Challenge Accepted

Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ. We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised. (Hebrews 10:22-23)

The condition: Our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience; our bodies washed with pure water. The challenge: Come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence. We might want to know God better, somehow appreciating that we don't 'know enough about him' to really understand how he operates in our lives. We could just desire to 'feel' a bit more of God's presence with us each day. We have already been given total access to God and the mind of Christ, but sometimes we don't always 'tap into' what we already have total access into! We lack the confidence within our hearts and minds to actually 'believe fully' that what God put forward as the challenge can be totally true. We see ourselves still struggling with temptation and occasional sin, so we don't think of ourselves as 'washed clean'. If God says we are, why do we argue with him?

Yes, temptation still exists, and we slip from time to time. Yes, we can find forgiveness when we do simply by coming to God with a contrite heart, confessing our sin, and then turning away from it (repentance). So, why do we struggle so much with the challenge to come near to God full of confidence? I think it is because we believe the lies of our enemy who repeatedly tells us we are 'not worthy', 'are too messed up', 'have done this too many times', or that 'God gets tired of forgiving us for the same old things'. While I am sure God would like us to turn away from those old patterns of sin in our lives, he never rejects those who come to him with a contrite heart.

Our hearts HAVE BEEN made free - so we now must live free. The condition is met. We still live in a sinful world, full of all manner of temptation and our enemy, the devil, knows very well what has worked to trick us into compromising in the past. He looks for those open doors we give him and uses them to put just the right temptation right in front of our noses. If we start praying scripture, proclaiming what God has already said about each of us in those moments, would it be possible we could actually resist his proffered temptation a bit easier? I believe so! 

The very next time you are tempted to engage in that sin you struggle with, begin to remind yourself, God, and the devil exactly what God says about you. YOU HAVE BEEN MADE FREE! You have a clean heart! You have a clear conscience! You are no longer bound to that sin! Your mind has been renewed and is continually being renewed! Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! Sin has been conquered by the Blood of Jesus! You are a new creation in Christ Jesus! The presence of God and his strength is your shield and defense! When you start reminding yourself and the devil of those truths, you stand a much better chance of actually facing the challenge head-on and coming out the winner! Just sayin!

Discovering the perfect hiding place

What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. (Hebrews 4:12)

There is a science to the "dissection" process of butchering meats - much like there must be a "science" to getting at the desires and thoughts of our hearts. God doesn't just go about "butchering" our mind, will, and emotions to get at those things which need to be revealed and separated. He has a skill in what he does and how he does it. He isn't going to yank and pull - creating a case of "tug-a-war" within - but he is going to gently "part" what is responsible for keeping those "deep crevices" of our lives hidden and bound up until they are exposed to his careful attention.

Can a dead thing resist? All it takes for death to occur is the right opportunity and environment for death, decay continuing to do the work which had begun when it was first removed from that which gave it a life source. Sin yields a type of "decay" in our lives - hidden away in the places we don't think can be easily reached; it is allowed to continue the process of death until it is discovered under the careful attention of our Lord's hand. It remains hidden, allowed to continue its work of decaying because sin is really a part of our lives where "separation" from a good life source has occurred. When we are separated from the righteousness of God, death begins to occur. The longer that area is allowed to be hidden in the recesses of our hearts and minds, the more it will "rot" where it is hidden.

This is why God uses great care to get at those recesses of our hearts and minds - so he can help us uncover what is bringing about the "decay" in our lives. It brings a "putrid" kind of "stench" to our character which must be dealt with in order for us to be rid of it. Great care is taken to get at the reason for the decay. We know something exists which is contributing to that odor, but it won't just jump out at us! We have to go after it! Sin isn't just going to "own up" to its hiding place, my friends. We need the tools God provides in order to discover its hiding place and to finally rid ourselves of the putrid decay it has been creating within our inner man.

God's Word is a skilled tool in his hands. God doesn't just "clean house" - he inspects what is there, identifies what doesn't belong, and then sets about to finally and completely remove it. It is done with care - through the revealing power of his Word. God's Word helps us to not only "take inventory" of what is in our lives, it helps us remove what doesn't belong there anymore - those things which will only give off a stench and produce more decay as a result of their presence. Grace is the healing instrument in the process of God separating that which belongs and that which must be removed from our lives. Through the Word, he exposes. By grace, he begins to replace that which was decaying with that which comes with a new life source and with a fragrance only reproducible because it remains attached to that new life source! It is already a dead place in our hearts - that which is dead doesn't belong in the place where we want to reproduce life. Just sayin!

Conflicted, but cleansed

Think about what we have in Christ: the encouragement he has brought us, the comfort of his love, our sharing in his Spirit, and the mercy and kindness he has shown us. If you enjoy these blessings, then do what will make my joy complete: Agree with each other and show your love for each other. Be united in your goals and in the way you think. In whatever you do, don’t let selfishness or pride be your guide. Be humble, and honor others more than yourselves. Don’t be interested only in your own life, but care about the lives of others too. (Philippians 2:1-4)

What exactly do we have in Christ? If we stop for even a short period of time and consider this question, we will likely begin to list a few things that immediately come to mind. Consider it a bit longer and we will find there are things we didn't even realize we 'have' at our access because we have never tapped into them. Even though the blessings of God are upon our lives, we find there will be times when we are called upon to do things that may be a bit 'out of our comfort zone'. He asks us to embrace someone who has offended us, take up a battle in prayer for someone who is just plain worn out from the battle, or give unselfishly of what we possess to allow it to become a blessing in another's. The 'things' God asks aren't going to rock our world monumentally, but they likely will incrementally!

Unity of spirit isn't going to 'just happen' in our world today, but whenever we come into the fellowship of other believers, we should rejoice. Why? They are there to help us grow, challenging us to lay down our selfishness and pride just a bit more, while embracing whatever it is that God has prepared for us to do today. It is a dangerous thing to be guided by our pride, isn't it? Pride gets us into so many 'pickles' in life. We find ourselves dreading the outcome, all because our pride got us into something we weren't supposed to be involved in at all. Whenever this happens, it is best to admit it, confession being the first step toward repentance. Pride always goes before bad choices - the outcome of the choices being referred to as a 'fall'. Pride goeth before a fall - your fall might be the challenge today, mine tomorrow - so we need each other!

When we take an interest in the lives of those God has placed in our life, we are going to find there are times when the atmosphere is charged with conflict, but not all conflict is bad. In fact, some conflict actually produces positive outcomes. For example, when I didn't want to wash up as a kid, mom would not allow that dilly-dallying to continue, knowing my 'unwashed' condition was not healthy, nor very pleasing in appearance or odor! So, she'd shoo me into the tub in spite of my resistance. What was produced by the conflict between what I wanted and what I needed? Cleanliness! Sometimes conflict leads to a cleansing process - we find our true 'need' being highlighted and the means to have that need met provided. Living in community with each other might just produce the necessary 'conflict' that brings about the deepest 'cleansing' of our lives. Just sayin!