God has good ideas

Numbers 5:1–31

John 13:1–20

Psalm 6:1–10

In reading Old Testament laws, I’m thinking most of them make sense for modern life. For instance, God commanded that every fifty years the people cancel all debts and obligations; everything goes back to zero. Imagine doing that on a global scale? With many of the countries of the world in debt, starting over could be a good thing.

Here is another one; the Lord told Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.” (Numbers 5:5–9)

Confession is a command . . . as is restitution. Confession is agreeing with God about your sin. What if everyone did that? In our world where the buck is passed to the point of ridiculousness, it would be refreshing if people took responsibility for what they were doing, even telling God they agree that it is sin.

Restitution goes farther. It means giving back in some way to your victim to make up for the wrong done. If thieves and robbers had to own up to their crimes and pay back more than they stole, what might happen to that branch of criminal activity? I know, it won’t happen, but it seems to me God has good ideas.

In the New Testament, Jesus had another good idea. He took His disciples to a room, got a towel, poured water and washed their feet. “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.’” (John 13:12–17)

Jesus commanded them to follow His example. I’m not sure this is strictly about foot washing, but if you have ever had this done or done it for someone else, then you know how humbling this is, and you know what Jesus is talking about. Serving others or being served with that same attitude does something to pride and to how we think of others. Imagine if Christians had that attitude all the time? Imagine if everyone saw their example and followed it. This would change the world, I’m certain.

As for those who know the sorrow and guilt of disobedience, the psalmist wrote his experience and his prayer. When I fail to obey, hurt others, fail to make restitution, ignore dirty feet and other needs, then finally come to my senses, I identify with this prayer . . .

 “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord — how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love . . . . Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.” (Psalm 6:1-4, 8–10)

We have an enemy that the Bible calls “the accuser of the brethren” but his actual name is Satan. As the psalmist indicates, even after sin is confessed and commands are obeyed, the voice of my enemies continues to nag me with accusations. He says that I’ve not done enough, or didn’t do it right, or blah, blah, blah. However, God accepts my prayer and delivers me. 

Put all this together and know that our God wants the very best for His people, even this world. He is full of good ideas.  

Call it what it is . . .

Pointing fingers is easy. I can always find someone ‘worse’ than I am. Looking down on someone else is one way to make myself appear better than I am.

I can also change the labels. Yesterday I read a comment on an online article where the writer said that because Eve had been deceived by Satan, she was a ‘victim.’ Before I look down my nose at that total misinterpretation of God’s Word, I must remember that I can change labels too. I can call my lies ‘fibs’ or say that evil thoughts are ‘spiritual battles’ or that disobedience to God is ‘insecurity’ or make some other excuse for what I do by describing it in softer language.

Today’s devotional reading talks about changing labels. Stealing is ‘scrounging’; adultery is ‘an affair’; a fetus is a ‘blob of tissue’’; an abortion is ‘termination of pregnancy’’; promiscuity is ‘being sexually active’; sodomy is ‘gay’ and people brutally killing each other is ‘military conflict.’

The author gives several other examples then adds that when we gloss over what the Bible plainly names and use euphemistic terms to soften those terms, we are “simply greasing the path to hell.”

If such direct talk is offensive, then what about the directness of God’s Word? This passage makes blatant statements . . .

“ . . . the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar . . . Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”

The passage ends with this: “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:1–20)

Before anyone, including me, can overcome moral guilt, it must first be admitted. To do that, it must be called what it is, not excused with terminology that doesn’t sound quite so bad. One of the most important verses in the Bible, a verse written for Christians, says this: “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)

The word ‘confess’ means to agree, to ‘say the same thing’ about sin as God says. It means to call it what He calls it without changing the label. That tells me that if I re-label my sin, this verse could say, “If I give my sin a less offensive tag, God will withhold forgiveness. Instead of cleansing my sin, I will be stuck with my unrighteousness until I am willing to admit it.”

Messing with the words of God not only dishonors Him, but is totally self-defeating.

