Pride and Unbelief

 

Pride ad Unbelief

In my opinion, all sins can be boiled down to pride and/or unbelief. The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship to God (Exodus 20:1-11); when we break any of these, it is because we fail to believe that God is Who He says He is. He is the only true God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer (1 Peter 4:19; Isaiah 54:5,8), with attributes of infinite love, mercy and grace (1 John 4:8; Hebrews 4:16), as well as omnipotence (Revelation 19:6), omniscience, and omnipresence (Psalm 139:6-8). Knowing and believing this, why would we put any god before Him, worship an idol, take His name in vain, or not honor Him with our worship at designated times and always?

The fifth Commandment is transitional, dealing with our relationship to our earthly parents as the first model we have for our submission to God’s authority (Exodus 20:12). The remaining five commandments deal with our relationship to others (Exodus 20:13-17). If we are guilty of pride, we consider our own worth and our own needs to be greater than those of others. Pride could therefore lead us to commit murder, theft, lying, adultery, or coveting, in thought even if not in deed.

Faith, the opposite of unbelief, keeps us from breaking the first four Commandments. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:5-6). Jesus said the first, or most important Commandment, was to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength (Mark 12:29-30). Self-sacrificing, agape love, along with a servant’s heart, keeps us from the sin of pride and from breaking the remaining Commandments. Jesus summarized these by saying, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12:31).

Our pastor gave an excellent message on what he considered to be the worst sin, namely the sin of prayerlessness. This, too, could be considered a sin of pride and of unbelief. We may fail to pray because we pridefully trust in our own flesh to solve our problems, mistakenly thinking we don’t need God’s help, even though without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Or, unbelief may keep us from prayer, if we don’t believe that God loves us infinitely, wants to bless us, can do anything in His will, and works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

Pride was the sin that caused Lucifer, God’s chosen, wisest, and most beautiful angel of light, to fall from Heaven and become Satan. He imagined that he was superior to God and should be exalted over Him, not realizing that God had created him and endowed with all his gifts and talents (Isaiah 14:12-15). How sad when anyone, driven by pride, uses what God has given them not to glorify God, but to rebel against Him, leading to their own destruction (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:6). Yet Lucifer, even after he became Satan, was not guilty of unbelief, and even all the angels that rebelled along with him and fell to earth as demons still believed in God’s power and trembled at it (Matthew 8:28-29; James 2:19).

Unbelief as well as pride led to the fall, as Eve began to doubt God’s Word when Satan tempted her with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). So, pride also played a role, as Eve imagined that eating the forbidden fruit would make her as wise as God (Genesis 3:4-6). The sin of unbelief by those in Jesus’ home town resulted in their missing out on His miracles (Matthew 13:57-58)

The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the ongoing, persistent denial that Jesus is Lord, Son of God and God Himself, Who died, was buried and rose from the dead as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). John even referred to those who denied Christ as antichrists (1 John 4:3). Pride and unbelief are what keep people from being saved. 

When people trust in their own good works and religious practices to get them to heaven, their pride prevents them from realizing they are sinners in need of a Savior. When people foolishly misplace their belief in the false god of evolution (Psalm 14:1), or in the leader of any religion who lies dead and buried, their unbelief in the living, risen God keeps them from salvation.

A good example of both sins can be found in Luke 22, at the Last Supper on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. Judas betrayed Jesus when Satan entered into him (v. 3-6; v. 47-48), which would not have been possible if he believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God. Pride was paramount in the disciples’ dispute over who among them was the greatest (v. 24), which is particularly shocking as it immediately followed Jesus’ symbolic portrayal of giving His body and shedding His blood for them (v. 15-20). Jesus then reminded them to follow His example of having a servant’s heart (v. 26-27).

