The Last Word

Joshua 7:1–8:35, 2 Corinthians 10:1–8, Psalm 49:1–20

In the Old Testament narrative, the Israelites were entering the Promised Land. Just after the victory at Jericho, Joshua moved his army to conquer the next enemy city, but they were soundly defeated. The Scripture says “their hearts melted like water.”

On those days when it seems I have no spiritual power and my heart melts like water, I could blame the enemy who wants to defeat my confidence in God. However, I could also blame myself and need to ask the Lord to search my heart. What happened to the army of Joshua instructs me . . .

The Lord said to Joshua, “Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things (spoils of war that God told them to destroy); they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. (Joshua 7:10–12)

Though a process of elimination, Joshua found out who had sinned against God and rendered the army powerless against their enemy. His name was Achan and his confession actually glorified God . . .

Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did . . .”  (Joshua 7:19–20)

Achan suffered the extreme penalty for his sin. He died along with everyone in his family. God is serious about sin and its wages has always meant death. Thankfully, the NT tells the world that Jesus Christ has suffered that death in our place. God’s Son took my punishment for sin. God declares that all who put their faith in Him will not perish.

As a Christian, I still fight my enemy and need to defeat evil and put it utterly out of my life. Instead of swords, my battle is a different kind of struggle: “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:3–6)

I’m not destroying physical cities or other people, but the sin that wants to drag me down. I’m also battling with the devil who tells me lies in an effort to turn me from God. Some lies are easy to discern; others not so much.

The psalmist offers one solution to one of those battles. Satan suggests that I need to heap up financial wealth and if I don’t, then I cannot truly enjoy life or be secure. He wants me to envy the rich and make success my goal. God says otherwise. His value system has nothing to do with money. He promises to take care of those who trust Him. For this, the psalmist says . . .

Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49:16–20)

Today I had some spoils of war in my tent that needed tossing. Today I pulled down one of those strongholds. It wasn’t about money, at least not this time. My enemy has been routed, but I’m certain this is not the last I will hear from him. I’m also certain that he does not have the last word — that belongs to Jesus Christ. 

The key to living out faith

This week I’ve been hearing about a worker who is making many mistakes but does not seem to realize it. He is putting others and himself in trouble because he cannot discern his own errors.

This lack of discernment is also a problem in living a life of faith. Sin is subtle. I can think that I am trusting God when actually I am trusting myself or my own judgment. I can think I am innocent but if I examine my heart, I might find hidden selfish motives. 

Israel’s King David struggled with the same problems. While God called him “a man after my own heart,” David was like any other person of faith. He had that old self that would interfere with godly living, sometimes in sneaky and subversive ways. When David realized the threat of his own sinfulness, he took the only action that works; he took the problems to his Savior…

Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:12–14)

These verses are key to living out the faith that God puts in. Instead of trying to understand what needs fixing in my life, I must rely on God to show me those sins that I fail to discern. He can do it, but not only that, He can keep me from being ruled by my sinful nature. I just need to be willing to let Him have dominion in my heart.

Most of the time, my problems begin with what I call stinkin’ thinkin’ in that I have a bad attitude about someone or something. I’ve learned that I cannot excuse what I think because there are no actions attached. Even if the sin is only in my head, it will eventually find its way out of my heart and into my life if I don’t deal with it at the heart level. Yet trying to push sinful thoughts away is like that old game when told, “Don’t think about a red apple.” As soon as the suggestion is made, that red apple image will not go away.

When temptation comes as a sinful thought, I’ve never been able to push it aside without help either. David’s prayer asking God to make words and thoughts acceptable is the only action that works. Instead of being ruled by any awful thought, God can replace it with something acceptable. 

When thinking is right, I’m less apt to speak or act in a sinful way. However, sometimes hidden faults pop up into words or deeds when no thoughts seem to precede them. Again, the only action that works is asking God to deal with those hidden issues. He does. Sometimes He reveals them in dreams or during Bible study. If that happens, I need to confess the sin and rethink whatever He showed me in a biblical attitude. Then these hidden things can fade away and not ambush me again. This usually is a painful process, but the freedom gained is worth it.

Living out faith in public requires spending time in private with God — going over those inner motivations with Him. Whether they are rooted in childhood memories or adult resentments and other negative attitudes, it is the desire of God that I am blameless and acceptable before Him. 

