Law and Love - 2

I am seeing more and more evidence of yet another major theme emerging from this passage in Romans – the contrast between darkness and light, alignment with the law contrasted with deeds of darkness or of the flesh.

As I observed last time, Jesus came to fulfill the law with real love. He interfered in the natural progression of the human race toward death and extinction to reverse this destiny for all those who would accept salvation. This choice is what is being discussed in this chapter, in fact throughout the whole book of Romans. But I would like to itemize more clearly the things referred to here on each side of the choice and begin to see their relationship with each other.

All through the book of Romans Paul has talked about the law. However, he has made it repeatedly clear that the law is not gone or done away with as many Christians try to believe. This is impossible since the Law of God is really a description of the principles of reality itself as created by the Author of all powers and forces and materials and beings. In these chapters Paul is beginning to make it much more clear that the only way in which we can be properly aligned or synchronized with the law – and that is absolutely necessary in order for any of us to be able to successfully encounter the intense presence of the Almighty – is to be filled with the same love that makes up the very essence of God Himself.

The Law of God is something of an over-simplification or a verbal visualization of the symptoms that will be seen in the life of an individual who is full of God's love. But any attempt to actualize those symptoms without having the real cause internally is a tragic choice of foolishness and is really the essence of sin. To try to exhibit the signs of life without being properly connected to the real Source of life is hypocrisy and even treason against the government of heaven. So all attempts to diminish the importance of the laws of God for humans is really promotion of sin and treason and is extremely dangerous at best and will be fatal in the end if not renounced through repentance.

To believe that the Law of God has a diminished role in the life of a Christian is to claim that God has a diminished role in the life of a Christian – a patent absurdity. But just because the Law still is in full force it does not follow that we can produce the results that the Law describes in our present condition, even with a great deal of assistance from God as many teach. We can never “keep” the law of God enough to contribute anything to our own salvation. Absolutely nothing we do has any saving merit to add to the salvation already provided through complete trust in the life and death of Jesus Christ But equally true, Jesus' life and death does not reduce in the slightest the law's requirements over us. It only amplifies the law's true function and purpose as a simple description of the character of God.

The only way anyone, either before or after the incarnation of the Son of God on this planet – the only way a person can be “saved” is to allow the provisions and demonstrations provided by God to change their opinions and attitudes toward God and subject themselves fully to His authority in their hearts and minds. Sin is rebellion against the authority of heaven. Sin is denial of God's right to the very beings that He Himself created for love. Until we submit to the ways and means that God has brought to us to re-implant His love in our hearts we will remain in our condition of rebellion and are headed for hell. For hell is actually the resistance of the heart exposed to the powerful current of heart-love flowing out of the power-source of all the universe. And when strong current meets resistance the result is always overwhelming heat and finally destruction.

So it makes sense then, that love is the fulfillment of the law and that in the very same chapter that this is explained that we are also carefully instructed to let go of all resistance to authority. Clearly love and resistance must be opposites according to this chapter. Resistance is part of the deeds of darkness and the lusts of the flesh. To put on the armor of light is to put on the very presence of God which is full of the love-current flowing from His heart. But to live in the light we must also get rid of all resistors inside of us or we will have problems with them heating up and causing pain and internal damage.

Likewise, the other things listed here in Romans 13 are also problems of resistance and deeds of darkness. When we resist rendering to anyone what is due them (v. 7), according to heaven's viewpoint we are still not awake and participating in the life of the daylight. When we dishonor any of the Ten Commandments (v. 9) we are still living in the dark. When we do anything wrong to our neighbor we cannot be living in love. And how do we know what wrong is unless there is a standard by which to measure it?

All the the deeds of darkness listed in verse 13 are indicators that we do not yet have the real love of God permeating our hearts. This includes the mention of strife which encompasses things like arguing, debating and contention. That pretty much describes everyone when it starts getting that close to our daily life. And it is true, all of us have sinned and are deeply infected in various ways with the seeds of sin and deception that keep us at odds with the pure description of love as seen in the Law of God.

But Jesus' purpose for coming to earth was not to keep the Law so that we would no longer need to. That is just as absurd as saying that Jesus loved everyone so I don't need to love anyone but myself. With that logic I could say that He loved on my behalf (kept the law perfectly) so I don't need to love because He is my substitute. I don't hear anyone trying to make that absurd claim, and yet many people try to believe that because Jesus fulfilled the Law that we no longer need to keep it. The Law and love are actually synonymous in a sense when it comes right down to it. That is why any attempts to keep the law without doing it as a natural result of a heart full of love is nothing but a charade and will never prepare a person to live in the presence of pure love.

The really exciting part of this whole plan of salvation and the purpose of Jesus' repeated comings to this earth is that God has planned a day in which His purpose will be finally realized and brought to completion. Love will once again be the only game in town. Every mind and heart in existence will be only filled with pure, selfless love and will perfectly function flawlessly in the giant power circuit of the universe totally dependent on the one and only power source of life, God Himself. This is the ultimate goal of everything we are studying and the end object of all prophecies in the Bible. And to prepare us for this end everything else must contribute. To properly understand anything in Scripture we must always keep this bigger picture in mind and the details will then begin to glow with new life and meaning and purpose.

(next in series)

Law and Love

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18 NKJV)

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:11-12)

I have been stirred inside recently as I have been wondering how to relate properly to some who feel very agitated about any talk of the law. They are very excited and insistent about the importance of grace and love and mercy, but anytime any mention of the law is made they become very reluctant to listen and feel quite threatened as if thinking about the law will steal away the joy they need from embracing God's mercy and love for them.