Immediately after Jesus warns Peter that Satan wants to destroy him and all the disciples, and that Jesus is praying for Peter to have unfailing faith (v. 31-32), Peter succumbs to the sin of pride, boasting that he will follow Jesus even unto death (v. 33). But Jesus accurately prophesied that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster’s morning cry.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples fall into the sin of prayerlessness, which, as we have seen above, may result from pride as well as unbelief. Jesus asked them to pray not to fall into temptation (v. 40), yet they fell asleep (v. 45-46) when He most coveted their prayers. Rather than asking them to pray for Him, for the agonizing ordeal He was about to endure, Jesus selflessly was concerned about them falling into temptation. The temptation to lose faith and fall prey to unbelief would be great as they were about to see their Messiah unjustly accused, sentenced, whipped, beaten, scourged and crucified.

May the remembrance of our risen Lord, Who allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be shed to pay for our sins in full and to grant eternal life to all who trust Him (John 3:16), keep us from the temptation of giving in to pride and unbelief.

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Jesus, Christ and Lord: Reflecting the Trinity

As we have discussed previously, God is a Triune Being, and the nature of the Trinity is reflected throughout His creation.

Jesus of Nazareth, wholly God yet wholly man as He wrapped Himself in human flesh, is also Christ and Lord (Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 4:5). Jesus walked the earth teaching and preaching His divine wisdom; as Christ He was the perfect sacrifice to reconcile sinful man with holy God; and in His omnipotence He is Lord and Master of all and over all (Acts 10:36; Romans 10:12). These three aspects of God the Son are also described as Prophet, Priest, and King. 

In His earthly ministry, Jesus was the greatest Prophet of all (Matthew 21:11; Luke 7:16, 24:19; Acts 3:22,23), sent to earth as the Revelation of the Father, with the words of eternal life. His teachings, parables, miracles, and words are recorded forever in God’s Word, which will never pass away. He Himself is called the Word, for He spoke the worlds into existence (John 1:1; Revelation 19:13; I John 1:1).

Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest (Hebrews 3:1; 4:14) after the order of Melchisidec (Hebrews 5:6; 6:20). Because Christ is the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24; Isaiah 49:7; Acts 2:27; 3:14), He exemplifies ultimate perfection as the Priest, the Temple, and the Sacrifice, and deserves to be praised three times as Holy, Holy, Holy (Isaiah 6:3).

As the Priest, Christ is the Minister (Mark 10:45; Romans 15:8, Hebrews 8:2), the Intercessor, constantly interceding on our behalf (Hebrews 1:3).and mediating between us and God the Father (Hebrews 7:25; 1 Timothy 2:5), and the Counselor or Advocate (I John 2:1), representing and defending us when Satan accuses us. Since He rose from the dead, Jesus has been seated at the right hand of the throne of God where He is perfectly positioned to fulfill these three roles, for He is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Jesus Christ is All-in-All, and in His self-sufficiency, He is not only the Priest, but the Temple (Revelation 21:22) or Sanctuary (Isaiah 8:14), and He Himself serves as the Veil, the Altar (Hebrews 13:10, and even the Offering (Ephesians 5:2). Just as the veil of the temple separating the Holy of Holies from the people was torn in two at His crucifixion, His torn flesh was the new and living Way  (Hebrews 10:20) allowing sinners to approach Holy God.

Jesus, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 7:9; 13:8), made the perfect sacrifice of His shed blood to be the perfect atonement or propitiation (Romans 3:25) for our sins, once and for all (Hebrews 7:27). He was the offering and sacrifice to God that He would accept as a sweet-smelling savour far better than any incense (Ephesians 5:2).

As Lord of Lords (Revelation 17:14; 19:16), Jesus Christ is the Lord Both of the Dead and Living (Romans 14:9), the Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5), and the Lord of Peace (II Thessalonians 3:16). The Lord of Hosts (Zecharaiah 14:16) is the King of Glory (Psalm 24:10), the King of Righteousness, and the King of Peace (Hebrews 7:2).

