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!

So, you still 'trying'?

So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice. The law appoints as high priests men who are never able to get the job done right. But this intervening command of God, which came later, appoints the Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect. (Hebrews 7:26-28)

In the Old Testament (OT), there were religious leaders called "priests". The most important thing about the OT priest was that he was "set aside" from the rest of the community in which he dwelt for the specific purpose of all the duties associated with worship and sacrifice. They didn't hold down 'outside work', such as farming or carpentry. There was also this office of "High Priest". He was over all the other priests and saw to it they all knew their duties, but he had some duties of his own that the other priests could not perform. He had the important duty of being the one to offer the sin offering for the people - on the Day of Atonement. It is this role as High Priest that "foreshadowed" the work of Christ on our behalf as our one true High Priest.

Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the duties and requirements of the High Priest, but as our perfect sacrificial lamb, without spot or blemish, he also performed the role of the perfect sacrifice. Once and for all, the sacrifice was offered - leaving no need for further sacrifice. His role in dying for mankind's sin made all the OT required sacrifices no longer necessary. His role as High Priest also did away with the need for the priest as the one to be the "intercessor" between God and man. Two "systems" of known religious occurrences were done away with in his life, death, burial and resurrection - the role of the priesthood on earth as a kind of "mediator", and the need for sacrificial offerings to continue.

As the perfect offering, his blood was shed - making full and complete atonement for our sins (covered over, never to be remembered again, removed as far as the east is from the west). He is the only one now who stands making intercession for us before the heavenly Father, having opened the door of full access to God for those who will believe in him as their Savior. No longer needing a mediator, we enter into God's presence with boldness and confidence. Even the High Priest of the OT times didn't have a boldness or confidence, for if there was any impurity in his life, he could be struck dead in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.

No other confidence is as great as what we enjoy because of our position IN Christ Jesus. No other position gives us such boldness. In ourselves, we could never get the "job done right" - that is why the OT Law of Moses included the provision for the yearly sin offering during the feast known as the Day of Atonement. It was offered over and over again each year - because the sacrifice of the young bull could never accomplish the forgiveness of our sin. It was a "type" or "symbol" of what Christ would accomplish as he was lifted up on that cross so many years ago. It "foreshadowed" his shedding of blood on our behalf. The perfect given for the imperfect.

He makes a way for us to enter into God's holy presence and ends all need for "works" on our part as a means of making us righteous. Here is the challenge for many of us - we don't fully comprehend the magnitude of Christ's finished work on our behalf, nor do we trust it as enough to give us such boldness and free access to the Holy God. It is tough to give up on a "system" which seemed to be so ingrained for so many years, so maybe that is one of the reasons Israel had a tough time embracing Jesus as Messiah when he came. They became very anchored to the way things had been done for all those years and forgot that the "type" could be set aside once the "real deal" was in their midst. Because we are "fully righteous" in Christ Jesus, we walk in the position we are placed into. If we want to continue in the old way of "trying" to live righteous when we are freely given "full righteousness" already, we probably don't fully understand the completed work of our High Priest. Just sayin!

Life Hack #14 - Behavior Matters

Life Hack #14:

Dear child, if you become wise, I’ll be one happy parent. My heart will dance and sing to the tuneful truth you’ll speak. (Proverbs 23:15-16)

None of us become wise overnight, but in the development of our lives, we learn to embrace truths and live well. In turn, we bring honor to our parents - if not our earthly father or mother, then our heavenly Father is honored immensely!  Whatever the "parenting style" you were raised under, know this: God can "undo" the wrong stuff our parents did with us or to us in our lives just as much as he can magnify the good stuff!

God wants every one of his children to become wise. How is this wisdom manifest? In the truth we speak and reveal with our actions. The soundness of heart is often betrayed by the words we speak, is it not? There are times people try to deliver such polished speeches, believing their words will mask the underlying misery in their lives. Our words can only do so much to mask what is truthfully within the recesses of our hearts - in time, the truth will come out. The "soundness" of one's heart is determined by the things held as truths upon which we base our lives - so when we get the truth IN, it will eventually come OUT in the words we speak.

God doesn't just look at the "rightness" of our speech, but with getting the right foundation worked into our lives so that we bring honor to God in all we do. When the right foundation is allowed to permeate our lives, we begin to see character formation which will yield "solid" decision making, "right" actions, and "disciplined" living. Our words begin to reflect this foundation. I tried to instill some of the basics into the lives of my children, but trust me, I had to learn some of those basics right alongside them! 

It wasn't that my parents didn't try to teach me those basics when I was younger, but I just didn't fully embrace them in my youth! Things like thinking of another instead of always thinking of your own wants or desires, or perhaps being truthful and above board in your dealings. These were life lessons taught, but not fully "caught" until I realized how much my "modeled" behavior influenced the words I spoke to my children!

