We need one another

Leviticus 9; Psalm 10; Proverbs 24; 1 Thessalonians 3

Being under the restriction of ‘social distancing’ is tolerable up to a point. The family of God function well together. We don’t do as well when separated. Imagine a human body with an arm in one place, a leg in another, eyes over there and hands a mile away. We are using podcasts, the telephone, texting, ZOOM, and other technology, but it is not the same as face to face, arm in arm.

I miss praying together and hearing of answered prayers. Without this interaction, I struggle a bit like the psalmist: “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1) But also realize that in isolation, the Liar comes to discourage me with thoughts of being abandoned, with anxiety that God is not listening to our prayers and that He is not with us in this awful situation. I keep reading until I’m encouraged by this:

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. (Psalm 10:17–18)

In my case, oppression is not from humans but from the one who tries to run things here on earth, and who tries to get me feeling sorry for myself and forgetting why God has me here. Even though all His people are citizens of heaven and destined to spend eternity with Him, we have the role and task of ambassadors. I am to be telling others about Jesus. In this virus threat, many are afraid of dying. They need to know that Jesus has conquered death.

I don’t feel up to it but alone in it, without the strength and sometimes without the desire. But today, God says this to me:

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work? (Proverbs 24:10–12)

God knows that I know the most important thing, especially at times like this. People are dying. Those daily reports and graph charts are bad enough, never mind the photos of caskets being loaded into refrigerated trucks. I want to rescue those who remain, but I also want to shake those who think they are invincible. Eventually we all die so I want everyone, virus or not, to know that Jesus rose from the dead and that He offers eternal life to all who put their faith in Him.

I also want communion with other Christians. I want to remind them and have them remind me of the truths we know. Yet all of us are too easily side-tracked by the Liar who wants our lives and our message to be ignored and ineffective. Like Paul who was separated from a church family, I want to be with my divine family:

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:11–13)

APPLY: I don’t know anything except to let this desire express itself — in calling my Christian family and in calling those who haven’t heard the good news — even death cannot destroy the marvelous and comforting life of Jesus Christ.

God-given Thoughts

It seems to be a terrible pride to compare myself favorably to others who do not have the same spiritual understanding and Christian way of thinking that I have, but today I am reminded that God does the comparison. However, His version is a bit different than mine would be. Instead of letting me think more highly of myself than I ought, He reminds me that anything I have as a Christian is because He opened my mind and taught it to me. Otherwise, I would be blind to His truths just as anyone else who does not know Jesus.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus . . . (Ephesians 4:17-21)

My devotional reading says that salvation is first and foremost a change of mind. I tend to agree. This passage speaks of learning Christ, and of ignorance and blindness regarding Him. Somewhere between the dark and the light is the power of God who opens eyes and minds and hearts. Otherwise, sin would keep everyone in the dark for all have sinned.

Yet Jesus changes all that. He gives new life and translates people from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Along with that comes a new way of thinking and a new understanding of righteousness and of what sin is and does. I began to think differently about sin and wanted to turn away from it. This is called repentance. The Greek word for “repentance” means “to change one’s mind.”

Of course that change in my thinking resulted in a change of behavior. In the above verses, Paul says unsaved, unregenerate people live “in the futility of their mind.” Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” So when I think differently, I act differently.

One of my favorite verses, Romans 12:2, says: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

My mind is renewed by reading the Bible, meditation of the truths God gives me, and staying away from any corrupting influences that tend to undo His “education” of my life. This isn’t about living in a bubble though. It means that whenever any ideas present themselves, I compare them with what Jesus says and with what God has taught me, not blindly or ignorantly accepting them simply because that is easier, or worse yet, because those old thoughts will allow me to sin.

Thinking spiritual truth (and acting accordingly) brings peace of mind and a blessing, but it is also humbling to remember that apart from Christ, I would not be able to do it.