin.

When this day happens, remember these things:

- Fix your eyes on Jesus.
- This may be a difficult day, but it will lead to new experience of the presence and power of God.
- Focus on passages of scripture to encourage and direct you as you respond to the Lord’s light.
- Pray and ask God himself to help you with his Holy Spirit.
- Tell a godly friend or your Pastor to get some insight, encouragement, and accountability.
- Stay in the fight.  These things don’t die once and for all.  They try to crawl back into your heart again and again.

Have you heard hard words from the Lord?  If not, you’re in a trouble.  If you have, it proves you are God’s loved child.

- Be still.  Listen to what God is saying to you.

]]> http://kaelbloom.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/hard-words-day-2/feed/ 0 KB http://kaelbloom.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/take-up-your-cross-day-1/ http://kaelbloom.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/take-up-your-cross-day-1/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:13:39 +0000 kaelbloom http://kaelbloom.wordpress.com/?p=216 ]]> With Lent starting yesterday – Sara and I starting going through a book together called “A Call To Die” by David Nasser.  So, for the next 40 days, I’ll be sharing the daily reading and my thoughts along with them.

Day 1:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” [Matt. 16v24]

Jesus’ word were unmistakable – and brutal – to his disciples.  They knew what crosses were.  No, they weren’t silver charms worn on necklaces.  They weren’t the designs in tattoo parlors.  The cross was an instrument of execution, one of the most violent and horrible ever invented by evil men.  I can imagine the disciples gasping when Jesus uttered those works in Matthew 16v24.  If we fully comprehend them, we will gasp, too.

But before we get to the cross, let’s understand some things.  Jesus begins this statement with a tiny by important word:  IF.  He doesn’t take it for granted that you and I will be willing to follow him along his path of radical obedience to the Father.  Jesus is no bully.  He doesn’t try to get us to pack our bags for a guilt trip.  No, he simply offers taht path with all its hardships and joys, and says, “If you want the greatest adventure life has to offer, here’s what the ticket will cost you.”  Quite frankly, the vast majority of Christians look at the brochure and say “No thanks.  The price is too high.  I’ll settle for something else.”  Only a few are willing to say, “Yes, Jesus.  I want to go wherever you go.”  Fewer still stay on board for the whole journey.  Jesus makes the offer, and he leads each of us in deciding what we want to do.  The question isn’t, “Do you do what you want to do?”  but “Do you do what he wants you to do?”  In this lies the opportunity to dies.

He makes the price very clear.  There are three parts.  First, “deny yourself.”  Jesus is talking here about our innate selfishness:

- our selfish ambitions to rise above other people,
- our selfish behaviors to get what we want when we want it,
- our selfish attitudes of caring only for our own interests, and
- our selfish desires to put our needs first above anyone else.

What does it mean to “deny” our selfish interests?  This of your selfishness as a hungry wolf that consumes anything and everything it can eat.  To deny it means”  don’t feed it.  Identify that sources of food for your selfishness, and stray away from those things!

- Deny reading books or magazines that stimulate those thoughts.
- Deny daydreaming about having more things or controlling people.
- Deny watching movies or television shows that feed those impulses.
- Deny listening to music that make selfishness seem normal.
- Deny hanging out with people who drag you down and offer you selfish meat.
- Deny talking about people or things or yourself in ways that put people down.
- Deny gossiping, criticizing, cursing, lying, stealing, acting selfishly in any way, shape or form.

“So, if I deny myself those things,” you may ask, “what’s left?  Those things are my whole life!”  For some of us, starving our selfishness will be a shock to our systems! That’s all we’ve ever known!  But after the shock wears off, we find there’s plenty of good stuff to fill the hole in our time and affections.

Denying yourself means saying “No!” to selfishness.  The next part of Jesus’ statement is saying “Yes!” to him:  “Take up your cross.”  Imagine being one of Jesus’ disciples and hearing those words.  As you walked down the roads near towns, you occasionally passed dying men hanging on crosses.  They were murderers and traitors.  The cross was the most extreme form of punishment in the Roman Empire, reserved only for the worst criminals.  Jesus was saying “tkae up your cross”?  It must have seemed insane to them!  I’m sure they were confused.

