Seen and Not Heard With a Heart of Gladness

       Have you ever heard that saying we sometimes hear in church- "How close can I get to sin without it actually being sin?" Why do we love getting so close to the wrong? There's something in it that calls to us, of course. Ultimately, we all have a sin nature that draws us to the wrong naturally. And it drives us to do so many wrong and stupid things because we think we find pleasure and fulfillment in them.
      We play blackjack, roulette (and maybe even Russian roulette) and the gambling tables at casinos. We play the lottery faithfully each week. We play the ponies at the racing horse gambling hall. We do stupid (and often wrong) things because someone triple dog dared us or called us chicken for not doing it. And because we want to fit in with the rest of the world, we give in.
       All of us have a desire to be loved and accepted and we'll take them anywhere we can get them. And we find ourselves syncing up with people who lead us down a negative and unholy path so we can get their approval- approval from people who need love and acceptance just as much as if not more so than us. And we walk down a broad path that makes a lot of empty promises that it never fulfills and find ourselves instead in the way of destruction- and ultimately, death.
       So we go ahead and see how much we can smoke without getting lung cancer. How drunk can we get without damaging our liver or crashing our cars? How many drugs can we take without overdosing? How much sex can we have with anyone and everyone without getting any STDs?
        These questions are just some of the more obvious ones that come to mind. There are other probing things to consider that we often don't. How much pornographic material can we consume before we are corrupted in our thinking regarding people? How much violence can we view on television, in movies or video games or read about before we decide to engage in it ourselves? How much vulgar language can we hear before we start to repeat it ourselves? How much can we engage in the world's methods for getting ahead in life before realizing that the ways of Babylon are so anti-Christ? (See Revelation 18.)
       It is really easy to fall into this slippery slope as a Christian quite possibly because of the one reason that should inspire the exact opposite attitude. Our God is a gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy- a long-suffering God. Of course, He is also a jealous God Who will have no rivals for the worship He alone deserves. He is a God who also punishes and will pour our His righteous judgments upon the earth one day- and He already chastises us with judgment when we need it, because every father disciplines his sons and daughters. And God disciplines everyone He accepts as a son or daughter. (Hebrews 12:1-12)
          So, rather than taking on the principles of Ephesians 2:8-10 and Philippians 2:12-13- to go and do the good deeds God created for us in advance to do all along, never in our strength but in God powering us to live like Christ, we instead go and do the opposite. We take the grace that God gave us through Jesus' cruel death on the cross and His glorious Resurrection and turn it into a license to sin. What then? Shall we sin more so that grace may abound more? By no means! (That sounds familiar. ;-) See Romans 6:1) That's just what those dudes in Jude were doing! Read that whole book and see what The Bible says about them- they're like trees without roots, clouds without rain and they're blown about by the wind....and they're also reserved for darkness and gnashing of teeth! Yeah- God's grace doesn't mean we can go and do whatever we want because Jesus is always ready and willing to forgive us! It's kinda like the same abuse some people do with the welfare system when they aren't really going out and looking for work like they're supposed to be doing, but instead just sponging on the system and doing whatever they want to do with the money that the government is supplying. (I say this as someone who has been there before and who God brought through there! Praise The Lord! :-))
          Grace is not meant to be abused the way that it gets abused so often. Since we know that to be true, what should we do then? Well, let's be careful here because we can quickly go the other way too. We can get so nail-biting anxious that we're hurling ourselves down steps and physically punishing our bodies as much as possible like Martin Luther because we are so scared of messing up- and so scared knowing that we still mess up so many times anyway- and maybe the physical wounds can purge the evil in our hearts. Physical pain might certainly help correct our actions to some degree- that's why our parents discipline us in that way, besides the fact that Proverbs commands it a number of times, but it doesn't really speak to the issue of the heart. As has been said before, the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
        And a heart that is truly set free by Jesus Christ should be so consumed by the amazement and wonder that God would deign to care for this dead dog and save the life of such a worm as I that our souls and entire beings are enraptured with delight in Christ and obeying His Word. Infinitely stronger than Chewbacca's to Han Solo, we owe Jesus a life debt that we can never repay. And the crazy thing is that- though we should feel that indebtedness to Him- He tells us that we don't owe Him a thing. As Romans 6:23 tells us, the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's all free- we don't have to pay anything. And that's a really good thing- because we could never pay anything that would make us worthy. (Isaiah 64:6- even what we think are our good deeds are nothing more than filthy rags before the Holy God.)
