Exhortation – Page 4

A Jealous God

God illustrates how He feels about us in terms of marriage, the covenant relationship between husband and wife, holy lovers. When we’re away from Him it’s like we’re committing adultery, grieving Him and angering Him like a bride who’s sleeping around with other men. (Ja 4:4)

This tells us that God’s not in favor of us being separated from Him, not even a little bit; He wants us close to Him, at home with Him, in intimate fellowship with Himself, and He wants this all the time. To tolerate any distance at all between ourselves and God, to be OK with it, to tolerate it for even a moment, or to seek comfort, acceptance and pleasure outside of God, is a betrayal of this divine marriage relationship.

In other words, God is a jealous God (Ex 20:5); He loves each and every one of us passionately and He finds our lack of love for Him, our tendency to wander away from Him and cast our eyes and hearts upon other lovers, entirely unacceptable. It’s whoredom, prostitution, and God will destroy all who live this way, who make a life pattern of whoring from Him. (Ps 72:27)

God isn’t being selfish in loving us all like this; He is absolutely the only One Who can fully and completely satisfy us and fulfill our deepest needs; He has designed us to be satisfied in Him and no other relationship can take His place. It’s a mystery that so few are seeking Him, looking elsewhere for love.

As a bit of perspective, this Jesus Christ Who loves us (Re 1:5) is the most beautiful and perfect Being in existence (Ps 45:2); His magnificence is so powerful we have nothing to compare with it just yet. The beauty of God, of Jesus Christ, will take our breath away; it will overcome us and overwhelm us. If we aren’t prepared for it, if He should come upon us suddenly, His beauty, majesty and power would paralyze us to the point of fear and dread. (Re 1:17) We’ll actually need new bodies to fully enjoy Him as He is. (1Jn 3:2)

To gaze eternally on His beauty and perfection, feeding on the majesty and continually delighting in Him, this is what we were all made for. (Ps 27:4) We can never tire of Him, never get used to Him. Anything less than God will ultimately disappoint and ruin us, and God is not OK with that.

The take-away from this is that any tendency to think otherwise, to feel that God is disinterested in us, to sense that He’s irrationally angry with us or displeased with us, to conclude that He is boring or unappealing in any way, or that He isn’t perfectly faithful and good, loving and just … anything at all that would tempt us and draw us away from Him, it’s all lies and we should have none of it, not for a moment. (Ps 119:29)

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Submit Yourselves

To submit is to put under, to place underneath. In a relational sense, we associate submission with our willingness to defer to others in community, to obey and/or align ourselves with them. Yet the primary community we must first learn to submit to is our future selves, the people we will be next hour, next day, next week, next month, next year … and ultimately our true eternal self (He 12:22-23), who we will be in eternity. This community comprises ourselves, and we must learn to submit to it.

The alternative to submitting to ourselves is to place no rules upon ourselves at all, to exercise no control over ourselves. Yet, the more we neglect to govern ourselves, the more we destroy our own ability to do so. (Pr 5:22) To be unable to control ourselves is certainly not good (Pr 25:28), unless all our natural impulses happen to be what we truly want for ourselves in the long run, which is generally not the case.

Before we can rightly submit ourselves to God (Ja 4:7), or to someone else (Ep 5:21), we must first be willing and able to submit to ourselves, to control ourselves, to make choices which our future selves will approve and appreciate.

In order to submit to ourselves we must be able to recognize when an impulse or desire isn’t what we truly want for ourselves, and we must be able and willing to deny any impulse when we perceive our future selves will not approve. We must learn to recognize the consequences our future selves will likely experience from our current choices and choose wisely, ordering our steps so our future selves will tend to prosper and succeed rather than suffer and fail. (Pr 22:3)

This is obviously on a spectrum; we may align many, or even most of our choices with our future selves, but we may consistently make certain types of choices which are misaligned with our future selves, which we know are not good for us, which we know most all of our future selves will regret.

