Motivated by what God has done…

Why is it that so many preachers or devotional writers focus on telling their listeners or readers what to do rather than glorifying Jesus for what He has done? It is the love of Jesus that motives godly responses. I’m rarely charged up by another sinner shaking their finger at me.

My first reading today was all about my need to follow Jesus. So were other readings. One of them quoted this passage: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend … I have called you friends.” (John 15:13, 15), and then used it to tell me I need to lay down my life for Jesus. That is true, but that is not what these words say. When my heart and mind are filled with the wonder and glory of God, responding easily follows. What folly to put the cart before the horse so why make this cart pull the load instead of the Lord?

One reading says what I always need to hear. It begins with, "Oh, what a Savior He is. Words can never express His mighty power to save! I never felt so utterly weak in myself, but Jesus is strong, and He is mine, and He saves me now. Praise His Name!"

A few lines later, the writer says, “Every moment, Lord I need the cleansing of your blood. And every moment, Lord, I have the cleansing of your blood.” I do not mean here cleansing from the guilt of sin, but cleansing from the sin itself, that cleansing which makes me “pure in heart.”

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

Each day I need the good news of the gospel. My sins distract me from the reality of sins forgiven and from the power of redemption. It is knowing what is possible in Christ that gives me even the desire for purity of heart that He calls for, as well as the purity itself…

And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:3)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)

Another reading says this: “God always answers the general design and intention of His people’s prayers, in doing that which, all things considered, is most for His own glory and our spiritual and eternal welfare. As we never find that Jesus Christ rejected a single supplicant who came to Him for mercy, so we believe that no prayer made in His name will be in vain.”

Such words edify, build faith. Telling me my duty is helpful only if I have decided not to do it and live as I want. But for the Christian who wants to live for Christ, His words of encouragement and reminders of what He has done for me always give me hope and the motivation to live for Him.

PRAY: Thank You Jesus for calling me Your friend and laying down Your life for me. Greater love has no one than this. Because of what You have done for me, I want to live for You and for the glory of Your name.

 

Charting a course?

Sometimes the needs in the world and even the needs nearby can be overwhelming. I know I’m not responsible for all of them, even to pray for all of them. At the same time, I’m thankful that God hears and answers prayer.
I’m also thankful that God does not tell me, “Go and do everything.” I know that He gives me what I am to do rather than thinking I need to do it all. That burden alone would drain the little strength that I do have and make me more tired and less useful than ever. Instead, He wants me to focus on what He has gifted me to do. He says:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit... (1 Corinthians 12:4)

To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. (Matthew 25:15)

In the above verse, ‘talent’ is not the word for abilities we use. Instead, it means a unit of currency used in those days. It could be better translated as ‘resources’ and therefore means God gives me the resources I need to use the gifts He has given me.

Those resources may be few or many. The to-do list can be long or short. God considers these as part of my job-description and is wise in what He asks of me.

The steps of a man (or a woman) are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:23–24)

This makes the Christian life less confusing. God is not asking me to witness to world leaders, but I am to pray for them. He is not asking me to stack chairs after our church service, but I am to eat and visit with those He puts in front of me. I’m not asked to teach a college class but I am called upon to share what He teaches me with those who are puzzled about the same topics.

This trust in Him to work His way is easy and natural. I don’t need to strain or worry about what comes next for He is well able to show me. This is also His way of freedom:

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

PRAY: Jesus, I feel heavy today because of the burdens shared with us yesterday. The list was long, sad, and troubling. At the same time, I hear You whisper as I pray for the person who shared them, and for the things told to us. You keep saying, “I got this” and without that lovely assurance of Your care and power, I would be totally overwhelmed. Thank You. I will keep praying as You ask me to do and glad that the tasks You give me does not need to be carried all by myself!

Rising to the Challenge?

When macramé was popular, I decided to try it and picked the most difficult pattern available. When I started making quilts, my first project was a queen-size using a pattern I had to resize and add borders to make it large enough. I’m one of those people that if someone suggests a task might be too difficult, I jump at the opportunity to try it. 
 

Challenges to accomplish something are one thing, but this “I can do it” attitude could get me into trouble when applied to forbidden things, like the “shall not’s” that God commands. Even speed limits and other legal or moral restrictions tend to bring out a “who says?” and “I can do whatever I want” response in most of us.

The apostle Paul wrote of his struggle with sin and with the desire of his old nature to rule his life. He recognized that attitude when he said: “For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (Romans 7:11) 

From this verse and the context around it, I can see that Paul was aware of the danger of sin. It is not a mere annoyance to brush off or take lightly. Sin is deceptive and deadly, deceptive in that most of us regard it too lightly, thinking it “really isn’t so bad” or that “everyone does it.” 