         So what can we do? Jesus died and rose to set us free for all eternity! How shall we respond to such amazing lovingkindness? Romans 5:8 has long been one of my favorite Bible verses because it describes the circumstances that this happened in when Jesus did that. It wasn't like Jesus came to die for the righteous who were already seeking Him. No- there's no one righteous- no, not one! But the only Righteous One, God Himself, became man in Jesus Christ. Jesus, the GodMan- fully God and fully Man- He went to the cross for us and died for us when we were sinners. When we hated God, desecrated His laws, mocked His Name and ran from Him. And no matter how much we reject and despise Him and insist we don't want Him- God insists to us- "I have loved you with an everlasting love." Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of The Lord forever. (The last part being true for any of us who have decided to make Jesus Lord of our lives, of course.) And that's just it- Love will never leave you alone. He (and Love is a He- because God Himself is Love- 1 John 4:8) keeps following us and desperately calls to us and cajoles us with carols of His amazing love and grace that wants to forgive and accept us- not condemn us. (John 3:16-17)
          It's not about trying to live a pious life of righteousness in an effort to please or placate God. It's not about living life for ourselves and leaning back on that fire insurance policy that we treat Jesus like sometimes. And for those on either end of it, that hellfire insurance policy we hold to doesn't work like that. Jesus really isn't concerned about sacrifices- as Psalms 51 says, that's not really what He's looking for anyway. What He wants is a broken and contrite heart- that He won't despise. Jesus saves anyone who comes to Him sincerely in faith. But The Bible tells us that whatever doesn't proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:22-23). If we have faith in Jesus, then we trust Him with all our life and live our life for Him. If we ignore His offer and try to live out a life of righteousness and hope it's good enough to please God, then we live out of fear of God and not from faith in Christ- and we're still in sin. (Remember that Perfect Love casts out all fear. 1 John 4:18) And if we listen to Christ and claim His offer, but choose to ignore His commands and expect His grace to pull us out of the fire in the end, we're living in a false hope that is still self-centered and is not from faith in Christ- and we're still in sin. Real, saving faith in Christ brings us salvation. But salvation means that we are saved from what we used to be- we're saved from the wholly depraved person we used to be- we are now redeemed, bought back with a heavy price (though we don't pay it) and we are called and chosen to be a picture of God's redemption in the world. We are called to show the world God's love through Jesus. And as Colossians 3:1-4 says, we no longer live, but our identity is now totally found in Christ. He lives in us (Galatians 2:20) and we no longer live for ourselves, but rather for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. What other response is there to this kind of Love but to love others in kind? That is the response we should have- a heart of infinite gratitude that lovingly seeks to obey Jesus and share His truth and love with others. Love God with all we've got and love our neighbor as ourselves. Speak the Truth in Love.
            We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) So go out in the world and show them that love. Not because you're scared to death of going to hell and hoping that enough good deeds will make you good enough for God- because that won't work. And don't brag to the world of all the things you can get away with because you know we have a Savior who loves to forgive us and has set us free from The Law. He forgives those who truly repent. And true repentance requires us to turn away from our sin and seek to obey Christ instead. So that laissez-faire attitude towards Jesus doesn't work either. The way of salvation is through Jesus alone- through giving Him all our fears and pathetic attempts at goodness- through acknowledging to Him that we are miserable sinners who desperately need His love and forgiveness- and trusting Him to do just what He said He would- and following Him as Savior and Lord. And in thankfulness to Him, we seek to obey His every word and love Him more and more each day.
          And yeah- I totally identify with Romans 7. We're still not perfect. We don't get it right every time. We get sucked back into that old world of darkness and shame so many times over. But the difference is now we don't stay there. We get back up and come back to God and move forward again. 1 John 1:9 is there for a reason and it does work. Jesus is always faithful even when we're not. Thank God for His faithfulness. And no matter how we may doubt and perhaps even deny, He is still there loving us and assuring us of His presence and care for us. And The Love that wilt not let us go keeps drawing us back to Himself and keeps us going forward. And then He reminds us that it was never by our might or power anyway- it's always by His Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6) And The Holy Spirit keeps infusing all of our being and driving us to be different in this crazy world and be the bastion of righteousness and faithfulness and truthfulness and love in this place. We not only reflect The Son, we've got a Sontan that replaces our old skin and gives us new skin instead so that we want to please Jesus in all we do. And even when we fall away for a while, He picks us back up when we ask Him for forgiveness and He gets us going right again. And He is faithful to do this all the way to Heaven's gates! (Jude 1:24-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
            So we can't just talk the talk and not walk the walk. That's hypocrisy. And we can't just walk the walk and not talk the talk. That's a misguided and futile effort. We must be real and true in all we do and worship in spirit and truth by following Jesus with all we've got. We must let our light shine so that people will see our good works and praise our Father Who is in Heaven. (Matthew 5:16) And lovingly tell them about Jesus, Who loves us all with an undying love. :-) Real Love and Life demands nothing less.

(And for those wondering, yes- I was totally inspired by this classic Petra song, "Seen and Not Heard", for the title of the blog. One of my favorites. :-))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZUdLCE6EIg

Another one of my all time favorite Petra songs- "St. Augustine's Pears"- also speaks to a lot of what I've been trying to say here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yCP1gOpvpc )