For example, if we’re frustrated, embarrassed or depressed because we’re overweight or in poor health due to poor diet and/or lack of exercise, we’re very likely making short-term, impulse decisions in the moment which we ourselves don’t actually want, and the root cause is we’re unwilling to control and harness our own immediate appetites and desires and submit to ourselves, that community comprised of all our future selves who depend explicitly upon our current choices. To the degree we’re unwilling to submit to and care for our own selves we’re showing lack of respect, trust and love for ourselves.

If we don’t even respect and love ourselves, how can we love and respect God? (1Jn 4:20) or others? Loving, fearing and obeying God is where we begin to live life as we should, and we all need His mercy and grace to do so. (He 4:16) This leads us to loving and respecting ourselves because God loves and respects us (De 14:1-2), which then leads to loving and respecting others. (Le 19:18)

We call this self-control, temperance, personal discipline: the ability to govern ourselves. This is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. (Ga 5:23) which we should be adding to our faith regularly and with all diligence. (2Pe 1:5-7) As we face the daily choices in living our lives, we should be asking: What would my future selves want me to choose right now? (He 12:1) We live our best life by continually choosing what our best selves want. This is the life of no regret.

When there’s an area of our life where we’re consistently making poor choices, choices we eventually regret making, if we love ourselves, we must try to understand why we’re doing this. What beliefs do we hold about the consequences of our choices which our repeated life experience is telling us are lies? Find out what these lies are and seek help from God (Ps 119:29) and others to align ourselves with truth as well as we know it. (Ja 5:16)

To the degree we’re able to master ourselves (1Co 9:27) we can properly position ourselves to serve God and others. Our best self, the Christ life within us, wants what’s best for us (Ep 5:29), so we must be willing to submit to ourselves, and also to learn how to be good masters to ourselves. (Ep 6:9)

And for the child of God, the choices our eternal self approves, the one living in the infinite, glorious presence of God Himself, will indeed be those which God Himself approves. (1Jn 3:2)

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O Wretched Man!

How do we respond to those struggling with immoral attractions and desires? Or who believe deep down they’re in the wrong body? Or who fantasize about unspeakable wickedness?

It does seem as if we’re not all deliberately choosing the feelings and tendencies with which we struggle; they’re evidently inherent in our nature, as if we’re born with them: and Christians are not immune from the fight. (Ro 7:7-8) How then can we condemn such behavior? Why resist it at all? (1Pe 5:9)

God gives us over to a reprobate mind, to harm ourselves and others, when we don’t keep Him central in our world view. (Ro 1:28) Yet many struggle with evil within while pursuing God (Ro 7:18-19); we may indeed be resisting quietly, doing our best to walk uprightly in spite of how wretched we feel, unable to figure out how we got here. (Ro 7:24) What hope do we have in such a struggle?

Perhaps our instincts, apart from our conscious will, spring from our sub-conscious, from beliefs and thinking patterns programmed into us from infancy through a variety of traumatic, social and cultural factors. How have these millions of signals, most of which we didn’t choose, impacted us?

It may also be that we inherit moral tendencies through ancestry (De 23:2), from our culture (3-4), and even from mankind in general (Ro 5:19), infected just being part of the vast, living human organism. (Ep 4:25)

We may not fully understand how we’re influenced by our own thoughts and actions, or those of others, either in the present or in the past, but one thing is clear: as we succumb to these immoral desires and begin to practice them they become much stronger, creating a bondage that deepens and strengthens over time. The more we engage and pursue them the more firmly their stranglehold on our hearts and minds becomes.

We also know that pursuing these immoral tendencies doesn’t tend to satisfy us, to enable us to live balanced, healthy, resilient, joyful, peaceful lives. Giving in to them makes us prisoners of war (2Ti 2:25-26), and most of us aren’t even aware we’re in a battle.

The only other obvious option is to continually resist these impulses, to struggle against them and deny ourselves the pleasures they promise. (Ep 4:22) While this is clearly better than giving ourselves over, the “Just say no” strategy tends to fail over time. Is there a better way?

