Getting in Sync with God

 

This morning my Fitbit stopped working, or sometime yesterday. I use it to hold me accountable to walk 7000 steps a day, but who wants to count them? So I went online to discover that my tracker is no longer syncing with its account. Apparently there is an upgrade that has not been downloaded and the tracker simply quit.

Funny how nearly everything that happens has a spiritual connection. I thought of how needful it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not rely on my own devices or strength. To do that, I must be in sync with the Lord. That is, if I am resisting God, I cannot resist the devil or temptation at the same time.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

This idea of not being able to serve or yield to God and the enemy at the same time applies also to other things such as money and worldly pleasures.

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Luke 16:13)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:15–16)

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16–17)

This principle not only applies to my relationship with God; it affects every part of life. I cannot pray without guarding against distractions that ruin all conversation with God. I cannot try to figure out problems His way unless my focus is on His way. This matter of yielding to God and making Him the center of my life goes even farther:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. (1 Corinthians 10:31–33)

Eating and drinking are normal activities of life and yet not to be separated from worship or my witness to God’s glory. In the same line, seeking His glory is connected to pleasing others in an effort to win them to Jesus. Being in sync with God is not only required, it is required no matter what I am doing.

PRAY: Jesus, there are days where my mind is all over the place. To be in sync with You, I need Your Spirit and Your power. Such vivid focus is totally beyond my ability. That is the why for being yielded to You and filled with the Holy Spirit all the time, but it is also the only way to do Your will and live for You. Keep me in sync today. I’m not sure I’ll get that Fitbit working properly, but I know that You can do what needs to be done that I can worship and serve You and others as You want me to.

Loving what is right . . .

Watching or reading mysteries usually gives me pleasure because justice is done in the end. Yet lately, the crimes committed are beginning to bother me so much that the good feeling of seeing the criminals caught and stopped isn’t satisfying. I don’t want to read or watch some of those fiction stories as much. I’ve stopped watching most of the news also. While keeping up with what is going on fuels my prayers, it also stresses my heart.

Today’s devotional is about Jesus being a lover of righteousness. It begins with these verses:

But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (Hebrews 1:8–9)

Righteousness is not a concept common in real life, never mind how much fiction writers can make it happen. This morning’s newspaper featured several events that made my stomach churn. One of them was the death of a person being arrested by several policemen who seemed to be abusive. Another is the violence in Gaza and Israel. Another is reports of shady dealings involved elected government officials.

While the Bible tells Christians to pray for people in leadership, this becomes increasingly difficult when corruption happens and what the Bible calls good is ridiculed by those who choose what God forbids as being the best way to live.

The devotional writer says that the King of kings, Jesus Christ, is the only leader who has a perfectly right attitude toward righteousness. I cannot help but think, “And look what happened to Him” as the leaders in His day crucified Him — and as God planned His death so that sinners like me could live. The righteousness of Christ, the sinless One, was not rewarded, at least not then. Everyone, including His disciples, turned away as He died.

Yet He rose from the dead and now rules from an eternal throne as God and King. His story is not a plot found in fiction. It has elements of the most amazing mystery of all: the sinless One took the penalty for those who are guilty that we might be forgiven and be transformed to be like Him and live forever.

Jesus lived a righteous life and loves righteousness. Yet His story tells me that righteousness is not just about how I should live, but suggests a sacrifice, even a death, that others might live. This morning I read:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)

The protagonist in fiction might give time, energy, and resources to find the culprit and bring justice to the crime, yet that detective or whoever it is does not give their life to make it happen. True righteousness is living in faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. This goes beyond making the world a better place to live. It could lead to persecution and death in a physical sense, but certainly means a death to all that my old life may have desired. This is not a movie or a novel but a reality: those who want to live a righteous life must first belong to Jesus and die to self.

That means saying NO to much more than the sin most people consider the biggies. Instead, it means saying NO to self, and recognizing that righteousness is hearing and obeying Jesus, even saying “Not my will but thine be done” — which is the example He sets for what it means to love righteousness.

This also means hating lawlessness and all that is wrong. This is a black and white concept:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2:15–16)

PRAY: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24)

PONDER: Psalm 119 and ask if I can say the same things as the psalmist about loving the law and the righteousness of God.

 

 

Who or what I worship is at the root of what I do

In the Old Testament, the people intermittently worshiped and served God. They easily strayed from being single-minded into worshiping idols and serving them or themselves. One of the most telling narratives is their decision to have a king. They pressed the prophet Samuel until he appointed Saul to rule over them. However, he repeatedly told them this was their folly . . .

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us’ . . .”  (1 Samuel 10:18–19)

This rejection of God to serve a king takes an interesting twist in the New Testament. When the devil tested Jesus, “he took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8–9) Today, the same test happens repeatedly. What will the people of God worship?

Someone described worship as that which I think about and honor the most. This is a convicting definition for I know how much I have trusted myself, my ideas, my own judgment rather than seeking the will of God and trusting Him and His Word. This is heighted by passages like this one:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16)

Anytime I’ve put my own desires over God’s will, I’ve ceased to worship Him. Anytime I’ve sought what makes me look good, or what gives me reason to pat myself on the back, I’ve ceased to worship God. Jesus is clear about that; I cannot love the things of the world and claim to love and serve God. The two are incompatible. Further, the temptation of Christ shows where that notion comes from:

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)

The enemy of my soul tried to lure Jesus with ‘the things of this world’ — and he will and has done the same to me.

In today’s devotional, Tozer says worship takes precedence over work. That is, if my worship slides into things of the world, then what I do for the Lord will be flawed. If I fall before the idol of self-rule, or fleshy desires, or pride, or anything but the Spirit of God, then any service will smack of me, myself and I at the very least. At the worst, it will be demonic.

This is serious stuff. Jesus makes worship the root of service. Worship of idols continually ruined Israel and put them into bondage. Worship of the world and all its goodies continually puts Christians in danger and in bondage. I’m not to value my comfort over exalting and glorifying God. I’m not to value what I want or what makes me look good over the will of God — even if His will puts me in the shadows or causes me to be misunderstood and rejected. Worship means bowing before Him, who He is and what He desires. It is never about me or what makes me feel good. It might even involve great sacrifice — for that is where worship eventually led Jesus.

That the temptation comes from the devil (and not just my self-centered mind) is helpful in wanting to combat it, but discomforting. Instead of yielding to God, too often I’ve not resisted the devil — often because I didn’t recognize who it was that was coming at me.

^^^^^^^

Jesus, You are my Savior. Over and over You have rescued me from the clutches of the devil, even when I didn’t realize he had me in his clutches. As I worship today, may You be the only focal point. If anything threatens to push You off the throne of my heart, may I recognize and rebuke the enemy of my soul.