Lessons in thinking with the mind of Christ

Yesterday I learned two discomforting things about myself. One was that I still have trouble when I turn out to be not as clever as I thought I was. Pride? Of course.

The other is that I still depend on some people in certain situations instead of relying on the Lord. Idolatry? Probably, but whatever it is, it eventually leads to disappointment.

The Bible passage for today is mostly about the second lesson. It says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:1–8)

People cannot be any of that for me. God is my helper. He can use people, but that is up to Him, so my reliance must be on Him, not on others. Whatever I need, I’m to trust Him to take care of it.

The rest of today’s devotional addresses the pride that smacked me in the face. It says that humility is vital, but true humility is not about looking down at my feet or down on myself for not being what I think I should be. True humility is developed by looking up, by “standing at my very highest, then looking at Christ” and with that, becoming forever humble.

Humility is not about how low I think I am, but about how amazing and great God is, how unfailing and perfect. Instead of comparing myself to others I consider lesser (and becoming prideful), or to others I consider greater (and being filled with self-pity or self-loathing), I should be looking at Jesus and being filled with awe.

He is God, yet He loves me. He is eternal life, yet died for me. He is holy and perfection, yet accepts me. He has all resources and yet takes care of my needs. My help comes from Him. He never goes to sleep on the job, will not let evil touch me, and if it slips through, it is because He is going to use it for good in my life. He protects me, only allowing what can be used to transform me into His image.

Is Jesus clever? No, not like I measure cleverness. He did not care about wit, what others thought, or getting “well done” written on His life. He did the will of God and trusted His Father to use life’s circumstances, regardless of what they looked like on His resume.

Nor did Jesus depend on people, at least not like I do. He asked the disciples to pray with Him, but He knew they were tired, unreliable and going to let Him down. Instead, He trusted His Father and the Holy Spirit.

My lessons yesterday were about learning to think like Jesus thinks. He gave me His mind (which is utterly amazing) and expects me to use it. That means being unconcerned about earthly success (no vanity, no pride) and no unrealistic expectations. I’m to trust God because, like the psalmist, I know where my help comes from. 

Sin is like crazy glue

Jacob, whose name means “he takes by the heel” or “cheats,” had a history of conniving selfishness. He stole his elder brother’s birthright and the blessing of their father. Yet when he left home to find a wife, God encountered him in a dream with a promise of land and many descendents. He also said…

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. (Genesis 28:15)

I can relate to Jacob in his selfishness. Yesterday, God again showed me how prideful I am. I do not deserve even the least of His blessings. As I read this morning several psalms, I noted that David, a “man after God’s own heart” often felt the same way. Certainly, sinners all are we, yet being a child of God is more about God than it is about us.

Jacob went on in life to connive and do things contrary to the will of God. At one point, he wrestled with God and demanded a blessing yet still God blessed him, despite Jacob’s best efforts to run his own life. In the end, God kept His promises to him, just as he did for David and just as He does for me. 

I’m humbled by the story of Jacob. He learned all his lessons the hard way. Sometimes I wonder if I learn any lessons at all, because I am so prone to repeat my mistakes. Sinful patterns stick to me as if coated with crazy glue. Even when I repent with tears and determination to go another way, I trip over myself in the process and wind up on the same sinful path. 

But God (two precious words in the Bible) promised that He is with me. He will direct, keep and guide me wherever I go. Jesus repeats that He will never forsake me and eventually bring me to the destiny that He has promised. He will keep all the promises He has made, blessing me in countless ways that I neither earn nor deserve. He is my Savior; I am convinced that I cannot save myself.

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Lord, I am on my face before You. My salvation truly is all about You. You have promised me deliverance from this evil called sin, and You will keep Your promises regardless of my resistance and foolish disobedience. One day I will stand before You, as Job said, and be like pure gold.

Pressures >>> obedience

Our granddaughter called last night from her new apartment home in South Korea. She arrived 8:30 Wednesday. Since her clock is 15 hours ahead of our time, when we talked to her she was preparing for her first day of work. This gal hit the ground running.

What an incredible adventure. Jet lag, new home, foreign country, different language, no food in her frig, a few thousand Korean Won to get her started (the exchange rate is 1000 to one), and starting a new job her first day in town. I can hardly imagine the complications of all this in her mind, but I am so glad that I can talk to God about it on her behalf, and that God can use all of this to draw her into a relationship with Himself.

What will she learn from her difficulties and challenges? Many things, I’m certain. Two verses in my reading this morning suggest two possibilities in regard to her spiritual life.

