The Beauty of Boldness

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. 1st John 2:28 (New American Standard Bible)

Many of us grow up being taught through various methods, overt and understated, that we are worthless in the sight of man and God. I have been surprised at how many folks I’ve spoken to that feel that way. That view can bring self-loathing that taints how we respond to Christ and His love. We see ourselves as eligible to have our sins forgiven but after that we only see ourselves standing under the scrutiny of a nitpicky and judgmental God who never approves of us.

Those who abide in Christ are assured they will have complete confidence that on that day we meet Him we will be able to hold our heads up with assurance and happiness. The confidence John speaks of here in the Greek also has the meaning of a ‘bold freedom of speech.’ We can only speak boldly to someone we have confidence in.

While this means future confidence it also communicates how we can relate to God right now. The love and grace Jesus demonstrated reveals the depth and acceptance of God of His children. Communication has been opened to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ. He calls us friends (John 15:15). Friendship with God brings assurance and confidence to approach the Throne of Grace and speak directly and bravely with the King any time we choose. The King’s ear is always open and we are always welcomed to approach in sweet communion. He has great interest in what we have to say and takes the greatest pleasure when we say it in the beauty of boldness.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Kind of Job He'd Do

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, that no one should boast. Ephesians 2:8,9 (New American Standard Bible)

A minister was holding a tent revival at the turn of the 20th century. As he was preaching one night a drunk entered the tent and weaved his way to the pulpit. “Hey preacher, remember me?” he sneered. “You saved me five years ago.” The minister looked down at the drunk and said, “Yes sir, I have no doubt. You look like the kind of job I’d do.”

Permanent spiritual change only comes through the power of God. The most popular notion is “If I live a good life then God will accept me into heaven.” That kind of thinking is like a sieve for the logic of it soon flows away. When people say that to me I ask, “OK, imagine this; if you knew you would be standing before God's glory and holiness in the next five minutes what would you feel?” The standard response is the person’s eyes get large and they say “I’d be terrified because I know all the bad things I’ve done.” So how bad is bad? Kicking the dog? Losing your temper? Cheating your employer or the IRS? Murder? While some of these things bring more grief they all are all hurtful. And how good is good? Is anything we do powerful enough to hear God say “Wow, what a perfect job you did cleaning up your soul. There is nothing else I need to do for you. Come and live in my presence.” In our hearts we know what it would be like to stand before a Holy and Pure God in our own merit.

We can be positive that anyone who trusts in Christ can come into His presence with total confidence. They will be there not because of any works they’ve done but because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. When we see Him face to face He might say “I remember you my righteous one. You’re exactly the kind of job I’d do. Welcome home.”

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

The Old Man and the Cross

For if we have become united in Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Romans 6:5-7 (New American Standard Bible)

In the gross immaturity of my younger years I led some new believers to think that as Christ was now Lord of their lives all their problems would be over. I was not only wrong but I did a lot of damage to the beginning of their relationship with Christ. After a couple of days when they realized sin still lurked and rough temptations assailed them they were not only discouraged but angry. One lady told me she expected to wake up the next morning sinless. When she realized she still had to deal with sin she became extremely angry. I am happy to say she has remained a mature and faithful child of the King for many years.

So what does Paul mean when he says we have been crucified with Christ and freed from sin? Does it mean we become sinless? A person’s ‘old man’ is the person they were spiritually before he/she trusted in Christ. This was the time when they were under sin, ungodly and powerless to resist temptation. This isn’t referring to the sin nature for in Christ the sin nature was broken in its power but not destroyed. In other words Christ’s death and resurrection overcame the power of sin to rule us totally yet it still remains an entity that tries to reassert its power in our lives. Now through Christ the person has the option of walking in the Spirit of God and can decide whether or not they want to pursue unrighteousness or operate in the freedom of God’s power.

When our old natures are crucified, or identified with Christ, that’s the basis for deliverance from enslavement. A slave has no say over his/her life and is always under the direct will of their master. The Old Man and the cross were made for one another but at this time in eternity crucifying him is a daily execution. But now that Christ’s death and resurrection has broken this old master’s power (sin) we are no longer in slavery to it but through Christ can choose to kick the shackles aside. The old master continually tries to reassert his power but we have been fully freed from him and never again need to put those chains on for we have been justified and declared righteous in Christ. When the Old Man rises up and bids us to enslave ourselves again to sinful passions we now have the choice and power to resist. Because we have been crucified in Christ, freed from the power of sin, those shackles can lay before us in the full light of Christ with the knowledge we need never put them on again. What a glorious freedom!

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

From Mud to Marble

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (New American Standard Bible)

Living in a rural part of Arkansas I was recently driving my four-year-old granddaughter home from school. We passed an old farmhouse that was abandoned and falling to pieces. Elizabeth said, “Look grandpa, that house is broken.” It took a second for it to register but I then realized what she meant. The house was beyond help. It was in such bad shape repairs would not have helped much. The old house needed to be razed and a new foundation and home built on the spot.

