Lent Day 2: Did God Really Say…???

Today my heart is heavy as I am not only struggling with an unusually acute awareness of my own sin, but also of the awareness of those whose lives are in utter chaos and destruction simply because they refuse to follow God’s design.

I struggle today with how those who choose to stand against”evil” that culture calls “good”, condemn those who do not conform to the standards of our culture.  I struggle mostly because of the chasm that has taken place in the church.  Those who stand on the Truth that has been Truth for thousands of years are being persecuted and rejected for not being “open-minded”.

Those who choose to call good what is evil cannot see the horrible consequences that are taking place and even worse, yet to come because our concern for people to “feel good” about themselves now has taken priority over our concern about our relationship with our Holy God.

The definition of love is so far from what God defines it to be.  Humanity has given a new definition to love, marriage, and worst of all, what true faith in God looks like.

Culture dictates that love and sex are intertwined. It dictates that love is a feeling.  It claims that we are supposed to love ourselves and we love humanity better when we love ourselves first.  Love is not selfish so this is a deception, “Did God really say…???”

Love is not about feeling.  It is about doing.  Love, real love, is hard.  It requires death and sacrifice.  I don’t mean we have to start murdering.  Love requires death to personal desires, safety and comfort.  It requires great sacrifice in so many ways.  But our culture sends the message that love is doing what feels good.  You only have to watch television for an evening to figure it out.  Most of prime time television revolves around abuse of alcohol, infidelity, lack of commitment and sexual promiscuity that is off the charts!

Today I watched a show simply because it was the final episode of the series and I was curious how they would go out. The entire episode revolved around sex outside of marriage.  In one scene it showed a woman kissing a woman who she apparently was in a relationship with and in just a few moments another woman walks in who does the same thing to the same woman.  The three of them apparently lived together and were in a love triangle and this was supposed to be funny. This is acceptable in our society and very common.  The deception, “Did God really say that sex should be between one man and one woman  within the bonds of marriage for life?”

Professed Christians have embraced same sex marriage and those who do not are persecuted, called “intolerant” and/or “close-minded bigots if they dare speak against this. (By the way, when we use these words to describe another person, we instantly put ourselves in the same category because we are intolerant, and close-minded towards them). Now, I am not saying it is right to mistreat a person who is attracted to the same sex.  That is sin.  That is not love.  But, to not stand against that which separates mankind from God for all eternity and to not call sin what it is out of fear of being called “close-minded, or bigot, or intolerant” is bowing to personal desire for acceptance in society and even in some situations, by other professed Christians. I am guilty.

I have friends whom I truly love and respect in so many ways who disagree with me on the biblical stance on same sex marriage.  We avoid talking about the subject when we are together but we recognize that we are not on the same page in this particular area as well as others.  I don’t want those friendships harmed so I just tip toe around the “tulips” in hopes not to disturb the beauty of the relationship.  I am unwilling to sacrifice as Christ did for me. I appreciate my friends who disagree with me on this topic but choose to love me despite our differences…as I do them.

I do believe very strongly that the Bible is very clear about how God designed and defines marriage and I do believe that it is only designed to take place between one man and one woman who plan to spend the rest of their lives loving and serving God and one another.  I do believe that the purpose for sex is for a husband and wife to have an intimacy like no other and this beautiful intimacy leads to the procreation which multiplied the human race.

I believe that sin has distorted this picture from the very instant that the fruit was bitten.  From that moment our picture of God and love has been distorted.  We have no understanding of real love and nobody has ever experienced pure love outside of the love that God gives.  From the moment the deceiver whispered for the very first time, “Did God really say?”, this has been the deception that has passed down to every generation from that moment forward.

Did God say we are to hate the sinner?  No. God says we are to love even the worst people because He does…and I am among them. I am no better. I don’t deserve God’s love anymore than they do…but His love covers a multitude of sin.  Love isn’t telling people that it’s okay to do what feels right.  Doing what feels right is the very thing that leads us away from God because ever since sin entered this world, what’s right doesn’t feel good and that sends a message that it is wrong. Doing right and good by God’s design is in direct opposition to our human nature. This is why we are all born sinners in need of God’s forgiveness and pardon through Jesus Christ.

