Author: Rick (Page 10 of 18)

This is part two of a devotion on Assurance.  If you have not done so, you should read Part 1 first…

So why do we doubt?

First of all, I think it is a misunderstanding of the gospel of salvation.

The Gospel is the Good News that Christ died for me and if I believe that I have eternal life.

There are about 40 things that happen at that moment in time when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,  none of which are visible on the outside.

These things are automatic.  But there are many things that can happen because of our new power and standing… but those are not automatic.  When things that may hopefully be a result of the gospel are made a part of salvation, that is when we begin to lack assurance.

Listen to these verses.  They are simply stated.

Acts 16:31 says, “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 says, “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

Romans 8:1- “there is no condemnation  for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

This is relationship.  This is justification.  This is instaneous.  It is fully realized.

There are other verses that are fellowship.  It is called sanctification.  They are progressive.  They will be realized in different degrees in different lives.

So feelings and experiences come and go, but the Word is forever.  Don’t rely on the world around you for your assurance, but the promise that is within you.

Romans 8:9 tells us, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.”

but if we do have the Spirit,  it tells us in Romans 8:16 that “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  That means saved to eternal life.

In 1 John the words “we know” are used 14 times.  John tends to stress what he is trying to get across in numerical ways.

In gospel of John he uses the verb Pis-te-oh or to believe 99 times.  That is why it is called the belief book.   

In John 1:12 says “to all who received Him, who believed in His name, he gave the power to become children of God.”  To conclude the book of John in chapter 20 and verses 30-31 John records, “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

So why do we doubt?  First of all, the fact is that that many do not understand the gospel, and add subjective things to it that cannot be quantified.

They try to use subjective means to evaluate an objective truth.

Believing on Christ is a yes or no proposition, but when we add other things to it, it brings up hundreds of different questions.

One of the salvation tests that people use comes from James- loving the brethren.  Now I have questions…. How much, what ways, how long, and at what point is it not enough and I lose my salvation or prove that I never had it.  Loving people is so subjective and God did not give us a formula to follow.   

So the first place to look for the lack of assurance is adding good works to the salvation mix.

The other night I awoke at about 4 in the morning thinking about this devotion.

I watch a lot of old western shows.  (you know the ones. when guys are shot it make a red blotch but doesn’t make a hole in the shirt) and I got this picture of a train waiting at the station.  It was called Salvation Station destination Heaven.

And the steam engine was called grace.  The cars behind the engine carried our works.  My Sunday school class was in there.  Dave Smith had a few jalopies he had fixed up for some poor families, John Miller had some homeless guys he had shared the gospel with, and John Oltman and Pete had a toolbox the size of a railroad car.

But what I noticed was that none of those cars contributed anything to the trip.  They had no engine, no power, some had lots of cars, some had few, some were loaded, some were almost empty.

The key was the engine.  Without it nothing left the station.  We are like that.  Without the Grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, all of our works are fruitless. We would look like those sad railroad yards with loaded or empty cars just sitting. Our works go to heaven for rewards, but they do not contribute in any way to the journey.  That is all in Christ.

Another reason we doubt is because of feelings.  We just don’t feel saved.  Maybe we saw someone’s conversion and they had emotion we never experienced.

They sob or scream or dance a jig or maybe do all three and we didn’t feel that way when we were saved.  Maybe ours was not real.  But even though it looks like those converts got a dose of old-time religion, it really doesn’t mean a thing.  As an old pastor once said, “You can’t tell by the honk of the horn how much gas is in the tank.”

Your conversion experience was your own; don’t measure it against any others. So, our feelings will fluctuate.  Our emotions are unreliable.“Doubt my feelings what they will… Jesus is my savior still.”  We are just as saved when we feel bad as when we feel good.  We not saved because we feel good, we feel good because we are saved.  Why do I know I am saved, because the Bible tells me so.

Another reason we doubt is because we don’t have an incredible testimony like some others.

Some people have a theatrical testimony.  A book or movie just waiting to happen.   They came from a life that we have never experienced.  Maybe we didn’t go from bad boy to good boy, we went from good boy to forgiven boy.  So maybe outwardly we haven’t changed that much.

Believe me, we were every bit as bad as that bad boy in God’s eyes.  We shouldn’t sell ourselves short.  We are professional sinners and the changes that took place in us were just as drastic as the ones that took place in the motorcycle gang leader that came to Christ in a lonely backwoods bar.

Finally, a big part of doubt is not remembering a certain place or time. My assurance does not rest on my ability to remember, it is based on God remembering me.  My memory of what happened does not affect what did happen.

A man goes into the doctor.  “There is something wrong with me.  I can’t remember anything.”  

“Sit down, let’s talk about it.”  

“Talk about what?”

DL Moody once said, “It is not necessary that we should be able to tell where or how we have been converted, but it is important that we should be able to say that we are converted.”

Old Scottish lady who was admonished by her minister for being too certain of her salvation.  She said,  “If I am not saved Christ has more to lose than me.”  Before the indignant preacher could voice his dismay she said, “All I have to lose is my salvation, but Christ will lose His integrity.” She is right, that would make God a liar.  And He cannot lie.

Hebrews 6:18  “So that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

Titus 1:2  “In the hope of eternal life, which God who never lies, promised before time began.

Romans 3:3-4 “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means, Let God be true though everyone be a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

John 14:6  “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to Father but by me.

You know there is an old saying that says, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.”  But that is not true.  It should be “God said it and that settles it, whether I believe it or not.”

When Jesus went to the tomb of the late Lazarus,  Martha says to Jesus, “If you would have been here, my brother would not have died, but even now I know that God will give you whatever you wish.”  Jesus said Lazarus will rise again, but Martha thought he was talking about the final resurrection and said she knew that.

Jesus then said, “I am the resurrection and the life.  The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whosoever lives by believing in me will never die.”

Then He asked Martha the question that he asks all of us…. “Do you believe this?”

Martha said yes.  “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is come into this world.”

So can we believe Jesus when He says, “ I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by me, “ And then asks, “Do you believe this?” If we say yes, even though we die we will never die.  Be assured.

I have been fighting a hoarse throat for a few days, so it is a good thing that this is a written devotion.  I often wish that I had a better voice with which to share the gospel, but if I had better voice, I could share  the gospel better, but I could never share a better gospel.

There is no more important message than that of the gospel.  Every sermon that is given in our church is built on the foundation of the gospel.  If someone without Christ hears a sermon without the gospel, it becomes just  a good moral story or practical set of instructions.  There are a lot of self-help books out there, but what we really need are true-books and there is only one of those.

But as wonderful as the gospel message is to share and to hear it is even more important to understand.  As important as we all know salvation is, there are still many who are unsure they have truly received it.

I have talked to many who are uncertain about their salvation. Typically I hear some version of the following.  “Well, I hope so.  I think I am better than most.  God is a good God so I think he will take me.  I have done this and this and this, so I feel pretty good about it.”  And many of those thoughts came from people in the church.

Of course there are many that preach this lack of assurance from the pulpit, so of course there will be many confused people out there.

I spoke to someone this week who says the scariest verse in the Bible to them is Matthew 7:21-23 and it sometimes debilitates them.  I will paraphrase it-  “Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven and many will say they have done all kinds of thing in my name, but I will send them away because I did not know them.”