As I meditated on my current passage of study this morning I noticed something very significant, a pattern that has great importance to both the study of the law and of love. I am seeing that the two are really inseparable and to think that we can just live on love and grace and mercy without any reference to the law is like trying to learn to fly without ever taking gravity into account. Gravity is a very powerful and dangerous principle that cannot be ignored except at the peril of your very life. But when respected and appreciated for what it is and related to properly, gravity is something that becomes an ever-present element of pretty much everything we do, an assumption built into most of our day to day decisions and activities.

Just so, the Law of God is really something of a raw description of what we otherwise know as love. Yes, it has been given very dark connotations by the enemy of the law, the great accuser of both God and the brethren and and the law's archenemy Satan. But Satan is also the greatest enemy of love as well. He has come up with many very convincing counterfeits to love and many of them look very appealing and often make us feel extremely good inside for awhile. But nothing can replace the genuine, selfless love that can only be had by a connection with the only source of love, God Himself.

What can be seen in these verses when properly understood and not resisted, is the fact that the law and love are amazingly the very same thing. In the above reference, Jesus very plainly declared that He had no intention whatsoever of reducing the power or importance of the law but came to fulfill it. In reality He came to amplify the law, not reduce or displace it with some new thing called love. Yes, He did come to displace our very distorted ideas about the law, but those mistaken beliefs are not really the law but false ideas about the law implanted by the great deceiver.

There has been a lot of argument, especially by those desiring to set aside the importance of God's law, over what this word fulfill really means in this statement by Jesus. They try to claim that the law was done away with at the cross and that we no longer are under obligation to keep the law because Jesus kept it on our behalf. They teach that somehow because of Jesus fulfillment of the requirements of the law that God now excuses everyone who believes in Jesus from the need to obey the law perfectly, for they believe that Jesus is their substitute “obeyer”. But that kind of logic is simply fallacy and wishful thinking and cunningly deceptive doctrine that plays into the cravings of the flesh. This kind of theology is based firmly on a subtle desire to have the advantages of being right with God while at the same time making provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Romans 13:14).

As seen very plainly above in verses 8 and 10 as well as other places throughout the Bible, love itself is the fulfillment of the law. So instead of fighting against the law and having my heart full of resistance (a potentially fatal mistake), I need to see that love itself is the only answer or means by which the law can be satisfied and I can become aligned with the principles of creation called law. For it is only as I am perfectly aligned with the true principles that describe reality will I ever be safe to be exposed to the powerful, glorious but dangerous atmosphere of God's heart that is filled with more passion and love than I can ever imagine.

So how did Jesus fulfill the law? Jesus was the perfect demonstration of the genuine love that the Godhead has for human beings and He demonstrated it in the way He treated everyone in His life here on earth. He also demonstrated in His death the natural consequences of what will inevitably happen to those who reject God's ways of love. Cut off from the Source of all life and love there is nothing left but suffering and death – the eternal kind of death. This eternal is not time-oriented but is psychological in nature.

I am coming to believe more and more firmly that the main reason Jesus came to this earth was to change our mind about how God feels about us, not to execute some legal maneuver to create a loophole so that sinners can get into paradise by saying a few “magic” words about their faith in Jesus. For it is not God's mind that need changing in the slightest – God is not the problem and is not mad at us. It is humanity that has the distorted, deceived notions about God and is angry at Him.

So when Jesus talked about fulfilling the law, when I connect these verses in Romans 13 with what Jesus said I see that He indeed fulfilled the law by demonstrating perfect love. But the law still needs to be fulfilled in everyone, not just one human being. And that is the whole purpose of salvation, to provide a way for everyone who is willing to be re-created and re-inspired by the breath of God so that they can become once again perfect reflectors of true love which is the perfect fulfillment of the law.

Far from avoiding talk or meditation on the law, those who believe they should champion love and mercy and grace should be embracing the law. (See Psalms 119) Not of course, in a legalistic way, for that itself is due to the lack of love as the motivation for obedience. But we should be more aware of the incredible integration between the law and the perfect love that God has in His heart for all of His creation. Just because we are not yet fully like God and thus not perfectly transformed into the ultimate description given by the law does not mean we should avoid studying that perfect pattern and description of the One who is perfect love. Since the law and love both emanate from the heart of the same Source and describe the same Being, we should be very wary of trying to avoid one while thinking we are embracing the other. That is really trying to be schizophrenic.

Most people believe that Jesus was a wonderful example of love; very few people would deny that, even those of other religions. It is also true that Jesus was the perfect example of obedience to the law; most Christians base their hope of salvation on that doctrine. But if we try to claim, as many Christians propose, that Jesus' obedience to the law exempts us from the need to also obey perfectly, then the same argument would have to apply that because Jesus was our perfect example of love then we no longer need to love.

The real problem lies in the fact that we cannot do either one of these things of ourselves. I cannot perfectly love because I am not focused enough on the real Source of love and I have no love within me without that connection. And because I do not love enough I also, to the same degree, fail to obey the law properly – I do not fulfill it. For as Paul states unequivocally here, love itself is the fulfilling of the law. But love must come first or true obedience can never materialize.

So based on the fact that all of us are nothing more than mirrors, and any love or light that is seen in us is only that which we have received from God, I need to spend my time and concentration on knowing God much better and seeking His face as He has invited me to do. And the closer I get to the perfect Source of light and love the more my life will resonate with that same love toward others and back to God. Then, as a natural consequence of living that kind of life with that kind of focus, natural obedience will just flow out of me without me even realizing it. And in so doing the law will be fulfilled through me by the indwelling Christ living in my heart.

(next in series)

Make No Provision

Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:13-14)

I don't know if it was intentional or not by the author, but I notice that there are three pairs in verse thirteen and that if the three pairs are compared in line with each other that there seems to maybe be a parallel progression on each side of the three. The parallel progression is not as clear though, as the natural progression that each pair has in following the previous pair.