As King of Kings (Revelation 17:14; 19:16), He shall reign forever and eternally (Psalm 29:10; Revelation 11:15). He shall be not only the King of Israel (John 1:49), meaning the King of the Daughter of Zion (John 12:15) or the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2; Mark 15:2; John 19:19), but He is also the King of Saints (Revelation 15:3), meaning of all believers, and King Over All the Earth (Zechariah 14:4,5,9)

As would be expected from the Almighty Lord and King, Jesus will fulfill three roles in His second coming: Warrior, Judge, and Ruler. As Supreme Warrior (Psalm 45:3), He will lead armies of resurrected saints to defeat the enemies of Israel at the battle of Armageddon with the Sword of His Word (Isaiah 55:4; Revelation 19:13), and He will even defeat Satan and death. Jesus Christ as Warrior is all-powerful, fierce, and noble, represented by The Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). He is the Captain of the Host of the Lord (Joshua 5:14) and of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), and our Leader and Commander (Isaiah 55:4). The Self-Sufficient Warrior is also His own weaponry and armor: the Polished Shaft or arrow (Isaiah 49:2), the Shield (Psalm 84:9), and the Destroying Sceptre (Numbers 24:17) with His mouth the Sword of the Word (Isaiah 49:2).

As the Just One (Acts 7:52; 3:14, 1 Peter 3:18) or perfect and righteous Judge (Acts 17:31; 2 Timothy 4:8), He will fairly bestow rewards to His children, and punishment to souls and to nations who rejected Him (Revelation 19:11).

As Ruler (Micah 5:2), the Lord Jesus will preside over the Millennial Kingdom of perfect peace and harmony (Isaiah 9:6; (Psalm 45:6) as their Governor (Matthew 2:6), Ensign of the People (Isaiah 11:10), or symbol of national power, and Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:25) and Saviour.(Acts 5:31).He is not only the Prince of all Rulers (the Prince of Princes (Daniel 8:25) and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth (Revelation 1:5)), but He is also the Prince of Life (Acts 3:15) and the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

As the Prince of Life and of Peace, He gave us life, maintains our life, and paid our sin debt to redeem us from death to eternal life! Praise God that Jesus Christ and Lord is our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer – as we will discuss in our next post!

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Pride and Unbelief

In my opinion, all sins can be boiled down to pride and/or unbelief. The first four Commandments deal with our relationship to God (Exodus 20:1-11); when we break any of these, it is because we fail to believe that God is Who He says He is. He is the only true God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer (1 Peter 4:19; Isaiah 54:5,8), with attributes of infinite love, mercy and grace (1 John 4:8; Hebrews 4:16), as well as omnipotence (Revelation 19:6), omniscience, and omnipresence (Psalm 139:6-8). Knowing and believing this, why would we put any god before Him, worship an idol, take His name in vain, or not honor Him with our worship at designated times and always?

The fifth Commandment is transitional, dealing with our relationship to our earthly parents as the first model we have for our submission to God’s authority (Exodus 20:12). The remaining five commandments deal with our relationship to others (Exodus 20:13-17). If we are guilty of pride, we consider our own worth and our own needs to be greater than those of others. Pride could therefore lead us to commit murder, theft, lying, adultery, or coveting, in thought even if not in deed.

Faith, the opposite of unbelief, keeps us from breaking the first four Commandments. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:5-6). Jesus said the first, or most important Commandment, was to love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:29-30). Self-sacrificing, agape love, along with a servant’s heart, keeps us from the sin of pride and from breaking the remaining Commandments. Jesus summarized these by saying, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Mark 12:31).

Our pastor gave an excellent message on what he considered to be the worst sin, namely the sin of prayerlessness. This, too, could be considered a sin of pride and of unbelief. We may fail to pray because we pridefully trust in our own flesh to solve our problems, mistakenly thinking we don’t need God’s help, even though without Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). Or, unbelief may keep us from prayer, if we don’t believe that God loves us infinitely, wants to bless us, can do anything in His will, and works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

Pride was the sin that caused Lucifer, God’s chosen, wisest, and most beautiful angel of light, to fall from Heaven and become Satan. He imagined that he was superior to God and should be exalted over Him, not realizing that God had created him and endowed with all his gifts and talents (Isaiah 14:12-15). How sad when anyone, driven by pride, uses what God has given them not to glorify God, but to rebel against Him, leading to their own destruction (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:6). Yet Lucifer, even after he became Satan, was not guilty of unbelief, and even all the angels that rebelled along with him and fell to earth as demons still believed in God’s power and trembled at it (Matthew 8:28-29; James 2:19).