God tells us knowing the truth makes us free (Jn 8:31-32), that acknowledging the truth delivers us from spiritual slavery and bondage. (1Ti 2:25-26) Truth is the weapon of our warfare here (2Co 10:4); there’s no bondage or instinct too strong for God to heal (Ep 3:20), if we’re willing to pursue and receive the truth. (1Pe 1:4)

Everyone experiences sinful tendencies and attractions which seem beyond our control; we can deny and resist them, but we can’t simply turn them off altogether and choose to feel differently. Rather than presuming “God made me this way” whenever we have an instinctive reaction that’s contrary to moral law, perhaps we should offer up these instincts to God and ask Him to help us re-program both our conscious and sub-conscious minds.

Consistently and prayerfully exposing our minds and hearts to truth, asking God to work it down into the deepest recesses of our being, this is the way to cleansing and freedom. (Ps 119:9) It may not be the quick fix, any more than our initial programming happened overnight; the web of lies may be extremely deep and complex. Our hope is that God knows us better than we know ourselves (Ps 139:1-4), and has given His very best to set us free. (Tit 2:14)

We may not understand exactly how we fell into bondage, but we can still be set free: ask and seek. (Mt 7:7-8) If we want to be healed and pursue God for it, He’s on our side and will be with us every step of the way. (He 13:5-6)

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Bitter Envying

Envy, a feeling of discontent or dissatisfaction due to another having more or better, is traditionally considered one of the worst sins. (Pr 27:4) It desires others to have less or worse, and is thus purely and uniquely destructive. It’s also grounded in the primal lie that God Himself does not satisfy (Ps 63:5), and that something else will.

Bitterness is resenting God for not treating us as well as we deserve (if we knew we deserved worse we’d be thankful; since God could improve our lot and hasn’t, our resentment must be toward Him). It presumes God’s not good, that He’s not ordering things rightly, that we could do it better. It’s born of pride; thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. (Ro 12:3)

So, bitter envying is quite the combination! a feeling of resentment toward God for others having more or better; it combines the destructiveness of envy with the arrogance and pride of bitterness. As we find this within we should admit the corruption and deceit it reveals, and turn ourselves back toward the truth. (Ja 1:14) The truth is we don’t deserve better, and what we’re after won’t satisfy us.

Bitterness and envy cripple, trapping us in brokenness; they don’t move us to healthy living. Thankfulness and worship are the healthy counterparts, setting us free to become all God has designed us to be, to live in the fullness (Ep 3:19) and adventure to which He’s called us, a life of ultimate pleasure and goodness. (1Pe 3:10-11)

Truth is, we deserve to be burning in Hell forever; no one suffers eternal Hell who doesn’t fully deserve it, and we’re as bad or worse when left to ourselves. (Php 2:3) Anything else is mercy, God restraining us and giving us repentance (2Ti 2:25), for which we should be exceedingly thankful.

Also, we’re designed to enjoy God supremely; pursuing anything apart from God (as opposed to pursuing it in God, for God and with God) is to try to replace Him with part of His creation. (Ro 1:25) This is based on the primal lie and it will always fail; be sure of it.

We may know these things academically, but when we’re bitter and unthankful, envious and wanton, we reveal another belief system in opposition to God operating within our sub-conscious, our core selves. We did not learn this in Christ. (Ep 4:20) Rather than dismissing this as natural, confess it as a work of the devil, reckon ourselves dead to it (Ro 6:11), ask God to destroy it (1Jn 3:8b), and consistently expose the sub-conscious mind to truth with a prayerful intensity that takes no prisoners. (Mt 5:29-30)

Christ in us, living in and through us, always believes unto joyful obedience. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Ep 3:20)

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Lord of the Sabbath

When Christ says the sabbath was made for Man, and not Man for the sabbath (Mk 2:27), we might conclude the same about the rest of Torah, that it was made for us: we weren’t made for it. We might also conclude there might be times when it’s OK to break certain parts of God’s law, as when we’re in danger or have an emergency.

