Month: July 2020

“But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.’” Isaiah 43:1

            Have you ever felt far from God and don’t know how to get back? Do you ever think that your sin has driven a wedge between you and God? Maybe you feel that you’ll never be as close to God as some other person. Or you were once close but now sense a distance between you and think your relationship will never be as close as it once was. Then this verse is for you! It follows a recitation of all of Israel’s sins against God. It talks about how they turned away from Him in so many ways. Then comes that wonderful, delightful word that begins chapter 43: “But…” God doesn’t ignore our sin. He doesn’t pretend it didn’t happen and he definitely doesn’t downplay it and make it less awful than it actually is.

            First, He reminds us that He’s the One who created us. The word translated “create” can mean to create out of nothing, as when He formed us in our mothers’ wombs. It can also mean to recreate, as when He gave us new life in His Son. So this verse confirms that He created us just the way He wants us, and then He recreated us into the image of His Son. And He continues to recreate and reform us each day.

            Part of that recreating is to redeem us. Because He doesn’t ignore our sin, He paid for it. He paid the price to free us from the sin that held us in slavery. I know it doesn’t always seem like it. I have times when I feel as if I just can’t break free of whatever sin is holding me captive. How can I say I’ve been redeemed when I still feel trapped by a certain sin? That’s a huge question that can’t be answered in this short space, but part of the answer is that it’s my perception. God has forgiven me. In His eyes, it’s paid for, erased. It’s the enemy that loves to make me think that I’m still in bondage to the sin. The truth is, we’re free! Since God is our creator, He knows exactly how He created us to be. And He has done the work to set us free from sin and is lovingly and carefully remolding us into the very person He knows we can be.

            One more thing I want to point out: this is very personal. These statements also apply to the church at large, but don’t miss the fact that He called you. You personally. Just you. He even used your name. That’s a beautiful thing! You are His. You have been redeemed. You have been forgiven. You have been freed. You. Let the thanksgiving and praise flow from your heart to the heart of our wonderful, personal God!

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

My mind keeps going back to the first four words: I have been crucified.  When we hear the word “crucified,” we automatically think of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  But what did it mean to the original hearers?  For them, crucifixion was a part of their culture, albeit a very ugly part.  Like capital punishment today, it was reserved for the worst criminals.  Unlike today’s executions, it was an incredibly painful and long process.

So can I truly say that I have been crucified?  In fact, do I even believe I deserve crucifixion?  Do I agree that my sinful human nature ranks right up there with the worst criminals?  After all, I’m not as bad as some others, right?  Because we can always find others “worse” than us, it’s easy to believe we don’t really deserve the same punishment. But when I compare myself to our holy God, that’s when I know I deserve death. But how often do I compare myself to Him? It’s so much easier to compare ourselves to other people, isn’t it?  There’s another way in which the Christian life can be compared to crucifixion. When God changes us from the inside out, it is often a long and painful process.  Have I allowed God to make those kinds of changes in my life?  Have I been willing to endure the pain and humiliation of bringing my sins to the surface?  Yet it is only when we allow God to crucify us that we can die to that sinful nature and experience the freedom and fullness of life God has for us. It is a freedom and fullness like nothing we’ve ever experienced before. In fact, you could say that it’s to die for!

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14

            What a comforting verse! There have been many times that I have relied on this verse to keep me encouraged and strengthened when facing difficult times. The first time was when I was being falsely accused. I wanted to loudly proclaim my innocence and prove the person was lying. I wanted everyone to see and acknowledge that I was the “good guy” in the situation. That’s when God told me to just be still. As much as I wanted to orchestrate how the situation was going to play out, it was a relief to be able to just let go and let God. Let Him handle everything. Trust Him that He’ll do it His way, in His time, with the best outcome for everyone involved.

            If God is fighting our battles, we don’t have to do anything, right? Well, not exactly. When we look at the verse in context, we see that the Israelite people had just left their slavery in Egypt and were being pursued by the Egyptian army. We now know the end of this story, but let’s put ourselves in their shoes. We’re told that the Israelites were armed for battle. They may have had the fighting implements, but not one of them was trained to fight. They had been slaves. There wasn’t a trained military man among them. In front of them was a Sea and behind them was one of, if not the greatest armies of the time. This highly trained army had horses and chariots while the Israelites were on foot. This wasn’t exactly a fair match!

