A sad story

We knew a woman who had three children but was without a husband. I can’t remember if she was a single mom or a widow. What I do remember was her bold Christian testimony. She claimed faith in Jesus Christ and her desire to be in church and serve God.

I remember the day she told me she was going to do those things. She was happy and excited. The only problem that I could see with all of this is that she was living with a man and boasting also of that relationship. In those days, we called it “shacking up” and the Bible still calls it adultery or fornication.

I tried not to judge her yet wondered how the church in her community would deal with her lifestyle that did not match her claim to be a child of God. It turned out they didn’t have to. She was driving somewhere one day and came over a hill in the middle of the road only to meet head-on another vehicle. She was instantly killed.

I was shocked. Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of a spiritual principle: it is serious enough that unsaved sinners mock God, but believers play with fire if we do it. Was this judgment on her carelessness? I will never know, but I thought of this sad story when reading these verses from today’s devotional:

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:12–15)

God did not save me so I could go on with life doing whatever my old nature (flesh) wants. The temptations for all sorts of sinful things come but the power of the Holy Spirit is in me; I can resist, I can say no to sin which is what salvation is all about.

However, I understand the power of the flesh and its desires. That woman was lonely, insecure and felt as if her needs would be met by a man in this world. If she knew the promises of God, she ignored them. He says:

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

A few days ago God pointed out to me that He will bless and give me joy through two things that I must do. I’ve easily skimmed over that verse because it is so simple, yet I see now the profound promises God is making:

“Blessed (happy) is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” (Psalm 146:5)

I talk and sing that happiness comes when I obey God. This verse goes a bit deeper to the foundation for obedience. It is two-fold; trusting God for help — no one or nothing else, and hoping in Him — no one or nothing else.

This is the key to living by the Spirit and putting to death the deeds and desires of the flesh. Those desires will still make themselves known, but rather than seek solutions elsewhere, I will be happy when I seek and find them in Jesus Christ.

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Lord Jesus, I am sad that my sin can overtake and bring great disaster into my life, but I am overjoyed that You are my Savior. I do nothing to deserve Your grace yet You always reward trust with joy and blessing.

Consequences

Today’s devotional makes me think about consequences, cause and effect, and the spiritual laws that God has created. As the Bible says, we reap what we sow.

But how does that work? I know people who do whatever they please and never seem to face consequences. Morally, their lives mock God but He has not struck them with lightning. The best biblical responses are that God is being merciful, or that they are piling up wrath. People can fill their shopping cart with whatever junk they find, but someday they will go through the check-out. Consequences will happen later.

The psalms have several sections about this. Most of them say something like this:

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb.” (Psalm 37:1–2)

The idea is that those who do evil without repentance will eventually pay the price. The NT calls this the law of sin and death.

For Christians, Jesus eliminated that eternal consequence. That is, for every sin I commit Jesus suffered the price at the check-out. He wrote “It is finished” on the debt I owe by taking my place and paying it.

But what about the consequences in this life? If I robbed a bank, does the death and resurrection of my Savior keep me out of jail? Hardly. If I cheat and lie, will I prosper? Not so. The Scriptures are clear; God rebukes and corrects His children when we violate His will:

“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:6–11)

Consequences, and the quicker the better, are one of God’s ways to bring my life into obedience. Like any child, if I’m allowed to get away with my rebellion, then what? These verses suggest that without discipline I cannot claim to be in God’s family. Getting away with sin is the mark of those who do not believe or belong to Him!

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” (Romans 2:4–5)

No immediate consequence for sin is merciful in that God can use this to lead sinful people to Him, but anyone who keeps at their ungodly behavior is not thinking about eternal consequences. They are taking mercy for granted, and that is dangerous.

Tozer uses this verse: “Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.” (Proverbs 13:15) The Holy Spirit tells me that I need to work with the spiritual laws of God. I cannot change them by presumption. If I want His favor in my life, then I cannot mess around. Knowing Christ died for my sin is not going to avoid repercussions in this life. If I presume so, I will suffer losses of some kind, losses that rob me of the full joy of my salvation. Would I want this to be any other way? I don’t think so. I want God to be serious about sin.

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Lord Jesus, I hate this awareness of ‘gloom and doom’ but need to think about it lest I step off the path of righteousness into unprofitable paths. In You, I am free from the law of sin and death, but not free from the effects of deliberate sin. Thank You for grace and mercy. Thank You also for being serious about my sin.

Expectations

When I was much younger and not a Christian, I heard a radio program about expectations. The speaker said that when someone does something bad, they expect to be punished for it. After the punishment, they actually feel better because the expected justice was served.

This tidbit solved a problem. My first husband used to stop for a beer or two on his way home from work, then arrive home later than he said he would. His supper would be cold and his wife would be hot. No amount of nagging helped, but after hearing this program, I tried a new tactic: I didn’t give him the verbal tongue-lashing that he expected. Instead, I reheated his supper and served it to him without saying anything negative. He was totally undone. Now he had to deal with his guilt by himself and it was not pleasant. From that day on, he came home for supper when he said he would be home.

Dealing with guilt is difficult. I cannot remember how I handled my own guilt way back before believing in Jesus Christ, but since He changed my life, I bring my sinful stuff to Him . . .

“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)

However, I’m aware that even forgiven people still feel that old expectation of: ‘I’m guilty – I must be punished.’ It pops up in several forms such as not being able to forgive myself, or trying to do something to make up for it. Grace is difficult to accept because of this trait, and for many grace makes no sense. It certainly was a strange plan to the disciples when they first heard about it.

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:23–33)

Instead of God’s anger for their sin, they would see His wrath poured out on their beloved Jesus. How could this be? Peter didn’t like it at all, but when he said so the reply from Jesus must have shocked him:

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:22–23)

Humanly, if we are going to admit our wrong doings, it seems only right if we pay our own debt to God, not let someone else do it. This attitude is behind all religions and human effort to please God by good deeds. But Jesus knew God’s better plan. For humanity to be forgiven forever, He had to take their punishment rather than lay it on them. Only He, the innocent Son of God, could handle such an assignment. Only He could die for sin and come through the grave to conquer death.

Jesus did the unexpected. He took His followers to Gethsemane. He asked them to pray with Him. Without any idea of the weight He carried, or perhaps just the thought of it made them impossibly exhausted. They could not stay awake, but they did hear what He said:

And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) 

 He didn’t look forward to the wrath, but the will of His Father was more important.

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Jesus, You did the unexpected and took my burden of sin, leaving me with only one responsibility — what would I do about that? Take my sin back? Or let You set me free? It seems a no-brainer, yet my heart aches for those who assume the normal way of ‘sin and be punished’ is the logical and only way, and are willing to ‘take their chances’ with how that turns out. Please continue to open eyes and hearts to Your grace.