I had to look up the original words to get a sense of what they might really mean and found some helpful insights. The word for carousing means reveling or rioting but comes from another root word which means to lie out-stretched. The imagery that comes to mind is hard partying where a person “lets their hair down”, lets go of their inhibitions and allows themselves to sink into a weakened condition emotionally, physically and morally. This certainly is what typically happens when one gets involved in drunkenness and is often the very reason why people choose to get drunk, to shed their inhibitions.

What often follows after the inhibitions are abandoned is a desire to get involved in sexual activities that are inappropriate. There is an interesting distinction though, between promiscuity and sensuality. Promiscuity would seem to indicate deliberate involvement in a much more physical level with sexual activities while sensuality is much more a state of the mind and imagination. Sensuality can be indulged in far more easily and in many more circumstances than outright engagement in physical sex. This may be because physical sexual activity would more likely require another person somewhat willing to be involved while sensuality can be indulged in completely alone. But either way, these are natural progressions from getting involved in the first pair of activities.

The third set of things described here are also typical natural outgrowths of the previous choices and activities. Strife and jealousy are the results caused by messing up relationships and engaging in activities of lust and many times coercion that accompany improper sexual indulgences. Strife and jealousy are simply fruit that is produced by the dysfunctional tensions that are set up when we violate the natural laws of relationships that God intended for us to live in harmony with.

The word for strife means to argue and debate, it involves wrangling, quarreling, contention, etc. And while this very often comes as the result of engaging in the previous activities, it can also occur while carefully avoiding them, at least externally. This is the point in the discussion where many Christians can easily begin to get nervous and want to move quickly on to another less exposing passage of Scripture.

Jealousy also has some interesting connotations in the original language. It carries in it an intensity of zeal but in a negative way. It involves fervency and indignation. It literally means “heat”. It creates the picture of someone's emotions heating up because of a threatened or damaged relationship which is clearly what would be involved after the previous activities had taken place.

But again, jealousy is something that can easily infect the mind and heart without the person engaging in sexual sins. It can be something that we can allow to grow in the heart through assumptions and suspicions of others. When a person indulges in the counterfeit kind of judgment they can easily draw conclusions about others that will produce strife and jealousy.

The last verse here puts the finger on the real root of all of these problems. All of these issues emanate from our sarx, the flesh as it is often called in English. It is the sinful part of our psyche that has been embedded deep within our beings that we cannot escape and that we inherited from Adam. It is the part of us that is constantly suggesting ideas to make us feel better but that never quite agrees with the ways that God has for us. The sarx is the root living within us that always purports to have our best interest in mind and is always offering ways to satisfy our needs and resolve our problems in ways that sound very logical and attractive. But the sarx is hopelessly derailed from the ways of pure truth and can never bring true satisfaction no matter how many times it insists it needs just one more chance.

The sarx is really the traitor within our hearts. It is so close to us and such a part of us that we assume it is us, that it is our real identity. But the sarx is the part of us that if we do not acknowledge and expose and renounce as our enemy, in spite of its loud protests, it will in the end bring us to ruin and cause our complete failure while still insisting that our problems are all someone else's fault.

This last verse is a clear declaration of the real choice that each human being is faced with in relation to themselves and God's offer of restoration. We can renounce the things that we crave suggested by our sarx (flesh) and refuse to accommodate it in any way, while at the same time embracing the identity and presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ in such a way as to deliver us from the spell of the sarx. Or we can follow our natural desires, our own wisdom, our own feelings or cravings and then suffer the natural dysfunctions that result from disharmony with the perfect ways of Jesus and the design for which we were originally created.

The word lusts here refer directly to how the flesh part of us, the sarx, always operates. The fleshly desires that lie at the root of our sinful nature are always selfish, even when they appear to be very generous and magnanimous. Our lower nature is very deceptive and quite often it is ourselves that are the ones most deceived. We often think we are pretty good with just a few problems that need ironing out, but in general compared to most folks we are a pretty decent, kind person.

But selfishness and lust are very closely linked and lust by definition is the desire to have what we want very soon, preferably now. The focal point of lust is our own desires and cravings for satisfaction, good feelings and pleasure of some sort. Ironically this can include many things that we don't normally associate with the word lust but still are used to satisfy our desire for fulfillment and attention outside of God's will. But the direction of both selfishness and lust is inward and we end up using people or circumstances or opportunities to benefit primarily ourselves instead of selflessly living for others first. This is simply because the nature of sin itself is generally always the opposite direction from the flow of attention and focus that operates in the atmosphere of heaven.

But the only way I can change this direction of focus and thinking and living is to have my spirit and mind immersed in the continuous presence of the Lord Jesus in a very real way, not just in theory or idealism. I need to have a dynamic and growing relationship with Jesus that is transforming my life on an on-going basis for me to have any hope of experiencing what God wants for my life. I really do have to learn and experience what it means to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for my flesh.

I can see that it would be very helpful to spend some time seriously contemplating and even discussing with others just what making provision for the flesh might look like in all different circumstances. It would be very useful because being aware of the potential ways in which I might be doing it can help alert me more quickly when I find myself doing that very thing. If you have any ideas about this feel free to share them with me.

(next in series)

Armor of Light

The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:12)

I find this imagery both interesting and compelling. In today's world it even illicits allusions to light sabers and other special effects dreamed up by the intense imaginations of Hollywood. But in nearly every case where something similar to this is presented in our society and entertainment it is used as an aggressive weapon to hurt others and defend ourselves with violence. The idea of light being used as armor seems almost odd to our typical way of thinking.

