His Ways, not Our Ways

Isaiah 55:6-9 ESV

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked forsake his way,

    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Our Lord is not always going to be there waiting for people to seek him. One day he is going to return to judge and to take his bride to be with him for eternity, and then there will be no more chances. Also, not one of us is promised our next breath. Our lives could be taken from us in an instant, in the blinking of an eye, and for some, when they least expect it. So, the encouragement here is to seek him while he may be found. Don’t wait!

The other thing of note here is that seeking him involves the unrighteous forsaking their wicked ways and their sinful practices and turning to him to follow him in his ways and in his truth. But this isn’t just about the things that the ungodly do, in practice, but it is regarding their thoughts, too. They must forsake their unrighteous and ungodly thinking and now take on themselves the mind of Christ and his ways of thinking.

And to return or to turn to the Lord has to do with repentance. And repentance is to have a change of mind resulting in a change of behaviors. We turn away from living in sin and for self, we die with Christ to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Now sin is to no longer reign in our bodies to make us obey its desires (Romans 6:1-23).

And, according to the Scriptures, this is what is required for salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God. But this isn’t something that we do once in our lives, done deal. We must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We must no longer walk in deliberate and habitual sin, but we must now walk in holiness and in righteousness, in walks of obedience to our Lord, or we won’t have eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

And it is true that, in our human minds, we don’t think like God thinks. And our human ways are not the ways of God. Yet, many people are ignoring these Scriptures noted above while they profess faith in Jesus Christ, but while they also continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord Jesus. For they are listening to the thinking of man, not to what the Scriptures teach, in their context. And so many do not take sin seriously.

So, what we have in many or most of these modern market-driven “churches” (businesses) today are many professers of faith in Christ who are convinced their sins are all forgiven and that they are on their way to heaven but while they continue living in deliberate and habitual sin. And much of the church sanctions their habitual and deliberate sin under the auspices of God’s grace. But what do the Scriptures teach on that?

We read in Titus 2:11-14 that God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, instructs (teaches, trains) us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly (fleshly) lusts (desires), and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (cf. Ephesians 2:10).

No Less  

An Original Work / March 19, 2012

I can do no less than praise You,

Lord, for all You’ve done for me.

You died for my sins to save me,

So I would be set free.

I adore You! Lord, I praise You!

Jesus, Savior, King of kings!

You provided my redemption.

Your grace has pardoned me.

I can do no less than serve You. 

Lord, Your witness I would be,

Telling others of Your love,

And why You died on that tree.

Tell of how You gave of Your life,

So from sin we’d be set free,

So we could worship You forever,

And live eternally.

I can do no less than love You,

Lord, for You have first loved me.

You gave of Your life so willing,

Because You cared for me.

Turn from my sin! Obey freely!

Live for You each passing day.

Read Your word, and follow Your lead,

Lord, as I humbly pray. 

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