The parallel is striking from a Christian point of view. Regardless of where or how we are born sin begins within our lives and as we grow the decay becomes much worse. The only thing we can do to help ourselves is make our ‘houses’ livable but that leaves the bare necessities. There is no comfort. Fixing our own lives leaves us with dirt floors, drafts, outdoor plumbing and mud in the yards. Patching up the old homestead doesn’t work. When we come to the conclusion that our own effort at fixing our house just isn’t working we can ask the Master Builder to build us a new one. When we ask, and only then, will He come onto our property, raze our feeble and rotting efforts and lay a new foundation. From that point on He will build a beautiful mansion out of our lives and will be at work adding to its beauty into eternity.

The Apostle Paul calls this being made into new creatures in Christ. All the old things from our past that held our time and attention begin to lose their luster as we see how the Master Builder is making our new lives into a showplace. He takes us out of the mud of our sin, cleans us and puts our feet into halls of marble. He brings us into newness of life. It is indeed a place of beauty and rest. He has prepared this newness for all who call on Him. The marvelous thing about what He allows us to live in is He’s already bought and paid for it.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

On the Q.T.

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15 (NASB)

A couple of women in a Bible study I was teaching once asked me to give my testimony thinking that perhaps God has rescued me from some great degradation. They thought sharing a dramatic conversion with the group would be a ‘wow moment.’ Actually I hesitated to answer them because I had accepted Jesus into my heart at age 6. There were no dramatic moments of redemption in my life only the whispered prayer of a child. When I expressed this to the two ladies they actually seemed disappointed. The truth of the matter is a simple and quiet conversion to Christ carries as much significance as a dramatic one.

For those of us who have had quiet conversions it speaks to me of the protection and power of Christ that kept us from the harsh recollections and consequences of destructive choices.

The holding power of Christ is ultimate and unshakable whether a person comes to Him from the sewer or from their bedside. The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus does not change and never will (Hebrews 13:8) and that none the Father has put in His hand will be lost (John 10:27, 28). So it matters not how you come to Christ but only that He makes you the righteousness of God through Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21). When we stand before Him one day no one will be ‘trumped’ by someone with a better story. As we consider where we could be at the moment and where we are today through Christ’s grace and mercy then we can say “Wow Lord, why me? I could be swimming in a cesspool but I am clothed with Your righteousness instead.” We will never have to scratch for words concerning how we have arrived at where we are in Christ for the Word has already spoken on our behalf.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

A Giant Loss

Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 1st Samuel 17:50 (New American Standard Bible)

Who mourned for Goliath? The story of David’s stand against the Philistine warrior of Gath has been vigorously portrayed in both secular and religious interpretations. The media usually uses the account to illustrate how some little company or person wins a big battle over a large corporation and I’ve heard some ministers use it to proudly tell how a small stone shut a big mouth.

But God never takes pleasure in the death of the wicked. The loss of Goliath that day was more catastrophic in the eyes of God than to the Philistines. When anyone dies outside of God’s grace and protection it is a disaster of giant proportions. In today’s world of televised violence and death the deaths of those we don’t like seem to find validation a little too easily. Many would say Goliath had it coming. All the more is the pity that anyone who dies outside of God’s grace receives only a smug and uncompassionate shake of the head. That goes against everything Christ exampled and taught.

It is in our natures to have a win at all costs belief and to all too quickly display a scornful attitude when anyone we don’t like goes down in defeat. Living with this belief makes our hearts cold and rigid and easily shatters God’s compassion in our hearts and any vision for service disappears in the smoke of battle. Christ our Lord bids us to pray and bless those who persecute and curse us instead of gloating over their downfall. God will bring whatever victory is needed and like Goliath all who defy Him will come to destruction all too soon. Who will love them first and who will mourn for them if they fall?

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Siege Letters

Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 2nd Kings 19:14 (New American Standard Bible)

When the land of Judah was attacked by the king of Assyria the Judean king Hezekiah was given a written ultimatum by the Assyrian representative Rabshakeh. It outlined the hopelessness of Judah’s resistance against Assyria and guaranteed that if it did not surrender that Assyria would totally desolate the land as it had done to other nations that defied it.

It is interesting King Hezekiah didn’t panic or call his generals in to set up a council of war. Instead he took the letter to the house of the Lord and spread it out before Him giving the problem over to God to sort it out. After he did the prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him because he had prayed to the Lord about the problem God had heard him and would deliver the nation. That night one angel of the Lord went through the camp of the Assyrians and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers (II Kings 19:35). The next day Sennacherib, king of Assyria departed and returned to his nation and the siege of Judah was over.

Turning things over to God is one of the most difficult things to do. It is human nature to take control when the Lord desires we come to Him and put our ‘siege letter’ into His hand. It can be a very frightening thing to do and waiting upon the Lord’s perfect will can bring us to fear and trembling but doing so highly pleases Him. When we set these things before the Lord asking for His perfect will to be done the outcome will be His alone to deal with. The glorious thing about it is He has so many wonderful ways of dealing with problems that seem hopeless. That’s exciting to ponder. He knows what our scroll says before we open it and He already knows what He’s going to do about it.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com