The immediate context is about harvesting on sabbath when we’re famished: the disciples were plucking grain (23) and the Pharisees accused them of breaking Sabbath. (24)

Christ counters with David eating bread he wasn’t allowed to eat; David and his men were famished and there weren’t any good options. (25-26) Christ seems to be saying there are times when God mercifully overlooks certain kinds of Torah violations: it isn’t that they aren’t violations; God just doesn’t call them out or hold us accountable for them in the same way.

What shall we say of god-fearing people who lied during the Holocaust to save innocent lives? Do we really see ourselves standing up on Judgment day condemning them? (Mt 12:41) We might be quite alone if we do; while God doesn’t officially approve of this kind of behavior, neither does He explicitly call it out as evil (Ex 1:19); He does seem to overlook it. (20-21)

The fact that plucking grain on sabbath actually doesn’t violate Torah at all, just Jewish tradition, may then not be the point; perhaps the point is that God is free to mercifully overlook certain kinds of sin without being unjust. (Ge 19:21) Perhaps it’s also about us being overly scrupulous in evaluating others’ behavior, especially in difficult, unusual or trying circumstances.

In reminding us He’s Lord of the Sabbath (Mk 2:28), Christ wasn’t telling us it’s OK to violate the sabbath now, or any part of Torah (Mt 5:19), but that He knows best when and how to show mercy when we break it.

It’s one thing to appreciate the mercy of God (Ps 136:1), yet it’s another matter altogether to presume He will be merciful when we deliberately and willfully choose to break Torah for our own pleasure and convenience. (He 10:28-31) When obeying God will bring suffering and difficulty, how committed should we be to honoring and respecting God’s Law? Should we break sabbath to keep a job? Or lie to save a loved one? Would we rather starve than eat unclean food?

Every one of us will give account of himself to God (Ro 14:11-12), and we’re all at different stages of maturity; some have faith to suffer for minor Torah violations, while others may not yet be so well grounded, becoming bitter and resentful in premature sacrifice. We should not create burdens for ourselves and others (Ac 15:10) which we’re unable to gladly bear. (He 10:34) Sorting this out is no small matter.

Whether God will slam us to the mat if we happen to break His Law under duress may not be the right question. Would Jesus break God’s Law to convenience Himself? or to accommodate someone He loves? Even to spare His own life? He never did sin like this (1Pe 2:22) and we’re to follow His steps. (21)

A better question might be, What kind of Resurrection do we want? (He 12:35b) What kind of testimony? (Re 12:11)

It’s a matter of faith to trust God to work out the details when we’re in a bind, to give us the strength to walk in joy, honoring Him as we suffer. Staying alive isn’t the ultimate priority (Php 1:21-22); neither is comfort or pleasure – ours or anyone else’s. We’ve not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (He 12:4) The goal of God’s love is holiness: it makes no room for sin.

Shall we be so delighted in God’s ways that as the pressures of life mount up and threaten us (Ps 119:61), closing in about us until our very life hangs in the balance (109), we’ll not neglect or forsake His precepts? (87) Clinging to them as unto Him? (31) If we’ve yielded our body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God (Ro 12:1), we’ve already decided.

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Number Our Days

Time is arguably our most precious asset; our days on Earth are limited, and wisdom asks God to teach us to number them (Ps 90:12), or to quantify and manage them; we should be using every bit of this most precious resource to glorify God as well as we can — redeeming the time (Ep 5:16): treat every moment as if it’s priceless and we’d buy it back if we could.

So, one helpful way to look at this might be to examine how we’re spending our “free” time: what’s left after we’ve done our duty, fulfilled our responsibilities. We should know how much free time we have and maximize it in pursuit of God’s kingdom and righteousness. (Mt 6:33) Most of us have no idea how much free time we have, how many hours are slipping away unnoticed every day, underutilized, and the related opportunity cost.