I told her that should not be a scary verse for several reasons, but the main one is John 3:16.  I quoted the verse one line at a time and asked her a question after each one.

“For God so loved the world  (are you part of the world?) yes…  

That He gave his one and only so (do you know who that is?) yes… Jesus  

That whosoever (is that anybody?) yes…

Believes in Him  (do you believe in Him) yes…  

Has eternal life (what kind of life?) Eternal. 

So what do you have?  Eternal life…  

Who needs to be afraid of the verses in Matthew 17.  

Only those who do not have???  Eternal life.  

Is that you.  No.

Don’t be scared…

Someone who can answer the way this woman did ought to be able to say, “Praise God! Glory to God! I know that I’m saved!”  Yet many Christians don’t know they’re saved. They go around with their shoulders all bent over—drooping, wondering, and worrying. They remind me of question marks with their heads bent over, rather than exclamation points standing straight and tall and saying, “I know whom I have believed!”

Rather than being shouting Christians, they’re doubting Christians. Rather than having a “know-so” salvation, they have a “hope-so” salvation. 

Somebody once said, if you could have it and not know it, you could lose it and not miss it. But the truth is, if you have salvation, you know it; and if you have it and know it, you can never lose it.

Please be aware of the powerful word “believe” and the part it plays in our salvation. It is a verb that can change lives and I don’t mean in a Tony Robbins way.

Now there may be some who read this who have had few doubts and others who have many.  Hopefully, what you read over the next couple of weeks can be an encouragement to you or maybe others who struggle with assurance.

If any of us has doubts, we are actually doubting one of two things.  We are not trusting Jesus for our salvation or we are not trusting that the Bible is true.

Some people believe it would be presumptuous to be certain of their salvation.  In fact, part of the reformation movement was backlash against the sin of presumption in the Catholic church.  

But I am not being presumptuous when I say I am certain I am going to heaven. I know I don’t deserve heaven and if I got what I deserve I would be in Hell.  But I am saying I believe what God has said and I am going to rely on it.

So we can bank on these things because God’s Word never changes. Isaiah in 40:8 tells us that “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of God stands forever.”  and in Matthew we are told that “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words shall never pass away.”

Why do we need to be assured?  Because our service is hampered by our lack of confidence. When I was coaching I told players to learn their assignments well, so well they would not have to think about it. I told them that not knowing made them hesitant. They couldn’t get the job done because they weren’t confident they could get the job done. In the same way, if we lack confidence in our salvation it is hard for us to serve the Lord.

During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but all were saved. Ultimately, the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net. God has given us a safety net to work over as we cross the bridge of life. Our confident understanding of Him allows us to serve unhindered by doubt.

So why do we doubt?

This is part one of a two-part devotion on Assurance…  Stay tuned for next weeks Part 2… Cliffhanger!

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”  (Leviticus 19:18)

Today I would like to talk about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Many people look at these as one of the same, but they are not.  Because there is a misunderstanding of both terms, many see forgiveness as impossible because reconciliation is impossible.  Fortunately for us these actions are not dependent on each other, but are mutually independent.  Satan would like to join them together as two sides of the same coin and the result is often neither forgiveness nor reconciliation.  God’s Word gives us the proper perspective on these two very important aspects of the Christian life.

Holding grudges is not advantageous to anyone.  It is not something that ever leads to healing.  In fact, holding on to grudges leads to one of the most ill-advised attitudes in the Word- bitterness.  A famous comedian once said that he never carries a grudge because while he is carrying a grudge against someone, “they are out dancing.”  This is so true.  The weight of the grudge is carried mainly on the shoulders of one.  Often the grudge-holder is the only one who knows a grudge is being held.  At other times, the grudge-holder is the only one who cares that a grudge is being held.  More often than not, the grudge-holder loses more sleep, energy, and health than the one against whom the grudge is being held.  Yet, with all these thing in mind, we still hold grudges and still get bitter, to our own detriment.

No matter how much we nurse a grudge, it will never get better.  Nursing it makes it worse.  We have a multitude of excuses to keep it going but few reasons.  The Word instructs us to, “Put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander, along with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31)  Why?  Because it is a useless endeavor.  James says,  “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (James 4:1)  Our inside battles result in outside ones.  When we war within ourselves because we allow bitterness against others to grow, we cannot grow ourselves.  Bitterness is a weed that chokes out the good growth within us.

When Leonardo DaVinci painted the last supper he decided to get back at an enemy by making his face the one of Judas.  The last face he had to paint was Jesus, but he could not get it right.  After laboring for weeks, in desperation he went back and changed the face of Judas to someone he did not know.  It was only then he was able to paint the face of Jesus.  Our bitterness against others will keep us from seeing the face of Jesus.  Not surprisingly, while DaVinci labored over the painting, his enemy was totally oblivious to the battle DaVinci was having.  Who then was suffering?  So it is with our grudges. So it is with our bitterness.  DaVinci needed to heed the verses in Hebrews, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:14,15)  We should not let our hate of others keep us from experiencing the love of the Lord.

There is no doubt that bitterness and grudges are heavy loads to carry.  In days past, armies had to carry their cannonballs around with them just in case they came across an enemy.  It made the travel difficult and cumbersome.  However, they felt it necessary to have the cannonballs “just in case.”  The enemy, which was traveling much more light, was often oblivious to the load the other army was carrying.  One army was burdened and slow, the other was unencumbered and fast.  Often when the armies did meet, fatigue of carrying a load made combat difficult and the cannonball-wielding army would lose. So it is with us.  The fatigue of carrying grudges just so we can be on the offensive if the opportunity might arise makes us so weak that we have little strength for anything else.  The other person, often not even knowing we are carrying a grudge, has been traveling through life lightly and is strong while we are frail- eaten away by our own bitterness.

So does forgiveness mean the same thing as reconciliation.  To forgive must we reconcile?  I don’t think those two things are the same things.  “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)  What God is addressing here is what we are responsible for and what God is responsible for.  We are not God and we cannot be the judge and jury in His stead.  Forgiveness takes only our partnership with God, reconciliation must include another willing party.  That is important to understand.  Just because we have not reconciled with someone does not mean we have not forgiven. But be aware.  Forgiveness as God expresses it, is something deep, something real.  We cannot just say we forgive, we must really forgive. If we cannot be reconciled to another, we must be sure that our forgiveness is complete.  If not, we might think the lack of reconciliation is the other person’s fault when it is really our own attitude standing in the way!

It is important to note that forgiveness of an act is not necessarily acceptance of that act. If we forgive someone for what he or she has done, we are not condoning the behavior.  Forgiveness is for us.  It lifts from us a burden that would otherwise weigh us down.  The other person might not ever care if we do not forgive. They may see their act as justified, no matter how wrong it is.  We cannot change other’s attitudes or actions if they do not want to change.  What forgiveness does is takes away another’s control over us.  It eliminates the knot in our stomach or ache in our head every time we cross their path.  Forgiveness does not necessarily put us in right relationship with the other person, but with God.  By having a right relationship with God, we now have power to put bitterness where it should be- not just buried, but destroyed.