Unbelief as well as pride led to the fall, as Eve began to doubt God’s Word when Satan tempted her with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). So, pride also played a role, as Eve imagined that eating the forbidden fruit would make her as wise as God (Genesis 3:4-6). The sin of unbelief by those in Jesus’ home town resulted in their missing out on His miracles (Matthew 13:57-58)

The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the ongoing, persistent denial that Jesus is Lord, Son of God and God Himself, Who died, was buried and rose from the dead as the perfect sacrifice for our sins (1 Corinthians 15). John even referred to those who denied Christ as antichrists (1 John 4:3). Pride and unbelief are what keep people from being saved. When people trust in their own good works and religious practices to get them to heaven, their pride prevents them from realizing they are sinners in need of a Savior. When people foolishly misplace their belief in the false god of evolution (Psalm 14:1), or in the leader of any religion who lies dead and buried, their unbelief in the living, risen God keeps them from salvation.

A good example of both sins can be found in Luke 22, at the Last Supper on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. Judas betrayed Jesus when Satan entered into him (v. 3-6; v. 47-48), which would not have been possible if he believed that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God. Pride was paramount in the disciples’ dispute over who among them was the greatest (v. 24), which is particularly shocking as it immediately followed Jesus’ symbolic portrayal of giving His body and shedding His blood for them (v. 15-20). Jesus then reminded them to follow His example of having a servant’s heart (v. 26-27).

Immediately after Jesus warns Peter that Satan wants to destroy him and all the disciples, and that Jesus is praying for Peter to have unfailing faith (v. 31-32), Peter succumbs to the sin of pride, boasting that he will follow Jesus even unto death (v. 33). But Jesus accurately prophesied that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster’s morning cry.

At the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples fall into the sin of prayerlessness, which, as we have seen above, may result from pride as well as unbelief. Jesus asked them to pray not to fall into temptation (v. 40), yet they fell asleep (v. 45-46) when He most coveted their prayers. Rather than asking them to pray for Him, for the agonizing ordeal He was about to endure, Jesus selflessly was concerned about them falling into temptation. The temptation to lose faith and fall prey to unbelief would be great as they were about to see their Messiah unjustly accused, sentenced, whipped, beaten, scourged and crucified.

May the remembrance of our risen Lord, Who allowed His body to be broken and His blood to be shed to pay for our sins in full and to grant eternal life to all who trust Him (John 3:16), keep us from the temptation of giving in to pride and unbelief.

© 2012 Laurie Collett

What Are You Looking At?

Everywhere we look in today’s world we see monuments to man’s ingenuity, creativity, and lusts: skyscrapers; cars and planes; billboards and screens flashing seductive images; logos symbolizing corporate power and wealth. In some cities these all but crowd out the evidence of God’s wondrous creation – majestic landscapes, beautiful flowers and trees, and amazing animals (John 1:3). Many deny or tend to forget that we too are God’s creation, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

Whatever idols we have fashioned to indulge our eyes, these are only possible through the gifts of intelligence, artistry, and resources God has entrusted to us (James 1:17). How sad that many pervert these gifts to mock Him rather than to glorify Him, and that many feast their eyes on images of the world’s darkness rather than His light. Yet what we look at affects who and what we are.

Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

God’s Word gives us clear warnings about what not to look at -- we should “set no wicked thing before [our] eyes” (Psalm 101:3). We should not look back at the attractions and preoccupations of our lives before we were saved (Luke 9:62; Genesis 19:26).

The Bible is full of examples where the “lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:16) has led to sin, including Eve beholding the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6) and David spying on Bathsheba washing herself (2 Samuel 11:2).

Jesus warned so sternly of this danger that He said:

Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (see also Matthew 5:29; 18:9).

As always, God exchanges His good gifts for our sinful desires, so He indicates what we should be looking at instead, and the blessings that will result.

In Exodus, the laver (washbasin) of brass, an important piece of furniture of the tabernacle, was made of looking glasses (mirrors) donated by the women coming to worship (Exodus 38:8). Although their custom had been to bring their personal mirror with them to the temple to check on their appearance, they surrendered them so that God’s house would be glorified. What a great reminder to spend less time primping in the mirror and more time worshipping God!