Loving God truly brings lasting joy and peace even in the midst of the worst circumstances.  But following God is a choice we make every moment of every day with every decision and for me, I really think that most of the decisions I make each day revolve more around what I want to do than what God is asking of me.  The beauty of His pure, unending love for me is that every moment of every day, in the midst of all my wrong choices, the moment I lift my eyes toward Him and say, “I’m sorry”, He takes me in as if I’d never sinned at all.

This is the love we cannot demonstrate to others apart from God in us, loving through us.  When we are in Christ, we will love those who sin. (If we cannot love sinners, then we better look in the mirror and see the one who is chief).  We will love those who hurt us.  We will have the power to forgive.  We will have the power to lead a sinner to the path of righteousness no matter what their “sexual orientation” may be.  We will love no matter how evil or cruel a person has been. We will love the person addicted to drugs. We will love the pimps, thieves, murderers, liars, gossips, cheaters, abusers and prostitutes (all of us). We will love those who take the lives of the unborn.  We will love the religious intolerant. We will love those who do not think like we do. We will do good to those who wish us harm. None of this is easy!  Love is not easy!!! But we can know we love when we are able to love the sinner and absolutely hate the sin the way that Jesus did when He laid down His life for those who deserved the punishment He received.  When we love like Jesus, we speak the Truth no matter what the cost because not speaking Truth and calling it what it is has a far greater price. It devalues a person more than any sin can and can cost them their life eternally. I don’t want this on my hands. Dear God, help me not to have this on my hands.

This post may cost me some friends.  I hope not.  But, I have a choice to make today. I have to decide if those friendships are more important to me than the souls that are at stake. Perhaps this is what God is asking me to sacrifice during this season of Lent. I have to decide if I am going to choose to do what God has asked of me out of greater love for Him than myself. I have to be willing to lay down my very life and reputation for the sake of those who may want to hurt me and persecute me.  This is the most perfect demonstration of love that Christ gave to me. Who am I to say they are not worth the sacrifice when He says we all are? I am not better than those I may be tempted to point my finger at if I sit in silence to keep things peaceful.

Yes, I am willing to sacrifice the relationships I value with people whom I love very much in the name of God and  for the salvation of sinners. I am willing but only through Christ’s strength will I be able.

These are my thoughts today.

On another note, I have struggled today with loved ones who make choices daily to rebel against God’s authority as well as other authority. They reject real love and embrace a cheap imitation. They do not have healthy relationships with anyone because they have a very unhealthy relationship with themselves as well as God. I have struggled over those I love who have wrecked the lives of small children to feed their drug habits, abuse, sexual abuse and other selfish addictions that they pass on to their children when they do not turn from it. I struggle not with hatred, but with a passionate heart wrenching desire to see them surrender to grace. I struggle at the pain I watch them live in every day because of the choices they make and it crushes me on a daily basis.  I love them but they do not choose Truth. They are so tormented and they don’t even realize it. They have been living in it so long that they are numb.

Oh my heart cries out for them..sometimes in agony.  But year after year it only seems to get worse.  I get frustrated.  I wonder if my prayers are even being heard sometimes. I know God hears and is working in their lives but they just refuse to grab onto Him. They refuse to turn from what they are addicted to. They refuse to submit to God’s perfect plan for their lives because the deceiver is constantly saying, “Did God really say?…” I so long for them to get out of the web that they have become so entangled in and as a result caused innocent children to get tangled in it with them.  Oh that the Lord would move in a mighty way and set them free!

Lent 2015 Day 1

So, why are all these people walking around with black crosses on their heads? They are wearing ash as a sign of repentance and grief over sin. Today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of the season of Lent. Observers usually fast during this time, or do other things as God leads. I’m just not sure what God wants me to do in this regard. So, at this point, I am committing to write about my experiences each day and however He leads, I will follow.

