“Hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”
Summing
up what is needed to arm the Christian when he wipes the sleep from his eyes. A
daily practice that should be so ingrained in their routine that when it is not
acting out they feel uncomfortably naked when they ort to be fully clothed. At least this is the prayer I
have pleaded with my heavenly Father to instil into my soul so that I may act
upon it with diligence. To live a life filled with so much rebellion, to be led
about by the deceitfulness of the flesh for such a long time in so many differing areas of my life. In
hindsight it is rather mind boggling and regretful, but thankfully by the grace of
God to be brought to the door of “Hating even the
garment stained by the flesh.” And then not only to
stand in front of it but to knock crying out to Jesus to excavate my understanding,
to take me deeper, to see life’s journey and the manipulation of it for what it
essentially is. We all have regrets, however as long as we are brought to a
place of understanding and then find the grace to look to Jesus to apply what
we have learnt glorify God our heavenly Father, bless His name now and forever
more, Amen and Amen!
Here is the provisos and
without it we will miss this very important lesson Jude looks to ingrain into
our mind-sets; Until we see the destructive landscape of our fallen natures,
the sin within looking to steer our rudders away from the will of God, until He
steps in and blesses us with His Spirit we will have no clue of the seriousness
of our predicament. As wonderful and gracious as this unmerited act of God’s
kindness is, never to be diluted, God is merciful and full of love. We need to traverse
deeper and it’s the step after this that I wish to explore with serious
consider; until we look in the mirror and understand that we are the ones that
needs changing, change will elude us.
We must own our own sin,
eyeball it and cry out to Jesus with an urgency as our life does depend upon
it, until then we will always make excuses for our actions as we seek out
justification not only from within but also from others who share our
sentiments. I have been gobsmacked over the last months to see how fast the
spiralled downfall of mankind is gaining momentum. The Word of God twisted and
shredded for the gain of self, sin personified! It is one thing to struggle
against the lust of the flesh owning the transgression, but quite another
altogether when sin is tarred with the brush of “love”. “Love conquers all” –
yes it does! It is what is needed to embrace the gift of God and to find
repentance for any action contrary to the Word of God and obviously His will.
They are one and the same. God can’t and will never contradict His Word. He is
truth and everything which opposes His voice is a liar and from the source
which originates from the pit of hell. True faith looks to embrace the Word of
God and then to work through whatever is needed for us to live victorious lives
in Christ. No one has ultimately arrive, we fight on, but may we never lie
about the wickedness of sin. God help us all to see sin for what it really is,
the enemy of God.
Even though our fallen
natures have been designed in such a manner that our consciences often point us
in the right direction. The way society on a whole is being manipulated and sadly
beginning to consider some serious atrocities as acceptable and in some cases
commendable, when in fact it is contrary to the WORD OF GOD. The days of
comments like, “I’m only human” or “but I am not as bad as the murderer or the
rapist” and the like is often used as a “get out of jail card”. It seems to
have digressed; it now not my fault I am who I am and therefore not responsible
for my own sin. Although this may only ever excuse an individual from their own
judgment. It will never exempt them from that eternal sentence that God will
inflict on all, the Lake of Fire, if true repentance is not sort out with a
sincerity that can only ever come from the Spirit of God.
Until this penny truly
drops we will never hate that which is an abomination to our Father, His love
compelled Him to be merciful, so much so that He was willing to sacrifice His
only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we could find rescue. God never
promised escape outside of repentance. You cannot expect to be covered by the
love of God on your terms. That will never play out favourably. Without true
repentance, salvage will elude all, the Christian has been rescued and their
names have been scribed into the book of life; without this penned entry the
Lake of Fire is a person’s final destiny, period! Please I beg all to give this
very serious consideration. God’s love is encapsulated in his Son Jesus Christ,
reject Him and you will experience the wrath of God. The Bible is clear on this…
I
now appeal to all those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious. So there was
a time in your life where true repentance captivated your soul, you repented
and confessed Jesus as Lord, believing that God raised Him from the dead. What
a glorious day that was and life began. Before that wonderful day it was as if
you walked around with blinkers, blind to the truth of it all, and then one moment
in time, true enlightenment actualised. Wow! What a day that was and I remember
it like yesterday. Now I could cry out “once I was blind but now I can see”. It
was a period filled with jubilation, long before life and its challenges looked
to press in and rob me of the undeniable joy I wore with glee for the entire world
to witness. Anyone and almost everyone heard about my understanding that Jesus
Christ the Lord was and is the answer and that He has such a massive heart, willing
to save all those that cry out to Him. There has never been anyone else like
Him, what a glorious Saviour. In high sight even though He sees our journeys
from start to finish and being able to eagle-eye the many blunders I have made,
HE was still willing to save me and for this abundant mercy fill with such love
I will be forever grateful. We do not know what tomorrow holds but he does he
has already seen it unfold, this is why it is so important for us to live one
day at a time. Anything more than that will be far to overbearing. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)
Then the cares of this
life started to present themselves with great inevitability. Do you recall? What
now? This then is the real test for the Christian, their journey and how they
handles those decisions along the way. But more importantly what they learn
from them, applying it to their lives. Everyone across the globe has a similar
outlook on life looking to learn and apply. However the Christian has what they
don’t; we have the Spirit of God, we have an understanding that eludes them and
they are blind to it. Everything that feeds our minds must now come from the
source that is full of life, the Spirit of God and how to embrace Him, which
has been penned into the Bible, the written Word of God is that glorious river
which nourishes the soul. When the Spirit within eliminated that which is
written to our understanding, it’s these moments that I wish to address with
seriousness. Has our journey brought us to a place of understanding or have we
become dull of hearing? Regardless of the knocks you have taken along the way,
or the times God had to bring you to the brink of death to wake you up. The
answer is a simple one, “to him who overcomes”! A lesson learnt, is a lesson
correctly applied.
Having said that never lie
to yourself that our sin will be overlooked as it is very offensive. God hates
sin! Yes, you heard me correctly, He hates it, and sin is an abomination to Him
as it looks to challenge His character. It is everything He is not. We have been
instructed to resist the devil and then we are taught that “he will flee from
you”, but as far as the volatility of out flesh goes, we are to flee from it, especially
in the weak areas of our lives. We must avoid those traps at all costs, if not
we will surely act upon our weakness and sin against God. This is how Spurgeon
puts it; “The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me,
but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me.”
With
these considerations in mind let me take us back to my initial thought. When I
wake up what do I want from my understanding? The very first inkling or word
out of my mouth must be to praise my heavenly Father, regardless of the topic,
praise must be eminent. From there whatever the Spirit within prompts you to
consider, meditate upon it and then to find confirmation by the WORD OF GOD
(flipping through the Bible) to ensure that you have captivated the correct
understanding; that will drive us in the right direction towards the light of
God and not from it. The Christian is to never forget that there is an enemy
that goes around like a roaring lion seeking to devour the children of God or
rather to mislead them, to deceive is one of his greatest weapons. But if God
is for us who is really the threat? We must keep our eye fixed upon HIM as we
diligently seek the Spirit’s help in changing the way we process information,
it must always, or as often as possible be about the will of God for our lives.
This is the lesson of life and we must learn to apply it well and the rest we
have been taught and conditioned to believe will run its course. Then the doors
of eternity will open for all. There will be no more ifs and buts, it will be too
late for some. Let’s make sure by the grace of God that we are not amongst that
number.
Signing
off
Tyrone
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