Lavish Grace

Socrates reminded us that "the unexamined life is not worth living" - when we only allow others to examine our lives, we might just get a 'warped perception' of how we are doing. Human opinion about our choices is not always the wisest thing for us to latch onto as the standard by which we will live our lives. In fact, it could just allow for some things clearly not good for us, while excluding things we desperately need!

Declare me innocent, O Lord, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. For I am always aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to your truth. (Psalm 26:1-3)

Proverbs 16:2 reminds us that people may be pure in their own eyes, but until the Lord examines the heart, we can be living by an unrealistic standard. Why? Our own opinion of how we are to live isn't always influenced by the right values or standards. If we go only by public opinion on a matter, we could be allowing all manner of sinful compromise to be 'acceptable' in our eyes, while God clearly says those things will only bring us harm. We must know God's standards if we are to ever resist public opinion!

When someone is 'examined' in a court of law, the ones posing the questions understand the law. They are aware of when something is 'right' and when it is clearly 'against the law'. They form their examination based upon the standards established by those laws. In much the same way, God has established standards that give us a clear picture of when a particular action is clearly outside of the 'law' of his standards. When we gravitate toward the boundary of those standards, we are getting too close to the place where we can easily step outside of them.

People who wish to live with integrity in their lives aren't afraid to have their lives examined in the 'courtroom' of God's standards. Why? They know the boundaries and make active choices to live within those boundaries. Do they ever 'over-step' those boundaries? Yes, because they are human and don't always make the best choices. When they do, they have an advocate who stands before the "Judge" and presents the case for grace. Jesus is our advocate - God hears his case for grace on our behalf and grants grace every time Jesus presents the need for such 'lenience'. 

Is it a 'free sentence', though? No, there are always consequences to sin in our lives, but the sin isn't held against us. In other words, we may reap what we sowed by the wrong choice, but we are returned to a right standing with God. We may not always choose wisely, but the more we choose to live by the standards established by God, the less we will find ourselves requiring such lavish grace! Just sayin!

Under what standard will you walk

“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15)

Confucius said if he walked with two men, he'd look at the positive example in one of them and imitate that behavior, while seeking to eliminate the negative behavior he observed while walking with the other man. I daresay that is a dangerous way to live our lives because choosing any 'standard' other than God to base our decision about what character needs to be built in our lives is living by a 'low standard'. We can see the negative traits or behavior in another and seek to eliminate similar behavior in our own, but no one is made 'well' spiritually by just eliminating what is negative and embracing what they see as positive.

God called Israel to choose to serve him - to not set their standard of living by the culture they were immersed within. They would have been in cultures where false gods were erected and worshipped. They would have seen many pagan practices that were sometimes quite vile and unwholesome. The question Joshua put before them on that day was one of 'choice' or what some of us have come to call 'preference'. Will you prefer to serve the one true God, or some other form of 'god' created by human mind and hand? It is a question of what we will hold as our example - man or God himself. 

Put away forever any other standard other than God himself - choose to serve him and him alone. This is the instruction. Too many times, we hold up examples of 'goodness' and 'evil' around us, thinking we could emulate the behavior of one and eliminate the behavior of the other just by our own power or inner will. The matter is a bit more complicated than that - for our examples are all a bit flawed when we choose any example other than Christ. Yes, we can learn from positive examples, and even observe negative ones and choose not to walk down that path in our lives. We might just lack the 'know-how' to live as God wants us to live, though.

For that, we need what is written in God's Word - just as the nation of Israel needed God's instructions so many years ago. There is no true measure by which we can see the good or evil as well as that which we find contained within the Word. We might find ourselves following a 'lower standard' than God desires for those who would choose to serve him if we choose any other standard than his Word. Just sayin!

Seek First HIM

 The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

The Lord alone... Is he the only one you serve? A tough question this morning, but one which I think we all need to consider. Is he really first and foremost in our lives? If we might know how to answer that one, then we must consider the next portion of our passage. Do we love him with ALL our heart, or is our heart divided? Do we commit all our mind, will, and emotions to him, are we carried away by all manner of folly? Is our commitment to his commandments (rules for living) 'whole-hearted'? If we are able to answer these questions with a resounding 'yes', then we are likely putting Christ first in our lives. If not, we need not despair, because God is giving ALL of us a chance to give him that place of authority in our lives. 

Commit yourselves wholeheartedly... We might struggle from time to time with our focus, but God knows the intention and 'bent' of our heart, will, and emotions. He knows we face temptation after temptation, and he also knows we don't always resist them. What he is looking for is not 'perfection', but commitment to his standards of living. Are we choosing to do more than just 'consider' them? Have we made them the standard by which we measure our thoughts and actions? Why does God ask us to repeat his commandments (standards for living) over and over again? He knows we will need the reminders about right choices, keeping the right leadership in our lives, and maintaining a right mindset to overcome those temptations!

The principle is to 'seek first' God - then all will be added into our lives. We don't always know why these standards are so important in our lives, but if we trust him to always be good toward us, then we know whatever he asks of us by laying out these standards for living has to be good. The thing he asks of us is to continually refresh our minds with these standards - so our hearts will constantly be directed toward right steps. Most of the bad decisions we make in life are because we didn't seek him first in those actions. Just sayin!