Friday, August 11, 2017, 5:30 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “As the Deer.” Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read Psalm 101:1-5
(NASB).
I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
I will give heed to the blameless way.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my
heart.
I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will know no evil.
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will
destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
will I endure.
His Lovingkindness
God so loved the world that
he gave his One and Only Begotten Son to come into the world to die on a cross
for our sins, so that anyone believing in him will not perish, but have eternal
life. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Light that came into the world in
order to show the way to God, and to provide the way for us to be saved from
our sins. But, many people love the darkness rather than the Light, for their
deeds are evil. So, they will not come to the Light lest their evil deeds will
be exposed (See: John 3:16-20).
Yet, if we want to come to
the Light, Jesus said that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily
die to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. He said that if we hold on to our
old lives (of living for sin and self), we will lose them for eternity, but if
we lose our lives (die with him to sin), we will gain eternal life. Paul
reiterated Jesus’ words when he said that if we walk (in lifestyle) according
to the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to
death the deeds of the flesh, we will live with Christ for eternity, i.e. we
will have eternal life with God (Lu. 9:23-25; Ro. 8:1-14).
For, Jesus did not die on
that cross merely to give us an escape from hell and the promise of heaven when
we leave this earth. He died that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness. He who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross so that we
might become the righteousness of God. Jesus gave his life up for us that we
might no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. When we trust in him as Lord
and as Savior of our lives, 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. So, if we claim to have fellowship with God, but we
walk (conduct our lives) in the darkness (sin), we are liars who don’t live by
the truth (See: 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Co. 5:15, 21; Ro. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn.
1:5-9; Gal. 5:19-25).
The Blameless Way
The purpose in Jesus dying on
that cross for our sins was not to just forgive us our sins, but to deliver us
out of slavery to sin, and so that we might walk in (live to) his righteousness.
And, his righteousness is what is approved in His eyes, i.e. what is deemed right
by him, such as morality, purity, justice, decency, truth, integrity,
uprightness, and holiness, etc. His grace to us is not a free license to
continue in sin without guilt and without remorse. His grace, which brings
salvation, instructs (commands) us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly
passions (lusts), and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we
await Christ’s return. So, if we continue in sin, i.e. if we make it our
practice, we don’t have the hope of eternal life with God (See: Gal. 5:19-25;
Eph. 5:3-6; Lu. 9:23-25; Ro. 8:1-14; & 1 Jn. 1:5-9).
When we come to faith in
Jesus Christ, we die to sin. So, how can we continue in it? Our old self was
crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so
that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from
sin. So, we should consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus. Sin, thus, should no longer reign in our bodies so that we obey its
lusts. Instead, we should present ourselves to God as instruments of his
righteousness. Sin should no longer have mastery over us, because Jesus set us
free from sin addiction. When we were enslaved to sin, though, we were free
from the control of righteousness, but now that we have been set free from sin,
we should have become slaves (bondservants) to righteousness, resulting in
sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life (See: Ro. 6:1-23).
So, our salvation from sin is
something that is to be lived out in our lives day by day. God’s grace to us
turns us from darkness (sin) to light (righteousness) and from the power of
Satan to God, so that we might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Acts 26:16-18).
And, “Lord” means “master-owner,” for we were bought back for God with the
price of Jesus’ blood shed on a cross for our sins. Thus, our lives are no
longer our own to be lived however we want, but we are to honor God by all that
we do, say, are and think. We are to walk in obedience to his commands. And,
this is how we know that we love him, and that we are his very own.
Integrity of Heart
So, what does this all look
like? It means we walk no longer according to our sinful flesh, but we now walk
(in lifestyle) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God. We conduct
our lives in truthfulness, sincerity of heart, purity, faithfulness,
lovingkindness, morality, and obedience and loyalty to God. We don’t seek
after, long after, or look to (or at) what is evil and contrary to God and to
his Word. This means we don’t let our eyes watch TV shows, movies, magazines,
books, videos or still pictures or images which reveal even partial nudity,
appealing to sensual lusts, or which glorify or present physically before us
what is immoral, wicked and evil. We should never allow ourselves to be
entertained by what is evil and by what is in conflict with God’s Word and his
Spirit now living within us.
We should hate evil, in fact,
and we should grieve over those who are caught in sin’s deceitfulness, praying
for their deliverance. We should have no part with what is evil so that it does
not get a grip on our lives once again. So, we must be careful concerning our
close associations and with regard to those with whom we partner so that we do
not surround ourselves with those who will only bring us down spiritually and
morally. There is no fellowship between light and darkness. So, we can’t have
true fellowship with those who are walking in darkness and who are conducting
their lives according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit. Bad
company corrupts good character, so choose your friends wisely.
Instead of longing after and
running after and seeking after what is worldly, immoral, ungodly and contrary
to the teachings of scripture, we should be those who seek after our Lord, and who
run after him to follow him in his ways, and in his truth. We should hunger and
thirst after righteousness, not after the things of this world. We should
desire God with such passion that it would be like longing for water when one
is parched and is thirsty. He alone should be our hearts’ desire. We should
long to worship him in spirit and in truth by yielding our hearts, minds and
souls over to him, to live holy lives, pleasing to him.
We should find our full
satisfaction in this life in Him, and he should be the one to whom we go with
our problems, our concerns and our requests. He is the one we should lean on,
rely upon, and learn from. We should not trust in ourselves and in our own
resources, thinking or reasoning. And, we should not follow other humans above
God. Our full allegiance (commitment, loyalty, faithfulness) should be to him
alone, and to no other gods should we give our worship, praise, adoration and
devotion. Our Lord should be everything to us, and we should love and desire
him above all else.
As the Deer
/ Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the
water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire…
You alone are my strength, my
shield
To You alone may my spirit yield…
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