Often times we hold our grudges because we think it is our responsibility to see justice done or at the least, let others know what they have done wrong or at least how much they have hurt us.  But that is a burden we cannot take upon ourselves.  Our chances, as the offended, of causing remorse in the offender, is pretty slim.  More often than not God will have to bring a third party or circumstance into the other person’s life to make any changes.  Our ability to change others is pretty limited and to change others who have offended us is even more difficult.  Usually the only thing we will achieve, will be changing ourselves into unhealthy, bitter, people.

Forgiveness is the condition of our hearts.  Reconciliation is the condition of a relationship.  Our heart condition involves us alone.  Reconciliation involves at least two people.  Any effort that involves more than one person takes some level of cooperation.  Reconciliation takes a right heart from all parties.  Forgiveness frees our hearts, but does not guarantee the heart condition of another.  True reconciliation necessitates a trustworthiness of everyone involved or it will eventually come apart.

When Elizabeth Barrett Browning married Robert Browning her tyrannical father disowned her.  For years Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship and every week wrote letters to her parents.  She never received a reply.  After ten years she received a box with every one of her letters, unopened.  Today those letters are some of the most beautiful writings in English literature.  Had her parents read them maybe their relationship could have been healed.  But the truth is, not even the most beautiful words in English literature can reconcile a heart that is hardened.  Elizabeth Browning had forgiven her father because forgiveness was up to her.  Elizabeth Browning was not reconciled with her father because reconciliation was up to both of them.

So there is a difference between reconciliation and forgiveness. On the cross, Jesus provided for the forgiveness of everyone. But not everyone will be reconciled with Him.  Forgiveness is extended because of who Jesus is, and if reconciliation with Him does not take place, it is because of who we are.   Some of us reject reconciliation with the risen Christ, even though He has done His part.  Christ did not wait for our move for reconciliation before he forgave us.  In the same way, we should not withhold forgiveness waiting for someone to seek reconciliation with us.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15)  Instead of sowing bitterness, we should prepare the ground with forgiveness in the hope that someday reconciliation will grow.  We are told to forgive, “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive,” (Colossians 3:13) so that reconciliation might be possible,  “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)  Forgiveness on our part might take place without reconciliation, but reconciliation cannot take place without forgiveness.  Take off the heavy pack of unforgiveness and see how much easier it is to travel without it.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace  of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:4-7

Our verses for today are familiar ones, but like many verses, need to be revisited quite often because worry often gives small things a big shadow and that big shadow can blot out today’s sunshine.  Worry is faith in reverse.  Instead of freeing us, it imprisons us, and most often about things that might not even be real.

There was a woman who constantly worried about burglars and never got a night’s sleep anticipating a nightly break-in.  Finally, after her husband had gone downstairs night after night to investigate normal sounds and invisible burglars, he actually came upon a man who had sneaked his way into the house.  “Well, hello there,” the husband exclaimed, “I am pleased to meet you.  Would you mind coming upstairs to meet my wife.  She has been waiting ten years to meet you.”  That is often what worry is all about.  Anticipating what may not happen at the expense at what does.

Worry often extracts interest on trouble before it comes due.  Like someone wise once said, “I’ve had a lot of trouble, most of which never happened!”  God calls us to turn over our cares to Him, but that is easier read than done.  God knows that we will still worry because we are fretters by nature.  Our sin nature has bred worry into us because faith is intentional while anxiety is natural.   Worry is a useless pursuit because it never gets us closer to a goal and on the contrary it slows our progress.

When I used to coach I told the players to learn their assignments so well that they did not have to worry about what they were going to do (that would just slow them down),  and consequently, they could just go out and do.  That is what we should strive to do- turn our worries over to God so that we can just do. David tells us, “When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” (Ps 94:19) If we don’t nip our worries in the bud, they will flourish into a weedy garden that will take all our time to work. We will spend more time on worry than worship and more time being anxious than active.

In these verses, God gives us several commands:  Always rejoice.  Be reasonable.  Never worry.  Come to God with your requests about everything.  These are not empty words like we so often hear from friends in times of need.  “Hang in there,” and “Tomorrow will be a better day,” and “Just put it out of your mind,” are all well-intentioned, but powerless statements.  They give the end without the means.  It is almost like giving someone the infamous Bermuda Triangle of directions, “You can’t miss it.”

How to “hang in there” is just as important as how to “get there.”  The how-to-dos are more important than the what-to-dos.

So God tells us how to negate the worries that assail us.  If we pray, if we rejoice, if we turn our requests over to Him, and if we are thankful, it will be hard to remain anxious.  Somewhere in that process, the worry will begin to melt.  Most of what we worry about is not worth the time investment anyway.

There was a man who decided to make a Worry Wednesday.  He would set aside his worries until Wednesday and worry about them then.  The funny thing was that by the time Wednesday rolled around, most of the worries he had were not worries any longer.

One thing we can do to cut back on worry is to be prepared.  When I give a speech, I don’t worry if I have truly taken the time to prepare (only the people I am speaking to are worried).  It is the same for us in life.  Paul says, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”  (1 Corinthians 16:13) If we are in the Word, think upon God, and surround ourselves with godly influences, we will be prepared to handle what others might just worry about.  With preparation we will set aside much of what the world worries about.

We need to eliminate those things that will never happen.  There is an old Scottish saying “What may be, may not be.”  We have a tendency to worry about what might be even though it will, under all measurements, probably never be.  When ebola hit the US, some people spent so much time worrying about the disease, that it probably took more time off their lives than ebola ever could.  The present Covid Crisis is presenting the same challenge to thousands who might be “worrying themselves to death.”  That kind of worry is like being afraid to eat food because it might have chemicals in it and then starving to death.  It is said that 40% of what we worry about has no real chance of ever touching us.  Let’s eliminate those first.  We never want to worry too much about things over which we have no control at the expense of things we can control.

The next worry we should get rid of is things that have already past. In coaching I always said that the only important play is the next one.  If we allow the failure on the past play to affect our performance on the next we have given it more power than it deserves.  Here is the scenerio: a pitcher makes a good pitch and we swing, miss, and look silly in the process.  If we don’t shake that off and instead let that pitch affect our next swing, we have given the pitcher credit for what he has not earned.  The previous one pitch controlled us twice.  That should never be.  If we spend time in our daily lives worrying about the past, it will affect our present. We should not give more power to what is gone than what is yet to come.  I am retired now and it seems I am paying taxes on the same money I have already paid taxes on a couple of times before.  When it comes to worry, we should not spend energy on worries that we have already paid on before.

Finally, eliminate those worries about untrue criticism that comes from others.  If it is true criticism, listen to it, make changes, no worries.  If it untrue, ignore it, no worries. Not everything that people bring to our attention is worth keeping there. Some of the things that people criticize us for cannot be changed anyway.  If I worry about people who don’t like how short I am, that is a waste of time.  My last growth spurt was fifty years ago.  I am not holding my breath.  Some criticism is that foolish.

So, once we have eliminated those things that won’t happen, have already happened, or don’t matter if they happened, what do we do with the approximately 8% that is left.  Those are the legitimate worries that we need to take to God as He has instructed and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will become ours.