A few months later, the disciples understood what Jesus meant.  At that time, the perfect Son of God, the sinless Messiah, willingly “endured the cross, scorning it’s shame” (Heb. 12v2) in obedience to the Father.  He prayed so hard that blood vessels in his forehead burst from the strain.  Drops of blood fell on the ground where he agonized with his Father about dying such a horrible death.  But his commitment to obey the Father was greater than his desire for comfort and approval.  So he went to the cross.

That’s what it means for you and me, too:  to obey God no matter what he asks us to do and no matter how much we don’t want to do it.  On a daily basis, we are to say “Yes!” to God by:

- Valuing what God says is important, and blowing off the things that aren’t.
- Being loyal to the Father at all costs because he is worthy of our love.
- Obeying him wherever, whenever, and however he leads.
- Finding our ultimate reward in knowing our God is honored in our obedience.

OK, but what does “taking up our crosses” really look like?  I believe we encounter this decision on two distinct levels.  On one level, each of us faces a few dozen major decisions in our lives which are forks in the road:  our choice of friends; which college to attend; what career to pursue; who to marry; how far to go in a significant relationship; what habits we will develop in high school, college, and in early years of adulthood; how to relate to someone who has hurt us deeply; whether we will fill our minds with trash or with healthy stuff; and other, much bigger decisions.

But on a different level, we make hundreds of choices each day and thousands each week that either say “Yes” or “No” to God.  We may not realize that’s what we are doing, but it is.  We have choices:  to set the alarm to get up a few minutes early to pray and read the Bible, or to get a little more sleep; to go to bed a few minutes early so we aren’t wasted early in the morning when we know we should get up and spend time with God; to rob someone’s reputation by gossiping about them or to keep quiet; to say something encouraging to someone instead of being sarcastic; to take time to listen to a boring person; to refuse to defend ourselves or talk about our success; to grab a sinful thought and replace it with truth from God’s word; to overlook an unkind remark; or to give and serve when it would easier to stay our own selfish world.

In all this, Jesus is our example.  He isn’t asking us to do anything he hasn’t already done to a far higher degree than we will ever do.  Paul encouraged us to understand this in his letter to the Philippians.  He wrote:

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!  [Phil. 2v5-8]

So “taking up our crosses” means to value God above all else, to serve instead of demand our rights, and to be humble instead of proud – to the point of death.  The passionate motive that drove Jesus to the cross was us.  Why us?  Because our salvation ultimately brings glory to the Father.

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest palce and game him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  [Phil 2v9-11]

Jesus says in John 8:50:  “I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.”  So there you have it – Jesus’ motive for death.  He went to the cross so that we would be saved and thus glorify the Father.  Likewise, our motive for daily dying to ourselves should be to glorify God.

If we choose to deny ourselves and take up our crosses as Christ did in obedience to God, we too will bring glory to God and experience the presence of God in our lives.  We will see his hand at work in us and through us.  Broken hearts will be mended.  People who have lost their way will find direction and meaning.  Prodigals will return home.  He will heal the hurts in our lives and give us hope and purpose.  We will sense the love and power of God in a way we never thought possible.  The Scriptures are full of these promises.  We can’t miss them!

Another benefit of denying ourselves and taking up our crosses is that we then are involved in the their part of Jesus’ invitation:  “follow me.”  As God strengthens us, we make those daily choices to say “No” to selfishness and say “Yes” to God, we walk side by side with Jesus Christ.  When we read the Scriptures, we hear his voice.  When we walk through our day, we sense his presence.  When we obey him, we see his hand at work changing lives.  My friend, this is the abundant life!

The benefits of a life of obedience are not just here and now.  There will come a day that all of us will stand before Jesus to give an account of his or her life, and believers will be richly rewarded for everything we have done to honor Christ.  I’m looking forward to that day!

