Like an Old Army Jacket

“I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.” (Ps 119:52 AV)

In the Hebrew and the Greek, the word ‘comfort’ has the same basic meaning.  And it may not be what you might think.  The nature of the comfort can vary.  It can mean to console, encourage, and even rebuke.  The nature can be critical or commending.  The outcome of the comfort, however, is the same.  The nature of this comfort is to produce a positive change.  Justice may not be a comfort for the offender.  Whereas justice is a comfort for the victim.  In this octet of Psalm 119, the writer is musing over the wicked.  In particular, how the wicked affect his life in some negative way.  He goes to the word of God and seeks answers, encouragement, instruction, etc. so that he can have peace with things he cannot control.  Note here the writer comforts himself.  This morning, the reading was also First Thessalonians.  Four times the word ‘comfort’ is used.  However, in all four uses, it is not self-comfort.  Rather, the people of Thessalonica are instructed to comfort one another.  Here, the writer comforts himself.

Musing on the right things is the key here.  We can entertain many thoughts with the mind.  Some good.  Some not so good.  What we think on is a choice we make.  We can either choose to think on those things which tempt or discourage.  Or, we can think on things that encourage and edify.  Where we allow our minds to wander is under our control.  Therefore, to comfort oneself means the mind entertains thoughts and truths that encourage or edify.  I have found the older one gets, the more the saint must adjust their thinking.  Life will not continue as it is.  Life is changing, and the things we have taken for granted for a long time are no longer certain.  This tempts the mind into a discouraging state.  The older we get, the more we forget.  We even forget things that have happened or experiences that should have had a lasting effect of encouragement.  I find myself going back to the scriptures far more often than I did in my youth.  In younger years, we studied and committed to memory the word of God for theological reasons.  Life was simpler back then.  Now that life is becoming far more complicated, the practical application of the word of God becomes more needful.  We know things intellectually.  But we won’t know the breadth of those things until the need arises.  Even those things we do know have a revived sense of application when faced with a life that is changing faster than we can adapt.

The Bible certainly tells us to give and draw comfort from one another.  We need one another.  We need fresh eyes or a more pliable mind to encourage us when we are overwhelmed or anxious.  We need unbiased input of others who have gone through the same thing or who can at least see our situation from a different angle.  But there are times when self-comfort is the most effective.  When we have to discipline the mind around what is true, our comfort comes through the Holy Spirit and the Word.  When the middle of the night comes and the forces of evil seem to collapse, there are bible verses and musings of the mind that cause that evil to flee.  Peter tells us to think on things that are true and have virtue.  Rather than allow the forces of discontent, fear, or frustration be the rule of life, the word of God should reign in our minds.  I have this old army coat that was my father’s coat.  It came with a wool liner.  It was really heavy.  I used to wear it quite often.  Then I outgrew it.  I still have it, but I use it more as a blanket when napping than outwear for winter.  It is a source of comfort.  It is something I do for myself.  Spending time in the word of God, prayer, and musing on the truths of the word of God can be just like that old, heavy, army coat.  The writer above comforted himself.  No doubt other comforted him.  But he didn’t rely solely on their comfort.  He grabbed his dad’s old army jacket, sat in his recliner, and comforted himself.

Want or Word

“Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” (Ps 119:36 AV)

It is both interesting and convicting that the writer of this Psalm juxtaposes love for the word of God against love for things.  The two cannot co-exist.  One will win out over the other.  Love for things is not the only enemy of a love for the word of God.  But it is a large one.  Covetousness is the enemy of truth.  The extreme of this principle would be the life of a hermit.  This is what the old orders of monks practiced.  The writer is not saying that minimalism is the preferred lifestyle of those who have a passion for the word of God.  God does not call us to depravity for the sake of a deeper spiritual experience.  Solomon is one to prove that wrong.  However, a love for things that do not belong to us is the enemy.  What God has not determined for our comfort or pleasure are the objects of our covetousness.  To love the word of God more than an excess of comfort or pleasure is the desire here.