Admittedly, it is easier to complain than rejoice, be bitter rather than thankful, and panic than pray, but those are useless endeavors.  In Africa there are people who rely on witch doctors rather than real doctors and we think that is foolish.  But we are doing the same thing if we think complaining, bitterness, and panic are more effective than rejoicing, thankfulness, and prayer.  I had a friend once that complained about always having peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  I told him that he should have his wife fix something different, but he told me he fixes his own lunches.  Doesn’t make sense to complain about that which we have control over any more than if makes sense to worry about things we shouldn’t.

It is so wonderful that the promises in our verses today are being delivered by a great God.  God welcomes us to bring our worries to Him.  I think it is our responsibility, however, to run them through a strainer first.  We can take every single worry to Him, but some should not be worries in the first place.  Our vice principal was talking to me years ago about how some teachers send him students for not bringing a pencil to class or doodling during a lecture.  Those are not heavy-duty discipline issues.  Those should be handled by the teacher.  Well, God expects us to look at our worries with discernment and take care of some of those before we send them to the office.

A while back I gave a lecture on router use in my shop class.  I said if the machine misbehaves, the first thing they need to do is turn it off.  A student ask me, “Shouldn’t we ask you first?” and I told him that I would just tell him to turn it off, so he can eliminate the middleman and do what I would tell him to do anyway.  If I am worried about my weight, God will probably tell me to exercise and eat right.  I can go right to those things without worry.  If I am worried about the way people see me, maybe I should treat people the way God’s Word instructs.  That might take care of a lot of worry.

Christian author John Blanchard has said it well, “So he supplies perfectly measured grace to meet the needs of the godly. For daily needs there is daily grace; for sudden needs, sudden grace; for overwhelming need, overwhelming grace. God’s grace has given wonderfully, but not wastefully; freely but not foolishly; bountifully but not blindly.”

God said it even better, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”    (John 14:27)

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)

I am sure that many people can look back on their courting days when they were on their best behavior trying to impress a boyfriend or girlfriend.  For some that might have been a completely authentic act and there was no guile at all, but for others it might have been a pretense rather than a preview of coming events. Authenticity is hard to come by.  When I spoke at my Dad’s memorial, that was one of the words I used to describe him.  When it came to my father, what a person saw was what what a person got.  He had no ulterior motives to his actions.  He was one of the most real men I ever knew.  As Christians, that is what we need to be- real.

I talked about that in last Sunday’s sermon on New Year’s resolutions.  The world is desperate for realness because we are surrounded by falseness.   Many people are doing the anatomically impossible by speaking out of both side of their mouths and many others seldom walk they way they talk.  It seems being genuine is just a pastime that people do only when it is convenient.  

There is a story about the time a fire broke out in a great theater. Hoping to avoid a panic, the manager sent out the lead actor to make the evacuation announcement. He explained what was happening and what the people needed to do to be safe and the crowd thought it was part of the show and give him applause. The actor continued and repeated the situation with more passion  and the people repeated their applause.  As the actor pleaded with them to run, they shouted bravos and suddenly the walls of the theater started to crash in around them. What they needed that day was a word they regarded as authentic.  Christianity is more than a performance. We need to give the “audience” lifesaving words they regard as real.

The writer of Hebrews states, “Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him.”  (Hebrews 9:28)  If we have accepted the sin-bearing sacrifice of Christ, then we should also be one of those who is eagerly awaiting His return.  That may be one of those signs of authenticity. Do we anticipate the rapturing of the church with eagerness and try to bring as many others to take that incredible transformation with us, or would we just as soon have the rapture delayed because we prefer this world’s pleasures to heavenly ones.  If we think this world offers anything close to what heaven brings, we may not be a “real” as we would like to think.

When Jesus called for those to follow Him, some had other things to do first.  Dr. Luke records the following in 18:22-23  “When Jesus heard this, He said to him, ‘One thing you

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still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’  But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”  If we knew that tomorrow was the Day of the Rapture, would we be disappointed?  We might be disappointed for those who we know would be left behind, but would we also be disappointed because we think God can’t make eternity as cool as the world around us?  If we don’t believe in God’s wonderful provision, it is hard to be authentic about our faith.  It will be more of a have-to faith than a want-to one.

There is a story about a young girl who really wanted to go to college, but one of the questions on the application was “Are you a leader?”  She knew she wasn’t, but to be honest, she wrote “no” anticipating the worst.  Surprisingly, she received a letter of acceptance with an attached note that said, “according to our applications, we will have 1,472 leaders enrolling this semester. We thought it would be good to have at least one follower.”  If we were to fill out a heavenly application that asked, “are you an authentic Christian,” there would probably be only few that would write no.  The question is, how many should write “no”?  The next question is, if we should write “no,” why don’t we change, so we can write yes.  Remember, authentic will never mean we are just like Christ- authentic means we intentionally strive through the power of the Holy Spirit to be as Christlike as we can.  It means that “realness” is a priority in our lives.

We don’t want to be a sad replica of the real thing.  The original is Jesus Christ.  We are supposed to replicate him, not to be a cheap knock-off of sorts.  There is a saying that realness is being the same person when no one is around.  When we attend church it is easy to think that everyone is authentic, but what are they like during the week?  Sunday is sometimes like the courting stage of a relationship.  “All dressed up in the Sunday best wearing smiles to impress.” But realness also necessitates consistency of behavior.  If we are going to live out our faith, it cannot be selective.  It needs to be an all-the-time thing.  If we enjoy the world so much that we think going to be with the Lord would be step down, authenticity is probably pretty hard.

We are to be imitators of Christ, but not superficial ones.  We are called to follow in His steps.  On the battlefield when someone is carrying a mine detector those behind him follow in his steps- exactly.  They do not take their own path.  The place their feet right in the footprints of the one who can take them to safety.  We need to do that.  We cannot be the one who knows exactly where to step, but we can certainly be the one who doesn’t drift  to another path.  The people around us may not be able to see Jesus ahead of them and they may just step where we do.  If they have more than one set of footprints to choose from, that starts to be confusing.  We need to stay in step with Christ, for our own benefit and for the benefit of those who may follow us.

We have an example of authenticity in Christ.  He was not caught up in the world.  In Philippians 2:13 it says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  He will help us to be like Him. We are not left to be Christlike without Christ’s help.  So let us be like the Corinthians who were “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7), and like the Philippians whose “citizenship was in heaven, from which also [they] eagerly waited for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Philippians 3:20).  The degree of our authenticity may be in direct proportion to our degree of anticipation for His return.  If we are lackadaisical about that, we might be lackadaisical about our “realness.”

Proverbs 1:32  “For simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.”

Last week I talked a bit about apathy, but today I would like to talk a little bit about its not too distant cousin, complacency.  Apathy is being disengaged with the surrounding world and circumstances whereas complacency is being satisfied with less than the surrounding  world and circumstances have to offer.  

Complacency is settling for less than what we should because we have a false sense of contentment.  It makes us sit back on our hands instead of forging ahead in our spiritual lives.  Unfortunately, complacency is the disease that everyone denies having.  As we all know, however, the first step in getting well is admitting we have a problem.