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God, I thank You that You know everything about me and that You want me to be pure and innocent. Free me from those hang-ups that hold me in sinful patterns of thoughts, words and deeds. May whatever I do be acceptable to You as I live out the faith that You have put into my life.

To Live is Christ — waiting . . .

“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength . . .”  a song and part of a verse from Isaiah that God proves to me repeatedly. Sometimes it is not sleep that I need, but to spend some time waiting.

Yesterday was a superb day. I woke up too early, couldn’t go back to sleep, so had a bath and got dressed. Then I waited on the Lord, that is, I spent time in prayer. I complained for a while. Then I confessed my complaining. I also talked to Him about the struggles I’d been having. I told Him that I thought the devil was after me and needed some fighting words.

He gave them to me. I prayed them loudly back to Him. After some thanksgiving and even a song, the only less than blissful event during the remainder of the day was a recorded call from a telemarketer.

My verses for today come from the old King James Bible, the one that I read for many years after Christ came into my life. These are precious words too, and an appropriate follow-up to yesterday.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3–5)

Jerusalem is situated on a hill. When the people came to the temple, they ascended that hill and worshiped in the temple, the holy place of God. This was not a place for sin-filled hearts. God instructed them to make sure they had confessed their sin and made the proper sacrifices before they went to worship.

I cannot worship or even function if there is unconfessed sin in my life. While I’m not out robbing banks or slashing tires, sin still can make me unable to ascend the hill into God’s presence. They might seem “little” like whining (as mentioned already), or failing to trust God or believe in His goodness. I can lose heart over imagined slights. I can also take on a load that is not mine, or keep myself from obedience by doing “busy work.”

These may not seem like sins to other people. Nevertheless, God knows — and I know too — when some sin dirties my hands or muddies my heart. Vain activities might be ordinary events for others, but if God wants me doing something else, for me they are sinful. This includes watching television, playing computer games, or spending too much time on Facebook.

The last one is more blatant; swearing deceitfully. This sin is about making promises known to be false, or taking an oath that is not based on truth. I’ve never been good at telling lies, so this one is less of a temptation.

The bottom line is that I want to be able to stand in the presence of God with my sins confessed. I want a pure heart. As Jesus said, the pure in heart shall see God. These verses say that those who keep their lives clean will receive His blessing and His righteousness. That is what waiting on the Lord is all about — and His grace is definitely worth the wait.

Don’t worry, be sad

Sorrow is better than laughter? As a normal human being, I want to be happy, not sad. Why would the Bible say this?

The rest of the verse explains it a little, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better” (Ecclesiastes 7:3).

Because the Bible is about the sinful state of humanity and our need for repentance and salvation, obviously this relates to being sorry about sin. Without that, there is no hope for the heart to experience a joy that is beyond mere happiness, a joy that knows sin is forgiven and I am accepted by God.

Our pastor preached from Nehemiah 8 yesterday. Part of this chapter says that “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Pastor pointed out that before that joy was theirs, the people listened to the Word of God and were weeping. He said that their sorrow was “the garden where joy grows.” In other words, without the soil of sorrow, repentance cannot spring up, and without repentance, no one can experience the fruit — which is the joy of the Lord.

I’m starting to think that God wants me to firmly understand this truth because today’s verse from my devotional reading says the same thing in another way. 

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

The world around me is involved in the pursuit of happiness. I used to be involved in the same pursuit, or at least in trying to reach that goal by their methods. These methods include having more of this, better that, impressing people, achieving, and so on. Not that there is anything particularly wrong with owning things or achievements, but there is another joy that lasts longer and far exceeds the happiness found in material possessions or worldly achievements. It is the joy of knowing that I am walking with God.

Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven as having so much value that it was like a man who sought expensive pearls. When he found “one pearl of great price” he sold all that he had to buy it (Matthew 13:45). I can remember times when I knew that I had disobeyed God and needed to regain that precious fellowship. To me, being in right relationship with Him was worth more than anything that I might gain by sin. This is a pearl of great price.

Deep and settled joy from Jesus has great value, but a value unknown to those who have never experienced it. For many, the sorrow of guilt and the hurdle of confessing and repenting from their sin is a high and difficult barrier. It blocks any idea of joy to the point that it seems far easier to rationalize, make excuses, or just deny guilt, hoping it will go away and they can be happy again.