The rewards are great, but so is the cost.  It costs us everything.  Like the hymn says, “I surrender all,” not “I surrender 10%.”  No one will tell you that it’s an easy road.  Jesus himself faced hardship on the cross.  He wept.  He sweat.  He asked his friends to pray.  The result of his obedience was that God is exalted above all and Christ became the way for you and I to be forgiven.  Man, I’m glad he didn’t bail!  You and I will face excruciating moments, too, when it seems God is asking too much and nobody is there for us.  Those are the most painful, and the most important, times in our journey.  We will feel alone, but we aren’t.  God is with us, and he has not forsaken us, especially in those time of need.  Our obedience is worth it.

What is Jesus’ call in this passage of scripture?  It is a call to dies, a call to let your selfishness starve to death because you don’t feed it.  If it won’t starve, we have to grab our selfishness by the throat and strangle it.  Once again, remember that we’re talking  spiritual, not physical issues.  Because Satan is not gentle in dealing with us, we cannot be gentle in dealing with sin.  In the place of this sin, we put Jesus squarely in the middle of our lives and choose to honor him all day, every day.  Keep in mind that none of this can be accomplished apart from daily accepting the strength God gives us through his word and the Holy Spirit [Phil 4v13].

Years ago, a young, uneducated man in Chicago named Dwight Moody heard a preacher challenge his audience:  “The world has yet to see what God will do through one man whose heart is completely his.”  Moody responded instantly, “Lord, I want to be that man!”  Over the course of the next few decades, God used Moody to lead thousands of people to Christ, to begin a Bible college, and to launch a mission movement that eventually sent over 30,000 young men and women to parts of the globe that had never heard of Jesus or had even seen a foreigner.  Moody was committed to his heart being the sole and complete property of Jesus Christ.  God poured out his Spirit on him.

How would you respond to that preacher’s question today?

Do you want to be that man or woman?

Living Sacrifices

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his^[b]faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Love

⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”^[d]says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”^{[e] 21}Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Jesus Christ, our Savior – who is the propitiation, the satisfaction if you would, for our sins but not just our sins but also the sins of the whole world.

What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus.  Seven time perfection.  Seven times, that’s what he went through for me and for you.

This week’s chapter is John 10:

1″I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.

7Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11″I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

14″I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

19At these words the Jews were again divided. 20Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”

21But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

22Then came the Feast of Dedication[b] at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24The Jews gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ,[c] tell us plainly.”

25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[d]; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

31Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, 32but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?”

33″We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

34Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’[e]? 35If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.

40Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. Here he stayed 41and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42And in that place many believed in Jesus.

Until we are born again, the only kind of temptation we understand is that mentioned by St. James – “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” But by regeneration we are lifted into another realm where there are other temptations to face, viz., the kind of temptations Our Lord faced. The temptations of Jesus do not appeal to us, they have no home at all in our human nature. Our Lord’s temptations and ours move in different spheres until we are born again and become His brethren. The temptations of Jesus are not those of a man, but the temptations of God as Man. By regeneration the Son of God is formed in us, and in our physical life He has the same setting that He had on earth. Satan does not tempt us to do wrong things; he tempts us in order to make us lose what God has put into us by regeneration, viz., the possibility of being of value to God. He does not come on the line of tempting us to sin, but on the line of shifting the point of view, and only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil.

Temptation means the test by an alien power of the possessions held by a personality. This makes the temptation of Our Lord explainable. After Jesus in His baptism had accepted the vocation of bearing away the sin of the world, He was immediately put by God’s Spirit into the testing machine of the devil, but He did not tire, He went through the temptation “without sin,” and He retained the possessions of His personality intact.

You have inherited the Divine nature, says Peter (v.4), now screw your attention down and form habits, give diligence, concentrate. “Add” means all that character means. No man is born either naturally or supernaturally with character, he has to make character. Nor are we born with habits; we have to form habits on the basis of the new life God has put into us. We are not meant to be illuminated versions, but the common stuff of ordinary life exhibiting the marvel of the grace of God. Drudgery is the touchstone of character. The great hindrance in spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. “Jesus took a towel . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet.”

There are times when there is no illumination and no thrill, but just the daily round, the common task. Routine is God’s way of saving us between our times of inspiration. Do not expect God always to give you His thrilling minutes, but learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God.

It is the “adding” that is difficult. We say we do not expect God to carry us to heaven on flowery beds of ease, and yet we act as if we did! The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I do my duty, not for duty’s sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through the Atonement.