As for being deadly, sin like breaking the law or running over the speed limit obviously can lead to physical peril, but there is another kind of death that is far worse. Instead of life being separated from the body, this more serious death is being separated from God. 

It happened first in Eden. Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit and hid from God. After He confronted them, He put them out of the garden. The New Testament explains that, “just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Every one of us has been ‘put out of the garden’ away from God and the perfection He created for us, because all are sinners.

Paul clarified this to the Gentile church at Ephesus. He reminded them that before they believed in Jesus, they were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) 

In Romans, he also wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

When he wrote of his own struggles with sin, Paul said that sin “seized an opportunity through the commandment.” Another verse says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). This makes me wonder about the connection between my struggle with sin and how that connects to the law and to death. 

Part of the answer is that tendency of sinful human nature to rise to the challenge when given a “you cannot do it” command. That tendency to resist the law gets us into trouble all the time. When God says no, the sinful human heart responds otherwise, seemingly oblivious to the danger.

Instead of trying to control these crazy impulses, the solution is found through faith in Jesus Christ. Trusting Him brings eternal life, forgiveness of sin, and the power of the Holy Spirit to live in a new way. Instead of trying to live by rules and “thou shalt not” commands, Christians are set into a different realm where we die to the law and can put to death that old nature.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)

The law of the Spirit of life gives me a new response to the choices that are before me. Instead of being challenged to “do it anyway” the Holy Spirit changes my desires and removes my interest in being stubbornly independent. Like Paul, I have lapses, but God is persistent and thorough. He patiently and continually opens my eyes to the deception of sin and helps me stay alert to its deadly consequences. 

---

Lord God, thankfully You care about the dangers of sin and the awfulness of what it can do to those You lovingly created. You sent Your only Son to die for my sin and offer me new life to replace that sin nature that was (and still is) determined to kill me. Keep my eyes open and my heart turned toward You.

To Live is Christ — obeying both big and small things

If I saw a child drowning and didn’t go for help, or let a child play on the street, that could be a crime. If the child died when I could have saved them, I could be charged with depraved indifference. This is close, but not exactly the same as what this verse is talking about: “If you don’t do what you know is right, you have sinned.” (James 4:17)

The law, whether the law of God or the laws of the land, tells me ‘do this’ or ‘do that.’ If I fail to keep civil laws, then civil courts could punish me. The wages of breaking God’s law are more severe. Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death” meaning eternal separation from God. Law breaking is serious. Sin is even more serious.

Yet, because I am a Christian, I am under another law. This law is good news as far as that ‘sin and death’ law is concerned. It says, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set (me) free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)

This means that when (not if) I sin, I will not pay the penalty; Christ has paid it for me. I’m free from that law. Praise God. However, the verse from James puts me under something even more demanding than all the “do nots” of the Old Testament, and even all the civil laws as well.

Knowing to do good makes for a huge list. I cannot imagine how much paper I’d need. Visit the sick. Care for the homeless. Tip the waiter. Sweep up trash. Play music for a shut-in. Learn sign language and talk to the deaf. Make cookies for my grandchildren. Such a list could fill me with guilt as it filled my days with constant effort — if I were certain that failure to do it all makes me a sinner.

Or is this about something else, maybe opportunities? Do I only need to do good when the circumstance presents itself? One verse in the Bible says it could be . . .  

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)

Do I do good only when the time is right? Is that what James 4:17 says? No, it says that I am to do good (or right) when I know something is the right thing to do. That changes this — just a bit.

I’ve known people that could be called “do gooders” with a reputation for constant benevolence, yet when questioned their motivation was something like, “I do these things because they make me feel so good.” In other words, their good deeds have selfish roots. In the to-do list of God’s people, those ‘good deeds’ don’t count.

Doing right isn’t about making me feel good. It isn’t about my plans either. The fact is, I get interrupted almost every day while I’m doing what I had planned by someone who wants me to do something else. Most of the time, the Holy Spirit gives me the nod on the interruption. He says, “This is right; do it.” I know that if I don’t, I am disobeying God and that is sin.

Knowing what is right certainly includes speed limits, and loving my neighbor, and visiting someone in the hospital, but listening to God teaches me that He could ask of me thousands of other right things. These are ‘good’ yet not by the evaluation of any law. I know are good because He says to do them. They might go unnoticed by others but they are important to Him, so important that to ignore them means I have sinned.