Complacent Christians have the idea that they have arrived.  In America this is an especially easy state of mind to fall into.  We have it pretty easy compared to the rest of the world.  Why should we get callouses on our knees praying when we have almost all we want and more.  Unfortunately, when we lack any feeling of need or desperation, we get sloppy in our worship.   

Barna Research reports that since the nineties, Americans have become more spiritually complacent. 40% of born again Christians do not attend church or read the Bible in a typical week, 30% are not “absolutely committed to the Christian faith” and 70% are not involved in a small group that meets for spiritual purposes. The percentage of adults who can be classified as “born again” rose from 35% from the early 90s to 41% in the early 2000s. However, participation in 4 key behaviors declined and have continued to decline in this century; Bible reading (down from 45% to 37%); church attendance (from 49% to 42%); volunteering at church (from 27% to 20%); and adult Sunday school attendance (from 23% to 19%).   The recent Covid scare has not helped matters.  It is predicted that many of the people who have gotten in the habit of not attending due to Covid will not attend after Covid.   

There is a story of a tool company that manufactured drill bits. Faced with financial losses, company executives gathered to discuss the problem: a declining demand for drill bits. The CEO challenged his men: “How can we revive the bit market?” After an embarrassing silence, one member of the team dispelled the fog: “Sir, the market isn’t for bits–its for holes!” This simple truth illustrates what the church needs to recognize.  Complacent people feel fulfilled because they don’t feel needy. People are not in the market for spiritual activity because they don’t see a need for spiritual activity.     When someone needs to drill a hole he will think about buying a drill bit and when someone needs to fill a hole in his life he will look for a place to fill it.   In this time the church needs to be that place for unbelievers and believers alike.

There is the story of three demons who were exchanging ideas to bring about the downfall of man.  The first said, “Let’s tell them there is no God.”  The second said, “Let’s tell them there is no Hell.”  The third said, “Let’s tell them that there is no hurry.”  It seems to me that they settled on the third suggestion.

Revelation warns us about this complacency in the future.  “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,”  (Revelation 3:15-17)  Is that the future or has the future arrived?   God warns us of being lukewarm because it is more dangerous than being hot or cold.  It has just enough heat to make us believe that we are okay.  That kind of deception is a favorite ploy of Satan and many in the church seem to be falling for it.

There is a great story about the famous, fiery English pastor, A.J. Gordon, who became the pastor at a large, well-established, but cold Boston church.  After just a few weeks many of the senior members of the congregation moved to oust him because of his bold condemnation of the lifelessness of the church.  After about a month, right before the axe was about to fall he gave a sermon called “The funeral of the Church.”  It was a no-holds-barred, tell-it-the-way-it-is, God’s-Word-is-His-Word sermon.   The theme was that the church was a casket and like a casket there was no room for converts because coffins are built for only the dead.  He warned them of impending disaster if they did not repent.  It was an hour of truth.  Toward the end of the sermon the doors in the back of the church swung open and six solemn-faced pall bearers carried a casket up to the front.  Pastor Gordon lifted the lid and challenged the congregation to file past the coffin to view the deceased on the way out.  In the coffin, you guessed it, a giant mirror.

It seems to me that too many of us today need to look in the mirror to see if our complacency is leading unto death.  Paul tells us,  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?”  (2 Corinthians 13:5)   It is hard to change others, but we can start with ourselves.  Have we become “fat and sassy” in our christian lives?  Are we going through the motions because that is all it takes anymore?  Do we put more time into the needless and neglect the needful?   We need to be cautious so that we don’t fall into the trap that Paul warns us of in Corinthians,   “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”  (1 Corinthians 10:1)

So it is time for the church put on its big-boy pants.  It is hard to put pants on someone else, so we should worry about our own legs first, but we shouldn’t be shy about pointing out lack of fervor in the Body of Christ.  It is time to take our spiritual lives seriously even if things are going so well that it seems we don’t need God.  That is, of course, facetious.  No matter how it seems, we need God.  We should not be fooled.  The demons have lied.  There is a hurry and those around us could use our hurriedness on their behalf.

‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘   Luke 12:19

It seems that the ability in this day and age to record video on our phones and send it instantly around the world has changed how we intervene in difficult situations.  The other day I saw a store video of man who had a heart attack and the car he was driving careened through the front doors of a store.  Before the car even reached the glass there were people with their phones out recording the whole thing.  When the car finally came to a halt with the man slumped over the wheel there were four people with their phones pointed toward the car and none of them made a move to help the driver.  I am sure they eventually did, but not before they got  video evidence that they could send to friends or news media or TMZ.  Their first instinct wasn’t to help, but to record.  That inward desire to help those in need might be on the decrease in the world, but it should not be that way for the church.

Apathy is defined as absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement or a lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting.  It is indifference to others concerns or needs.  It is the opposite of empathy which is the act of deeply identifying with someone else’s feelings or needs.  They say that when a husband feels sympathy for his wife’s uncomfortable pregnancy, he feels sorry for her.  When he has empathy, he gets morning sickness as well!  We live in an every increasing place of apathy rather than empathy.  Stories like the one above are becoming the norm, not the exception.  But that should not be the church.  We should, at the least, be the last bastion of concern for others in a world that promotes concern for self.  Not only should we be quick to help in specific times of need, we should not be hesitant to step out to a hurting world with our good news of the healing Christ.

Even though the word empathy or its Greek equivalent cannot be found in the New Testament, the idea of empathy can be found many places. The apostle Peter counseled Christians to have “compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous . . .” (1 Peter 3:8) and the apostle Paul recommended similar sentiments when he exhorted fellow Christians to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).  No one should have a more deep-seated concern for others than the Body of Christ.  Jesus showed more empathy on our behalf than anyone who has ever lived and we need to convey that sacrificial heart to those around us by the way we live.  Our call in God’s Word is to be called to empathy, not apathy, yet even in the church, apathy is beginning to rear its ugly head.

I once asked a student what apathy was and he said, “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”  He was kidding, but it was almost a perfect definition!  I once heard that the nice thing about apathy is you don’t have to exert yourself to show you’re sincere about it.  Unfortunately, there are many today that are especially sincere about their apathy.  As we look at the growing crises around us, we can’t allow ourselves to be hardened to the to the point that we don’t notice the needs.  I heard about a company that recently came out with blank bumper stickers.  They were for people who don’t want to get involved!  Well, that cannot be us.  We need to be involved because we have a message of love that the world needs.  If not, the penalty we pay for not being involved in the things of this world will be that the world will be governed by those who don’t love.  It would be careless for us to allow the world to be run by those who care less.

We should be the first to come to those in need.  Whether it is friend who is distraught or the co-worker who feels caught, we must read the feelings around us and be ready to respond.  John told us that, “Whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17)  We must look for opportunities to intentionally show love to one another.  Apathy blinds us, but empathy enlightens us.  Others pain or distress or dilemma should be the impetus for us to spring into action.   Jesus said that the second of the great commandments after loving God is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 22:39)   That doesn’t sound like apathy, but empathy.  Peter reiterates this in his book when he says, “Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)   Empathy should be the glasses that we look at others through.  If we do that, it will free us up to love as the Bible instructs.  Someone once said that empathy is your pain in my heart.  How apt a notion.

