Don’t Fight Him!

 

I remember a several-day episode of major drama in the ballroom where we practice our dance ministry. Ladies would run out of the restroom screaming, and even gentlemen would gasp and lose their composure while leading a dance move. The source of all this commotion was a small lizard who had apparently sneaked in under the door and refused to leave, appearing unexpectedly at the most inopportune times.

Such lizards are common in Florida, where the sunlight, heat, humidity, vegetation and insects offer them an ideal environment. They blend well into their outdoor surroundings, where their intricately patterned colorations and interesting behaviors usually cause us to admire them as an example of God’s perfect and creative design (Genesis 1:24-25). But within the ballroom, this tiny intruder took on monstrous proportions and was described as “that humongous, nasty creature!”

My husband Richard opened the door and tried to show him the way, getting behind him and shooing him toward the threshold. But the little rascal obstinately stood his ground in the corner, then fled even further into the ballroom. Richard extended his hand to gently scoop him up and out the door, but he scurried away.

Finally Richard dropped an empty wastebasket upside down over the culprit so that he would be safely contained inside. His plan was to slide the wastebasket to the door, then to safely release the lizard outdoors where he could find the sunlight, water, and food he so desperately needed. But that rebellious lizard flung himself against the walls of the basket and even tried to escape through the bottom. In the resulting struggle, a tiny piece of his tail broke off, and when Richard finally brought him into the sunlight, the lizard seemed dazed and exhausted by his journey, resting peacefully in his hand for a moment before leaping to freedom.

“It would have been a lot easier on him if he hadn’t fought me the whole way,” Richard said.

It made me wonder how many times God says the same thing about us. Like Lot (Genesis 13:12-13;19) and Samson (Judges 14-16), we sometimes leave the provision of His presence to stray into places and situations where we don’t belong. Outside His will, we no longer fit harmoniously into the order He has designed for us as members of His body (Romans 12: 4-5; 1 Corinthians 12). Instead, we disrupt the peace and fellowship of others. We cut ourselves off from His life-giving love, safety, and blessings (Philippians 4:19), and strike out on our own as if we could supply our own needs once separated from His nourishing care (John 15:5).

But thankfully, God loves us too much to leave us in our desperate predicament (Isaiah 54:7-10; Luke 15:4-6). When we were His enemies, rebelling against His authority and even against acknowledging His existence, He pursued us to get our attention (Romans 5:8-10; James 4:4) and to show us His love (1 John 4:19).

Fighting God is pointless, for one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10). How much better to submit to His will now and live out His perfect plan for our life, than to realize too late the horrible mistake of rejecting Christ -- an error resulting in eternal damnation.

Saul of Tarsus was arguably the most zealous enemy of Christ, for he persecuted, imprisoned and even killed Christians (Acts 7: 57-Acts 8:1-3). Yet Christ appeared to Him on the road to Damascus, and Saul became Paul, entrusted by Christ with the mission of spreading the Gospel to the Gentiles and writing most of the New Testament (Acts 9:1-2).

Once we trust Christ as Savior and place our faith in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), He will not let us stray far from His will without intervening to call us back to Himself. Like the father of the Prodigal Son, He will be waiting for our return with His arms outstretched in love (Luke 15:20).

The good life the lizard was seeking lay just outside the ballroom door, yet in his ignorance and confusion he ran further away from it, fighting Richard’s rescue attempts with every fiber of his being. When the lizard strayed from his outdoor home into the ballroom, he was so far out of his element that he was viewed as a nuisance and a menace, rather than as one of God’s awesome creatures playing his part in the harmony of nature. When we are out of God’s will, we cannot glorify Him because others see our sin nature, and not His light shining through us (Romans 8:5-9).

Why don’t we listen to God when He speaks to us in a still, small, voice (1 Kings 19:12) and just obey Him, stepping back on the path lit by His Word? (Psalm 119:105). Why do we run further away from His fellowship, and that of other believers, into the darkness of sin? (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) Why do we wait for Him to use drastic measures to get our attention (Hebrews 12:3-11), as He did with Jonah? (Jonah 1-4)

How much better to respond to God's quiet whisper than to wait for Him to smack us on the head with a 2 X 4! When He resorts to such extreme methods, we usually have only ourselves to blame.

I felt sorry for the lizard as my husband slid him to safety in the wastebasket, because he couldn’t see where he was or where he was going and had no idea of his destination or fate. God made us in His own image (Genesis 1:27) with the ability to love, trust, and obey Him, yet sometimes we lack faith (Hebrews 11:6). We panic and fight back like the lizard, which only makes our situation worse.

When we can’t see Him at work and can’t hear His voice, we may think that He has abandoned us or that He no longer cares enough to see us safely home. Yet He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). 

Once we are His children and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35), and nothing can pluck us out of the double grip of Jesus and the Father (John 10:28). We cannot go where His love cannot rescue us (Psalm 139:1-12), and if we take even the smallest step on the journey home to Him, He will run to us with open arms (Luke 15:20).

Even if we can’t understand how He will see us through our distress, we should trust in His love and in His ability to bring about His perfect will for our lives (Romans 8:28). Don’t fight Him – trust Him!

Psalm 19:13: Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins.

“It is as if [David] said, ‘Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong over the precipice of sin.’ Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it, and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks which the Lord sets upon us both in providence and in grace!
C. H. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, March 16

© 2012 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives, edited and expanded

Triplets of Christ-Mind: Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding

Once we are saved by placing our trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we receive three amazing gifts. Not only do we have forgiveness of sins (Matthew 9:6) and abundant, eternal life (John 3:16; 10:10), but we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).