To Live is Christ — but I failed a test

Two days ago, I wrote about the second greatest command, love your neighbor as yourself, and said this:

When Jesus was asked to define a neighbor, He told a story to indicate that anyone in trouble, even someone I don’t like, is my neighbor. This makes loving others a challenge and an action, not an emotion. Today’s verse says it this way. “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” (Romans 15:2) The Greek word for pleasing another person, besides the obvious meaning, is “to accommodate one’s self to the opinions desires and interests of others.” This means love is not a mealy-mouth agreement given merely to avoid conflict, nor is it about emotional warm fuzzies. To love like this requires that I am so focused on what is important to others that my own opinions and desires do not matter.

Today I got tested on that love part in italics — and flunked.

The test was simple. I was doing a mindless chore and watching television at the same time. The phone rang, a neighbor wanting to chat. That I could do, with one eye on the complicated plot on the tube, and one hand continuing with my chore. This should have been my first warning. Love gives others full attention.

The caller was someone from my prayer list, a person who does not know Jesus and acts as if her resistance to Him is somehow a virtue. However, today she told me that a childhood friend had died. She sounded sad and perhaps felt like eternity was creeping up on her. For me, this was a test.

Had I not wanted to know the outcome of the TV show, or had I not been watching it in the first place, God may have given me something to say to her. However, my mind was not on her, but on what I wanted — to see what happened in a fiction story — a story that has no eternal value whatsoever. What was I thinking? About me and what I wanted. Yikes.

The worst of it was that I knew, even as I offered condolences, that I should be saying something more profound, but nothing came, likely because I wasn’t prepared to say it anyway. I also could see “test” flashing like a neon sign and still didn’t turn off the tube.

God might give me other opportunities to speak to this neighbor, who is more than that, a friend. I’m hoping that He does. Meanwhile, I’ve some confessing to do about selfishness and my value system. Duh. 

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Heart + Mouth + Life

Last year a dear friend was taken to the hospital. He had been ill and the end was soon, but he had not yet made his peace with God.

My husband felt the urging of the Spirit to go quickly. He obeyed and went to our friend’s bedside. He told him about Jesus and how he could be sure of heaven when he died. This man agreed about his need, then prayed asking God to forgive his sins. He died within a day or two after that.

His wife, who still has not made her peace with God, told us that just before her husband died, he told her that he had put his faith in Christ. Our hearts rejoiced because “saying so” is such an important verification for our salvation. This comes from Romans 10:

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

Believing in my heart is more than just acknowledging that God exists and Jesus was a real person. Even the demons believe that! (James 2:19) Instead it is a deep conviction about the truths in the Bible, particularly that Jesus is God the Son who came to earth and died on the cross for my sins, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the third day. Without the resurrection, there is no salvation. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians:

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:17-19)

But saying it is also important. Confessing means to “say the same thing” or be in agreement with God, confirming verbally that I believe in what God says. When He says I have sinned, confessing my sin means that I agree. When He says Jesus died and rose again, confessing Christ means that I agree. When He says Jesus is Lord, saying so means I submit to His lordship.

Putting words to it is not a magical thing; just saying those words do not make it true. If that were so, I could say I have a Porsche and then go find one in my driveway. However, saying the words that God says is important. There are several reasons.

The first is that declaring a truth affirms it to my own doubting heart. Confession is sort of like prayer; I can pray silently, but when I pray aloud, I seem to have a greater sense of knowing I am heard. Verbal confession gives me a strong affirmation of what I believe.

Declaring a truth aloud also has the same effect on others; they know where I stand if I tell them out loud. Our friend’s wife knows that her husband trusted Christ for his salvation and eternal life. We do too, and for us that is a great comfort and assurance that we will see him again.

One more thing that confession may do is that the enemy is always trying to make me believe something other than what God says. The more vocal I am in my agreement with God, the less susceptible I am to Satan’s lies and his attempts to stonewall my Christian testimony. Even when I am alone and struggling, it seems that the issues become clearer when I say aloud the truth of Scripture and what I believe.

The heart, the mouth, and the life are closely connected. Jesus said that whatever a person believes in their heart will come out in their life. That means that if anyone really does believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord and rose from the dead, saying it will be easy and living it will also be part of the equation.