“God’s
children need to be regulars and not seculars”. The lessons of life are
obviously driving this truth home and to say that our bad choices do not teach
us many valuable lessons in my opinion would not be sound council. It is often
the hard knocks of life that eventually lead us to the still waters of God’s
abundant grace. I am no novice when it comes to bad choices along my Christian
Journey. I am not alone! We have recorded accounts of others that have also
lived to regret their choices but through it all have come out on the other
side victoriously with their God having the final say in their lives and
glorifying His name. If God be for us who can be against us? This does not
suggest that there won’t be blows from the enemy, you can count on that! Our
God has phenomenal resolve; in fact it is perfect. Every aspect of God’s
character is unadulterated. HE IS PERFECT! As children of God we can depend
upon Him in every area of our lives, especially in the areas we struggle the
most.
The
Apostle Paul suffered intense bodily harm for the sake of the gospel; he never
suffered as a result of his own folly, or so it would seem when we examine the
accounts of his life through scripture. Sure, prior to salvation we are all
very foolish and he was no different. God took drastic measures to bring his
misguided zeal to an abrupt halt. He was struck from his horse on the way to
Damascus and then blinded for days. But after coming to an understanding of the
call of God upon his life there seemed to be no slip-up, God knows! Sadly not
many of us can claim to have lived like Paul. What is a man to do? Christianity
is all about a pursuit of holiness becoming part of our daily lives.
“Like
a muddied spring or a polluted fountain is a righteous man who gives way before
the wicked.” (Proverbs
25:26) – This was Paul’s testimony; “But I discipline my
body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should
be disqualified.”
(1Corinthians 9:27) – This is the
streak we should all strive for! But sadly there are not many Pauls, God knows!
For
us who propagate the glorious gospel message and then find ourselves back where
we once were, in the “Slough of Despond” or “the Pigs Pen”, with comments from
the onlookers like; “you see a leopard
cannot change its spots” which at times can bring great reproach to our intent
with God’s gospel message. This should not be our charge, but what if we have
erred in this area of our lives? I know I have!
Do
we now curl up into a ball and suffocate? Nay! We take the errors of our ways
very seriously, confess our sin before God and ask Him to renew a right spirit
in us and once restoration takes place we then get on with the task at hand,
which is to be deliberate with the gospel.
What
if we seem to make the same mistake over and over? We must continue to confess
our sin before our God; we must never yield to it as those who have been
defeated, as those without an everlasting hope. There will come a time in a
true believer's life when God will give us the victory, once the lesson is
learnt we will then be able to move on not having to repent of the same sin
over and over again; The Apostle Paul teaches us this priceless truth, pay
attention; “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without
regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2Corinthians 7:10) –This verse does not highlight repentance per say,
but the intent to find victory for our mistakes is the driving force behind
this instruction. It prepares us for true repentance which when it has run its
course will result with a true harmony as we sing the victor’s song, “Jesus in
my place”. To remain secular is unacceptable; we must become patrons of God’s
grace in every area of our lives. We must not excuse our sin as the norm. We
must deal with this reality every day until we move from this life into the
next.
Paul
was very deliberate with the call God had placed on his life in spite of the
fierce persecution he faced. Are we? Am I?
It
is an obvious deduction that if a Christian’s sin is exposed it will silence
him. The enemy’s objective is to silence the gospel. Why? Because even he knows
that it is the power of God unto salvation. God has chosen the gospel as a
means whereby some have and will continue to be saved. It is through the
foolishness of preaching where this miracle develops. Words are uttered and
then ears receive what has been declared and then the light-switch to the true
meaning of life comes on. It is obvious that not all will respond favourably to
this life changing message. The more accurate we are with the gospel message
the better the results will be. The power does not resonate with the preacher
but with God the Holy Spirit. He has been commissioned to save sinners from
certain destruction. This however does not give us licence to water down a
seeker friendly gospel as this will only invite confusion. We must never
stoop to a secular level to win the lost. The Apostle Paul was extremely
accurate with his deliberation and we too must learn to be exact with the
gospel message. The pursuit of holiness for our lives must become our mission. God
sent His son to save sinners and therefore sin in a person’s life must be the
focal point. Sin must not be swept under the carpet, God sent his Son to save
sinners and not the self-righteous. When sin is overlooked it causes more
damage than good.
Having
established this truth, what about our failures along the way? Sadly they do
count against what we have to say but I would suggest only for a season. How
so? God has a phenomenal capacity to forgive even those who have blundered
terribly. He has it in His power to restore that which the cankerworm has destroyed.
God alone has the power to forgive or condemn. Obviously we have a
responsibility to seek forgiveness from those whom we have offended. This is
obvious from scripture but ultimately when we sin we offend God! David is quick
to teach us this lesson when he erred with Bathsheba; “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever
before me. Against you,
you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you
may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalms 51:3-4)
Can
I back what I have suggested from scripture? Let us look at some examples…
Samson
was a Nazarite from birth and at times the Spirit of God moved upon him
mightily proving that God was with him. And yet he made many blunders
throughout his lifetime but he eventually came to his senses and God’s abundant
grace is evident in his death; “And Samson said,
"Let me die with the Philistines." Then he bowed with all his strength
and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at
his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.” (Judges 16:30) – The writer of Hebrews commends
him for his faith and commitment to his God. Many might have suggested that he
never made it if it weren’t for the penning of his name in the book of Hebrews;
“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of
David and Samuel and the prophets—“ (Hebrews
11:32) - And then there was King
David, “a man after God’s own heart”, and in order to hide his turpitude, he fell
into a spiral of sin but when he came to his senses God mercifully produced an
offspring from his repentance that is a direct descendant of the Lord Jesus,
Solomon was born to Bathsheba; “and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of
Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” (Matthew 1:6)
Do not wallow in self-pity, pray that God would
expose every area in our lives that needs rectifying and then through prayer
and repentance let us seek his abundant grace to find victory, which in turn
will end up bringing glory to Him and Him alone.
Signing off
Tyrone
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