The assumptions about armor is generally that it is there to shield one from attack, to prevent or reduce the damage coming from outside sources. Even the armor in the days of Paul when this was written was that of protecting the body from harm by sword, spear, arrows or rock attacks if I am not mistaken. Armor is to shield vital areas of the body from too much damage so that one can have a good chance of at least living through a fight if not keeping all the limbs in tact. To do this it must be quite hard to ward off strikes by sword or hits by arrows from an enemy out to hurt and destroy us.

So in this context, the idea of depending on just light to act as armor sounds almost absurd. If anything, light might be the very opposite of what we might expect for good protection during an attack – darkness to hide our position. Warriors and soldiers commonly utilize darkness as an important part of their strategy to keep themselves hidden and protected from attack by the enemy, so to illuminate one's self with blazing light, in the worldly battle mentality, might be the height of foolishness.

A couple of verses later we are again instructed to put on something, but this time it is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is congruent as there are many inferences and statements throughout the Bible that closely associate God and Jesus with light. So these two verses can easily be talking about the very same thing.

But clearly these instructions are symbolical and cannot be literal, at least at this point in time. This is a problem that has dogged me for many years, the use of analogies that are simplisticly explained by other analogies but that never really make sense in the real world. Things like Giving your heart to Jesus or Dying to self or Being broken on the Rock or Being washed in the blood. All of these things are spiritual allusions that cause a great deal of confusion when the meanings and explanations are not clearly understood in the realm of the spirit. Likewise, putting on some mysterious Armor of light also can be very baffling and just another religious piece of jargon that is not understood in useful ways that benefit us in our day to day life.

I once heard a pastor challenge people to explain the gospel exclusively using non-religious words so that a person unfamiliar with religion could clearly understand it. I have kept that in the back of my mind and even try to always apply it to the words I use in prayer. Because so many – in fact the majority – of religious words and phrases are heavily shrouded in baggage picked up through centuries of darkness and tradition and abuse, I have made it a habit over a number of years to regularly challenge and reframe spiritual truths into words that have much more meaning and practicality.

I want to do that with this phrase also, but I am still mulling over what it might really mean. I am sure a whole book could be written to unpack all of the implications and nuances that would be uncovered, and it would be very inspiring and even compelling. But I would like to at least do a cursory examination of what Paul may have had in mind when he wrote these words.

Part of the meaning is also going to be connected with the context in which it is placed here. It comes on the heels of clear instructions about living in love, primarily love for those around us. When we begin to comprehend how impossible that is to do as described here in our normal state of relating to others it becomes much easier to see our need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (however that is done) in order for this to be accomplished in our life. Only Jesus has the capacity to love the way we are all supposed to love each other.

It also comes immediately after a discussion about relating to authorities and the problem of internal resistance which I am beginning to perceive more and more is one of our greatest liabilities in life. Resistance itself, not just with authorities but in all areas of life, is a fatal ingredient that if left unrepaired and unremoved from our hearts will be like land mines ready to go off and destroy us when things get rough or we are exposed too much to the real glory of God's heart of passion.

But I sense that a better perception of understanding this analogy of light would be more accurate if our bigger picture was more in line with reality. When we see how heaven uses light and come into proper relationship with the way heaven views things we will be much closer to comprehending how important it is for us to acquire this armor of light and the benefits we can enjoy under its protection.

One aspect of this that I feel may help to clue me in to the usefulness of this light is how man was originally created. I believe from evidence I have gleaned from a number of sources that Adam and Eve, though naked in the sense that they needed no artificial clothing before their indulgence in sin, were clothed in garments of light. This was a very literal and useful asset for them and also served as a means of protection. Since there was no shame or fear at all in their hearts before the fall they were not concerned with needing to cover up body parts from the sight of others. But the light very possibly may have served many purposes as was similar if not identical to the kind of light-garments worn by angels and even by God Himself.

Having light itself as a garment and protection (armor) would have very many advantages, most of which we are likely oblivious to today. But I have often thought that this light could very well have acted as sort of a combination illumination and magnifying glass so that when they approached an object of interest that they could see deep into the intricacies of how it was formed far down into the micro levels of physics. Things that today require massive instruments and complex structures for us to examine, for them was accessible simply by utilizing their self-contained light source emanating from their whole body to expose any item of interest to their wondering gaze.

This light could also illuminate their surroundings whenever they happened to enter a place where the natural light from outside might not be able to reach. And the light could also serve as a means of keeping their body temperature equalized during potential fluctuations in the surrounding atmosphere wherever they might travel.

This light armor/garment was what they lost whenever they chose to follow the suggestions of doubt and disloyalty proposed by the deceptions of the serpent Satan. Because this light was literally something of the presence of divinity that was part of their physical and spiritual being, when they rejected the Lordship of their Creator they also lost the presence of light that served so many important functions for their life. When this was gone they were affected very strongly in a number of ways including emotionally. They were now not only susceptible to outside forces reaching their skin and affecting them in ways they had never known before, but they became emotionally vulnerable in their spirit to evil influences and powers that they had never experienced before.

Suddenly they became aware of new and terrifying sensations that were very un-God-like, things like fear, apprehension, shame, anger, resentment, defensiveness and many other feelings that we now take for granted. These were all foreign emotions to our first parents and things that God never designed for them to experience. He had provided protection for them in their armor of light – the very atmosphere of God Himself in Jesus Christ around them. So as long as they were living under His Lordship and unresistant to His sweet influences in their hearts they were protected against suffering any of the evil effects that the enemy wanted to impose upon them.

But the sad truth is that humanity lost that armor of light, that presence of the divine through the choice to accept another authority and that new authority implanted his sinful nature deep into their psyche and we have been cursed with it ever since. But what I am beginning to see here is that salvation is being offered to reverse the curse and restore the light-shield in some respects that Adam and Eve forfeited so long ago. And while we may not immediately experience a literal garment made of visible light right away, the light will begin to be restored to the spirit part of us as we come again into proper submission and synchronization with the heart of our Creator and Redeemer.

This light I believe may be very closely connected to the gift of the Holy Ghost as promised by Jesus before His death as well as afterward. This light will also restore to us some of the abilities to magnify things for our better understanding in some ways that Adam and Eve enjoyed. And while we will not receive the complete package of light until we receive brand new bodies after the resurrection, we do not have to live in total darkness any longer. Our spirit and heart and mind can begin to be energized and enlightened and transformed by close intimacy with our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ who is the Light of the world.

But what about the idea of protection implied in the word armor? Is a close relationship with Jesus going to guarantee that I will no longer be hurt or wounded by attacks from others or from Satan? No, if anything we become liable to even more intense attacks by the enemy who is determined to keep us under his dictatorial control. God has never promised that we will live free of all suffering and pain when we put on the Lord Jesus. In fact, in a number of places He assures us that we will face persecution and problems and trials when we choose to follow Him. But we are also told to rejoice when these things happen in our lives. (see James 1:2-4)

So what use is this armor of light for me if it cannot prevent me from being the object of attack and receiving heart wounds and suffering? What's the motivation for me to follow these instructions to put on the armor of light and be in subjection to the Lordship of Jesus? If it is not to make my life better and less painful, why should I even bother to follow this idea any farther?

There is a lot of solid reasons to embrace and wear this armor of light that I don't have time to examine here. But these are very valid and important questions that need to be faced by every person claiming to be a Christian. I listened to an interesting sermon yesterday that I downloaded from the internet called Hell's Best Kept Secret. I was convicted by some important points that this preacher had to say, even though I can't agree with all his theology. But the main point of the presentation was that until a person realizes their desperate condition and the immense danger they are in from a higher perspective than they are used to thinking about, they will not be very stable as a Christian and will be very easily dislodged from their relationship with Jesus because their motives are to improve their current life more than to live for eternal security.

If we depend solely on a desire to avoid pain and have a comfortable life here and now as the main reason we try to follow God's plans for us, we will have very little roots to hold us in place when troubles challenge our loyalty. Living in a saving relationship to Jesus right now will invite a lot of trouble and attack from the enemy who desperately wants us to suffer eternal loss along with him and his angels/demons. He is determined that everyone possible will lose out on eternal life and the wonderful joys that God offers us for all eternity. Deception and fear are some of his main weapons to accomplish this in our hearts and we very much need the armor of true light to protect us from these weapons or we will be sucked into the traps of Satan.

Jesus, I accept Your Lordship, Your authority in my life right now. Surround and fill me with real light in every way possible to protect as well as to enlighten me. I also need Your light to help me see more clearly the beautiful truths that You have hidden in Your Word. I claim Your gift promised to me of the Holy Spirit to guide, protect and disciple me in Your work of transformation of my life. Glorify Your name in my words, my writing, my attitude and my appearance. Let Your beauty be more clearly reflected from the mirror of my soul for Your reputation's sake.

(next in series)

Resistance and Forgiveness - 2

Forgiveness is letting go of resistance. Forgiveness is the opposite of the desire for revenge. When I am faced with the need to let go of my desire for vengeance I feel resistance to the idea of forgiving without first settling “the score”. But this very resistance is what keeps me away from the freedom that comes only through forgiveness.

As I look around in this passage in Romans 12 and 13, I notice a number of things that look very much like forgiveness.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (12:14).

...do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone (12:16-17).

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God... (12:19).

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law (13:8).

...Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (13:14).

An accurate definition of the word lust is the intense desire to have it now! This certainly applies to that inward, gnawing desire for revenge when I am mistreated or abused or treated unjustly. The lust in my heart desires revenge, desires to pay back evil for evil, to curse those who mistreat my heart. But God demonstrates through the example of Jesus my Savior and Lord that the way of real freedom and the way God designed reality is for me to live in a constant state of forgiveness, not just to deal with things in the past. This state of mind and heart is also very evident in its complete absence of resistance. To forgive is to not resist and to resist is to not forgive – the two are apparently mutually exclusive.

Resistance is the barrier wall that I build around my own heart in my attempt to protect my feelings and hopefully prevent further damage to a sensitive, wounded heart. It builds callouses around my heart in order to keep people from knowing me very well so that they cannot take advantage of my vulnerabilities. But this very same barrier also hardens my heart inevitably and it prevents me from being able to receive true love from others and from God. Oh, I can enjoy the pleasures of friendships and attention and praise and gifts, but I become incapacitated to absorb real, selfless love and reflect it back to others who need it.

When God promised to remove my heart of stone in Ezekiel 36 and put within me a heart of flesh, He was talking about this very issue – the walls that I have built to protect myself from suffering and pain. But when I begin to realize that this is what He is talking about I may start to have second thoughts about allowing this new arrangement to take place. If my walls are removed my selfish, sinful flesh believes that there will be nothing left to keep people from just walking all over me, abusing me with impunity and causing untold damage to this new heart of very vulnerable soft “flesh”.

God is very respectful of my right to freedom of choice and will never go through with this heart transplant if He does not have my un-coerced, full permission for Him to do so. But for me to give Him that permission I have to have enough confidence in His motives and ability to believe that somehow in the long run it will be for my best good. Looking at the example of the immense suffering and pain that Jesus suffered at the hands of His abusers does not always give me great assurance in making my own choice to submit to anything similar. And hearing Him pray for His Father to forgive those people while they abused Him seems absolutely strange and bizarre to my logical, protective, selfish heart.

This struggle lies at the very center of my triggers with authorities. I am afraid to trust my Higher Authority to work things out for my good in the end as promised in Romans 8:28. I like the idea of having a heart transplant, a good shower to clean me of all my filth, a new spirit within me and empowerment to walk in all of God's ways and statutes (Eze. 36:25-27), but the vulnerability that appears to come along with this package deal is very frightening to my old heart and it is very much in protest against the danger of allowing others to see who I really am inside when I am not even sure myself what is in there.

But apparently this package deal as described in Ezekiel 36 and summarized in Romans 12:1, 2 is an all or nothing proposition. There is no way that I can pick and choose and mix part of God's offer with maintaining a certain amount of authority myself over my own life. Paul makes it pretty clear in verse one of chapter twelve that my service of worship involves the holy sacrifice of my body (which includes my mind and heart) to God. Since the word holy means exclusively dedicated to something or someone and a sacrifice means letting go of control and ownership, then if I want to enjoy the benefits of the kind of life God is offering me in salvation then I have to let go of all my resistance to whatever He chooses to do with my life. I am no longer in charge of it.

Choosing to go this route means that the God that I entrust with my whole life, my protection, my vulnerable new heart, my reputation and my future – this God is going to have to be big enough to finish and accomplish what He promises and good enough to be trusted with my heart and all that is in it. He cannot be two-faced or fickle in His ways. He is going to have to understand my fears and apprehensions, my desires and my doubts, without condemnation. And I need to know Him well enough that I can trust His heart to effectively nurture and care for my heart. This faith is not something I work up by sheer will-power or effort but is something that has to spring up spontaneously from exposure to One who is worthy of my trust and I need to see more clearly that worthiness.

This is precisely why I spend so much time each day immersing myself in the Word. It is not because I want to fill my mind with Scripture knowledge so I can be smarter than others or more pious – please! No, the primary reason is because I genuinely desire to know this God who promises to reveal Himself to me, both to my mind and my heart, on a very personal level. I believe that through this means He will induce saving faith within my heart that will grow both upward and also become deeply rooted inside as I foster an atmosphere of mutual intimacy with Him. What I am seeking far more than knowledge, as important as that may be, is a personal, heart-level encounter on a regular or even constant basis with this God who has been so dramatically changing my perceptions about Him over the past few years.

What I am finding is that He really is faithful to show up when I present my heart to Him in these times together. Writing has become a very useful and important tool in that process. I find many times that as I write it is almost as if a window opens in my mind and heart and I can hear His Spirit much more clearly. It is something of a dialog many times that I have come to crave and enjoy. But additionally, all throughout the day I also hear the quiet voice making little notations and observations or reminders that surprise and delight me. I also sense convictions and warnings that I do well to listen to and respond to quickly. It is at those points that I am instantly faced with this issue of resistance – whether or not I will maintain my own desires and opinions or whether I will let go of my resistance and embrace the thoughts of God that often are very uncomfortable or even sometimes repulsive to me.

I am seeing that resistance and fear are very close companions. I resist directly because I am afraid. Fear lies at the root of all my protective maneuverings and to let go of resistance I also have to deal with the very deep-seated fears that compel me to resist. I sense that I must face them head-on, acknowledge them, expose them and hold them up to the light of God's presence. Only in the presence of the warmth of God's love and truth can the ice of fear begin to melt into the rain that maybe God uses to wash away the filth collected in my memories.

I continue to choose to pursue this friendship and submission to the God who insists that He loves me unconditionally and will restore me to the original design for joy and close-knit bonding with Him and His family. I accept His supreme authority in my life above all other authorities, and I trust Him to empower me to be in subjection to other authorities without fear or resentment. He is not finished with me yet, especially in this area, but He is also faithful to finish and accomplish in me what He asks me to do.

Lord, I again lay down my resistance. I know that is easy to say when I am sitting here in freedom and comfort with no obvious threats hanging over me at the moment. But I ask for grace and transformation of heart to prepare me for when I do encounter those situations so that You can demonstrate the power of Your love to completely reverse the effects of sin in my life. Continue to heal my deep roots of fear and bitterness that cause me to get angry and defensive. Fill my heart with total confidence in Your ability and desire to protect it even when everything seems to indicate I am abandoned and alone. Show me Your face much more clearly so that I can see Your emotions and feelings and desires. Jesus, I'm Yours – save me.

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Another Look at Resistance - 2

A few weeks ago soon after I got into my study of Romans 13 I began to perceive that the real issue in this passage is the problem of resistance more than it is about authority. My resistant reactions to authority are simply trigger points that expose a much deeper problem that must be addressed in my heart. But like all triggers, these events are like warning signs that are really opportunities for me to face the deeper root issues inside and seek healing and repair so that I can live in genuine freedom. This is one of the important principles that I learned from Ed Smith, the founder of Theophostic Ministries.

This issue about resistance and how it shows up in my daily life has been on the back of my mind throughout the past few days and weeks with growing awareness. I believe that the Holy Spirit has been alerting me more and more to various aspects in which I resist. As I said, it is not only in the area of relating to authorities, but resistance shows up in a wide variety of circumstances and relationships. When I become aware that I am experiencing that familiar feeling or sensation of resistance, I am trying to train myself to do a mental inventory quickly to see if my resistance is something that God wants me to let go of and the appropriate way to go about doing that.

There is another interesting development that has emerged from this increased awareness of this life principle. I have noticed that when I discuss this topic with others who are interested in some of the things I have been contemplating about this topic that one of the surest things to come up in the discussion is a defense of resistance. This is quite understandable and it is something in which I share the same questions as others around me. We usually get into a discussion or analysis of the pros and cons of resistance and what the Bible really says about this topic. But what I am noticing is that there is an ingrown or deep-seated belief in most all of us that we might be left helpless or vulnerable if we were to give up clinging to this most familiar feeling of resistance.

