In this verse the Lord lays out very clearly what’s our responsibility and what’s His. For starters, this relationship can’t happen until we have that “coming to Jesus moment”, a time when we finally stop, admit our sinfulness, repent, and turn back to Him. He says that at that moment He will restore, renew, and revive our old self into a new one that is worthy of carrying His Message to others. But there is also a warning in this verse, a caution to not allow compromise to creep into our message – however enticing it is – to merely win the approval of man. As Zechariah 3:7 tells us, we are to continually walk in His ways and keep His requirements…not what we think others want to hear.
Tag: God’s divine viewpoint
Psalm 33:10-11 ” The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
Psalm 2:1 asks the question, “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain against the Lord?” It’s because within the cunning imagination of man is that prideful idea that we can control our own destiny…but this all just vanity. For God’s Will prevails over all… and He will carry out His plan and purpose for His glory. We may think we know the answers…but only God can see from beginning to end and around every corner of life.
Hebrews 10:26-27 ” If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
God’s divine viewpoint is true truth. It is the redemptive revelation, or saving truth we receive when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But God’s truth is also uncomfortable, and makes us squirm as we face the unlovely parts of our life. So it’s much easier to water down and bend God’s truth than to change ourselves. That’s why we’re warned in II Peter 2:20, that when those who know Christ but then become entangled and overcome by sin are worse off at the end than when they were at the beginning. For there’s only one form of the truth, and when we intentionally embrace half-truths to make ourselves feel better…it’s still sin.
Safetypinlove 