It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The time

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Prov 14:12, NASB)

 

Don’t you sometimes wish there were “do overs” in life. There are more than a few things in my life that I wish I had the opportunity to not do. How many of life’s ouchies are followed by the words “it seemed like a good idea at the time”?

I came across the following quote at some point in time:

“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: "It seemed a good idea at the time." (Dame Rebecca West, Irish-born author and journalist, 1892-1983)

Wow, is that true or what! There are so many things in life that seem ok to us, that would seemingly cause no real harm, yet God says that our unguided ideas are going to get us in trouble.

We find it easy to admit that children need guidance to keep them from trouble, but we would like to think that as adults we are intelligent enough and have enough common sense and wisdom to make right decisions based upon what we believe to be right and wrong.

God says that human wisdom is faulty. It is distorted by our natural perception, which is not based upon God’s perception. We need someone wiser than us, who knows the end form the beginning, to guide us. I lived a lot of my life without God’s guidance, doing what seemed right to me...I was wrong. Our basic nature is self seeking and denies God His rightful place. We can make our plans, scheme, connive, and do everything we think is right and still die separated from God.

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, the recognizing and giving to God His rightful place. We must realize that our human wisdom is faulty and we need the mind of Christ to guide us. True life is only found through Jesus Christ. Every way that seems right to man will lead only to death. There is only one way and that is God’s way.

I have now lived a lot of my life with God’s guidance, choosing His way over my way. That has worked a LOT better…

Levels of Obedience

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence … “  (Php 2:12, NIV)

Obedience is a heart issue. When I was a child, I obeyed my earthly father out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I didn’t. As I got older, I realized obedience was for my own good. As I continued to mature, obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint my parents. This is still not the level of obedience God has called us to.

God calls us to a higher level of obedience, a mature obedience. When I first came to Christ, I obeyed out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I didn’t. As I got older, I realized obedience was for my own good. As I continued to mature, obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint God. Eventually I came to a place where because of my love for God, I didn’t want to do anything to offend Him or hinder my relationship with Him. 

When I was a child and my father was around I would be obedient to his requirements.  f he went somewhere, maybe I would be obedient and maybe I wouldn’t. In our verse today, Paul is calling the believers to a higher level of obedience. He says “as you have been obedient in my presence, now be obedient in my absence.”

“Respond in my absence, just as you would if I was there among you.” The obedience Paul is talking about is the kind that is a “working out” of what God has “put in”. There are things that accompany salvation, and these things are to be evidenced in our lives. Not because Paul is there, or a preacher, or Sunday school teacher, or school teacher, or a policeman, or fireman, or Mom, or Dad, but because there has been a change wrought in our heart and we want to do what is right. And we want to do it not because of fear of punishment, but because of love, appreciation, and awe.

You see, God is doing something inside of us. He is giving us the desire to act in accordance with His Word. And as if that wasn’t enough, He is also giving us the ability to do the things He wants us to!  Php 2:12-13 from the NIV Bible says:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Good Soil Has Great Potential

“But he that received seed into the good ground … “  (Mt 13:23, KJV)

I think God likes to have a good time with me. I don’t mean like hanging out, shooting the breeze and going places together. Not that God wouldn’t enjoy that kind of stuff, it just that I’m not all that much fun to hang out with. Maybe a better way of saying it would be that sometimes I think God likes to have a good time at my expense.

You know how some people are pretty good at doing some unusual thing? I think most, if not all, of us have at least one thing we’re pretty good at. Well, I can get my foot in my mouth without much effort. Now the folks listening may not know I have done it, but God does. Let me talk long enough and I will set a trap with my mouth that my foot can’t get out of.

One night at a friend’s house, someone asked me to read aloud the parable of the sower. I did that and when I had finished he asked me ”What kind of soil is your heart?” Without missing a beat I answered “Good soil.”

I was driving home later, feeling pretty good. It had been a good evening and I felt that I had handled myself rather well. I’m driving along and God says “See that field?” I look beside me and there is a big field. “If it was good soil and I planted a lot of seeds in it, how much fruit would there be?” Again not missing a beat, I answered “A lot of fruit Lord.”

Now, I know that some of you are already seeing that I am fixing to have another life changing moment. I never saw it coming. After a moment of silence, I hear ”I have planted a lot of seed in your heart.” Wow, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

It wasn’t so much in reaction to what was said, so much as to what had been  implied. “I have planted a lot of seed in your heart” was what was said.  “And there’s not much fruit” was what was implied. Well, that pretty much sucked the wind out of my sails, and there I was repenting again.

Two more thoughts. First of all, we don’t have as many people fooled as we think we do. Secondly, isn’t it amazing how much God can say without hardly  saying anything? 

When The Going Gets Tough

Four Things To Remember  When The Going Gets Tough
 

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. (Ps 37:25)

1. God is faithful...

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (2 Cor 4:7-12)

2.    The things that happen that seem to cause death in us are actually uncovering life...


Even though I walk  through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Ps 23:4)

3.    God is with us in the valley...

 

“Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” (SOS 8:5)

 4.  God has purpose, even in the wilderness...

Shocking Experience

“ … if they do speak not according to this word …”  (Isa 8:20  KJV)

I am sure that like me, you have had some life changing moments with the Lord. I mean a time where He stopped you in your tracks, and put you on a different track. One morning this happened to me while having some quiet time with the Lord. I was reading out of Isaiah chapter 8 and got to verse 20 which says: 

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

I got kind of stirred up over this verse and got to talking to the Lord. I was saying things sort of like “Yeah, that’s right Lord, there are a whole lot of people out there not speaking in accordance with your word. They are saying a lot of things that don’t agree with Your word.”