As we turn away from sinful and evil images, here is what God says we should look at instead:

--The beauty of God’s creation, which reflects His glory (Psalm 19:1).

--The Godly example set by our spiritual mentors, teachers and pastors (Psalm 101:6).

--The fields of unsaved souls ripe for harvest (John 4:35), considering how we can “open their eyes, and… turn them from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18).

--Jesus Christ, Lamb of God (John 1:36), the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), Who gives us life and light (2 Corinthians 4: 3-6; Numbers 21:8).

--His Word, which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105).

--The heavens, which remind us that He is waiting to receive us (Acts 7:55) and that He is coming back to meet us in the air (Luke 21:28; Philippians 3:20; Titus 2:13).

As we shift our focus from the world to heavenly things, we will be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2), which will be kept in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). Look up and live!

Fight or Flight?

Did you know God prepared your body -- and your spirit -- to overcome trouble by fight or flight? In medical terms, the sympathetic nervous system is that part of the involuntary nervous system, beyond our voluntary control, that helps us get out of trouble. It’s sometimes called the “Fight or Flight” response because it’s designed to help us fight – i.e. to resist an attacker, or to take flight. – i.e. to run away if we sense that the enemy is too powerful and that we’d be better off escaping than trying to fight back.

Whether our best response to trouble is to fight or to flee, God designed our bodies to be able to respond physically to either challenge – and a brilliant design it is! (Psalm 139:14)

But as Christians, our main battles are not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual (Ephesians 6:12). Just as God designed us with a built-in mechanism to protect our physical body from attack, He also gave us a spiritual “fight or flight” mechanism to help us resist spiritual attack, as explained in His Word.

The three enemies of our spirit are the devil, the flesh, and the world. The Bible tells us to fight or resist the devil (James 4:6-8; 1 Peter 5:6-9), to flee temptation that would cause us to yield to our fleshly desires (1 Corinthians 10:1-14; James 4:4), and to separate ourselves from the world, loving God instead of worldly pleasures and powers (1 John 2:15-17; Ephesians 2:1-9).

Although we must resist, or fight against, the devil, we must flee temptation. Specific evils the Bible warns us to flee from are fornication (1 Corinthians 6:18), idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14), greed or love of money (1 Timothy 6:10), and envy and arguments (1 Timothy 6:4-5).

The Bible has numerous examples of people who gave in to these evils rather than fleeing from them, with disastrous results. Nonetheless, we can thank God that these are recorded in His Word, both as a warning to us and as a reassurance that we are not alone in facing these struggles. Temptation in general, and these specific temptations, are common to the fallen human condition because of our sin nature. But God promises us an escape from every temptation:

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Paul often uses the metaphor of the Christian life being like a fight or warfare of the soldier going into battle (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7), as in the hymn “Onward Christian soldiers.” Our sin nature is still a force we must do battle with even after we are saved. That sinful spirit is still there, creating lust, which causes us to want more than we need and should have. In turn, that lust causes us to envy those who we think have more than we do, which leads to fighting and war (James 4: 5-6). Only by the grace of God, Who indwelled us with His Holy Spirit when we were saved, can we restrain our sin nature and break this vicious circle.

Resisting the devil involves drawing close to God and humbly recognizing that in our own "strength" we are nothing, but that He has already won the battle for us (1 Samuel 17:47; Jeremiah 17:5-8; Psalm 44, 4-8; Psalm 55: 22).

Satan tries to attack us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (Genesis 3:6). If we have pride in and confidence in our own flesh, that pride is misplaced and foolish, and we are bound to fail because God will only make His power available to us when we yield to Him completely and humbly (Ephesians 6:10:10; 1 John 4:4)

To resist the devil, we must also put on the whole defensive armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and use the sword of the Lord -- His Holy Word -- to fight the devil and watch him flee! (Matthew. 4:5-11; James 2:19; 1 John 4:4). The secret to successful combat with Satan and his minions is to grab hold of God and refuse to let Him go! If we seek God in earnest, fervent prayer, He will bless us richly!

Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the exercise—threw his whole soul and heart into it—straining every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne of grace. Charles Spurgeon: Evening by Evening, January 15.

Praise God that He provides us with an escape from every temptation and with armor to withstand every one of Satan’s attacks! May we realize that the battle is the Lord’s, and put our trust in Him alone!

God's Exchange

Would you trade the toaster oven in your hands for what’s behind Door Number 3? It might be a new car or a lump of coal – on a game show, there is no way of knowing. One thing is for sure, though -- you have to give up what you have to get something new.

With God, we have the assurance of knowing that what we will get by trusting Him is infinitely better than what we give up, because you can’t outgive God. When we pray for Him to meet a specific need, He does not just add a little something to what we already have; He takes away a burden and replaces it with a priceless gift (Philippians 4: 4-6).

What’s the catch? There is no catch, except that we have to release the burden to Him before He will bless us with the gift. If we clutch on to the old and familiar because we’re afraid to let go, we lack the faith that He knows what we need before we even ask Him (Matthew 6:8), and that He will answer our prayer exceeding abundantly beyond what we could ever ask or think (Ephesians 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:14).

This is not a prosperity gospel or a name-it-and-claim-it philosophy, because we should recognize that not all our specific requests are in line with God’s perfect will, and that His blessings are often not in the material realm. As we become more conformed to Christ’s image (Philippians 3:10), and trust Him more and more, He will grant us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) because those desires become more aligned with His perfect will for us.

When we feel that God is not blessing us as we had hoped, it may be because we haven’t yet asked Him (James 4:2; Matthew 7:8; 21:22; Luke 11:10), or because we’re asking for something to satisfy our fleshly wants rather than our spiritual needs (James 4:3). Or it may be that our heart is not right with God because we have not forgiven those who have wronged us, or we have not repented of our sins, or because we are relying on our own limited resources to solve the problem, instead of trusting in His abundant grace.

But God delights in blessing His children with good things beyond our imagination! (Matthew 7:11; Ephesians 3:20; 1 Timothy 1:14) If we have faith to leave our burdens at the foot of the cross, He will fill us up with blessings beyond measure (Hebrews 11:6). He will exchange:

Our sins for His righteousness (Hebrews 12:11)

Our bondage for His liberty (James 1:25)

Our weakness for His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9; Isaiah 40:31)

Our exhaustion for His rest (Matthew 11:28)

Our loneliness for His presence (Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 18:24) and for brothers and sisters in Christ (Galatians 6:2)

Our pride for His humility (Philippians 2:5-7; Mark 10:45)

Our limitations for His omnipotence (Luke 18:27; Matthew 19:26; Philippians 4:13)

Our ignorance for His wisdom (James 1:5; Colossians 2:3) and teaching (John 14:26; Ephesians 1:17-18)

Our confusion for His direction (Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 119:105)

Our guilt for His forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9; Romans 8:1; Colossians 1:13-14)

Our doubt and fear for His perfect love, faith, and the peace that passes all understanding (1 John 4:18; Philippians 4:7).

Our sin sickness for His healing (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24)

Our tears for joy in Him (Philippians 4:4; Psalm 5:11; 1 John 1:4)

Our lack for His abundance (Philippians 4:19)

A death sentence of eternity in hell for abundant life now and eternity with Him in Heaven (Ephesians 2:1; John 3:16).

Dying to self for living with and in Him (Galatians 2:20)

Being children of the devil for being children of God and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

A story has circulated on the Internet about a little girl who dearly loved a necklace of plastic pearls she bought at the dime store after scrimping and saving her allowance. Her father asked her to trust him to give them to her so he could give her something better, but each time he asked, she turned away defiantly with pouting and tears, clinging to the plastic pearls even though their coating had long since flaked away. After all, she had worked so hard and given up so much to get them.

Finally she realized that her love for her father and her desire to please him outweighed her attachment to her necklace. Reluctantly, timidly, she removed them from her neck and offered them to him. Imagine her surprise and delight when he placed around her neck a string of perfectly matched, cultured pearls of great beauty and value.