Here’s an idea: fill out a 12X12 grid where each square is 10 minutes (2 hrs per row) and block out how you think you’re spending your time; when multi-tasking identify the focus activity.

Here’s my typical weekday, optional activity up top and more dutiful time beneath. “Free” time (purple/red/pink) is 5+ hrs, which I mostly spend working out — for general health / stress relief while memorizing / meditating on scripture and praying.

How we manage our time reflects our priorities, what we value — or worship. This is especially true of “free” time, what we do beyond duty, when we have a practical choice. The decisions we consistently make here tell us where our heart is and define who we are. (Mt 7:20)

The realty check is we actually are spending our time according to our priorities: we live according to our most deeply held values. This is how God renders to us all according to our deeds (Ro 2:6) even though salvation is by faith: our actions spring from our hearts and reflect our true beliefs. (Php 3:18-19)

Our entire life is composed of these tiny little 10-minute blocks, and we all have 144 every day: no one has any more or less. How many do we have in total, in our entire life? Only God knows, but once we choose to spend one a certain way, we never get a re-do; it’s gone forever and we can’t get it back.

What does God intend for us to do with each block? (Ps 119:97) What would our lives be like if we spent each one for Him? (Col 3:17) That’s the opportunity cost of making other choices; it will all be revealed on Judgement Day (Mt 12:36), and will reverberate eternally. (Mt 7:26-27)

If we’re misaligned with God’s values we can ask Him to show us where (Php 3:15); if we’re uncomfortable giving God an account of how we’re living it’s never too late; there’s no time like the present to acknowledge reality and ask Him for help. (He 4:16) He already knows. (Ps 139:2)

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Works of the Devil

When we observe inconsistencies between our rational minds and our emotions we discover our subconscious: underlying beliefs controlling us which are contrary to our intellect. What we actually believe and who we are is a composite of all these beliefs, and it’s a bit mysterious.

Many fight intense negative emotion, fear and anxiety, when they’re in no danger; others, a critical voice relentlessly discouraging and crippling them; still others wrestle with a debilitating sense of shame and worthlessness they can’t shake off. We all have spiritual wounds keeping us from functioning according to God’s design.

A girl, having done her best, hears, “Why don’t you do better? You’ll never amount to anything!” Satan whispers, “Something’s wrong with you; you’re unloved, worthless, unimportant, unnecessary.” As an adult she’s working herself to the bone serving others, but she’s constantly anxious, restless, no satisfaction or peace.

A boy is sexually violated and hears the insidious whisper, “If God loved you He wouldn’t have let this happen to you; you’re dirty, flawed, worthless.” As an adult he’s filled with fear and shame, hiding in rebellion and perversion.

We might frame all of this up in terms of lies and truth: when we’re acting inconsistently with reality we’re believing a lie. We might call the resulting damage to our souls works of the devil, the consequence of believing Satan’s lies about our lived experience (Jn 8:44b), and see Jesus Christ, the Truth (Jn 14:6), as our Deliverer: He destroys the works of the devil. (1Jn 3:8b)

Whenever we experience trauma, Satan is at hand to feed us the lie: “God isn’t good; you’re the problem.” But it’s just a lie, and there’s no reason to believe it. Yet we do tend to believe it, and this is the problem.

These lies are often buried so deeply within our subconscious we don’t even know what’s happened to us, or where to begin in dealing with them. So, how do we get free? (Ro 7:24)

We get into spiritual bondage in stages, gradually, starting in childhood and believing more and more lies as we go through life. So, it should come as no surprise that we generally get free the same way, over time, in many small steps, believing more and more truth (Jn 8:32) as we pursue God (Mt 7:7-8) and He teaches us His Way. (1Jn 2:27)

The only path to freedom is going back the way we came: realigning our mind with reality, believing differently; it’s called repentance, and it’s the gift of God. (2Ti 2:25-26)

Freedom comes as we internalize three primal truths: [1] God is good; [2] God is sovereign; and [3] He created each of us for a unique purpose. Like a three-legged stool, remove any of these fundamental principles and we have an unstable foundation.