Now about this time I’m expecting a “Yeah, you got it, you understand!  You know what I am talking about!”  What I got was something like “You say a lot of things that are not in accordance with My word.”

Well, to say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was kind of devastated. I had been confronted by God and I was guilty, I knew it and I knew it all in an instant. I was filled with remorse and repented right then and there.  I was so convicted and so sorrowful that a lot of what I said was not in accordance with, not in agreement with, did not line up with, and was not guided by the Word of God.

That was a life changing moment for me. It began a change in me that affected the words I spoke, the advice I gave, and is hopefully still causing me to do more thinking and listening then speaking.

It is good for me to return to this verse now and then and let God continue to speak to me with it. Our mouths speak out of what is in our hearts. Our hearts need to be filled with the Word of God, so that what we speak is in accordance with, in agreement with, and in like purpose with His word.

Thinking About Faith

“Do not anxiously look about you …”  (Isaiah 41:10, NASB)

 
Let’s take a few minutes to think about faith. The Bible says that without faith we can’t please God, that it has accompanying action, and that it is what gives substance to and evidence of what we believe. For instance in James 2:17, we find scripture saying:

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

From this verse we can see that true faith has accompanying action that proves its existence. Also, Hebrews 11:1, KJV says:

“ …  faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

True faith gives substance to what we believe causing a resulting action or attitude that is a manifestation of our faith. For instance sitting down in a chair gives evidence that I believe the chair will hold me up, and not collapse when I sit down.

I know I am making faith very simplistic in this, but it really isn’t that complicated of a thing. We use it in the natural realm all the time. It works the same way in the spiritual realm. Faith evidences itself by responding to what we believe, because it gives substance to what we believe, substance that can be trusted and acted upon.

I know of a young lady who moved into a new apartment. Her first evening there she was feeling a bit scared and kept looking out the window to see if she could see anything. Then she prayed and asked God to protect her and her baby in their new home. 

She continued looking out the window and feeling a bit afraid. Then it finally hit her that if she prayed and asked for God for His protection then she needed to   believe that He would do it, and that she needed to quit anxiously looking out her window.

She settled back, quit looking out the window and enjoyed the rest of her evening as God’s peace settled over her and her new apartment

Do The Good

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17, ESV)

Remember when we thought that all we had to do was to not do wrong things?  It seemed so much simpler then, after all, we like to know what is “out” so we can stay away from it and be thought of as good. I mean there is nothing like a good “do not list” that we can adhere to and then feel good about ourselves, if we can manage it. But at some point we find out that it is not enough to not do bad stuff, we must also do good stuff. 

Take for example Ephesians 4:28, NIV:

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Not only is the thief to deal with his sin (stealing), he is to become gainfully employed (thereby dealing with the reason), and he is then to then help others in need so they won’t resort to stealing. This is getting a bit more complicated than a “do list” and “do not list”.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I can see stopping the stealing and getting a job, but then having to give to others so they won’t steal? My old nature does not like that!  But, of course, we are not called to live out of our old nature but out of our new nature.

Ephesians 4:28 tells us we are to deal with our sins, be gainfully employed, helping others and helping them get on the right path. But it is not a list we follow, for we may as well be under the Law if we are going to do “lists”. It is a matter of the heart sensitized to God, the mind renewed by the Word, and living a transformed life that is offered as a living sacrifice to God - lived for Him and His purposes.

We know it is a sin to do wrong things, but the Word also tells us that it is a sin to not do the right things we know to do. It is always in season to be obedient to the Word and the Holy Spirit, and to not do so is wrong.

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”Eph 4:28, NLT

Love Covers

” … love covers over a multitude of sin”  (1 Pe 4:8, NIV)

 

I was listening to one of my friends the other day and he mentioned that he had hurt his finger some how and there was some skin missing off of it.  He went a few days complaining about it, nursing it, and flinching when he would accidentally hit it against something.  Then he finally put some liquid band-aid on it.  At first he said it really hurt, really burned when he applied the liquid.  He then demonstrated how he could now hit it against something with no pain.  There was a protective coating where the skin was missing, keeping out dirt and bacteria, and cushioning the wound.

 

I was reminded of the above verse.  In reference to it Strong’s Concordance says ‘to hide, veil, to hinder the knowledge of a thing.’  In the Amplified Bible this verse reads: Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others.)  In my bible, beside this verse, in relation to the word ‘covers‘, I have written “to wrap around as bark; skin, plaster, shell, protective coating.”  Love would keep us from rehearsing sin to the guilty party, to others, and to ourselves.  We would neither tell others about it, nor hold it against the guilty party, but would help them to overcome it.  We would protect them and their reputation, while giving them help and hope for the future.

 

I didn’t say this was a natural thing to do because it isn’t.  Only the supernatural love that God puts in us can enable us to walk this out correctly.  The effect of this is the difference between life and death, blessing and cursing.

 

One of Noah’s sons dishonored him,  ridiculed him,  and told others of his nakedness.  The two other sons humbly went in to their father and in honoring him refused to even look upon his nakedness, and put a cover over him so that no one else would be able to look upon his nakedness.  The one son and his offspring were cursed.  The other two sons and their offspring were blessed.

 

The principles taught us in the Word of God, when applied to our lives result in life and blessings for us and others.  Ignoring the same principles brings cursing, lack and death.