Remember those school days filled with day-dreaming?  As a young boy, my mind was often on things more fun than arithmetic or history.  Spelling class was torture.  I would rather be playing in the snow or at the park hitting a baseball.  Spending warm spring days or bright winter days cooped up indoors learning dates, facts, and principles wasn’t my idea of the perfect day.  We couldn’t wait until the bell rang, and we ran outside to enjoy the freedom that play and imagination would bring.  To this day, I can remember more of the adventures my friends and I enjoyed than any single day of school.  Just outside was my ten-speed bike, chained to the bike rack, waiting for my feet and hands to connect.  There it was.  I could see it out of my classroom window.  The first bike I had was orange.  I got it at a police auction.  It was two sizes too big for me.  When that one got stolen, I saved up money to buy a brand-new green Schwinn.  Fifty years later and I still dream about that bike.  I dream that my parents stored it away and brought it out in a sad state of disrepair.  My dream is restoring that bike to its original glory.  The only dream I have of school is that I never completed required classwork and, in reality, I have to go back and finish up English class.  The things we want often disrupt the things we need.

Our writer knows the word of God is more valuable than anything he could ever possess.  This doesn’t mean he cannot possess things.  What it does mean is the desire to possess things or find pleasure in things cannot supersede his love for the word of God.  The writer is not limiting love for the word of God to mere scholastic pleasure.  Just because we faithfully read the word of God does not mean we love the word of God.  Rather, to what our writer is referring is the testimonies contained within the word of God.  The testimonies are the reasons why God does things or requires other things.   It is the reason for the revelation.  Our writer doesn’t want to limit his love for the word of God to mere knowledge of facts.  Rather, his love for the word of God goes to the very heart of the purpose for the revelation.  God gave us His word so that we can know Him, trust Him, and obey Him.  That is what the writer wants.

Our Debts to Those in Need

“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do [it].” (Pr 3:27 AV)

This verse is a classic verse in regards to handling the original language of Hebrew.  If one is not careful, the student could miss the meaning and apply the principle here differently than Solomon intended.  The misinformed student will use word definitions to build context rather than context to expound on the word definition.  Individual words can have different meanings.  This is true of most languages.  If one were to ignore the verse that follows the above passage, one could assume Solomon is speaking of honoring those who are due honor.  Indeed, some writers apply that way.  They support that application merely by the Hebrew word for ‘due’.  The Hebrew word is Ba-al or Bah-al which has the meaning of benevolence due a husband or ruler.  So, the misinformed writer would apply Solomon’s words as a proverb to show honor to those who are in places of authority.  However, this honor is not required only when one can offer that honor.  Rather, honor owed to those who are in authority is required whether we think we have the means or not.  To refuse honor to whom it is due regardless of ability to offer it is considered a transgression.  To take the meaning as such means that if we don’t have the means to pay our taxes, then one is not required to do so.  That is not what Solomon means here.

The context is in helping those in need.  The next verse reads, “Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.” (Pr 3:28 AV) If we continued in this chapter, we would see Solomon is referring to relationships among citizens and neighbors.  In other words, Solomon is not referring to taxes that we are obligated to pay regardless of ability.  Rather, he is speaking of the ethical responsibility to help others when we have the means to do so.  The passage does not limit help to merely material goods.  By using the strong word ‘due’, Solomon is stressing the ethical responsibility towards those in genuine need.  It is not owed them merely because they have a need.  Rather, benevolence or kindness is owed them because they have a genuine need that they cannot meet themselves and they are fellow human beings.  Solomon is not purporting communism or open-ended welfare.  He is not instructing those who have means to meet the needs of those who demand it without regard to personal responsibility or accountability.  Rather, what Solomon is trying to convey here is humanity’s responsibility to itself.