I make no claim that I have the best Biblical answer on this question or that I have a really good grasp on God's will in this arena. It is definitely an area of my own life that is in process and my understanding and beliefs about the proper or improper place of resistance in a person's life is very much open to modification and instruction from heavenly influences. But I also strongly sense that this is an extremely important and crucial part of my learning to live in right relationship to God, the one who created me and designed me and is restoring me to live in harmony with true reality.

My recent radical shift in thinking about what goes on in hell has been a major factor in allowing me to see the eternal dangerous nature of resistance. It is becoming apparent that one of the greatest dangers we need to be aware of is not the evil that comes from the outside – and definitely not from God – but is the natural consequences of resistance itself which carries the potential to create immense damage in our own hearts and minds.

I just did a cursory word search in my Bible software to see what might come up with the word resist. With the initial results that I looked at I can see that I definitely want to do a much more in-depth study on this word and see what God is seeking to relay to me about this. One thing that so far has jumped out to my attention is that the only thing I see that we are instructed to resist is the devil himself. In stark contrast to that there are references to those who are true followers of God who clearly are not resistant and suffer at the hands of others as a consequence. Yet the heaven clearly views them as the better for it and we must learn to see things from heaven's perspective instead of using the “normal” filters we are used to using to determine what is right or wrong for us.

In my thinking it is starting to seem that resistance and unrighteousness seem to be almost synonymous. Therefore, I have been asking God in the language of 1 John 1:9 to cleanse me of all resistance. Part of this cleansing is my need to confess the resistance that comes to my attention. Now if I understand the true meaning of the word confess, that makes it really something very easy to do. For to confess simply means to agree with. When the Spirit convicts me that I have something internally that I am hanging onto and that is out of sync with the way God views things, out of sync with true reality as it is in heaven, then to confess simply means to choose to agree with the Holy Spirit's opinion about that thing or attitude and that is all there is to confession.

Of course, confession itself is not the end of the process, but it is a very important beginning. For if I do not first agree with God's viewpoint about something deep within me or some belief that I am clinging to, then trying to align the externals of my life to comply with God's requirements without resolving the roots that naturally produce the externals is terribly self-defeating and only leads to a lot of hypocrisy. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3 KJV) If I desire to have a fruitful and life-changing walk with God, then the very first prerequisite is that I begin to agree with His view of reality instead of always insisting that I know better.

And now that I think about it, this is precisely where a great deal of resistance shows up. Whenever I don't want to confess something that the Spirit is convicting me of, I am exercising resistance. Now I am not saying that I should agree quickly with what everyone else tries to convict me of. Job had some very demanding friends that were absolutely certain that they knew that Job needed to confess something in order to get back into God's graces. Most of the book of Job is a heated debate between Job's opinion about his character and his friend's determination to expose something in his life that was causing all of these judgments to fall on him from God. But in reality it was finally exposed that all of them were mistaken and we are given the privilege to see that none of the evil he experienced was from God at all.

It is very important to understand that just because people claim to be followers of God, that does not qualify them to bring conviction to anyone else around them. Conviction is strictly the work of the Holy Spirit alone and anytime we try to impose conviction on someone (and we tend to do it an awful lot) we are usurping the function of the Holy Spirit on this earth. That is not a very enviable position to find one's self in. We must leave the work of conviction up to God no matter how obvious someone's faults may appear to us. To do otherwise is to engage in counterfeit judgment. And Jesus clearly stated, For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:2 NIV)

But we can and should come alongside others in love and compassion and cooperate with the Spirit to create an atmosphere of grace and truth in which they may feel safer to respond to the inner convictions of the Holy Spirit. While we must be exceedingly careful not to play God in other people's hearts and lives we should be the place where healing can take place without danger of further infection.

Resistance is not something we are to weed out of other people's lives but is something we each have to deal with on an individual basis for ourselves. I am seeing more and more clearly that the assembly process of the true body of Christ requires that each person let go of their own heart resistance that keeps them from bonding in love to the others that God is putting into the body around them. And this leads to another interesting observation that is emerging in my investigation into this issue of resistance.

I noticed in some of the verses about resistance in the Bible that healthy resistance is a natural event that occurs when people are love-bonded properly with each other. It is like the analogy of certain animals and their natural defense behaviors when facing danger from predators. Certain species tend to clump very tightly together placing the young and vulnerable in the center for protection and the larger and tougher animals ringed around the outside with their backs to the enemy, all facing in toward each other. There are variations on this natural behavior which include the stronger animals with horns ringing the herd with their horns all facing the enemy on the outside. But in either case, the most important aspect of this behavior for their protection is that they all stick tightly together and not one animal is left alone and vulnerable to easy attack by their predators.

I believe that God reveals many things about reality in the natural world, and important lessons for us are embedded in the observations we can make in nature. This illustration is an important principle of our need for love and being in closely bonded association with the rest of God's family so that we are not easy prey for Satan's attacks. This is the real deal of which typical resistance is the counterfeit. Instead of going out to fight the enemy or resisting convictions from God in our mistaken desires for self-preservation (Matt. 16:25), we need to turn our focus on being closely bonded with the heart of God which will always lead to close bonds with others who are seeking to do the same. This is the only real safe resistance that we should engage in.

I can see that there is a lot more to this than I have time or space for right now. This is a very fast growing topic for me right now and I want to remain open and unresistant to whatever the Spirit wants me to learn as I live my life in relationship to others. I definitely know that I need a lot of healing in this area, but as I am alerted to even the small ways in which I resist and let go of them, I find that I am not so frightened at the bigger problems and that I can begin to see myself as a different person in the future, one who is full of compassion and love and free of all resistance to God's plans and desires for me. And believing that something is possible is one of the first steps on the road to realizing and experiencing that possibility.