How often are we like the little girl, refusing to give up the childish trinkets we acquire by our own efforts, letting them take on the importance of idols in our life? Why are we so often afraid to exchange what we have for what the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer longs to give us?

Change Me Now!

A few days ago, when reviewing song lyrics I wrote about salvation, I realized that the climax of the song was the lyric, “Change me now – make me a new creation!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Emphasizing that lyric and expressing the change made all the difference in the interpretation of the song and its power to communicate God’s message. Imagine my surprise when that night, a dear sister in Christ lent me a book entitled, “Lord, Change Me!”

There are no coincidences with God, so I wondered what God was revealing to me. Clearly we are changed so dramatically at the moment of salvation that Jesus referred to it as being born again (John 3:3-7). At that very instant the burden of our sin is lifted from us forever (Romans 8:1-2); its stain on our soul is washed away (Psalm 51:2, Acts 22:16, Revelation 1:5); and the Holy Spirit indwells us (2 Corinthians 5:5) with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).

From that moment on we have access to the infinite love, power, wisdom and righteousness of God living within us (Colossians 1:27). We are no longer enemies of God (Romans 5:10) condemned to death (Romans 8:7; Colossians 1: 21), but His children, joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:14-17), ambassadors of the Gospel of grace (2 Corinthians 5:20), and even future priests and rulers within His Kingdom (Revelation 20:6). We are blessed with abundant and eternal life (John 10:10; John 3:16).

I was saved 11 years ago, but I feel God has a fresh message for me now about change. As radical as the change at the moment of salvation is from death in sin to newness of life (Romans 6:4), so sudden is the change that awaits us at the moment of the Rapture. In the twinkling of an eye we will be transformed from an ailing, aging physical body to a glorified body that will never get sick, feel pain, age, or die. At the same moment our sin nature will be gone forever, replaced with the perfect righteousness and holiness of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

At salvation we receive justification, or positional sanctification, because we are justified in Christ’s perfect sacrifice to pay our sin debt in full (Romans 3:23-25; Romans 5:9; Hebrews 10:10,14). It is “just as if” we had never sinned. When God looks at us, we are holy or sanctified in His eyes, because He sees the perfect righteousness of His Son instead of seeing our sins (Romans 5:15-18; Hebrews 10:14-17). At the Rapture we receive glorification, or complete sanctification, as we become like Christ in every way (Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4).

But I believe that God was reminding me of what happens in between the moment of salvation and the moment of the Rapture. We are not meant to stagnate during that time, but to increasingly be transformed into the image of Christ, through a process known as progressive sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 2:21). It is not an instantaneous change like being born again or like meeting Christ in the air, but it is a time-intensive, often arduous process causing us to groan in our spirit (Romans 8:19-25; 2 Corinthians 5:2-4).

Paul spoke of it as working out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). We are saved not by works but by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet once we are saved, we must “run the race” (Philippians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1) and “fight the good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7) to become progressively conformed to His image (Colossians 3:1-4).

God allows us to go through trials to identify with Christ’s suffering that will make us more like Him (Romans 8:17-18; Philippians 3:10) and that will bring us patience and hope (Romans 5:3-5). He may not immediately answer our prayers in the way we had hoped because He wants us to wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31), to strengthen our faith and reliance on Him. If we strike out on our own without seeking the wisdom He will freely give us when we ask for it (James 1:5), we will be struggling in our own flesh instead of fulfilling His perfect will for our lives.

Especially for those of us saved later in life, we have a long history of being conformed to the world, of defining who we are in terms of worldly standards, and of following idols of status, power, wealth, and prestige. It takes time, prayer, and meditation in God’s Word to be renewed and transformed in our mind (Romans 12:2). It takes diligent, devoted study and discipline to begin to think with the mind of Christ that entered us at the moment of salvation, and not to fall back on the easy solutions so familiar to our carnal mind (Romans 8:6-9).

I had been praying “Change me now!” but now I realize that it’s like praying, “Lord give me patience, and do it right away!” Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, God will change me, not immediately, but continually during my earthly journey. May we learn to wait upon the Lord so that He can complete the good work He began in us the moment we were saved (Philippians 1:6).

