"Concealment"

From an early age we are prone to live a life of concealment, always scheming for an aid that will help cover up our imperfections. As youngsters we lie when caught with our hand in the cookie jar as we look to curtail the act of theft, “this is the first time I’ve done this mom, the others times it was my sister”. This is not a planned response but one of instinct, proving that we are naturally sinful. Then we have our secret sins that we dare not tell others about and we naturally conceal them without to much effort, this worsen with age like a disease left to its own devises, untreated cancer eventually takes over, exploding out of control leaving the effected individual eventually on a death bed, without any hope and with no optimism of rescue as death knocks with its final thud.

Through the throes of puberty everything changes and our biggest challenge is how to conceal our pimples? The older we get the more conditioned we become in our “concealment’s”, women on their death beads with anti-aging eye cream packed away in the bedside draw as one of their ten most valued possessions; with a hope that someone may just pay them one more compliment of how young they look for their age and yet death lurks just around the corner for all. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? We have been so accustomed by the demands of life that outside of Christ we believe we are bullet-proof and somehow we will escape God’s judgment, we will not! All will stand before the judgment seat of God, from least to the greatest; we will all have to give an account of our lives to the King of kings. Our lives stripped naked with all our deeds exposes, concealment a thing of the past and judged in accordance with our actions throughout our lives. Every breech opposing God’s righteousness and His demands for mankind will receive its just reward; nothing will escape God’s eyes and His rulings.

However as much as this truth is set in stone in accordance’s with the scriptures, The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for all of mankind’s sin God our Father has offered a way for us to escape His Judgement, mercy of the supreme diktat. And yet so many reject the message of the Gospel believing that they have a better way; stupidity of the highest order. Unless we find repentance in Christ, we will have to give an account to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for every one of our sins from the smallest to the greatest of them all and then God’s mercies would be a thing of the passed with all those who rejected His deal now understanding that they were in fact lovers of darkness and not His light. THE WRATH OF GOD ON DISPLAY! That day is coming of this I am certain.

As Christian we also have our responsibilities when our own sin knocks, although forgiven we cannot nor must we overlook those sins that once kept us from communion with God, our lives must be filled with an attitude of repentance. This is the life of the Christian with the holiness of Christ as our goal. We must be motivated to walk in His footsteps; hence the reason for the instruction to the churches in the book of Revelations; self–reflection the order of the day. We will never accomplish Christ’s glory and His obedience in this life but this does not mean we shouldn’t be striving in the good graces of our God to attain to His perfection. Our end game is holiness. It will never be achieved by the works of the flesh, which is impossible. We must learn to walk in the Spirit, God’s Spirit and when we do this we will not fulfil the lust of our carnality; those desire will diminish, this is a given.

Here is the penned matter on this truth; “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) - This is a statement by the Apostle Paul which brings with it a promise. He does not construct his sentence and say it “might not” but assertively he says it “will not”. If I find that certain areas of my live are still dominated by my sinful actions, it is obvious that I am walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit. A simple deduction that cannot nor should it be overlooked. God has said it, so I will believe it.

Paul also made this proclamation; “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2Corinthians 2:11) – I wonder how many can claim this truth as their own. But as we grow older in Christ this too should begin to dawn on our genuineness as we begin to see the wood from the trees when it comes to our dealings with the sin that so easily besets. We are new creatures in Christ, we have His mind, and it is a gift that God has given all His followers.

It is time for us to be counted as men, so let us get on with the task at hand.

The day of God’s reckoning is at the door so let us make every effort to find His grace to overcome just like our great Saviour overcame every obstacle He faced. In order for this to be achieved let us remember to put on the whole amour of God (see Ephesians 6).

Signing off

Tyrone