Today, my devotion focused on the fall.  Sin entered the human race through deception.  Satan, (the enemy of all creation and ultimately God) begins his deception that will eventually lead all of creation to death, “Did God really say…”

This is where I believe the Church has been deceived over and over. We have listened to the world’s cry for acceptance.  But people want the inheritance without sacrifice.  Instead of changing to be holy, they want to make unholiness acceptable.

Matthew 24:4-5 & 24 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” … For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. (NKJV)

We are living in a time of rapid moral decay. The line between right and wrong has been so blurred that many no longer know where one ends and the other begins. It’s truly a slow fade.  Even those who call themselves “chosen” are caving to the pressures from culture.  Men who are wise in their own eyes are preaching in the name of God but they are not preaching the Truth of God.  Their sentences often begin with, “Did God really say…”  If your sentence begins with this question, the answer should likely be a resounding, “Yes” (just as it was true in the garden). In the name of God they condemn those whom they call brother and sister for standing on Truth that has stood the test of time for centuries.

We are living in a crucial time in history. Those who call themselves evangelicals are twisting God’s Truth into something that is not even similar to what it started out to be. I’ll admit, they can be very convincing and I have struggled hard to not be deceived on many occasions. Unless one is strong in faith, prayer, and study of Truth by the revelation of God’s Holy Spirit, he will easily be swept away.

Lent is a time when we can pull ourselves away from the world and into God’s Word. It’s a time to seek God through the Holy Spirit who guides us into all Truth. People seek to be accepted by their peers. Or, they seek for their peers living in sin to be acceptable to God in the midst of sinful living. So, instead of standing against sin out of love for the sinner, we stand without love for the sinner through denial of the sin.  We call it “acceptance” and “tolerance”.  We even dare to all it “love”. We label our rebellious nature as a “disease”, “mental illness”, or even worse we say that our Holy God created us this way.  God created man holy. Sin corrupts even from birth. God did not create any of us sinful.  He created us in His image. But, as soon as we are conceived, sin is in our blood due to the sin that took place in the beginning – in the Garden – with the question, “Did God really say…?”

We want the “bread” and we want to eat it as well.  We want to be accepted by God but we also desire to be accepted by our peers. We want to follow hard after Christ but we also want the “American Dream”. We want to love both God and “mammon” but this cannot be done.  We must hate one in order to love the other.  So, we are careful about how we word ourselves. We either choose to turn away from the faith, or manipulate Truth to call rebellion something else in order to make it acceptable. Even worse, some of us have been intimidated to the point of silence. We say nothing at all.  Herein lies the problem.  Sin will never be acceptable to God.  He is Holy.  He never changes.  What separated us from Him in the garden, separates us from Him today.  To say nothing says everything about the condition of our heart. Have we sold out God and bought into the lies?  The only path to forgiveness and reconciliation is repentance, not acceptance through  denial or manipulation of Truth.

We can believe all we want that our chosen lifestyle of sin is not sin. We can call wrong right and right wrong all the way to our grave.  But, it doesn’t change anything and if we deny Truth all the way to the grave ,we deny ourselves eternity with God. Do we really want to take that chance?

Sin will always be sin.  It will always separate. It will always lead to eternal death. The only hope for redemption is God’s pardon through calling sin (rebellion against God) what it is and turning away from it towards God.

Lent is a time to stop focusing on pleasing our human desires and to focus on pleasing God and desiring Him more.  Join me on this incredible journey for the next 40 days.  Seek God and ask Him what He would have you to turn away from.  I promise, He does desire to give us so much more than we could ever hope for or imagine. The reward for obedience is freedom like we cannot imagine.  What seems like a huge sacrifice will turn into a huge load off as you reap the rewards that wait on the other side of obedience.

This is the reading plan I am following during Lent.

“Preparing our Hearts for Easter, A Lenten Devotional”

 

The View from Here….

I can’t think of a more beautiful illustration of the gift of submission.