Ha…you could run with that in several directions. Might take a read over of yesterday’s post if you missed it before starting this one. ;-)
We have been examining from the Word just what sin is…and isn’t. According to 1 John 3:5, sin is ‘lawlessness’. And people who practice lawlessness are not in a good or ‘safe place’. Matt. 13:41 warns us of the end of the age when ‘reapers’ are sent out to gather up all who practice lawlessness. It’s like you have a ‘bulls-eye’ on your back and sin gives place to the enemy to come in and devour. Which is why scripture admonishes us to avoid, flee from, and ‘sin no more’.
Need I mention you cannot possibly do that unless….you are abiding in Christ? As in not just ‘saying you believe’ in Him, but actually following…abiding…obeying Him. All other avenues will lead to destruction. Period. (Acts 3:22-23) ( 1 John 3:6)
As long as we are walking/abiding with Him, God sets a hedge of protection around us. The most recognizable feature or evidence of it, is His peace that surrounds you. It is referred to as the ‘path of peace’ in scripture. We are told to let the ‘peace of God rule in our hearts.’. (Col 3:15) You can read of those other benefits in Psalm 91.
When you are abiding in Him, you pretty much have your mind/heart set on Him in so many ways. We know that ‘perfect peace have they whose mind is fixed on Him.’. (Isa. 26:3) Paul admonishes us to ‘set our minds on things above, not on things of the earth.’ (Col 3:2) Yes…I hear you…and I too always read that as more ‘poetic’ and unrealistic and unattainable; but it was a good thing to ‘aspire’ to.
No…it really is a thing, I’m still learning.
Let me just stop and interject here…you cannot be ‘practicing lawlessness’ and walk in peace at the same time. If you ‘think’ you are doing that, you have a false peace and scripture warns of that. (Deut. 29:19; Jer 23:17) But when you are abiding in Him, and IF you stumble or mess up, you will quickly know it by the absence of His peace. You should run to Him quickly and resolve the issue finding mercy and grace in that moment. Don’t get use to learning how to walk without His peace or you will drift into darkness. Trust me.
And one more thing concerning this way in which God ‘chastens’ us (because He loves us, I might add. -Heb 12) …Have you ever been enjoying His presence maybe after a time of prayer or study and your conscience is clear and your mind/heart are at peace. Then you unwittingly get drawn in to a conversation and maybe partake of some gossip or perhaps make some crass comment that is ‘not fitting to be named among saints (Eph 5:3-4) What happened when you walked away? ‘Something” came all over you and it was not good. Guilt, condemnation…just a yucky feeling. Do you know what that was?
God removed the hedge…and allowed the powers of darkness to come in and begin to torment you. You ‘gave place to the devil’. What we’ve been trained to do in those moments is maybe ‘rebuke the devil’ or quote that verse “greater is He that is in me…” or maybe play and sing worship music. But what we needed to do, was go to God, and ask Him what we did…and He will show us…which if you love Him, will spur a response of confession and repentance. (James 4:7-10) When you humble yourself in this manner, and truly mean it from your heart, the hedge is lowered, peace returns, and the enemy has lost ground and access to you. You continue on abiding in Him.
Now it helps to know that he (devil) will come back. (Matt 12:43-45) James tells us to ‘count it all joy’ when we face those test as it is an opportunity to prove to God that we really do love Him more than that ‘sin’. Which leads us back to our ongoing discussion on what sin is…and isn’t. Know this, that God does not tempt anyone with evil. Satan does. James 1 is a good chapter to study on this. But when Satan comes to lure us out from behind that hedge of protection, he does it through enticing us…appealing to that old nature that we are putting to death. Might read verse 13-16 in that first chapter of James.
So how does the enemy ‘entice’ us? Usually with ‘thoughts’. Bad thoughts. Thoughts that might appeal to old desires that still lie within us. I told you yesterday that Jesus had to deal with them as well as He was tempted in every area just like you and I are. Yet, He was without sin. You might say He came to show us or demonstrate how this walk is suppose to look like given we are being conformed to His image and likeness where He became the ‘firstborn of many brethren’. (Rom 8:28-29) (Let verse 29 sink in…I mean…Really… sink in.)
Lets use an ‘easy sin’, like gossip. To gossip about someone would not be walking in the love of Christ now, would it? Romans 1:28-32 kind of lumps it in there with those other ‘big sins’ that are deserving of death. Now you have turned to Jesus with all your heart…in repentance, and are following Him as you walk in peace. Out of the blue, you hear something regarding another person that you may not be particularly fond of. And oh…what you hear is ‘juicy not good’. Funny how this info became made known to you…sort of like a flaming arrow that dropped in to your mind.
Immediately, the Holy Spirit will let you know a flaming arrow has lodged into your thought process and you better remove it right then and there or that fire will take off. God gives you grace in THAT moment to resist, remove and repent (turn) from even entertaining that thought. When we resist the devil, he will ________? (James 4:7)
But if…something in our heart still loves gossip, we will battle some. Keep in mind that God will give you just enough grace to resist the enemy here, but your ‘flesh will suffer’ some given how much that old man really loved to gossip. When you ‘suffer in the flesh’ like this, that is how you ‘put to death’ the old man. It dies. This is the kind of suffering that God is pleased with. And Peter tells us that ‘after you have suffered awhile, the God of all grace will come and establish and perfect you’. ( 1 Pet 5:8-10) He also says in 4:1-2 that ‘he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.’ This is how you ‘overcome’ sin and before long, you have no interest in gossip.
You can be comforted to know that because as ‘He (Jesus) Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. (Heb 2:18) You just have to come to Him in that moment and with confidence and boldness to find grace and mercy in your time of need. (Heb. 4:16) You won’t win this battle on your own. It’s by His grace. :- )
I sure hope you are reading these verses in your bible and letting the Holy Spirit connect some dots for you. ☺ And chew on Galatians 5:24 when you can.
So when it comes to your thought life, if you are entertaining these bad thoughts, allowing those ‘birds to build a nest in your mind’, chances are there is something still in your heart that loves that sin. You better deal with it. Jesus won’t be one of your idols where you profess to love Him and still practice sin.
Do you have anger issues? When someone gets ‘under your skin’ and you let those thoughts come in like a flood and begin to stew and meditate on, allowing anger to build up inside of you? If so…it would be good to know that Jesus equates anger with murder. Just go look at 1 John 3:15. When Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount, He is recorded as saying: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder….but I say whoever says you ‘fool’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matt 5:21-22) Folks, that is not poetic language.
And I could make the case that He is not talking about throwing you into hell in the far off future for calling someone a fool, or idiot, for that matter. (I do see that word, ‘idiot’ tossed about frequently on Facebook when people go to ranting about politicians and such). I believe Jesus is saying the minute you open your mouth you bring judgment on yourself giving place to the powers of darkness to bring the same judgment on you that you are putting on others. (Matt 7:1-2)
One last thing regarding sin and our thought life- Again, it is not sin to have bad thoughts cross your radar. But when you welcome them, and entertain them, it becomes another thing. Take lust for example. Many people struggle with that. And it’s no wonder given how much ‘bad seed’ bombards us 24/7 through countless outlets. If you are taking in all that is spewed out of that TV in the form of movies, shows, etc…I dare say countless images come at you to entice and tantalize you. It might be time for ‘closing some doors and repairing broken windows before you ask the exterminator to come ‘clear the house of unwanted guest’.
Unless of course, something in your heart still loves having those ‘guest’ around.
See you tomorrow.
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