Saturday, July 3, 2010

Why Fear The Grasshoppers?



Gal 1:10  For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

People, by and large, are pleasers of  people.  Everyone wants to be accepted by their fellowman and most of what we do and how we act is determined by what we think others will expect of us.  We may proclaim that is not the case but our lifestyles betray our confessions.

Here is the unmistakable truth: There is a day coming when we will stand before God. And knowing that, we are worried about being accepted of men?  In the not too distant future, we will encounter the Righteous Judge.  At that judgment seat appearance, will we be acceptable to God?  He alone is the one that should cause us concern; yet we continue to live our lives, fearful of men and anxious about what they think, resulting in our constant 'performance' for their approval. 

In my opinion, it's a matter of comparison and contrast.  Allow me to explain.  Let's say that there are two men standing before you.  The first is a 5' 6", 90 pound weakling, capable of bench pressing a whopping 10 pounds.  The other is a 6' 6", 250 pound hulk-of-a-man who can bench 700+ pounds and is one of the meanest, orneriest men on earth.  Of the two, who should you fear most?  Hands down, the hulkster should provoke the greatest apprehension and fear.  Likewise, he will prove to be the one that you seek to please.

Here's my point.  You may be scared out of your wits of that 6' 6" brute but he is nothing... a mere grasshopper compared to God.  All the mighty forces of all the nations of the world combined would be but a drop in the bucket compared to God, and yet we fear the grasshopper?!

So what does it matter if we are fearful of others?  It was William Gurnall who said, "We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man's terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God."  You see, we may fear man but if we know even the slightest bit about God, we will fear Him in a greater way, and that fear of God will emaciate our fear of man.

Is there a tendency in all of us to want to be accepted by people?  Without question.  However, if we believe that God is who He says He is, then our desire to be accepted by people will dissipate once we come to the reality of the need to be acceptable to God.

Here's the bottom line:  What does it matter if others judge us?  Why be upset if others mock us?  Why should we care if others call us fools?  The only thing that is going to matter and have any bearing on eternity is that day when we will stand alone before a just God.  Nothing hidden.  All revealed.

We should not be concerned with getting our best life now!  We need not focus on our feeble, unsuccessful attempts at being man-pleasers.  Rather, we should be fix our attention on how we will fare on the day that we meet God face to face.  Heb 10:31 could not be any clearer, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."  

So why fear the grasshoppers?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Being Wholly Holy


I don't know about you but I have found that when God continually deals with me on a particular subject or thought that is an area that most needs to be further strengthened or more committed to Him.  Lately, I've been pondering a lot about being separated (2 Corinthians 6:17) and holy unto God (Romans 12:1).  

What does it mean to be holy?  Does it mean that we follow all the rules?  Certainly not, for we can follow all the rules and not be holy.  Holy has the idea of being completely separate unto God.  But don't misunderstand... we can separate ourselves completely from the things of the world; but if we stay there it's a very boring, legalistic life.  Furthermore, we can separate from the things that are wicked and wrong for our own glory; like the Pharisees of the New Testament, and it will mean nothing to God.

Holiness is separating from the world in order to be separated unto God.  It's a heart issue. It's recognizing Him as having infinite worth above all else; thus we separate our lives unto Him.  It involves passion... esteem and worth.  We have judged Him to be infinitely more worthy than anything or anyone else and so we drop those things that keep us from Him and run to Him.

You see, it's not about doing the  right thing.  It's not about saying that we love Him.  It is loving Him for who He is... and doing so with a passion.  It's not about moral regulations.  It's not about treating God like an impersonal thing.  God is a person.  He can be grieved.  So holiness is not about doing all the right things or abstaining from the wrong things .  Holiness is when we say to God, "The only reason that I run from these things is because I want to run to you!"

Here's the deal: When we truly have a new relationship with God... an intimacy and a passion for Him like never before... we too will have a new relationship with everything else.  Those things to which we once cleaved, we will abandon in favor of God.

To be absolutely clear... offering our lives a holy and living sacrifice is not about forsaking the things of the world so that we can be in God's good graces.  It's not about doing the right things so that we can go to heaven.  It's saying to God, "I no longer present my members to the things of the world so that I may present my members to you!"  It's called a sacrifice; for indeed it is one.

You see, the subject of dying to the world is foreign to most Christians and a taboo teaching in most churches.  The thought of sacrificing all to God and not craving the things of this world is a morbid-almost 'monkish'-sackcloth and ashes-kind-of-existence to most Christians.  But those who loose their life shall find it (Matthew 10:39); for He came to bring life in abundance (John 10:10).  When we stand before God, the only regret that we should have is that we have not given Him more! 

God, help me to abandon the 'foreign gods' of my life and run in hot pursuit of You.  Help me to walk away from those things that keep me from you.  Lord, I want to be wholly holy.  Help me to do that... not out of obligation or what I might gain... but out of pure love for You.