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Time to Wake Up

Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)

As I sit here early in the morning listening to the Spirit of God and waiting for whatever He wants to teach me, I think about the potential significance of these words. I had a very tiring day of work yesterday tearing off and putting down shingles on a roof, and though the breeze was good and the temperature rather pleasant the work still left me rather sore and tired. We had to work a couple extra hours to finish the job and so my body and mind was rather certain that a single nights sleep might not be enough to prepare me to get up early for another day without quite a bit of resistance.

But after a little food and a shower and somewhat fitful sleep, I woke up a half hour before my wife's alarm went off at 5 A.M. and felt the gentle urge that I should get up to have enough time to spend with God before this day got busy. I never really know what I will be facing in a day and whether my normal plans will play out or whether I will be faced with some unexpected trauma or challenge. But God is never caught by surprise and is faithful to offer me all of the preparation that I need if I am just willing to cooperate with Him. But I am free to choose whether or not I will be prepared or will prefer my own comfort and desires and suffer the consequences of being unprepared.

The idea or image of waking up from sleep has certain implications usually associated with it. In the Bible there were times when people missed out on important preparations because they allowed sleep to preempt more important activities that would have prepared them for what God knew was coming. The disciples could have had very different results and the story of their responses during the last hours of Jesus' life would have been dramatically different if they had resisted the urge to snooze in the garden and instead prayed for strength and wisdom and Jesus had instructed them to do.

Sleep is a very healthy activity that is extremely important to engage in on a regular basis, and we should not make the mistake of linking a sense of guilt to healthy sleeping. That is one of Satan's tricks to keep us from sleeping soundly and getting the refreshment that our body and mind needs. But there is a time for everything and just as there is a time to relax and allow our body to catch up and prepare us for another day of life, so there is a time to quit sleeping and move on to the next phase of our day and engage deliberately in the activities that God intends for us to do.

Problems arise when a person gets so emotionally addicted to sleep that they cannot embrace the duties of the morning cheerfully and transition into a day of positive activity. I know this from first-hand experience as well as observing it in many others. Sleep can easily become more than just an important time of repair and restoration for our body and mind; it can also become a place of escape from reality when life is such that we want to avoid or hide from it. Sleep can easily become something of a drug, a place in our mind where we can hide from difficult circumstances or hard choices. It seems so innocent to just close our eyes and doze off instead of having to face some pain or negotiate our way through some hard choices well outside of our comfort zone.

The importance of waking up at the proper time and transitioning into a day of activity is something that healthy people choose and is not to be easily manipulated by our feelings. It is often a sign of immaturity when a person has continued and great difficulty getting up each morning and preparing for a day of productive activity. It takes self-discipline to be able to get up on time dependably and is an important part of the training of children and youth. If they do not learn this lesson early and well it can become an issue and problem that may plague them for years and mar their lives in unexpected ways. It is also a sad mistake to leave them dependent on their parents to wake them up for years instead of allowing them to suffer some natural consequences of not learning this important life skill.

Failing to wake up on time sometimes results in tragic consequences and ruined lives. Unfortunately it is too often a part of our mindset that people who “have it good” never have to discipline themselves to get up early but somehow have the “freedom” to just sleep in whenever they feel like it and never have to exercise the effort it takes to get out of bed and move into a day of work. But this is a dangerous deception that needs to be overcome, for genuine living and healthy relationships depend on developing self-control and a balanced life so that we can live integrated lives with others around us.

The idea of not waking up at a proper time implies that we may miss something extremely important that will happen whether or not we are prepared for it. I know there have been times that our family needed to get up earlier than usual so that we could get to an airport in time to catch a plane for some trip we had planned. Overcoming the desire to sleep just a little longer either on our part or our children's would result in missing our plane when the time came and would include a lot of serious disharmony, accusations, blame and recriminations among us. But none of the blaming or shaming would undo the natural consequences of the choice to not begin the day by getting up at the proper time and engaging earnestly in the activities that needed to happen so that we could get out of the house on time to make it to our flight.

This verse seems to refer to a issue of time in salvation in its references to night and day and the use of the word nearer. There is certainly a time coming in God's plan of salvation that we need to be ready for in order to enjoy the benefits of participating in that salvation. Just believing that God loves us is not enough to save us, as wonderful and true as that is. There is a part for us to play in connecting and receiving the gifts and requirements needed in order for us to be transformed and prepared to live in the presence of God's fiery love and passion. God will not override our will to prepare us for His presence. He will provide everything we need to be prepared, healed and re-created in His image. But if we choose to sleep a little longer and give preference to our feelings or our mistaken ideas about Him instead of making difficult choices that are outside of our comfort zone, we will be terribly disappointed when we discover that we were too late in making the truly vital choices of life.

Jesus told a story of ten virgins who were planning to participate in a wedding. They were supposed to be waiting for the Bridegroom to appear to take them into the house where the wedding would move into a more intensive phase, but they all succumbed to falling asleep. They were all startled awake by a cry, “Behold the Bridegroom is coming!” Jesus says that the preparations they had made previous to this point made all the difference in whether they were able to fully engage with the joy and celebrations or they were left scurrying around trying to make up for poor choices and ending up missing out entirely in the end.

While God has certainly provided everything needed for our salvation, we must ourselves interact with His provisions fully both by cooperating with His instructions and by waking up at the proper time so that we can be in sync with what is really going on. This verse strongly implies that it is time for us to spiritually wake up out of the fatal sleep of complacency and ignorance that we have slumbered in for so long and enter into the experience of true love and transformation that God desires to work in us at the heart level.

For me to be able to love others in the ways described in the surrounding verses will definitely take a miracle of salvation to accomplish. But that cannot happen unless I am willing to quit sleeping in my own dream world of selfish reality and accept the discipline needed to train me to get up on time and interact with God for my own salvation. There is a time for everything, but there also comes a time when it is too late.

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