The first is in Proverbs 27:22, “Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.”

This is the worst case scenario. In Proverbs, a fool is someone who has rejected God. The figure of speech is an image for extreme difficulties. These pressures grind all stubbornness and self-will to powder, yet the fool remains foolish. All their suffering produces no change.

The second option is illustrated by Jesus. Hebrews 5:8 says, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”

My initial question about this verse was why did Jesus, who never sinned, have to “learn” obedience? It was not His nature to disobey. He knows everything, so why did He have to “learn” anything? He is God the Son, yet this verse sets Him out in His humanness. “Though He was the Son” of God, He was also the Son of man.

His obedience as a man depending on His Father was tested by trials. Whatever happened to Him, every circumstance, confrontation, and opportunity, called for a choice. Even though He would always make the right choice, no one, not even Jesus, would see that reality unless He first experienced the tests and trials that put Him into a position of choosing and obeying.

Learning obedience to God is the same for every human being. Proverbs 29:19 says, “A servant will not be corrected by mere words; for though he understands, he will not respond.”

As I read His Word, I hear His voice telling me His will. I know what He wants from me, but unless I’m in a place where I must choose to do something about it, I’ve not actually “learned” obedience. It might be in my head, but it is not part of my life until I obey.

I don’t like suffering. My first response ought to be, “God, how can I obey You in this?” Yet too often I complain and look for a way out. I fear this is also true of most Christians. Instead of seeking the will of God when we suffer, or instead of discerning why He allows such things and learning from them, our usual response is a prayer request that the suffering be removed. I’m somewhat amazed that God sometimes does remove the problem. He is so incredibly merciful. Or maybe He removes it because (sadly) He sees we are not going to “learn” obedience from it after all.

My hope for our granddaughter is that these pressures that she is experiencing will not crush her to no avail, but that they will result in a heart’s cry to the One who can rescue her. Hebrews 5:7 says of Jesus, “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear . . .” May this be true of her.

Yet I must also remember that God, who knows all things, can see what will produce a change of heart and what will not. If she manages to get through all of this without “learning obedience” then that too is by His mercy.

Don't even put the ox before the cart . . .

2 Samuel has a story that has always troubled me. David and his men have defeated the Philistines and retaken the Ark of God that belongs in their place of worship. As they bring it to Jerusalem with great celebration, the oxen carrying this precious cargo stumble. A man named Uzzah puts out his hand to steady it, and with great anger God strikes him dead.

Uzzah’s action seems so innocent. Who wouldn’t have done the same thing? However, the Laws governing the service in the tabernacle say that the sons of Kohath are supposed to carry its furnishings, including the Ark, and “they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die.”

My study Bible says that this command about touching was to preserve the sense of God’s holiness and the importance of spiritual preparation before coming into His presence. No one should ever approach God lightly or without an understanding of His power and majesty.

My devotional book goes farther back in the story. After sympathizing with those of us who are troubled by this account, the author points out that David was not to transport the Ark on a cart in the first place. While it seemed okay, it was David’s idea, not God’s. God had appointed people to do the job, but David substituted an ox cart.

This writer goes on to say that God can take care of His own business, but too often we step in to arrange things and do things that we should wait for God to arrange or do. Or we move ahead with our grand ideas without Him asking us to do anything. We think we are doing His work, but it is our version, not His.

Jesus said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." My ideas, no matter how spiritual they seem, will not bear fruit. Instead my impetuousness could bring disaster.

This is a difficult lesson. It is one thing to learn not to do overtly sinful things, but going my own way in serving God is also sinful; He is not directing my actions.

The Bible says, “David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?’”

At this point David couldn’t see a way that the Ark could ever be brought home. It seems logical that he should simply go find some Kohathites, but he didn’t think of that at the time. I can relate to this too, in fact, today it hits me where I am.

I thought of a solution to a huge problem with a family member. I came to my Bible this morning with the prayer, “Lord, if this is not your idea, make it very plain.” In this reading, He made it plain. I would be trying this with an ox cart, but more than that, He makes it clear that I am not prepared to carry out my plan, and that any attempt without adequate preparation would be disastrous.

David left the Ark with a nearby family. In a few months he went to get it. The text says, “when those bearing the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces. . . .” David got it right. No ox cart; some people were carrying it as God commanded.

The text doesn’t say what happened to David during that waiting time, but if my experiences with God are any indication, in some way God prepared him for the task that He wanted him to do. This time, no one died and God blessed David for his obedience.