What About The Never Changers

Jesus did not commit Himself to them…, for He knew what was in man. —John 2:24-25 

Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. … if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person … we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. … Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Has anyone ever disappointed you? How does that make you feel?  Do you lose hope for them? Have you lost hope for them? Have you given up on them?  It is really pretty easy to do.  I think most people have a category that they put others in called “They are never going to change.”  In a way, we are correct.  They will never change on their own, like us, they need help.  

Not our help. God’s help.  Perhaps not help from us, but from God through us. Just like He changed you and me … who were never going to change either. Now the tricky part is that some think that if I think differently about that person, I must accept, embrace the things they do and the life they live.  Not so! But, at the same time, when you cast them off as “unchangeable” you have judged them and condemned them to Hell.  Because of what they have done to you or someone else, perhaps that is your hope for them.  I know people in my life that I have done this to.  (This is very convicting as I type these words.)  Listen, God is in the business of saving us from Hell and transforming us to the image of His Son through faith.  Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant?  (Matthew 18:21-35) Think about these verses in terms of the people in your life that you have relegated to “They are never going to change”.

For God so loved the world - John 3:16

That is pretty inclusive .. doesn’t leave anyone out including the ones that we think will never change.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

God did not demand that we do something that we were incapable of doing, and yet He did not, could not, would not embrace us until we placed our faith in His Son.

 

The second greatest commandment is to love people (Matthew 22:39). So don’t give up on those “Never Changers”, pray for them.  Forgive them.  You can’t you say? Of course you can’t, you need God’s help to do that.  What you are trying do in the flesh you can only do in the Spirit.  It is a supernatural act, forgiveness is.  We need to see others just like Jesus did.  Even while on the Cross, Jesus asked the Father to forgive the very people that rejected Him and killed Him.  There is no way that we can love people like that on our own.  

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. - 1 John 4:18-20

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Don't Let The World Distract You

Look to Me, and be saved… —Isaiah 45:22

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved….” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. “Look to Me….”  We will find what we are looking for if we will concentrate on Him. Build your hope on Him. No matter how many things seem to be pressing in on you, be determined to push them aside and look to Him. “Look to Me….” - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

There are many things – distractions in this life that would draw our attention, trust and devotion away from God.  It requires a deliberate effort on our part to keep our focus.  I was thinking about a batter in a baseball game. People are yelling at the batter .. opponents and fans trying to distract him so he will miss the ball and be called out. They want to keep him from accomplishing his purpose which is – of course – to hit the ball and score a run.  Life is like that for a Christian.  The world is constantly vying for our attention. The world is calling out, stop looking to God and trust yourself .. make your own way .. achieve righteousness through your own effort and not by faith and devotion to God.  

It’s natural for us to be distracted by the things of this world.  To trust ourselves.  To make our own way.  But …. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation .. old things are passed away .. all things are becoming new … (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are being shaped into the image of Christ.  (Romans 8:29) Just like the baseball player, we must fix our eyes on the “ball” – our faith in Jesus.  

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  - Hebrews 12:1-2

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

The Consequence Of Not Keeping My Flesh In Check

"He will glorify Me… "—John 16:14

A person that is born again and committed to following Jesus has a devotion to Jesus and therefore to the Father, that is evidenced in how they live and how they treat others.  But there is one aspect that is invisible to the people around them and only visible to God.  That is the condition of their heart.  A heart wholly devoted to the Father.  It is possible to attend church, put on your happy face, listen to sermons, and sing worship songs and not be devoted to following Jesus. 

 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” – Matthew 15:8-9

 “ …having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 3:5-7

Many people are convinced that “doing” is the same as “being”.  They practice the Christian religion, embrace the teachings but lack the devotion to the Cornerstone of the Church.  They may go to the altar every Sunday morning and still be spiritually ignorant and far from God.  They lack understanding and they lack commitment to their faith … that is , if they have saving faith.  The demons know who Jesus is, but they don’t serve Him.  They have another master. For many Christians, their hearts that were once alive toward God have become hardened toward spiritual things in favor of those things that satisfy the flesh.  They go through the motions .. say the right things .. but serve themselves and not the risen Lord.  Sound harsh? The truth often does because truth brings conviction and conviction brings discomfort and that forces us to make a decision.  Will I respond to the Truth or will I ignore it and choose to continue on the vain journey I am pursuing.

What am I saying? Friends, we need to be on our guard or before we know it .. those people .. will become “we the people”.  I must examine myself and my devotion every day. I have to keep my flesh in check. 

The only way that we can glorify the Father is by being spiritually “right” and devoted to His will in every aspect of our lives.  You must be careful that you do not relegate your spirituality to Sunday morning.  We are Christians 24x7 into eternity.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Telling Others All Is Well When It Isn't

We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9

We make it our aim….” It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound? - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Living by faith and walking in the light does not just happen. It requires commitment and discipline.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” -  Philippians 2:12-15

This new life requires effort of the heart… to submit to the Lord requires us to lay down on the altar.  Working out our salvation is not self-effort .. trying harder to be “good” …. it’s submission. So many people are satisfied with working on having a good-Christian appearance and miss the joy and peace that comes from living in obedience to the will of God.  