We often limit this application to material things.  But there are other needs someone may have.  He or she may be discouraged, and your words of encouragement could make all the difference.  The one in need may be anxious and your faith is the cornerstone of their survival.  They may be bitter and it is your gracious spirit that shows them how to overcome the bitterness.  The soul might be lost and in need of someone with faith and patience to show them how they can know Jesus.  There are many genuine needs.  Physical needs are not the greatest of needs.  Our flesh will eventually perish.  We will eventually die of something.  It does not matter how much food we have, money we have, or healthcare that we can access.  We will all end up in a grave.  Our greatest needs are spiritual ones.  Forgiveness of sin and affirmation in Christ are man’s greatest needs.  Those who love the LORD have the means to meet those needs.  As Paul taught us, we are a debtor to the entire world.  We owe them the good news of Jesus Christ.  As saints, we can also help those who are struggling.  Whether in sin or in a trial of faith, we are here to lend a hand.  We are to share the word of God and offer prayer.  We are here to help those who are due our help.  Solomon is not limiting the help to a few dollars here and there.  This help we can offer is available to anyone who is burdened to help. 

Love With Faith

“Peace [be] to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph 6:23 AV)

The wording in this verse is throwing me off.  It seems as though Paul is wishing his own peace on the brethren, but the love with faith is from God.  But I don’t think that is the way Paul intended.  I think the peace and love with faith are from God, and Paul is bestowing these graces on the brethren on behalf of God the Father and the LORD Jesus Christ.  It is the love with faith that has me intrigued.  Love with faith is a lot deeper than love without faith.  Love with faith trusts that the sacrificial love given will be effective even if there is no discernable evidence for it.  Love with faith is what marriage requires.  One must trust a spouse regardless of what may or may not be reciprocated.  This is the highest form of love.  Paul refers to this love as charity in his letter to the Corinthians.

There are certain expectations when exercising love.  Appreciation is one of them.  Affirmation is another.  We also expect some type of response in return.  It may not always be to the degree we desire, but any bit is appreciated.  When we give gifts to our children, they may not thank us.  But we enjoy looking in their eyes when they see what is given.  They may not understand the sacrifice that was made for their newly-found prize.  But the look on their faces is what pleases Mom or Dad.  We know that in time, they will reciprocate that love.  We have faith that if we do our part and love them with our whole heart, there will come a day when they show their appreciation.  I have the luxury of having sons in the ministry.  This means that every once is a while, they use their upbringing as an illustration.  In their way, they are saying thank you. 

Love with faith knows no limits.  Love out of duty does.  Love with faith has patience.  Love by commandment does not.  Love with faith does not care for immediate results.  Love by constraint does.  Love with faith looks to the future.  Love without faith looks at the present.  Love with faith can see the profit that their love has on the receiver more than it sees any benefit that might come upon Self.  Love with faith does not care what the results are.  Love without faith keeps score.  Love with faith knows that reward for sacrificial love comes from God.  Love without faith sees reward that only comes from man.  Love with faith means that the heart is fully engaged.  Love without faith only engages the will.  Love with faith sees love as far more effective than the immediate.  It sees love as compounded investment.  Love without faith is only focused on the need at hand.  Love with faith has a sense of contented self-sacrifice.  Love without faith does not see any inward benefit of selfless love.  Paul wished on God’s part love with faith for the Ephesian church.  This depth of love comes only from God.  As Paul shared earlier in the letter, by accepting Jesus Christ, we learn of His person and nature.  His love becomes our love.  Divine love with faith becomes the nature of the saint.  It is deep love.  It is the deepest love of all.

Chosen To Be Holy

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” (Eph 1:4 AV)

The certainty of the promise is a blessing to the heart.  Those who wish to love the LORD struggle with the presence of sin in the life.  We confess.  We forsake.  This is a regular practice.  We hate sin because He hates sin.  Above, Paul reminds us of a promise.  The purpose of salvation is to be perfectly holy and love the LORD with our whole hearts.  This does not come naturally.  We need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from all our sin, and we need the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to keep us from sin.  The Holy Spirit is our seal unto perfection.  According to his letter to the Ephesians, Paul shows us that God has chosen His saints to be holy and without blame.  He has chosen His saints to reside with Him forever in perfect love.  This promise is certain.  The transformation, which the bible refers to as our glorification, is an absolute certainty.  One day, we will graduate from this corrupt world.  We will leave behind the body of sin, which we have inhabited since our conception.  We will be clothed with the perfection of Christ, never to sin again.  What a day that will be!