Once the Holy Spirit enters our heart at the moment of salvation (2 Corinthians 1:22), we have access to all His mind, power and love. Sadly, we do not utilize even a minute fraction of this (1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30); because we still have our old sin nature, or flesh, battling the new man, who wants to yield to the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25).

The mind of Christ, Who is the fullness of the Godhead encompassing the Father and Spirit (Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30), has three essential components: knowledge, wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 3:19-20; Isaiah 11:1-3). If any component is missing, we will fail to fulfill God’s perfect plan for our lives (Psalm 139:16). 

The first component is head knowledge, first knowing about the historical Jesus, and once we are saved, learning what the Bible says by reading Scripture, memorizing verses, and studying the Word (Psalm 119). These may be facilitated by hearing preaching (2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:3), attending Bible study (Acts 17:10-11), and reading commentaries. But the essential teacher of God’s Word is the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26), Who teaches only those who have been born again (John 3:3-8) by inviting Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.

Sadly, there are many who have head knowledge of Jesus but who lack wisdom and understanding, and sadder still, these are condemned to hell unless they get wisdom, or heart knowledge. As our former pastor used to say, the distance between condemnation and salvation is only 18 inches – the distance between our head and our heart.

To be saved, it is not enough to know that Jesus was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), was crucified, and rose again on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Even Satan and the demons know that He is Son of God, and they tremble (James 2:19). So do many false teachers, preachers and Bible scholars (2 Peter 2:1). There will be many surprises when Christ returns, for many who were faithful churchgoers or even pastors will be left behind if they lack wisdom, meaning an emotional relationship with Christ (2 Timothy 3:1-5), and are therefore unsaved.

Saul of Tarsus was the epitome of knowledge, for he was learned in all Jewish Scriptures, traditions and customs and had been trained at the feet of Gamaliel, the most prominent rabbi of his day. Yet he lacked wisdom to accept that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Christ, and the Son of God (Acts 22:3). Knowledge implies learning, whereas wisdom connotes emotional involvement with what is learned. The emotions evoked by Godly wisdom include fear, peace, and joy.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10). We must realize that He is holy (Psalm 99), and we are not (Romans 3:23), and that we have reason to fear without His grace (Ecclesiastes 5). When Christ appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by His great light and filled with fear, remorse and shame that he had persecuted, imprisoned and even killed Christ’s followers (Acts 9:1-6).

True wisdom begins with fear that our sins deserve eternal punishment in hell by a holy and just God (Romans 6:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)), then moves to peace (Philippians 4:7) as we realize that Christ paid our debt in full to reconcile us to His Holy Father (2 Corinthians 5:18). Then we experience joy in Him (Nehemiah 8:10) and His saving mercy, love and grace (2 John 1:3).

Wisdom is what converts intellectual acceptance of Biblical facts to emotional integration of that knowledge into the very depths of our spiritual being. Wisdom requires faith, or belief that Jesus Christ is God, that He is Who He says He is, and that He will do what He has said He will do (Hebrews 11:6). By faith alone, men have been saved since the beginning of God’s creation (Hebrews 11). Hearing God’s Word without trusting it in faith falls short of salvation (Hebrews 4:1-6)

The person who seeks answers to all his questions before trusting Christ cannot be saved, because faith implies belief without complete evidence (Hebrews 11:1). That person is attempting to be saved by knowledge alone, but without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Yet faith cannot grow without knowledge, for faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Once a believer receives salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), having both knowledge of and wisdom in Christ, he should seek understanding, which is the application of wisdom to his life. As James said, faith without works is dead (James 2:17-26), and a Christian devoid of understanding can still be saved but miss out on God’s perfect plan for his life (Ephesians 2:10).

Like the penitent thief on the cross, we can have knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and wisdom by inviting Him to save us. Yet we can lack understanding if we go no further in our Christian walk. The thief was limited by his circumstances, for his was a deathbed profession of faith. As Christ promised, he entered Paradise that same day (Luke 23:40-43), yet he had no time to prove his love for Christ by living a holy life (John 14:15,21), doing good works, and serving Him (John 21:16-17).

Yet so many Christians who are blessed with time, opportunity and resources to serve Him remain babes in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:1). They enjoy the benefits of their knowledge and wisdom, for they have been forgiven, are saved, and will spend eternity in Heaven. But they do not obey His commandments, show His love to others, or grow to be more like Him (1 Corinthians 3:4).

Sometimes Christians lack understanding because of laziness, selfishness, or lack of discipline. They fail to study His Word, leave the house without putting on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), and yield to the old man (1 Peter 4:1-2), falling prey to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).

Other Christians, though devoted to studying His Word and legalistic in following it, lack understanding because they fail to love one another. An example would be hatemonger preachers with knowledge of correct doctrine, and even wisdom because they fear the Lord and are saved by faith. Although they speak the truth as they stand on the street corner calling out the sins of those who pass by, they lack understanding because they do not speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Without love, we can have all knowledge and wisdom and yet just be spouting a lot of noise, as the apostle Paul warned us. We can show off our sophisticated learning, eloquent speech, and charitable giving, but without love, we are nothing (1 Corinthians 13).

Once we have knowledge of what Christ did for us and wisdom to trust Him, may He grant us understanding so that our lives will glorify Him (Colossians 3:23) in all we think, say and do!

© 2016 Laurie Collett