The medical profession says a large percentage of illness is rooted in denied guilt, yet the person in denial will not see or does not want to see the connection. For them, the notion of sorrow being better than laughter is nonsense and a topic to be avoided at all costs, even the cost of their physical health and eternal well-being.

The book of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross, bearing the shame of guilt for our sins. He did it “for the joy set before Him” because He knew that saying yes to that sorrow led to the eternal joy of accomplishing the will of God.

That same joy of the Lord is given to all who will allow themselves to be sad about their sin. When I take my shame to the One who forgives all sin, He grants me the righteousness of Jesus Christ — including with the ever-present joy that He gives.

Going low to get high

It feels a bit like being right, like I have won a prize or bested an adversary, but there the resemblance ends. God’s way of giving me a high is by first taking me down.

As a Christian, I’ve discovered that the lowest low is sin. When I disobey God, I feel terrible. At first it took something big, but now even a bad attitude that no one else knows about will bring me into an emotional slump. I don’t like being there, but the human way of proving myself right will not work. In fact, that sort of effort just makes matters worse.

Instead, the Bible tells me that if I want to be on top of things, I need to keep my conscience clear. 1 Peter 3:16 says, “Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”

This verse is in a section that instructs Christians what to do when mistreated, falsely accused, and put down, certainly the very times when I most feel like fighting back or being right. However, it doesn’t tell me to fight, not even for my rights. Instead, it says to have a good conscience. How so?

Comparing that to being right or having won, I usually feel good when I get the better of someone who puts me down, yet this is a precarious stance. As all winners know, very little time passes and someone else steps up to take the podium. The sense of being right or of winning feels good, but pride and gloating are fleeting.

In contrast, when my conscience is clear, I’ve nothing to be proud of, neither can I gloat nor boast. Instead, a good conscience is the result of humility and confessing sin. It is knowing that I am prone to selfishness and pride and that my sinful nature is always sneaking up on me and preventing me from living under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

A good conscience means that I am aware and continually remembering that this lovely sensation is possible only because Christ died for me and my sins are forgiven. It does not mean that I am a sinless, top-of-the heap winner, but that I am a loser living by grace. As Peter says, when I live with a good conscience and am falsely accused or abused, those who do it will eventually fall to the condemnation of their own conscience. They cannot stay on their pedestal for very long.

Even so, I’ve known people who spend most of their waking moments striving to be right, to be the best, to keep on top of things. I’ve had those tendencies myself. It is the “feeling” that we go for, the sense of freedom and power up there on that pedestal. Even if it is momentary, we want it. The fear of losing it is the only spoiler.

Having a good conscience is like that, only better. Being free from guilt is amazing. Only Jesus can do that in my heart and after several years of experiencing this wonderful freedom, He continues to teach me more about it. For instance, in the beginning that fear of losing it was my best incentive to quickly confess any sin that threatened it, but now I’ve found that this high place is like that because it is the place where I am close to God. When I am in full communion with Him, there is no greater joy.

When I sin, it seems like God turns His back, but I’ve learned that He doesn’t move away; I’m the one who turned my back. Confession and repentance clear my conscience and turn me around. He removes that burden of guilt, and takes away that sense of being wrong.

Best of all, the sense of His presence, of being near Him is strong and a blessing. After years of repeating this up/down experiences of a clear conscience/stumble into sin thing and learning the value of it, He has taught me that winning in the human sense of having my pride elevated is nothing compared to the deeper satisfaction of knowing that He is pleased with me. This is not because I’ve never failed, but because He has impressed upon my heart the great value of having very short accounts with Him.

It sounds so simple . . .

The love of Christ is not the same as even the strongest human love. He described it Himself when He prayed and said this about us, “I have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:23). Jesus loves us as God loves Him, which has to be the purest and strongest love.

Not only that, His love is totally selfless; we may not give much back, but still loves us. His love also has nothing to do with our worth; He loves us because it is His nature to love.

When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, the people were having trouble staying on track. Much of what they did was fleshy or carnal (selfish), yet he said to them, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved” (2 Corinthians 12:15). This is the love of Christ.

Even though Paul was working and praying continually for spiritual growth in the lives of the people in this church, they didn’t seem to appreciate him. They were gifted, yet divided. They fought over who had the best gifts, who was following the best leader, and disagreed about a host of other things. If I had been there, I would likely have taken pot shots at some of them and complained about the rest.