We must know deep down that God loves us and that He’s ultimately benevolent towards us. (Ps 27:13) We must also know He’s in charge of everything: nothing ever happens without His permission. (Ro 11:36) And we must be confident that He has a unique design and purpose in creating us (Re 2:17b), and that all He has ever allowed to happen to us, or ever will allow, is ultimately for good. (Ro 8:28)

God calls us to pursue His purpose for us (2Ti 2:17), and He will help us as we turn to Him and follow after Him. (He 4:16)

The more deeply we know these things the more we align with reality and deliver ourselves from Satan’s devices.

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Pleasure in Them

Recently I’ve been convicted of enjoying others as they violate God’s ways. Granted, it’s fiction that I’m enjoying, but I don’t really see the difference: how is enjoying sin in a fictional character any different than enjoying it in real life?

While I might not be so bold as to actually do what they do, when I take any pleasure in their disobedience, don’t I reveal my own heart to be aligned with their sin in some way? (Ro 1:32)

For example, I enjoyed watching a navy seal avenge himself (Terminal List), I was sympathetic with fornicators (Titanic), rooted for thieves (Ocean’s 13) and took pleasure in insubordination. (Top Gun: Maverick) What are all the ways I take pleasure in sin, and how is this not itself a sin?

Similarly, twinges of envy and bitterness reflect unbelief in the goodness of God; it’s blaming God for making mistakes, distrusting Him, claiming I know better, positioning myself as God and putting myself on the throne. This is not fully believing in God; it’s failing to submit to Him and honor Him. (Ro 1:21)

By God’s grace I’d never actually do such things against God deliberately with my words and will, of course, but when my emotional impulses and tendencies reveal an inconsistency with what I think I believe, I should soberly address it. (Ro 7:21-24)

I’m being double-minded (Ja 1:7) when my emotions are inconsistent with my intellect, misaligned with what I claim to believe. Like claiming God is my delight without joy (1Pe 1:8), or believing God is good without thanksgiving. (Col 2:7)

This is all driven by inconsistent, contradictory conscious beliefs (formal double-mindedness = not loving truth), and/or by subconscious beliefs of which I may be entirely unaware. In either case, it’s definitely an opportunity to grow more into the likeness of Christ (1Jn 3:4): Jesus Christ has no such inconsistency. (Ps 45:7)

In diagnosing this I notice the root cause of my behavior to be lies embedded within my conscience, the part of me approving what’s good and rejecting evil; my conscience is telling me sin is good, desirable, acceptable, even tolerable … when it’s not, so my conscience needs to be cleansed and healed. (He 10:22)

So, what should I do about this? Systematically search my conscious understanding and root out all inconsistency as well as I’m able, hiding God’s Word in my heart and meditating on it, comparing my beliefs, attitudes and actions with what God says and praying through any verses which rub me the wrong way. God has commanded me to do this very thing for this very reason (1Ti 1:5), so He can heal me of the lies to which I’m still clinging and set me free.

I can also continue to observe my emotions for inconsistencies with the Word and lift them up to the Light, asking God to show me the lies I’m still harboring way deep down, and heal me. He is in the business of purging my conscience from dead works with the blood of Christ that I might serve Him more completely and fully. (He 9:14) Wherever I’m not aligned with His Way He will reveal this to me when He’s ready to deal with it in me, in the perfect time and in the perfect way. (Php 3:15)

This is the sobering journey of sanctification, and I’m to work it out with fear and trembling (Php 2:12), knowing God is working in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (13) As I hunger and thirst after righteousness, He has promised to fill me (Mt 5:6) that I might partake of the divine nature. (2Pe 1:4)

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To Patience Godliness

Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith (He 12:2), instructs us to diligently add to our faith (2Pe 1:5); though God works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13), He tells us to work out our own sanctification with fear and trembling. (12)

As we pursue God, there’s evidently an optimal path or sequence in sanctification: starting with faith we’re to add virtue, then add knowledge, then temperance, then patience, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, then charity. (2Pe 1:5-7)

Adding godliness between patience and brotherly kindness is perhaps unexpected: godliness is how we might identify the ultimate spiritual goal (2Pe 1:3), so why would God emphasize a particular sequence in sanctification, and include godliness as an intermediate step?