Years ago a very rich and influential man by the name of Cecil Rhodes threw a gala event to which he invited a young man.  Cecil Rhodes, whose fortune would eventually endow the famous Rhodes Scholarship, was a stickler for proper dress at these events.  Strangely, he disappeared shortly before the banquet began.  The young man who had been invited came straight from the train station and was embarrassed about his appearance.  He was in total disarray, yet he was surrounded by the most finely dressed people in the city.  Cecil Rhodes, reappeared after his untimely dissappearance wearing a rumpled and plain looking blue suit.  He walked up and greeted his young invitee.  Rhodes had heard of his friends dilemma ahead of time and went out to change into a suit that would take the sting off his friend’s embarrassment.   It worked and it also taught a valuable lesson to all who were in attendance.

We have a God who emphasizes with our plights.  He personally feels our pain.  More than that, He personally experienced our pain.  Even more that than He took our pain upon Himself.  That is the greatest act of empathy that has every been displayed in the history of the world.  God knows our hurts.  The psalmist tells us, “You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8).  What a comfort it is to know that God tracks our every tear.  What a comfort we would be to others if we noticed their tea

Jesus is our good shepherd and He is alert to our needs.  Because we have the good shepherd in our lives, we too can look around us to others needs.  When Elaine and I were coming home from Lebanon awhile back, we saw a huge herd of sheep in a field.  All the sheep formed a large circle and right in the middle away from all the other sheep were two black sheep.  I guess the saying about the black sheep being ostracized is really true.  It was so strange looking, that I almost wanted to take a picture of it.  That kind of estrangement might be okay with sheep, but it should not be with people.  When we see people who are separated or needy or hurting, they don’t need to be photographed, they need to be helped.  We have that help, no matter the problem.  Christ is the great physician and His love is the balm that can heal all wounds.   We are like spiritual EMTs and need to be on call at all times.

Christ’s love is more than walking in other’s moccasins.  It is giving them our own.  Christ walked in ours then gave Himself for us, that we might not have to barefoot in a rocky world.  Let’s follow His example.

“And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.” 2 Chronicles 31:21

There is a saying in sports that is heard over and over.  Coaches say it to players and players say it to players.  It has become one of the primary reasons for mistakes in an athletic contest, no matter what the sport.  It is the line I have said hundreds of times when coaching football, wrestling, softball, and track.  What is this single line that plagues athletes in every sport?  “Move your feet!”  Whether it is a basketball player that is beaten on a drive, a volleyball player who doesn’t get to a serve, or a football player that is beaten on a block, it is so often the same- the athletes are beaten because they don’t move their feet.  The equivalent of not moving our feet in our spiritual lives is not taking action.  Not moving the feet is usually a show of fatigue, laziness, or lack of preparation.   Those same things can hurt us in our Christian walk as well.

We need to be people of action.  Peter called out to Jesus, but still had to step out of the boat onto the surface of the water.  Abraham believed God, but illustrated it by striking off into the unknown.  Moses came to the Red Sea but raised his arms to God because he believed there was no dead ends with God.

A  woman with the issue of blood believed so strongly in the healing power of Christ that she fought through the crowd just to touch his robe and was healed.  Each one of these people took action that matched their beliefs.  This is faith. Jesus said, ‘Follow me’ when he called His disciples; he was not just saying believe, but to act on those beliefs.  He is still saying that to us today.

Moving our feet is important because it shows more than just lip service.  Some parents will say something across the room ten times before actually moving their feet to help or to prevent some action of their child.  But walking across the room takes more effort than just talking across the room.  That goes for our relationship with God as well.  Peter could have sat in the boat and said all day long that he believed in the miraculous power of Jesus, but the one act of stepping out of the boat said more than a thousand words while sitting in it.   There is a humorous story of a man who falls off a cliff and grabs a protruding root.  He suddenly hears a booming voice and he asks who it is.  The voice says, “I am God and I will save you.”  The man replies that he believes Him, so what should he do?  God says, “Let go of the root.”  The man hesitates for a moment and asks, “Is there anyone else up there I can talk to?”  We probably will not ever be in that situation, but we will be in others when God asks us to trust Him through His Word and our reactions to that will paint a vivid picture of our true beliefs in Him.

First John 3:18 says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”  As I have quoted many a time, the smallest deed is greater than the grandest intention.  We are to be active Christians, not passive.  “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”  (James 2:14-16)  Our outward actions should reflect our inward beliefs.   If we do not act upon our beliefs in God we are merely professors of God’s Word, not possessors of His Word.  There should be something that separates us from the rest of the world and “moving our feet” or being active for God should be part of that separation.

There is a difference between waiting “on the Lord” and waiting “for the Lord.”   One means the relying on the continual support of the Lord and the other waits for God to act before we do anything.  Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for sowing and a time for reaping, a time for laughing and a time for weeping, but there is also a time for waiting and a time for acting.   We are in times when people expect a lot to be handed to them without taking action.  That can be the same for Christians.  We wait for God to do something.  So often the Word directs us to action, but we wait for God to yell in our ear before doing something.  Unfortunately, the time of God yelling in our ear has passed.  He gave us the Word to be His voice.  While we sit around waiting for God give us something to do, He has already given us something to do.  We just don’t see it.

The old story about the man who prays for years to win the lottery (we will skip the obvious theological conflict here) and finally hears God’s voice telling him he needs to buy a ticket is more than a cute story.  It is often us.  We want to receive without doing.  Don’t confuse this with the famous Bible verse that is not in the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves,” but God does expect us to be obedient.  Think of how history would be changed if people in the Bible had not followed through on their faith.   Our expectations are high, but too often, our efforts are low.  Years ago mom and I went to see Asher and Noah play soccer. It was fun.  I spoke to a spectator on the sidelines before the game and he shared about his Christian faith and he said how important it was to him.  Later, he proceeded to get in an argument with the referee during the game, at halftime, and even after the game.  A better action that would have illustrated his belief would have been to be quiet and protect his witness.  After all, he did nothing to help the kids, the crowd, the ref, or God.  But not acting out would have necessitated “moving his feet” and making an effort to avoid the obvious contradiction between his great faith and his right to downgrade someone else.

In First Peter we are told,   “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  (1 Peter 1:13)  We need to be prepared for action, not for sitting on our hands.  We need to “move our feet,” and act on our faith.  There is a famous story of how General Stonewall Jackson’s army found itself stranded on the wrong side of the river during a crucial point of the war and had to get across.  General Jackson told his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, and he also called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagon train cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks and fence rails he could find and built a bridge.  Long before day light General Jackson was told by his wagon master all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where the engineers were and what were they doing?  The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.  That is sometimes what we do, we sit around drawing up plans for God, when others just go out and do the work of God.

We should seek the will of God, but seeking should also result in doing.  I heard one of my favorite authors being interviewed on the radio one day and I will paraphrase what he said that struck me as true.  He said that to be a writer, a person must write.  A true writer cannot wait around for inspiration, he must write.  A true writer cannot go down to the beach and wait for the right mood to come upon him.  A writer must write.  Sometimes he may not even feel like it, but a writer must write.  He said he tires of all the namby-pamby writers now who spend half their life waiting to be inspired.  A writer must write.  I can see an application in that for us.  As Christians we can’t wait around for the spirit to move us when God has already given us instructions to move. Christians must act! Do we have to be inspired to give to the poor, give the gospel, or give our best?  The Word has already said that.  Christians must act!