I know too many people that are struggling with life and refuse to trust God.  (perhaps you do too) If you ask them, they will tell you that “all is well”, but all is not well, they just want it to be in spite of their struggle and perhaps living in disobedience. Desperation of circumstances can subvert your faith and divert your walk.  Unless you are willing to trust and obey.  I wish I could do that for others, but I can’t, I can only watch their struggle and hope they look to God for answers instead of trust in their own designs that have consistently failed them in the past.  And perhaps I just might be an encouragement to them.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Called - Purposed And Empowered By God

Then said I [Jeremiah]:“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. - Jeremiah 1:6-9

I had no idea when I prayed next to my wife to put my faith and trust in Jesus, that he would turn my life upside down. My wife's as well. I thought the direction of my life was pretty well determined. I had a master's degree in Engineering, a successful career in the Army, a wonderful family a sound marriage.  And then, one day the Lord said that He wanted me to serve Him and not my country. Like Jeremiah, I was not sure that I would be able to what the Lord had in mind. Can you imagine, me, a mere man formed from dust questioning the mind, purpose, and plan of God. But I did. Like Jeremiah - God provided the wherewithal to do what He had bid me to do. For someone who is supposed to be so smart - proved to be ignorant of God's power. 

I suppose my experience was somewhat like Peter, Andrew, James and John. They were a bit older than Jeremiah. A little more set in their ways. They had families dependent upon their vocation as fishermen.  Then Jesus showed up.

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. - Matthew 4:18-23

Actually the decision to follow God's leading was much less of a struggle that I would have imagined. What I was doing - what I had achieved had "lost its shine" in my mind and heart. When I told my wife that I thought the Lord was telling me to lay my career in the Army and a certain income and retirement down, she said that she agreed that I should. So I did. And the Lord has proven himself to be faithful to provide for us - even in some financially impossible situations. Like Paul - 

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith - Philippians 3:7-9

As Jeremiah said 

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.- Jeremiah 9:23-24

So what is it that the Lord is saying or has said to you? He does not always call you to leave your nets, but He calls all of us to, at the very least, abandon our hearts' devotion to those nets.

God will never call you to do something or go somewhere that you can do on your own. You will always need Him to do what He tells you or where He takes you. Not so that you might find personal glory in it but that He might be glorified through your obedience.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Loving God More Must Be More Than A Want

…being justified freely by His grace… —Romans 3:24

We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. - Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest

As Christians we live our lives on this earth with a tension between the spiritual and the natural.  The preaching of the earthly health and wealth gospel … God wants you to be rich and healthy … is the carnal Christian's attempt to resolve that tension.  The idea is that God will give you money .. which He tells you not to love … and health .. which He tells you that you will face affliction and hardship of many kinds … and so … you can really be independent of God .. all of your earthly needs will be met … do you see the heresy in this?  God wants us to give up our dependence upon earthly comforts and assurances and trust Him, alone.  There is a difference between depending on something and having it. When Job lost everything, the assumption was that he had done something wrong .. why?  Because he lost his earthly possessions. What was the truth .. there was something spiritual at work that superseded the natural.  The same is true in our lives.  The thing is, you must be willing to submit to that … to yield your devotion and dependence upon the natural and trust God's provision.  What do you hunger for?  I see people struggling after disasters and war and poverty, while Americans are trying to figure out if they should go ahead and buy that $2000 iPhone and get rid of their $700 iPhone.  The Church in the United States is the “frog in the pot” with respect to materialism.  We don’t know that we are being cooked … instead, we think the water temperature is just right.

Some time ago I was watching the Black Friday phenomenon  .. which it seems Black Friday has crept into Black Thursday.  While I was trying to find money to help people recover from Hurricane Harvey and people were spending money – hand over fist – to satisfy their lust for more – because they certainly didn’t need it – not really.  With respect to the rest of the world, I think it is safe to say that 99% of what we buy is to satisfy our wants.  Our needs were met a long time ago.   We are trying to get masks to people who have none and can't afford them - and people with the means are wondering what color and style they should buy.  Something that will go with their outfit. (Psalm 37:4) "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart"  The emphasis here is on our focus on God and His changing what we desire to conform to what He desires.

 “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:2-4

Ugh! That does not leave a lot of wiggle room does it. I guess I should quote Jesus to bring this to a close. 

And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear - Matthew 13:14-16

.....  And I would add .. He who feels conviction – let him repent.”  

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Do You Really Want To Be Like Jesus?

When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34

Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

For those whom he [God the Father] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.   - Romans 8:29 

Have you ever given any thought to what being conformed … molded .. changed … means?  Well, first you know it is a spiritual change, right?  Second … you know that the process is going to be contrary to your flesh. God will show you things through the Spirit that you may not want to see or admit, even to yourself.  (One of the Spirit’s missions is to convict the world of sin.  The Spirit plus the Word of God are the “one-two” punch in the sanctification process.  The knock-out punch is my surrendering my will)

You know that there are certain aspects of your old nature that you want to hide or cling to.  Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves in the Garden… you know how that worked out for them. The only ones you can hide your sin from, for a season, is man.  The Word says (Numbers 32:23) “Your sin will find you out.”  God knows everything .. that is why we confess our sins (1 John 1:9) .. confess means to “agree with” not to reveal. The goal of this transformation – conforming process is not to make you miserable, but to bless you .. to make you better.  The pain or difficulty you experience is from the battle between the flesh and Spirit. My encouragement to you is the same as Paul’s to the Romans. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. -  Romans 12:1-2  

God won’t make you do that.  You must surrender your will.  Will you?

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone