Confession or manipulation . . .

I consider 1 John 1:9 as a major verse for Christian living. It says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is about recognizing sin and keeping short accounts with God.

A Christian teacher explained it this way: Our lives are like an empty glass. If we are walking aright with the Lord, it means we are filled with His Spirit. As soon as we sin, we tip over and like a glass of water, the contents spill out. As soon as we realize our condition and confess it to God, we again become upright and He fills us with Himself.

Of course we go through life upright/tipped/upright/tipped/upright. The best we can do is more quickly confess so as to remain longer in that filled with the Spirit, upright condition.

Today’s passage is about the precious gift to us of the nature of God. When I am upright and filled with Him, it is only because He has granted this wondrous gift of Himself . . .

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3–4)

It bothers me that Chambers says as partakers of the Divine nature we have to ‘manipulate’ the Divine nature in our human nature by habits. While he may not mean it the way it sounds, this runs across the grain of my understanding. I cannot form even the slightest habit without His power and grace. I cannot be filled with His Spirit by any other habit than keeping short accounts and admitting to Him that I am needy and asking His fullness.

Chambers goes on to discuss the sin of self-pity and how much that pushes God off the throne of our lives. I agree, yet that sin is also cleansed by confession and the power of God. Even as He tells me to put of the old life and put on the new, that is done the same way. Paul says we live as we were saved, through confession of sin and the saving power of God . . .  

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him . . .  (Colossians 2:6)

While I might be able to ‘control’ myself in some areas — and it is not me or my habits that make that control possible, but the Holy Spirit. Indeed, my struggles with sin always end up bringing me to my knees saying, “Jesus, You are my Savior, please save me. I cannot do this.

Habits are valuable. For me, the habit of being in the Word of God every morning has been life-changing. However, the desire comes from Jesus and it is always Jesus who makes the changes. I cannot ever say that I ‘manipulated’ His divine nature by anything I’ve done. I can only say, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” 

Reasons for illness . . .

Anne Lamont wrote an interesting book on prayer. To some, she may seem irreverent in places, but she is refreshingly transparent. The book is titled for how she defines the three types of prayers: HELP, THANKS, WOW.

I’m finished the first section and the take-away for me is that whenever I am asking God for help, I need to come to the Lord with a yielded and trusting attitude. Of course this is true, yet I think how often prayers are more like orders, telling God what to do or at least giving Him suggestions on how to fix the problems.

This A-Fib heart is a test for me. I know the value of doctors, but I also know that God is in charge of my body. I can say ‘help’ to Him, recognizing that He allows illness for reasons. Sometimes it is to bring glory to Himself. Like the blind man in John 9 who was healed “that the works of God might be displayed in him” (9:3), my hubby was healed of an incurable condition. God is glorified as he shares his story with others.

Sometimes we suffer illness so as to experience God’s comfort and empathy that we might be able to share that comfort with others who suffer . . .

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)

Sometimes illness is a corrective, a result of sin or a discipline from the Lord that gets our attention. When Paul wrote instructions for the Lord’s Supper, he said, “Anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” (1 Corinthians 11:29–30) These people had disobeyed God and were sick and even died because of it. Illness is one of God’s wake-up calls.

A fourth reason for illness is that it is God’s way of taking His people home. We enter eternity through death. It could be the result of an accident, but more often is the result of illness.

As I consider these things, God has not yet revealed to me what this A-fib is for. However, He is telling me where my focus should be. I need to consider and meditate on what I have in Him . . .

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints . . .  (Ephesians 1:15–18)

No matter what situation I am in, sick or healthy, rich or poor, wise or ignorant, God saved me that I should glorify Jesus Christ. As Chambers says, I am to work out my salvation with my tongue, brain and nerves. If I whine, complain, or stay set on my own way, I am not declaring that I am a saved and sanctified person.

Chambers offers a vivid word picture. He says God allows difficulties to see if I can vault over them properly —“By my God have I leaped over a wall” (Psalm 18:29). I am to rise to this occasion and do what He asks of me by allowing Him to manifest Christ in me. In fact, it happens in weakness anyway, not just spiritual weakness, but in physical disabilities.

Paul was given some sort of thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. He pleaded for its removal (just as I asked for this heart to return to normal function) but God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

From this, Paul replied, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)

Chambers adds these most sensible lines: “May God not find the whine in us anymore, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes.”

In whatever trial I experience, the Lord wants me to have a yielded, submission spirit, a heart that says yes to His will that He might accomplish whatever he wishes. It might be greater empathy in me, or a healing that brings Him glory. It could be that He is slowing me down to correct me, or even to take me home. Whatever it is, I cannot guess. My response is to yield and obey, whether or not He reveals His reasons.

Matters of the heart . . .

This has been a weird couple of weeks. For a few years, medications have controlled my heart to keep it from going into A-fib, but for reasons unknown, the palpitations started again. I called the local heart clinic and was dismayed that the nurse on the other end of the phone ‘diagnosed’ my situation over the phone. She told me what she thought was needed, a ‘solution’ directed toward a symptom. I complied, but was not surprised that it didn’t work.

A few days later, I dug out our stethoscope. My heart beat was very erratic, an extreme not felt in my pulse. We went to the ER. Fearing blood clots, they wouldn’t do anything so put me on a blood thinner for 3-4 weeks.

From that nurse to the twelve people who saw me in the ER, all information was conflicting and confusing. Today, I looked online for clarity. Sites like the Mayo clinic tell far more than the average medical person will tell a patient. I wanted some answers, but didn’t want to self-diagnose my physical situation. Just as I need the experts for that, I also need God’s expertise to accurately pin-point my spiritual condition. Today they seemed to be crashing into one another.  

