Thursday, February 16, 2017, 6:11 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “In Faithfulness He Leads Me.” Speak,
Lord, your words to my heart. I read Hebrews
12:4-17 (NASB).
For Discipline
(vv. 4-11)
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding
blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation
which is addressed to you as sons,
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the
Lord,
Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with
you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you
are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to
discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to
the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as
seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share
His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but
sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful
fruit of righteousness.
The object of why Jesus
Christ died on a cross for our sins was that we might be delivered out of
slavery to sin. So, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified
with Christ in death to sin, and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of
life, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Since we
died with Christ to sin, “how can we live in it any longer?” “Our old self was
crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed
from sin.” So, we are to count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in
Christ Jesus” (See: Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6:1-23).
Many people who call
themselves Christians give in to temptation to sin far too easily. They don’t
even try to resist Satan or flee sinful desires. Others make some attempt at
trying to combat temptation to sin, but they fail because they are operating in
their flesh, and not in the Spirit. They are still toying (playing) with what
leads them into sin, and then they wonder why they can’t get victory.
We have to remember the
saying here, “Garbage in, garbage out.” If we take trash into our minds and
eyes on a regular basis, this is what our minds are going to think about and
eventually act upon. There is another saying that says, “If you don’t plan to
succeed, then you plan to fail.” Most people who are struggling with sin, I
would say, give into temptation because they have no plan in place to flee
sinful desires.
So, one of the reasons that
our Lord disciplines us is to get us back on track, following him in obedience,
and not giving the devil a foothold in our lives. His goal in discipline of the
wandering saint is to reprove, correct, and instruct in righteousness. God
disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. To be holy means to
be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being made into
the image of Christ, which is another reason for discipline, i.e. to conform us
into Christ’s likeness. And, if we are being disciplined by the Lord, it should
be painful and not pleasant for it to do its work in our lives. But, if we have
been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness,
which is the goal (objective).
Yet, not all discipline is
because we are failing to follow our Lord in obedience. Not all discipline is
for the purpose to correct and rebuke us, but it is for training in godliness
and holiness, and to help us mature in our walks of faith. It is so we learn to
rely not on ourselves, but on God. It teaches us patience and endurance. It
prunes us so we can be even more fruitful. It teaches us love, mercy,
forgiveness and compassion. It helps us to feel what God feels so that we take
on his heart and his passion for ministry. It keeps us humble. And, it keeps us
focused on Jesus and on his mission so that we don’t get distracted by the
cares of this life and miss out on all he has for us.
Strengthen Weak Knees (vv. 12-13)
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the
knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb
which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.
So, if we are struggling with
sin, meaning we are not being successful on a consistent basis in combating
temptation to sin, but we are regularly yielding to what we know is wrong to
do, then something needs to change. First, we have to really want to change or
it isn’t going to happen, so we need to first yield to our Lord and allow him
to truly be Lord (owner-master) of our lives. We need to humbly repent of all
known sin and trust him to show us the way of escape he has made for us. We
have to believe that when Jesus died for our sins that he put sin to death so
that sin no longer has mastery over us, unless we let it. Satan is already
defeated, so there is not any question who is going to win this battle. We just
have to use the spiritual armor God has given to us to fight off Satan’s evil
attacks against us.
So, we have to get serious
about God and about sin if we are going to defeat sin. We have to have an
honest heart examination before God and let him show us all the areas of our
lives where we are giving in to sin, and to show us what is required for us to
gain the victory. One of the first things we have to do is to rid our lives of
all that hinders our spiritual walks and which leads us into sin. We can’t
watch TV shows or movies, for example, with sexual situations in them or containing
sensuality and not be tempted to lust. We also can’t go to websites where they
have tempting ads on the side or on the bottom where we have previously given
in to temptation. We have to recognize our areas of weakness and not allow
ourselves to be drawn into sin by going places where we know we are going to be
tempted.
Then, in prayer, before God,
we make a plan for how we are going to resist the devil, flee sinful desires
and draw near to God. We have to be proactive about this or we will get
sideswiped, because Satan knows our weaknesses, and he knows our back doors,
too, because he has entered them before. We have to set our face like a flint
against sin if we are going to get serious about not giving in to temptation.
We can’t wink at it or flirt with it at all! And, we have to be willing to have
our friends and family members think we are nuts because we are not doing the
things we did before. Sometimes we have to get radical if we want results. If
we are too casual about sin, it will bite us most every time.
So, we learn about put offs
and put ons. We put off lying by telling the truth. We put off stealing by
working and giving to those in need. We put off gossip by loving our enemies –
praying for them, doing good to them, and wanting what is best for them. We put
off overeating by reducing our portions on purpose. We put off lust by thinking
about what is pure, righteous, holy, just, and honorable, and by acting
accordingly. We put off adultery by being faithful and by loving our spouse
with God-like love. Every time we are tempted to sin in any area we resist
Satan, we flee (run away from) the sinful desire, and we put on Christ, his
holiness, his righteousness and his Word, and we do what we know is right
instead of what is wrong.
No Bitter Root
(vv. 14-17)
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification
without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of
the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and
by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau,
who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even
afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he
found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
The kind of peace being
talked about here that we are to pursue does not involve compromise of faith,
conviction, purity, holiness and righteousness. Jesus never compromised truth
and righteousness to make peace with human beings. In fact, he said he didn’t
come to bring peace but a sword and to turn family members one against another.
What this means is that if we are truly following Jesus Christ with our lives
we will be hated by those who find offense in the cross of Christ. We will be
persecuted, rejected, falsely accused, ostracized, ridiculed, mocked, abused,
mistreated and gossiped about and slandered because people will not like our
stand for Christ and for his word and for holiness. So, pursue peace, as much
as is possible without backing down on your faith. Yet, not everyone is going
to be at peace with us. Yet, we should not stir up trouble unnecessarily.
The other thing we have to
watch out for here is that, when we are hated and persecuted and abused because
of our stand for Christ and for his holiness, and when we are crushed in spirit
and are wounded in heart, that we don’t let unforgiveness set in, which will then
turn into bitterness. We have to be continually forgiving our persecutors and
loving our enemies with God-like love, which sometimes means showing them “tough
love.”
In Faithfulness He Leads Me
An Original Work / March 20, 2013 / Based off Various
Scriptures
(Ps. 26:3; 86:11; 91:4-5; 111:7-8; 119:73-76; Is.
25:1,4&9; 42:6-7; Hos. 2:16-20)
Teach me Your ways, Lord, and I’ll walk
in them.
Give me a pure heart. I’ll fear Your
name.
Your love is always, ever before me.
Continually I’ll walk in Your truth.
You will cover me with feathers.
Under Your wings I’ll find refuge.
My Lord’s faithfulness will be my
Comfort and my shield.
The works of His hands are faithful and
just.
Trustworthy are all of His precepts.
Your hands have made me, and they have
formed me.
Give understanding of Your commands.
I have put my hope, O Lord, in Your
word.
Your teachings, O Lord, are
righteousness.
Lord, in faithfulness You have
Afflicted me so I may learn of
Your unfailing love and comfort
And Your truthfulness.
You are my husband; You have betrothed
me
In love, compassion and faithfulness.
O Lord, You are my God, I’ll exalt You.
In faithfulness You’ve done wondrous
things.
You’ve been a refuge for those who’re
needy;
A shelter in storms; shade from the
heat.
This is the Lord, we trusted in Him,
Let us be glad and rejoice
In His salvation which He
Provided through the Lamb.
Open the blind eyes; free all the
captives.
Tell them of Jesus: “Be born again!”
No comments:
Post a Comment