            God did two things for them. First, the angel that had been leading them moved from in front to behind, between them and the Egyptian army. Then God parted the Red Sea. But did the people just sit there, completely still? Not at all. They obeyed God and they moved. They walked between walls of water! Can you imagine?! It must have been so frightening, realizing that those walls could crash in on them at any time. But still, they obeyed. Just to show how precarious those walls were, they did crash. But they crashed on the Egyptian army, drowning them all.

            What would have happened if the Israelites had been completely still and refused to cross over? Thankfully, we’ll never know but we can imagine some possible scenarios. So what does this verse mean? God was showing them – and us – that the battle is His. We need to obey Him. We need to do what He has told us to do. But the hard stuff will be taken care of by Him. We need to be still enough on the inside to trust Him in the face of impossibilities. What about you? How is God telling you to move? What army are you facing? What difficulties looms so large you’re afraid they will crash down and drown you? Just remember that God is fighting the battle. But He’s asking you to trust Him enough to move as He directs. Then you’ll see the miracles and glory of God working on your behalf!

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” “…for each one should carry his own load.” Galatians 6:2, 5

            If I were looking for discrepancies in the Bible, this one would make the list. However, I don’t believe the Bible has any discrepancies. Just things we don’t yet understand. So let’s see if we can’t gain some understanding about these two seemingly opposing verses. I have heard these verses used many times as reasons why we should help others financially while not relying on others to help us when we can afford the necessities. While I still believe those are both Biblical concepts, looking at these verses in context shows us that they’re not talking about finances at all. The preceding verse talks about gently restoring those who have been caught in sin. At first glance it may seem that the burden we’re to carry is the other person’s sin. But there’s another element mentioned in verse 1. As we’re attempting to help someone who has fallen into sin, we put ourselves in danger of being tempted by that same sin. That’s the burden. This makes me think of AA sponsors. Twelve step programs have been shown to be very effective in helping addicts overcome their addiction. But I’ve wondered how hard it must be for someone who, say, is an alcoholic to help a newcomer to the program being tempted by alcohol. Maybe that newcomer calls their sponsor from a bar. How easy it must be on some days to just give in to the temptation and start drinking again. We all face temptation when helping a brother or sister in their sin. But when we face our own temptations in order to help another, we are fulfilling the law of Christ.

            Then we get to verse 5 about carrying our own load. Since it starts with the word “for,” we know that we need to look back at verse 4 to see what the “for” is there for. Verse 4 says we each need to test our own actions. In other words, we’re each responsible for our own deeds. To go back to the AA example, if the sponsor follows the newcomer into temptation, they can’t blame the newcomer. They, alone, are responsible for their decisions and actions. That’s true for all of us. On judgement day, we’ll stand before God by ourselves. There will be no one else next to us on whom we can place the blame. We won’t be able to point to someone else and say that at least we were better than them. The only comparison will be between us and God. And we’ll definitely come up on the short end of that comparison! The load that we carry is knowing that we alone are responsible for our own actions.

            Knowing that I’m responsible for my own actions makes it very easy to just avoid temptation all together. After all, if a brother or sister is sinning, they’re responsible for that, not me. But remember that verse 1 tells us to help a brother or sister caught in sin. So avoiding the situation isn’t the answer. That’s giving in to a different kind of temptation – the temptation to keep myself safe from my sin while letting someone else flounder in theirs. That’s not what God wants of us. He wants us to reach out to those who are struggling, while staying strong in Him. I’m picturing a person trying to rescue someone who’s hanging on the edge of a cliff. They’re lying on the ground, reaching down to that person. But before doing that, they’ve tied a strong rope from themselves to an immovable tree so they won’t also fall over the edge. That’s what we’re to do. Remain tied securely to God. He’s our immovable strength. Only then can we safely be of help to someone else. There’s one big difference between this example and God. While He is immovable, He’s not inanimate. He’s not just standing there watching us and the other person struggle. He’s actually the One reaching out to them. He’s just using our hands to do it. So perhaps a better way to visualize that picture is that as we reach down to the other person, God is right next to us, also reaching down with one arm while keeping the other securely around us so we don’t slip. The next time you find yourself struggling with temptation, just picture that. God’s got you and He won’t let go.  The only way you can “fall” into temptation is to willingly remove yourself from God’s grasp. It’s your choice. Do you want the fleeting enjoyment of sin, or the eternal joy of remaining secure in God’s arms?