You don’t hear the word backsliding used much anymore. Backsliding is a moral lapse of judgment and disobedience…a wayward decision, not always openly rebellious, but still falling short of God’s standard. Backsliding can be filled with arrogance such as Isaiah wrote, “The look on their faces testifies against them: they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it.” But regardless of how subtle or brash the backsliding is…it’s still sin, and all misdeeds have consequences. But it’s at that point that we must repent and ask God for forgiveness…and pray, “Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of Your Name; deliver us and forgive our sins for Your Name sake.” (Psalm 79:9)
Month: January 2021
Luke 24:46-49 ” He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His Name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what My Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’ “
What Jesus is promising here to His disciples is the Holy Spirit…the Spirit of Truth. (John 14:16) And as Believers, we also have been endowed with the Holy Spirit. (II Corinthians 1:22) Armed with this same Spirit of Truth we must then, as Jesus commanded His disciples, “Preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name to all nations.” Now is the time to take our eyes off the temporal to the eternal, and to heed the higher calling Jesus spoke of here. For Jesus told His disciples in John 15:26-27, “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father, He will testify about Me. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning.” Lift up your eyes today to this higher calling…for you have been more than equipped with the Holy Spirit who bears witness and glorifies Jesus Christ with the redemptive and saving truth of the Gospel.
II Chronicles 6:19-20 ” Yet give attention to Your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your Presence. May Your eyes be open towards this temple day and night, this place of which You said You would put Your Name there.”
These verses are part of the Prayer of Dedication for the Temple Solomon built for the Lord. But I want to apply this prayer to another Temple…that Temple is you and the Body of Believers – the Church universal. I Corinthians 3:16 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s Temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” And then I Corinthians 6:19 tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, whom you have received from God?” Finally in II Corinthians 6:16 we read, “We are the Temple of the living God.” We are the dwelling place of the Lord…both individually, and collectively as the Body of Believers. And despite what we may see around us…God has not abdicated, or relinquished His Temple, Throne, power, or authority to anyone or thing. Remember, you have been chosen as a dwelling place for His Name…and as part of the Church Body, you all have been joined together to become a holy Temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:21-22)
I Thessalonians 1:6-7 ” You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia.”
Think about this for a moment…to the world, as a Believer in Christ, you are either a good or bad example. You are either imitating Christ-like behaviors, or acting like the rest of the unsaved world. You are either allowing yourself to be crushed by the weight of trouble and affliction, or embracing with heart and mind the Good News of the Gospel Message. We are to be imitators of Christ and model Him to all we come in contact with…Believers and unbelievers alike, or as Paul exhorted Timothy, “Set an example for the Believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” (I Timothy 4:12) The world is watching you and how you react to tribulation. Is your conduct worthy of the Gospel?
Job 7:17 ” What is man that You make so much of him, that You give him so much attention…”
Have you ever asked the Lord the same question Job did here? Why are You even mindful of me Lord? Why do You even care for me? Can I really be of any use to You…considering that I’m just a weak, frail human being living in a house of clay that can be crushed more readily than a moth? (Job 4:19 & Job 22:2) The answer is a resounding Yes! That’s because God loves you, looks on you with mercy and favor, and shows His tremendous love for you when He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to save your soul.
Romans 3:22 ” This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Faith is the instrument God gives us in order for us to receive His gift of salvation. This saving faith is the initial step we take when placing our trust and confidence in His Son, Jesus Christ. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Ephesians 2:11-12 ” Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcised’ (that done in the body by the hands of men) – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”
These verses deal with the idea of exclusion and inclusion…of belonging or being unattached…of being an insider or an outsider. Gentiles, or unbelievers, lacked the covenantal physical sign of circumcision and thus were excluded. But then Jesus Christ came teaching the New Covenant concept of circumcision of the heart. Romans 2:29 tells us, “Circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” So those of us once far away from God have been brought near through the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13)…so we who were once outsiders have now been reconciled and become members of God’s family.
Romans 8:17 ” Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.”
If this Pandemic has shown me anything, it’s that the Corona Virus is no respecter of borders, gender, age, social or financial status. The entire world has been suffering together…which make the Scripture today very special. For as we suffer together, we are suffering together with Christ also. And as we share in Christ’s sufferings, there springs hope…hope of future glory. II Corinthians 1:5 tells us, ” Just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” So as we suffer together, we can be encouraged that Jesus sees and understands our sufferings…and just as hope lives within us, we should then live in that hope…or as I Peter 4:13 says, ” But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.”
If it is God’s Will…
What we want and what God wants can sometimes be two completely different scenarios. We have plans…big plans, exciting plans…but suddenly they evaporate in front of our eyes and we’re miffed. That’s when that tiny conjunction “if” comes into play, for it pits our will against God’s Will. But if we can look at that word more like Paul did…trusting the Lord to do the very best in all situations for him, rather than bristling when things didn’t work out the way he wanted, we’d be much better off. Think about this…God’s Will is His divine purpose to will and to do His good pleasure…it’s His gracious disposition towards us to do what’s the very best for us. So why wouldn’t we want God’s Will first and foremost for our lives?
I Peter 2:10 ” Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
This thought of God’s expression of compassion towards us is first found in Hosea 2:23 and echoed in Romans 9:25-26, “I will call them ‘My people’ who are not My people; I will call her ‘My Loved One’ who is not My loved one.” The Lord has called His Bride – the Church – out of darkness into His wonderful light…calling the Church His Loved One. He has taken pity on our wretchedness and has showered us with undeserved mercy…simply because He loves and treasures us as His own. Thank You Lord for Your compassion!
Safetypinlove 