Jesus Feels Your Pain

As we have been studying, Jesus was fully divine while being fully human, yet completely holy and without sin. As He mingled with sinners in His earthly ministry, He shared their griefs and sorrows, and He felt hunger, thirst, pain and fatigue as they did, tempted in all ways as we are yet without ever yielding to temptation or sinning (Hebrews 4:15). In no way was His perfect virtue corrupted by encountering, touching, healing, forgiving and raising unclean, sinful, diseased, and even dead people.

Jesus had compassion on the widow who lost her only son (Luke 7:12-16). He was unmistakeably dead, and Jesus unequivocally raised him so that he immediately sat up and began to speak! Jesus felt sorrow and compassion for His friends Mary and Martha, and He raised their brother Lazarus from the dead (John 11). It is such a comfort to any of us who is grieving over any loss, whether rejection or betrayal from others or even loss of a loved one to death, to know that Jesus Himself sees our sorrow and has compassion on us even when we turn away from Him.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Matthew 14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.

Mark 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

Jesus touched and forever changed the lives of outcasts by giving them physical and spiritual healing. Praise God that He allowed His Son to walk among us, entering this world not in the form of the King of Kings that He truly is (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14), or as the Great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) who would not lower Himself to enter our sinful, filthy and corrupt world. Rather, Jesus came as the Son of Man who took on the form of a humble servant and became the perfect sacrifice to pay our sin debt that all who believe in Him are justified by His righteousness and have eternal life.

In thankfulness, therefore, let us pour out all we have to honor Christ by serving others, just as the sinful woman washed Jesus’ feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with costly perfumed ointment (Luke 7:37-50). Let us trust Jesus, who cast demons out of those who were possessed, to cast out our wickedness so that we may be restored to our right mind and sit humbly at His feet (Luke 8:27-36).

Love in Christ,

Laurie Collett

Pour Out Your Life for Jesus!

Not long ago we celebrated Mother’s Day, to honor our mothers, and all the women in our life who have been a Godly influence and support for us. What makes a mother’s love so special is her willingness to give herself sacrificially for her children. For this type of self-sacrificing love (known as “agape” in the Greek) we have no better role model than Jesus Himself.

As we have been studying, Jesus the Son is fully divine like God the Father, yet He is different in that He came to earth specifically to die as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As He paid our sin debt in full by dying on the cross, He bridged the great gulf between sinful man and holy, righteous God. Now when God the Father looks at any believer who has trusted Christ as Savior, He sees not our sins, but the perfect righteousness of His Son which has been imputed or attributed to our account (Rom. 5:12-18; 2 Cor 5:18-21).

We can no doubt think of many sacrifices our own mother, or other Godly women who have nurtured us, have made for us and for their children. We thank them and bless them for that every day, as well as for being an example of how a woman should be industrious, providing for her children and her household, honoring and enhancing the reputation of her family, fearing the Lord and growing in faith, and being charitable and merciful to others (Prov. 31; 2 Tim 1:5).

Prov. 31:10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.… 20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.… 27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

Because Christ suffered and died for us, we should willingly surrender all to Him. The Bible tells how a sinful woman, probably a prostitute, broke open her alabaster box filled with costly perfumed ointment and used it to anoint Jesus’ feet after she had washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:37-50). She poured it all out freely and lovingly to Him – her tears of sorrow from her life of heartbreak, her hair adorning her beauty that she may have misused for money or favor from men, and the alabaster and ointment that may have been the sum total of her worldly wealth, perhaps her dowry.

But as she spent all she had on Him, what she gained was priceless – the stability of faith in Him, forgiveness of all her many sins, and peace she could never have known before. Jesus left His heavenly throne to come to earth in the flesh, where He suffered and gave His life so that our sins have been forgiven.

Although Jesus is now back in Heaven, we can still pour out our lives to Him by serving and sacrificing for others (Matt. 10:42), whether for our children, our brothers and sisters in Christ, or for the unsaved who need to hear the Good News of the Gospel before it is too late.

Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Galatians 6: 2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Love in Christ,

Laurie Collett