God has plans for us, but we need to be an active part of that plan.  God is not a puppet master and we the marionettes who need to wait for Him to raise our arms and move our feet.  Jesus didn’t knock Peter out of the boat, Peter stepped out on his own.   We need to step out of the boat.  We need to “move our feet.”

“But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment, whoever does so destroys himself.” Proverbs 6:32

“So far, so good.”  That was heard coming from a man passing by the third story of a skyscraper after falling out of a window on the fiftieth floor.  He was, in essence, correct, but only for a few more feet.  That is also the common belief of those who find themselves caught up in sinful acts.  After falling from the window of faith, things might seem pretty good for awhile on the way down and that will lead to a false sense of security.  The proverbs verse above isolates the sin of adultery, but there are many sinful behaviors that can be penciled into the verse.  The point is that every fall has its terrible conclusion and denying it on the way down does not change God’s law anymore than the denial of gravity can change a rapid descent.

Lack of judgment leads to self-destruction. Once one decides to take the path of poor judgement, there are fewer and fewer routes back to righteousness.  The root cause of poor judgment is self-deception.  Once we entertain first steps of sin, each step gets easier.  The first step is always the hardest, but the easiest to return from.  Every step taken after that is harder to return from, and soon, return seems out of the question.  At some point pride will take hold of us and return to the right path becomes admission of wrongdoing, and that is sometimes too hard to face.  We might say we would rather be in misery than admit that we caused the misery.  Self-destruction is accompanied by some very typical behaviors.  If we understand those, maybe we can help others who are going down the wrong path or at the least will avoid our own trips off the straight and narrow.

It is important to know that the domino of bad choices never starts in isolation.  It normally entails a sequence of unwise decisions, each one escalating in severity.  The steps of sin are slow and short at first and then pick up in speed and stride until they may even reach a sprint.  I ‘ve watched many a marathon  and I notice that there are check points along the way where coaches will shout out instructions and the runners will often change their tactics to keep going strong.  When someone is in a sin marathon, there are tactics, outlined by Coach Satan for every step of the way.  Dutifully, it seems, everyone on his team follows his instructions to the tee.

First of all, those in sin must separate themselves from spiritual truth-tellers. They must avoid places where these people hang out.  Church, Bible studies, and other Christian haunts are off limits.  They must avoid being alone with anyone who might try to bring the Bible into the conversation.  Of course, those people must be replaced with others.  Non-Christians are fine, but the best people to hang with are wishy-washy Christians with milquetoast spirituality who  emphasize passive tolerance for all behavior.  These kinds of Christians are great because they give the illusion that the backslider has not totally left the faith, and lends some credence of credibility to his actions.  Eventually, in the later stages, even these pseudo-Christians will be left behind because even their wimpy Christianity is too much for completely backslidden turncoats.  Those falling away must put themselves in the position to avoid the truth from Ecclesiastes: “It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.”  (Ecclesiastes 7:5)  Instead, they listen to the songs of fools and eventually join the choir themselves.

Secondly, after people and places begin to be left behind, new habits will replace the old ones. Habits that were rejected for years suddenly become palpable and eventually habitual.  Hobbies and interests will change and such things like music and movies degrade to an explicable low level.  We are warned about this behavior in Romans: “And let not your behavior be like that of this world, but be changed and made new in mind, so that by experience you may have knowledge of the good and pleasing and complete purpose of God.” (Romans 12:2)  At first the wanderers  begin to play at their worship and worship their play, but eventually they abandon their worship and live for their play.  There may be sporadic returns to the people and places of their life in the spirit, but it will be short-lived because there are too many references to “do the right thing” and “obey God’s Word” and “avoid sin” and all kinds of intolerant and discriminatory verbiage.  But those brief returns are just enough for the wanderer to blame future absences on the prejudice of obviously hypocritical Christians.

Lastly, but really all along the way, the self-destructive backslider must put the blame on everyone else.  He cannot be to blame.  After all, he did his best and everyone else let him down.  He gave God a try, but God was found wanting.  They deceive themselves into thinking they have it all figured out and everyone else is clueless.  There is no one who is exempt from the attacks.  Anyone who might question the backslider, correct the backslider, convict the backslider, rebuke the backslider, or confront the backslider is the enemy.  Backsliders are self-sufficient and dependent on no one.  Anyone in their way who disagrees with their direction will be run over.  The brave who stand up to them will receive their ire and probably their wrath.

Unfortunately, self-destruction is really a misnomer.  There is really no such thing as self destruction that stands alone.  When one self-destructs, he takes others with him. If he were the only one affected, maybe his behavior could be overlooked.  After all his bad choices would only be affecting his own life.  Sadly, that is not life.  He does the opposite of throwing himself on the hand grenade for others.  He throws others on the hand grenade for him.  That is what the self-lover (which is what a self-destructor is) does not realize.  He hurts those around him, as much or more as he hurts himself.  Sometimes even more because he has to drain feelings from himself to carry on this self-destruction, but those around him retain their feelings and those feelings feel pain.

When someone puts his own desires first, none will thrive.  Not him, not those around him.  The Lord of the Rings tells the story of two hobbit-like people named Sméagol and Déagol who decided one day to go fishing. Ordinarily they were simple folk who could find delight in the smallest things, but everything changed for these two when, in the course of their fishing expedition, Déagol finds a ring on the bottom of the river. This ring, however, was no ordinary ring, for it had been designed by the evil warlord Sauron and promised to grant great powers to its wearer.  Seeing the ring, Sméagol instantly wanted to have it, and upon Déagol’s refusal to hand it over, “he caught Déagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful.”

This story shows what happens when we covet something or someone else.  Our desire to have what belongs to another can twist us into to people we can hardly recognize.  If our sinful desires cannot be resisted, reputation, families, careers, and lives can be ruined.  If we find ourselves going off the path of righteousness, even slightly, we must right our course.  Proverbs 12:12 says, “Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.”  We cannot sow wickedness and expect to reap righteousness.  The saying “so far so good” can be trumped by another saying, “All’s well that ends well.”  Sinful self-destruction does not end well.  It will never end well.  Not for the sinner and not for the innocent.  Those who backslide plunge into a pool whose ripples will go out to distances and places not imagined.

We need to keep ourselves on the right paths, so that others know where they, too, can travel. We must speak up when we see a wanderer even if we will face derision.  We need to remember the truth revealed in Psalm 119:1, “How happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the LORD’s instruction!”  We need to spread that truth.  God has promised us that “(He) will make known to (us) the path of life; and in (His) presence there is fullness of joy; and at (His) right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  (Psalm 16:11)  Why would we walk any other path?  Why would anyone?

“Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

Last week I wrote about guilt and pointed out that guilt can be like pain.  It can alert us to a problem that needs to be taken care of.  Many see guilt as bad because it can cause psychological problems like insecurity and tension and physical problems like headaches and weight loss or gain.  But the sense of guilt needs to be examined because some guilt is false and harmful and some guilt is real and helpful.  In the last devotion  I talked about guilt that was helpful.  I mentioned the guilt that is pointing out a wrong in our life that needs to be dealt with.  If Satan had his druthers, he would have us ignore real guilt and dwell on false guilt.  If that is what Satan wants, that is what we should not do.  The key is, how do we tell the difference between good guilt and bad.

Recognizing our real guilt is what leads us to Christ. If we do not understand real guilt, we would never come to a saving faith in Jesus.  One of the first steps in receiving the gift of salvation is understanding that we are sinful people separated from a Holy God.  If we ignore those feelings of guilt, we will never take the step of receiving the sacrifice of Christ and would never experience a new life in Him.  The guilt is not the problem.  Sin is the problem.  Guilt points us to the solution.  In that way, guilt is sometimes very good because is saves us from a terrible consequence that will take place if we do not change course.  False guilt, however, does not lead to freedom, but to imprisonment.  That is why we need to be able to tell the difference.

For everything that is real, there is a counterfeit.  Expensive clothes, jewelry, and even electronics all have their cheap knockoffs.  There is hardly a name brand that doesn’t have is its generic step-sibling.  Sometimes the fakery goes beyond products.  One man made over a half-million dollars in three years selling fake diplomas and medical certificates to people who went on to the medical field.  Things can be counterfeit, people can be counterfeit, so it stands to reason that feelings can be counterfeit.  Many of us can carry around a false sense of guilt that holds us back.  We assume that if we feel guilty, we must be guilty.  That guilt becomes destructive when it keeps us dwelling on the wrong things and prevents us from experiencing the right things.

There is a sad short story called “The Necklace.”  It is about a young woman, Mathilde, who is dissatisfied with her life and looks longingly at the lives of the “upper crust” women around her.  Her husband returns from work one day with an invitation to a gala ball and she cries because she has nothing to wear.  The husband, then, uses up personal savings to buy her a dress, but she is still distraught.  She has no nice jewelry.  The husband knows he can’t afford anything, so he suggests that Mathilde go to friend who is rich and borrow something.  She picks out a wonderful necklace, attends the ball, and leaves her husband on the sidelines while she dances her heart away.

Finally, Mathilde and her husband head for home and when they arrive, she realizes she has lost the necklace.  Distraught she goes to a local jeweler, picks out a necklace exactly the same, and returns that one to the owner who was non-the wiser.  Unfortunately, the necklace costs more than her husband can make in a lifetime.  So they take out loans from unscrupulous characters, and to pay them off, they sell their modest home and move to tiny apartment, both take on two jobs, and work their fingers to the bone.  Working night and day, the couple age rapidly and one day Mathilde’s path crosses with the original owner of the necklace.  The rich woman does not even recognize Mathilde because she has changed so much.  The woman makes a comment about it and Mathilde says her terrible condition is the woman’s fault.  Mathilde goes on to tell her the story of losing the necklace, the the subsequent loans, jobs, and poverty that resulted from replacing the necklace.

The woman clasps Mathilde’s hands and tells her
the necklace was imitation and not worth anything.  It was one of the saddest endings to any of the short stories I taught through the years. Believing the false is real can only lead to disaster.

We need to examine our guilt and get to the bottom of it.  When I coached and received criticism, I always listened.  After I listened I did one of two things.  If it was legitimate, I took it as advice and made the necessary changes.  If it was not legitimate, I forgot about it.  That is what we should do with guilt.  Guilt is criticizing something in our life.  If it exposes truth, we should make changes.  If it is built on a
falsehood, we should ignore it and go on. Sometimes we feel guilty over something that doesn’t violate God’s standards, but fails to to meet our own or other people’s expectations. God’s standards are important.  They will always be higher than man’s standards.  If we concern ourselves only about what God thinks, we will not have to worry much about what man thinks.  Guilt because we cannot reach others standards is often false guilt and eats us up from the inside.  We need to believe God more than our feelings.  He is a lot more reliable.

Another false feeling of guilt that plagues many is dwelling on past sins that God has already forgiven. True guilt exposes present sins, false guilt constantly reminds of past sins.  If we have taken care of those sins, we don’t need to constantly scratch at the old wound to keep it fresh.  A woman once broke an expensive vase of a friend.  She took the vase with her to repair, but it was unrepairable.  Her friend visited her and noticed the vase cracked and ugly sitting on a desk and asked her why it was there.  She replied that it was to remind her of her transgression.  The woman walked over, grabbed the vase, dropped it in the garbage and said she had forgiven her long ago and it was time she forgave herself.  We sometimes like to leave our past mistakes on display so we can be reminded of them.  If we have cleaned up our mess and truly confessed, it is time to remember what God says, not what Satan says.  Satan will condemn us but Romans 8:1 says: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Whenever we feel condemned, we need to recognize it as the malevolence of the enemy who is trying to rob us of the peace that is ours through Christ.

The Holy Spirit convicts us and Satan condemns us.  Condemnation is not the same as conviction.  Satan helps us to ignore actual wrongdoing. The key for us is to discern between the guilt that our flesh, Satan, and the world heaps on us and the necessary guilt that can lead to healing.  We need to praise God that He has forgiven our sins.  If we don’t understand God’s great mercy, we will still be shackled by chains that have been unlocked.  We need to take a stand and refuse to accept guilt for that which has been forgiven.  Reading the Word, surrounding ourselves with believers, listening to worshipful music, staying in the Word, and listening to instructional sermons can all help us to discern where our feelings originate.

There are many things we feel guilty about, but another burden
Satan puts on us is our inability to fix all things.  We cannot make everything right.  We cannot undo things that have been done.  We can’t make someone be who God wishes them to be.  There are restrictions on what we can do in this life and we cannot allow the guilt about not being fixers of all woes make us feel guilty.  A favorite saying of mine is, “I cannot do all things, but I can do some things.  Those things that I can do, I should do.  Those things that I should do, by God’s grace, I will do.”  We cannot carry around guilt about pasts we cannot change, people we cannot mold, or promises we cannot keep.  Some things just will be, regardless of how hard we try to change the outcome.  We need to concentrate on the Lord and identify with the words of Mary in Luke “and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Savior,”  If we look to His adequacy, we will look less at our own inadequacies.

We should not let the false chains of guilt to hold us back, but if our guilt is real, we should confess the sin, turn from it, and not let Satan accuse us of it again. We have a “glorious freedom (as) the children of God” (Rom. 8:21), and we should live in that glory.    Psalm 32:5 reminds us, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you . . .and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”   True repentance takes away the guilt of our sin and this brings true freedom from our sin.  We need to hold onto and believe what God says in Romans 8:31-35 “. . . who can separate us from the love of Christ?”  Satan can’t, the world can’t, our flesh can’t, and false guilt can’t.  When we step from the prison of sin, it is time to change clothes.  Ephesians 4 tells us “You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth.”  Why should we wear the uniform of our prison life any longer.  We should put on the new clothes of salvation.  Why should we look or act like prisoners any longer.  True guilt leads us to the keys of the prison; false guilt leads takes us back.  Let’s learn to recognize the difference between the exit and entrance.