Godliness is from the Greek εὐσέβειαν, which is also translated holiness. (Ac 3:12) It evidently conveys the idea of reverential piety, fervency and earnest sincerity in spiritual matters. It’s wanting to be aligned with God at the most fundamental levels; it’s receiving Him into the deepest recesses of our hearts, inviting His scrutiny, rebuke and chastening, and welcoming His healing, communion and fellowship. (Re 3:20)

Focusing first on rightly aligning with God before kindness and love, godliness being the fine-tuning of this alignment, is perhaps an indication that we must be in right relationship with God before we can rightly relate with others. The greatest commandments, summarizing all of God’s Law (Mt 22:40), sequence moral priority like this: first love God then love others. (37-39) The Decalogue confirms, starting with godward commands (Ex 20:3-7), and finishing with relational commands. (12-17)

Having patience as a foundation for godliness positions us to maintain hope in suffering as we pursue holiness; it’s saying God is good at our own expense, knowing God is faithful, and reveals that we are rightly grounded in Him. Until we suffer well in God our faith hasn’t been tried (Ja 1:2-3) and found true. (1Pe 1:7)

Focusing on godliness as a foundation for kindness and love helps us love more authentically, more effectively. Knowing God’s love doesn’t come naturally; think carefully about it, examine it, pray for and seek understanding. (Ep 3:14, 19) If we don’t understand God’s love, how can we rightly love ourselves and others?

As we grow in Christ we don’t get everything at each stage of sanctification before we move on to the next; we don’t become perfectly virtuous before we gain the first bit of knowledge. The idea here is emphasis; if we value virtue above knowledge, we’ll understand how to rightly use knowledge and it won’t make us proud. (2Co 8:b) Similarly, pursuing godliness as a foundation for charity ensures that what passes for agape love in us is the genuine article, authentic, not superficial or put on, not for show.

God’s love is about holiness (He 12:10), not human comfort, happiness or pleasure. The more we’re aligned with God, the more our love for others will reflect His.

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I Am Not Worthy

As servants of Jesus Christ we present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God: after He’s given His Son for our sin and taken us into His own family, it’s the only reasonable thing to do. (Ro 12:1)

We might easily want to do something great for God, to be significant in His kingdom, and if we aren’t careful become frustrated or even resentful if the way before us seems menial, insignificant, unimportant, difficult or painful.

Yet the greatest of mortal men, John the Baptist (Mt 11:11), felt quite differently. John felt unworthy to perform the most trivial, lowly service for Christ, to even loosen His sandal. (Jn 1:26-27) His humble attitude puts things in proper perspective.

What should we consider ourselves worthy of before God? What kinds of blessings do we deserve? What station, position or recognition? To name anything good at all here is to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, carelessly, thoughtlessly, presumptuously. (Ro 12:3)

The fact is that whatever God assigns us, whatever task or duty or suffering He is pleased to call us into, we should be extremely thankful for it, grateful beyond our capability to express it. It is infinite mercy, anything He is pleased to order for us more than what we truly deserve: to burn in Hell, forever cast away from God; we don’t deserve any better.

Measuring the importance of our lot, of what God ordains for us, cannot be our concern; only God Himself assigns ultimate significance and value. What role we play in the eternal drama of God, how critical our task in His strategic plan, how our lives impact others and glorify God, both now and in eternity … only God knows. It is our heart God is watching (1Co 4:5), why we’re doing what we’re doing. In running the race set before us (He 12:1), our unique and precious race, our focus must be to obey Him reverently and serve Him joyfully (Ps 2:11) Our singular desire must be to hear Him say, “Well done!”

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