When I clean my house, I put out the dirt; when I organize
files, I get rid of the disarray. Good in, bad out. This simple principle is
true for creative people. A famous sculpture was asked how he was able to carve
such magnificent horses from marble. He said that he simply cut away everything
that didn’t look like a horse.
This principle is also true for Christians. In living for
Christ, I’m to get rid of everything that is not like Him.
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:8–10)
A few weeks ago, someone told me that no one has the right
to tell others what is right or wrong. I was so surprised that I couldn’t think
of much to say, but later shook my head thinking no one has the right to tell
another it is wrong to beat their children? Or rob a bank? Really?!
This person’s focus was on a narrow category that does not
hold up to biblical standards. Perhaps she was really saying that God didn’t
have any right to tell people what to do. She also was thinking of rules, but had
no idea that a list of rules is not the measure for what is good or evil.
Instead, Christ is the measure.
That said, no one can carve their life in His image
without knowing what He looks like. A false notion of Christ will not do.
Neither will a false notion of what does not look like Jesus. Those who focus
only on the meek, mild, loving Savior forget or ignore that He also turned over
the tables of the money-changers in the temple. Those who focus only on that
demonstration of wrath against sin forget that He took the hand of a woman caught
in adultery and said, “Has no one condemned you . . . Neither do I condemn you;
go and sin no more.”
Why did the Son of God behave in such seemingly opposite
ways? The psalmist was referring to Jesus when he wrote:
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; (Psalm 45:6–7)
Jesus loves what is good and abhors what is sinful. Some
say He loves the sinner, but hates our sin. How then can a person be like Jesus
without the same attitude of loving righteousness and hating evil? Not only
that, good or evil cannot stand by itself. One is known because the other is
known.
I know God loves me with an everlasting love. I also know
that He hates sin and wickedness. His goal for me is that I am transformed into
the likeness of His Son Jesus. He made humans in His image, and for that
reason, He chips and carves away all that is contrary.
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. (Proverbs 8:13)
Tozer says that to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I must
be emptied of everything contrary to Him. If I want to accept the goodness of
God, there are some things I must reject. In order to say YES I have to be able
to say NO. He compares this to breathing in and breathing out. Anther metaphor
that illustrates this truth is that any pond or lake that has water flowing in
must have an outlet; otherwise it becomes like the dead sea, poisonous and good
for nothing.
^^^^^^^^^^
Jesus, thank You for giving this to me during this time of
life when I’m so conscious of breathing in and out. You keep drawing my
thoughts to various songs that speak of You being the breath that I take, of
You being as vital to me as the air that I breath. But I cannot hold my breath.
What You put in needs to flow out, but so also does my sin, the junk that You didn’t
intend to be there.
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