Paul had lots of trials, perhaps including some unnamed physical condition. He wrote what God was showing him during those troublesome times. While most people would see these things as something the devil was doing to ruin them, but this man saw his situation as something God was allowing for a very good reason . . .

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:8–11)

His afflictions were manifesting the life of Christ who dwelt in him. This is a witness to the power of God in taking care of His people.

I’m somewhat convicted by this. I became angry at the ‘one size fits all’ diagnosis of the nurse I’d talked to a couple weeks ago. She called again, this time wanting to increase one medication. She wanted my permission to phone the doctor to get authorization. Yikes. The doctor had not seen or talked to me. He had no idea whether this particular irregularity warranted more meds or would go away by itself.

My anger may have been justified. It didn’t seem wise to meekly accept a telephone diagnosis,  yet I’m not sure I was speaking at the Spirit’s leading or in His power.

Chambers emphasizes that Christians are to manifest the life of the Son of God in our daily lives. He says the disagreeable things particularly bring out whether or not we are manifesting His life. I agree. I also believe that even though Jesus was not always meek and mild, I am called to obey Him, even during irritations and the questionable behavior of others.

This time, I’m not sure I was even listening, never mind obeying. My reaction to this nurse did not seem to call attention to Jesus at all, or glorify Him.

Chambers says, “Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God’s engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.”

His choice of words about making the heart beat in a new way seemed like finger-pointing. It also reminds me of this verse . . .

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)

It is a fact of life that eventually and for whatever reason, the human heart will fail. However, God is my strength. He controls my heartbeat and every breath that I take. No matter what is happening or what trials come my way, I am to keep my “soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God” and to “let the word of God be always living and active” in me.

With that, I again declared that my heart belongs to Him and He has every right to do with it as He pleases.

Having a clear conscience

Before I became a Christian, if my conscience bothered me it was because I was afraid of ruining a relationship with other people. What would they think of me? How would I explain myself? Those were my only concerns.

Now, as a Christian, conscience functions in an added dimension. I say added, because I can still be concerned about what people think, but with Christ living in me, the sense of having done something wrong comes from Him, not from my concerns. That is, if I sin, the Spirit of God is grieved, and because He lives in me, I feel that grief.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

This addition didn’t show up immediately. Learning to be sensitive to the Lord requires two things. One is becoming more and more surrendered to Him. The other is time spent in the Word of God so that I know His will. He began to renew my mind and conscience.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)

Chambers says that the Spirit does not come with a voice like thunder. Instead, His voice is so gentle that it is easy to ignore it, or just miss it. Yielding to God improves my hearing! It helps me focus more on what He is saying and reading His Word helps me know that it is God speaking, not any other spirit or my own imaginings.

I’m also helped by His persistence. The enemy comes and goes with his lies, but God’s Spirit is like an elbow nudging the ribs. He persists. He keeps coming back.

He makes even His feelings known to me if I won’t listen to anything else. That is, the joy of the Lord is a good sign of a clear conscience, and a sense of grief indicates something is wrong. However, neither are 100% reliable. False guilt is one of Satan’s tricks. Human delight can fool me too. The most reliable source is the Bible combined with that gentle voice of assurance or of grief.

Paul said, “I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” (Acts 24:16) This means that sin and disobedience affect both relationships. I might not be concerned ‘what other people think’ and not feel any human sting in my conscience because I’ve said or done something offensive. But the Holy Spirit knows. He will give a sense of unrest in my heart and direct me to make it right with anyone that I’ve unknowingly injured in some way.

Paul ‘took pains’ to keep his conscience clear. The original Greek words indicate that he continually learned by repetition and strenuous effort. He did not take this lightly. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Do not put Him out; He is a fire that is needed to burn from my life all that resists God, and that ruins my relationship with Him and with others.

From all this, paying attention to my conscience as governed by the Holy Spirit and keeping short accounts with God should always be at the top of my priority list. 

Simplicity — like a child

Children are spontaneous, at least in they start out that way. Then they form habits, become predictable, and lose some of that spontaneous charm. I’ve wondered if this has anything to do with Jesus saying we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of God?

Chambers writes about being spontaneous in the sense that our habits (of obedience) have been practiced to the point that we are not conscious of them being habits. We just do what God wants without thinking or deliberation.

To me, this seems a growth into that child-likeness that Jesus described. Instead of a choice to be polite, or to lovingly serve others, or to share the gospel because our Father told us to, we just do it without premeditation. It has become our nature, who we are.

Perhaps this is what Peter is saying too. He tells his readers all we need to be godly people is given to us in Christ. Because of that, I can grow from simple faith to greater virtue, increased knowledge, more self-control and so on until all of these qualities are mine and even increasing:

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. (2 Peter 1:5–9)

Peter says that this growth insures that I am an effective Christian who remembers what Christ has done for me. Chambers says this increase needs to become such a part of my life that I don’t think about it or work on it; it just happens.

Chambers adds that if I become introspective, it is because I’m not there yet. A child does not stop and think that he is not being like a child. God is looking for that kind of simplicity, a life without effort, not making habits a governing force in my life, but relating to God in such a way that my life is simply at home with Him no matter what is happening.

I’ve know few people who are like this. Sadly, at least one of them has been ridiculed for his life of simple trust, of not worrying about anything, and of being spontaneous like a child. How sad. The life of Christ shines through his transparency and every time I talk with him it seems as if I am talking with Jesus.

Why do we try so hard to be godly and miss the simplicity of it? Maybe because that childlike attitude is dismissed by the ‘spiritual’ people — something like the disciples trying to send the children away until Jesus told them, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)