“He who has ears to hear...let him hear...”

It was a phrase Jesus used on multiple occasions which could be interpreted as a ‘call to action’. Jesus was urging His listeners to pay close attention and deeply understand the spiritual meaning behind what He was teaching.

Can I just remind any and all who might be reading here today...that if there is any ‘deeper’ truths to be ‘revealed’, grasped, and understood...it will be the Holy Spirit who is doing the ‘revealing’. I would also add here that it seems to only be the ones whom Jesus has their whole hearts...that have ‘deeper enlightenments’ revealed to them. I know...sounds a tad lofty and elite, but all I can do is point you to what the Bible says – (Matt. 13:11; 16:17; Luke 24:32,45; John 5:39-40; Acts 16:14). So if you perceive to be receiving any spiritual insights from what you have been learning lately...be sure it goes to your heart, and not your head. Just saying...

I have to remind myself regularly as to who my perceived ‘targeted audience’ is that reads these postings of mine. I believe I’ve been called to share these ‘lessons’ with others who see themselves or profess to be a follower of Jesus. There has been so many Bible verses that have ‘come to light’ for me in recent years that have been more than impactful upon my own life, and I have been compelled to point them out to other like-minded believers, so that they too might look them up and study and give prayerful thought to. (Acts 17:11). 

To put it bluntly...far too many of us have ‘gotten it wrong’ over the years, for a host of reasons. And I would suspect that it is no small number of sincere professing Christians who would be the first to admit that their faith isn’t working for them as much or as well as they ‘thought it should’ be working; but they press on and do their best, even amidst much painful and needless suffering in their lives. Again...I remind us of what God made known in Hosea 4:6 where it reads ‘HIS...people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge’.

Case and point: For all those who believe that the ‘curses’ outlined in Deut. 28 were ‘done away with’, have you ever stopped to ask why...so many people today, both in the church and out...seem to be suffering from those very 'curses'? Read through vs. 45-67 when you have a few spare minutes. I just think we might do well to go back and ‘review’ what it means to be a follower of Jesus and explore just a tad bit more as to what He came to ‘save’ us from. From what I read in the very last chapter of the Bible (Rev. 22:3)...it’s when we get to heaven that there will be ‘no more curse’.

Which takes me back to where I left off with yesterday, and the past two days for that matter. We’ve been talking about how we are admonished to consider both the goodness and the severity of God, as Paul wrote in Romans 11:22. Paul asked the Corinthians: “Do we really want to provoke God to jealousy”...as if they're still a ‘thing’ (1 Cor. 10:22). If that is indeed a possibility, then speaking for myself here...I sure want to know how one does that...so I don’t make that mistake. Getting on God’s ‘bad side’ has no appeal to me whatsoever.

As I brought to our attention yesterday...God Himself admits to being a ‘jealous’ God (Deut. 5:9). And do you know where that is specifically found in? It’s in the 10 Commandments, the same 10 commandments that God gave to Moses to be shared with the people. They were even written down on stone tablets (Ex. 20). These would also be the same 10 Commandments that several states in our country have mandated to be on display in every public school classroom. Now I’m not here to debate the pros or cons of such a law, but I gather that the majority of those who see themselves as ‘Christian’ don’t have a problem with such a display or state law.

My point in bringing this up is to ask: How familiar are you with those commandments? And I’m not talking about having some memorization contest as to who can rattle them off the fastest in their exact order. If we still believe in the relevancy of these 10 commandments (and I would make the case we should -Matt. 5:17; 19:17; 1 Cor. 7:19), then perhaps we might go back and look at them more closely, especially the two I referred to the other day about ‘taking the name of God lightly or in vain’ (#3), and Commandment #2 which is where we learn early on that God is a ‘jealous’ God. I mean...if these commandments are good enough for all our school children, then they should be good enough for us adults as well, would you not agree?

So the very first commandment centers on ‘who’ we are to worship, and that is God alone, our creator. He makes it quite clear that we are to ‘have no other gods before Him’ (Deut. 5:6-7). This leads into the 2nd commandment forbidding the carving out or making of any graven image that represents a deity in any form or likeness. In other words, we better not have any ‘idols’ that supersede or take God’s place in our lives/hearts. This topic of 'idolatry' is addressed early on and then throughout scripture. You might make note of 1 Cor. 10:14-22; 1 John 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5-6; and Rev. 21:7-8 & 22:14-15. And for the purpose of simplifying...an ‘idol’ is anything that you love more than God. So when you consider what Jesus taught in John 14:15...’if we love Him...we’ll keep His commandments’...it stands to reason that when we hesitate to repent of various sins in our lives, as in turn from and let go of....we might be ‘loving’ them more than Him. Were you aware that we can actually love greed ...pride ...anger ...lust ...bitterness ...more than we love Jesus? Oh, so you think you can love and keep both? I hate to break the news to you, but Jesus is not going to settle for being one of our many idols.  That is made clear as we read the interaction Jesus had with the rich, young ruler in Matt. 19.

Now look at the last part of that second commandment, where we are told that not only is God a ‘jealous’ God, but that He is known to ‘visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children going down to the 3rd and 4th generations of those who hate Him’. (Deut. 5:9). This is where we will carefully wade into the topic of what many know to be ‘generational curses’. Sounds pretty serious and ‘severe’ to me, does it not to you? But...for the sake of ending on a more positive note today...look a the promise in vs. 10 – God shows mercy to thousands, to those who love Him and keep His commandments.”

So let me ask you this: “When did God change?” (Mal. 3:6).