The Nature of Sin

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: June 23 Devotional

Sin is mutinous, sin kills, sin is a fact of life. Pretty dismal if that was all there was, if that was all we had to work with. If there was only our sinful selves, each and every one of us.

²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 (NASB)

But we cannot give up for there is a hope we all have in our Savior.

¹Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB)

We can mess things up on our own, we have proven that since the beginning, but we cannot make right what has gone astray. Not alone. Not without help.

But by the Lord's grace we have it.

Tried and Tested...And True

Some reflections from my journal, same day a year apart:

⁶The words of the LORD are pure words;
As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.
Psalm 12:6 (NASB)

⁵Every word of God is tested;
He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
Proverbs 30:5 (NASB)

We can put God's Word to the test: read it, study it, chew on it, beat on it, apply it, and rely on it. It holds up because it is the Word of God, true to Him and therefore truth to us. It holds up, it guides us, it never lets us down if we accept it as truth.

³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
John 8:32 (NASB)

The truth is freeing because there is nothing else to turn to, nor anything else that can turn us from it if we are true to Him.

⁵And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new " And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."
Revelation 21:5 (NASB)

His Words are freeing because He told us they are true and we have the faith and trust in Jesus to believe what He said, faith and trust in God to believe the Bible is His Word sent down to us.

There are not many things in this world that I can feel confident are tried and tested...and true. The Word of God is one of them, but that is because it is not of this world.

It was written by the Finger of God through the agency of His chosen instrument, people like us but inspired by Him.

Strength in Patience

I am not by nature a patient man, never have been.

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: May 2 Devotional

I also have not usually associated patience with strength, but more with a willingness to put up with stuff, usually unpleasant stuff.

³"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Habakkuk 2:3 (NASB)

The words I highlighted are the ones in the verse that Chambers stressed. It is a convicting point to me; a lack of patience is more than just a failure of my strength, it is a failure of my faith.

As I move through the week, looking to wrap up the school term, looking to lay out what I will be doing the next few months, I need to keep in mind that waiting on the Lord is the strength I desire, the faith I require. Nothing less is needed, nothing more is required.

As you think about moving through the upcoming days, weeks and months ahead; what requires yuor strength in faith, but more importantly, how are you going to go around to getting it?

3 Questions to Ponder

Based on some readings I have been doing lately, here are some questions I have been thinking about:

• Old earth vs. new earth - was the earth created 4.5 billion years ago or 10 to 20 thousand? Is a day in Genesis 1 a 24 hour day or millions of years? I like the way Grudem puts it that Scripture is more easily understood to suggest (but not require) a young earth, but observable facts seem to favor an old earth. I guess I lean to young earth, I like a more easily understood Scripture and a God who created out of nothing could certainly make it all look old from the start. But I do not know for sure and when it comes down to it:

It does not change one iota my view that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior

• Premillennialism vs. postmillennialism vs. amillennialism - does Jesus return before or after the 1000 year reign described in Revelation 20:4-5? Is there even a millennium prior to the eternal state? This one is tough to discuss, there is not much to go in Scripture. I believe in the premillennial, pre-tribulation rapture view, but once again I do not know for sure and

It does not change one iota my view that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior

My point being we sometimes argue, disagree or split over things that in the final analysis ar enot important to the main thing, the main thing being where you stand with Jesus.

• Spicy brown vs. yellow mustard - this one isn't of the same weight as the first two, but it is important. Thought we needed to lighten up a bit. OK, I didn't read any on this one, but could not get a hot dog this weekend when I stopped without getting yellow mustard. I'd rather eat it dry. I am a spicy brown mustard man. This one I know without hesitation or further reflection. And I am not even going to talk about the best hot dogs being a "dirty water" dog off a street vendor in Manhattan.

So let's stick to the main thing and once we do, we can also get rid of the yellow mustard as soon as we can.

The Bible Comes Alive

The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is written it is confined and limited by the necessities of ink and paper and leather. The voice of God, however, is alive and free as the sovereign God is free...It is the present Voice which makes the written Word all-powerful.
A. W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God

I have had the chance to spend some time in Tozer recently preparing for a small group meeting. It makes me sorry that I do not spend more time when I read something like this. As a friend said, there is no fluff in Tozer.

I am always in awe of how the words of the Bible can leap of the page and into your heart. It is for me the living proof of the inspiration of God, the words spoken into the minds of men from the hand of God.

When He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Exodus 30:18 (NASB)

This is the vivid picture that this passage and Tozer's words create for me. The Bible lives because it is the speaking voice of God written down, the very words etched in our hearts by the finger of God.

If you ever read the Bible, studied the Bible with an open heart, you have felt this. You may fight it, but you have felt it. If you have read the Bible, you have been privileged to read read the very words spoken by God, written by His command.

Let them live in you as if placed there by the very finger of God.