"Principled living" is developed in the course of time. Principled words are an outflow of embracing the principles one is taught. We cannot always count on our earthly parents to have modeled the behaviors we needed to catch, but we can count on our heavenly Father to have provided the individuals in our lives who will help us to model the behaviors we need to catch onto in our lives. God is faithful, even when our earthly parents maybe were not. 

Can we be "un-parented" from the standpoint of letting go of modeled behaviors which were not good or honoring to God? In trusting God's oversight in our lives, embracing truth as he reveals it, and in letting go of the wrongs we experienced at the hands of those who didn't model the right behavior, we can move forward. Modeled behavior "sticks" in our minds for a while and must be "unlearned" over time - just as it was learned. Truth embraced today will multiply. In time, as truth is worked "into" our lives, it will begin to be manifest in the words we speak "out" of our lives and actions follow words. Just sayin!

Put down to pick up

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. (Proverbs 2:5-6)

Are you someone who is always musing over this plan or the next, not really able to let go of the reins? I think there are more of us out there than we'd like to admit! We spend our energies ruminating on the stuff we'd do well to let go of while we don't quite spend enough time or energies on getting the clarity of heart, emotions, and mind we so desperately need. When we are constantly trying to "work the plan", we don't take time to actually find out of the plan needs any "alteration" as God sees it! In scripture we find all kinds of people who have tried to figure out the plan for their "needed fix" all on their own. The same result is apparent - they fail miserably! Look at Adam and Eve. Plan A was to listen to God's plan - stay away from three of Good & Evil. Plan B was to just have a bite of the fruit of that tree. Plan C was to deal with the shame and guilt of having veered from Plan A! Judas Iscariot found himself in quite a fix when he decided money and popularity was more important than loyalty and love. To his dismay, what he found was neither money nor popularity soothed the heart, nor did it set the mind at rest. His fix for his fix? A tree and a rope! Not the best fix, if you ask me.

The command to us is to trust God and stop trying to fix your fix on our own. You have probably heard the old quote from John Steinbeck, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." This is so true! If you were ever assigned this book in school, you will recall the story of two migrant workers, constantly on the move during the Great Depression - constantly on the move, always just marginally escaping the next great fate, until one day, the "plan" just doesn't work anymore. Steinbeck tells it well - we can fix our fix only so well, then one day we find our fix is no longer fixable! Our plans might promote the idea of planning for the unknown, but do we really "know" what cannot be known? The key to our learning to rely upon the "right" fix for our fix is in learning which voices we will listen to. Adam and Eve chose to listen to the intriguing voice of desire and want. Job chose to listen to the consoling and corroborating voices of his companions. Judas Iscariot chose to listen to the voice of deception. Most of the "fixes" we find ourselves trying to fix are just because we listen to the wrong "voices". Listen to God's voice - the still small voice of God. No other "voice" will ring as true, give as much clarity, or unfold the course before us as will his. How do we become proficient in listening to his voice?

First, I think we have to read what our writer has just said - stop all the "figuring" on your own - learn to trust God with the details. These two verses actually work together. As we come to a place of being open to God, we find it also includes us shutting down the planning we constantly do in our minds. I am not suggesting we become empty-headed, unthinking creatures. Far from it - but we don't have to work out all the details on our own. God's desire is for us to bring the plan to him, lay it all out before him, then listen carefully to the many ways in which he speaks to us about those plans. In laying out our plan before the one who directs our steps and keeps us on track, we are actually allowing the alterations in the plans, but only if we are open to hearing about those "alterations". These "alterations" are pointed out as we read God's Word, hear a few lines from a song, or perhaps listen to the wisdom of a good biblical teacher. In hearing, we open up to the "change in plans" which will get us and keep us on course. Adam and Eve "heard" God's voice in the garden - not seeking to punish them, but seeking to bring them into a place of restoration. Job "heard" God's voice, not in the counsel of these friends, but in the talking out of his circumstances with none other than God himself. Judas Iscariot probably never did get to the place of listening to God's voice - for the voice of deception took him all the way to the end of his life. Sad thing indeed.

We have to lay down our "fix" in order to really embrace the right "fix for our fix". When I have broken a piece of ceramic, I can try to put all the pieces back together, seeing how they all "fit", but until I put them down, seeking the "glue" which will bind them together again, I cannot ever hope the pieces will come together. It is in putting down the pieces that I find the "fix" which will bring the pieces into right alignment again. God's plan is for us to lay down our lives - all the best laid plans - in order to see how he designed the pieces to fit. In laying them down, we are free to embrace how he desires to connect them together. Just sayin!