It is interesting that when a debutante is depicted on film, he or she always resents the foregone conclusion of their success.  They resent their insanely wealthy father for choosing the life they will live.  Usually, as the story goes, they strike out on their own to make their own way and end up less than a common person.  They deliberately choose a career of life that embarrasses their wealthy benefactor.  The storyline often depicts the heir as extremely happy to have left what could have been theirs to make it completely on their own and independent of the smallest of assistance.  Rarely do you see life as it is.  Many children of highly successful people tend to take advantage of the choices afforded them and make a success of their lives.  The heir often continues is the family business and develops it even further.  How do I know this?  Because I caddied for many of them.  They are called ‘old money’.  These very successful people had life handed to them on a silver platter.  Many went on to increase the estate.  Some did not.  Some squandered their opportunity and made shipwreck of the success of previous generations.  However, it was not uncommon to caddy for someone whose grandfather was a founder of a specific sector of business.  His children and grandchildren took that success and ran with it.  What made the difference?  Those who used what they were given to increase the estate were grateful people who had discipline deep in their bones.  They saw the world as a small place and their place in the world as a big one.  They could see the bigger picture before it became a reality and used their resources to make what they saw a reality.  They were given the opportunity to become what would be rather than to squander it away and waste what was given.

In many ways, that is what our walk with God represents.  We have been given the foregone conclusion of sinless perfection.  We have been given the resources in this present life to make headway to that eventuality.  The Holy Spirit resides within to convict, teach, and empower.  We have been given the example and fellowship of Jesus Christ, our big brother, to help us and show us the way.  We have been given the love of the Father that will never fade.  We are eternally affirmed in Christ.  There is nothing to prove.  We can live holy and without blame, not to be thus, but because in Christ we have already been made thus.  The promise of holiness and blamelessness is absolute and will never be rescinded.  We fail in part because we forget this promise.  We fail to live in the reality that is coming rather than the reality that is.  Temptation is always around us.  But it won’t be forever.  There is coming a day when the temptations of the flesh are no more.  We will be preserved blameless.  We will be like Christ.  Nothing will change that.  So why not live that way now?

Crucified, Yet Crucified Again

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Ga 5:24-25 AV)

Here is a great example of the doctrinal and practical in balance.  Paul uses the past tense in referring to the crucifixion of the flesh.  Yet we know from his other writings that this is an ongoing process.  It happened once at salvation.  Repentance crucifies the flesh and the lusts. This is what we see in verse twenty-five.  Verse twenty-four speaks of the one-time crucifixion of the flesh and lusts at the point of salvation.  Verse twenty-five reveals this process is an ongoing one.  Verse twenty-five states our positional existence as in the Spirit.  Seeing we are in the Spirit, then we should live as such.  We forget that at the point of salvation, the flesh and lusts of the flesh were surrendered.  We repented of our sins.  Our desires changed to that which is holy, righteous, and good.  If that happened in the past, then it needs to continue into the future.

Many of us struggle with maintaining a healthy weight.  We try many things.  We try one fad diet after another.  Dieting starts with recognizing the need to lose weight.  We take inventory of all the things in our kitchens or pantries that are not good.  We look at our meal plan and realize it is not helpful.  Regardless of what plan we choose; it all starts the same way.  We look at our weight and habits.  We decide that continuing to live as we are, weight will be gained and not lost.  So, we look at all the bad things we cannot eat and rid the house of them.  We plan our meals.  We watch what we eat.  We drink more water.  Our intentions are pure.  Our dedication is high.  Life happens.  It starts with a cursory introduction of the foods we cannot eat.  A piece of candy here.  A church fellowship there.  Little by little, the foods we are not supposed to eat creep back in.  Falling to temptation does not undo the initial dedication to the cause.  It happened.  Back then, we were truly committed and disciplined.  What we decided to do back then must continue.  So, we rededicate ourselves to the plan.

Accepting Christ does not come with automatic holiness.  The old man is still a factor.  The Holy Spirit convicted our hearts at the point of salvation, and we wanted nothing to do with sin.  We hated ourselves.  We hated what we did and what we were.  We turned our back on the filthy life of sin and cried out to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  We arose from our prayer completely free from guilt and shame.  We promised ourselves that from that point forward, nothing but righteousness.  It didn’t take long.  Israel wanted to go back to Egypt after only three days of freedom.  It doesn’t take long for sin to return.  But here is where Paul is trying to teach the new converts.  The law is for our benefit.  Not our salvation.  The law is the means by which God blesses and we please Him.  If we began in the Spirit, then let us continue to walk in the Spirit.  This requires we forsake our sin over and again.  Every day we must return to the altar of confession.  Every day we have to renew our walk with God and surrender to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Every day.  The battle was started.  But the battle must continue.

 

Frustrate Grace?

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Ga 2:21 AV)

Note here that Paul uses the present tense while referring to frustrating the grace of God.  Paul is speaking of the place of the law in the process of salvation.  The Galatian church wanted to add to the law.  Unsaved Israelites tried to convince the Gentile believers that salvation, in part, relied on obedience to the law.  Paul is teaching that they are saved by grace and kept by grace.  But the curious thing about the present tense is that it suggests that even if we are secure in our salvation, we can still frustrate the grace of God.  This is fascinating.  And also a bit convicting.  Many believers find themselves doing just that.  We know enough to believe that the law cannot save or keep us.  We accept and believe that God’s grace is what saves us and that it is His grace that keeps us saved.  What we struggle with is living a life of righteousness to earn continued grace.  Just like saving grace cannot be earned, abiding grace cannot be either.

It is our nature to reject grace.  A young man who lived on the streets was seen by a wealthy benefactor.  He enquired as to the identity of the lad and wondered where his parents might be.  He was informed that the boy had no living relatives.  He was orphaned on the streets.  This man, on a promise of a meal, coaxed the young man into his carriage.  They rode together and chatted for a bit.  Upon reaching his estate, the wealthy old man sat the boy down, and his chef prepared a wonderful meal.  When the boy rose to leave, the benefactor wondered if the young man would like to take a dip in the pool.  This street urchin hadn’t had a bath in years.  After he was all cleaned up, the kind gentleman gave him a fresh set of clothes to wear.  He had stayed long enough for dinner.  After dinner, it was too late to return him to the streets, so this wonderful man gave him a room to stay.  Little by little, the kindly gentleman won the trust of the young boy.  After a bit, the young boy simply felt out of place.  He would be found helping the employees cleaning, gardening, or any other chore that needed attention.  The master of the house would have none of it.  This precious life needed attention, and he was not about to require his young charge to do anything that might be construed as working for one’s keep.  As this young man grew older, he tried harder to do for the master so that he wasn’t enjoying things without some renumeration.  Eventually he left because he could not stomach being the object of another’s kindness.  He wanted to make his own way in the world.  He wanted to prove his worth.  He wanted to make his own statement.  This is our nature.

It is in our nature to work for the blessings of life.  Grace does not come easy.  Pride gets in the way.  Self-expression intervenes.  Self-determination interrupts.  To refuse the grace of God is to frustrate the grace of God.  Whether the needs of life, forgiveness, or joy and happiness are manifestations of God’s grace; they have to be accepted.  There is nothing we can do to earn the grace of God.  Humility is the necessary ingredient to accepting the grace of God.  Let God be God.  Even if being God means being kind and benevolent.  Let God be God.  I know.  Part of us wants to do something.  We feel guilty.  God fusses over us, and we do not deserve it at all.  We are shamed because God is so good.  The goodness of God leads us to repentance.  Accepting the grace of God is accepting the relationship of Creator/creation.  We do not want to take advantage of the grace of God.  We don’t want to fall on it as an excuse not to live for His pleasure and glory.  Frustrating the grace of God is no more than refusing it and relying upon something else.  Usually, we ourselves.