Not Paul. His ministry toward them was for them, not for himself. He didn’t do it for what he could get out of it. Again, this is the love of Christ.

I particularly appreciate what the author of my devotional has to say about this verse. I’ve met this man and sat under the power of his preaching. I’ve also observed the way people in his church reserve front row seats to hear what he has to say and witnessed his humility. I see it again in what he wrote:

There have been times in my ministry as a pastor that I’ve wondered if anyone is listening to what I’m teaching. Do people really appreciate me or the teaching of the Word? It’s easy to fall into that kind of woe–is–me complex.

I understand this. When I first read this verse (and I remember it clearly), it offered me encouragement and direction. It told me that this is how I must feel. Even if those that I cared for did not respond, or were not thankful, I still must love and care for them. To me, this was wonderful and set me free from being worried about responses.

Yet when I read it today, I am convicted. Perhaps I’ve fallen into a trap that the devotional reading describes, that of looking at what I do as something I get, rather than something I give, but regardless of the cause, I find myself complaining rather than being thankful. Too often I feel fearful about acceptance rather than gladly doing as God asks without concern for the results.

Paul says that even if the people hated him, he would still love them. That means living a life filled with the Holy Spirit who can shed abroad in my heart the love of Christ. This love does not depend on responses. It is here for me, as close as that first step needed to get it flowing.

The Bible is clear that I need to confess my sin and be forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9). Then I must quit making excuses, quit complaining, and simply make choices that deny myself and do good things for others.

The bane of perfectionism

Those of us who are perfectionists eventually realize that perfection is unattainable. No matter the field of endeavor, just when the standard is reached, the bar is raised higher.

The root of perfectionism is probably human pride. In my flesh, I want to be the best, but I also want to please my mother. She had the habit of praising people, but never to their face. I didn’t know how much she praised me until a sister-in-law told me. Mom praised that same relative to me, and as a result, both of us wondered if we measured up to her standards. Even though I discovered this as an adult, the pattern of trying to elicit praise from my mother had been established and has driven my behavior all my life.

This desire to please an authority figure is also at the root of religion. People do strange things or go to great lengths to please their god. The God of Israel added to that effort by giving a multitude of commandments to show His people what He expected from them. Yet the harder they tried, the more they failed.

Trying to please a parent who is no longer living is challenging enough, but trying to please a perfect and holy God is a greater challenge. To do it requires either rewriting His demands to make obedience possible, or going to Him on bended knee asking for mercy and grace, a hard option for a proud human. Most opt for the other choice.

As a senior, I find echos of my mother’s standards in my own life. Reflecting on what she did show pleasure in explains why I am pulled toward certain activities. Even though I really don’t want to paint pictures or train horses, those things pleased my mother and still tug at my heart now and then. One good thing from seeing this motivation in my life is that I realize the importance of telling my children how they are admired and appreciated rather than telling everyone else but them.

As a Christian, I find echos of the Law of God that pull me away from grace and mercy. In Christian circles, it is called legalism, trying to please a holy God by rules and performance. The Bible is clear; this is not how it works.

The Law of God was never given as the means to pleasing Him. It was given to show how far short we fall. Like that bar that is continually raised, the Law keeps lifting me above what I can do. From it, I realize that I need more than my own resources.

Today’s Scripture reading is this: “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).

These verses add meaning to a section in Galatians that explains that God added the Law to reveal our sinfulness. It says, “Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:21-24).

Knowing that some of my behavior is an effort to please my mother is not enough to change me. In the same way, just telling me that I cannot keep the Law of God is not enough either. As today’s reading says, knowing these things must come from “the depths of a troubled heart, by God’s own teaching.”

I didn’t know the depth of my sin in a way that moved me to my knees until God Himself applied that truth to my heart. This is different from learning it through the words of a preacher or even from the Bible. When God put this one truth deeply into my heart, He also offered my soul the consolation in that grace and mercy is greater than my sin and shortcomings. God the Father sent His Son to die for my sin. By knowing Him, I am set free from the demands I could not meet. That is mercy and grace.

Not only that, by grace He also offers me His perfection. In Christ, I learn to live by His power and not my own, and as I do, He assures me that pleasing Him is not my job at all. This is done for me by my Lord and Savior.