Category: devotional

Sinful Inside

“More than anything else, a person’s mind is evil
and cannot be healed.
Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9, NCV

“Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given to me what is thine. Thou has taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners.”

Martin Luther

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The Bible in its tremendous insight, never ever makes humans to be wonderful creatures. I think we would all volunteer to be that way. We are not. Rather the opposite is quite true. We are manipulators, rascals, liars and sinners. There is not a single iota of evidence that we can become exceptionally kind, loving and holy people in any sense of the word.

Somehow we generate a lot of self-deceit. We trick our own hearts into believing that we are such noble believers. We ignore evidence that would convict us otherwise. The prophet spoke to his generation in Jeremiah 17. He would speak directly to people who thought they were true and good. Jeremiah called this a lie, a serious miscalculation (especially when the opposite was true.)

“The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?”

Jeremiah 17:9, NIV

This is not the way “to win friends and influence people.” So many pastors, priests, elders, and leaders have a desire deep down to be acceptable and relevant. But God says, we are rascals, tricksters, phonies. Something inside is sick. There can be no human remedy. We simply cannot become religious enough to surmount our profound sin (against God and against others).

I must tell you the truth, you’re terminally ill. You are quite sick, in the most essential part of you. As a boy living in Northern Wisconsin, on a farm somewhat. We found one of our dogs killing our chickens. He was a nice dog, quite friendly and very gentle. But when he started in on the chickens my dad decided to intervene. One of the dead chickens was recovered. My father wired that dead chicken to our dogs neck, nice and tight. The dog wore that rotting chicken for several weeks. Finally the dog laid down, foaming and tongue lolling, eyes rolled back– so sick. So Dad cut off the decaying remains.

It’s one of my more vivid memories. The dog would never again chase a chicken, or even think of killing one. But even so, our sin is disgusting to God. We just seem to do evil without considering Him or others we effect. It’s all about us, as we think we can just skate through this “problem” without any issues. But Jeremiah tells us we are rotting inside.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. “

Matthew 5:3-4, NIV

I suppose this is what it will take. To see ourselves as destitute beggars when it comes to spiritual matters. We very much want to work past this state. We will very often feel that that is Christian discipleship– conquering our deep sin and awful weaknesses. But really, folks, what the Lord really wants is for us to admit our poverty, and be saddened by our sinfulness. We hurt so many.

“Our life is full of brokenness – broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.”

–Henri Nouwen

We are a broken lot of confused people, and we have never solved the mystery of our own iniquity. In those rare, fleeting times we step into clarity, we are ashamed and disturbed by what we see. Our awful sin needs a wonderful Savior. Jesus does what we could never do. He has died to destroy our sin.

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Related articles

Pearl Grey With Jaggedy Edges

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A simple doggerel quickly written down in an inconvenient moment came like a blast, and as soon as it came, it left. I was thinking of the ordinariness of God’s grace, and our apprehension of it. It passes over us, and lest we fail to reach out for it, it will pass us by. We must latch on to it, securing ourself by faith to it’s real presence. I only suppose it will take us to some real ‘impossible’ places.

Pearl grey with jaggedy edges

But with certain hope, we commence

Into it and all that it has for us

(We grasp for all that it has for us)

We take all that He has made for us

Rightfully and truly, surely constant

There is a grace that sustains the weary heart

And a hope that carries us far beyond

this real and precious moment

We rest in this present moment

We rest (and that is the right word)

In the God of the pearl grey

And this jaggedy moment.

 

I am not a poet, so I hope you are not traumatized by my effort, rather you take it for what it is worth. (I’ve got low expectations here). But please, reach out to His grace in whatever is happening in your life right now. He alone loves you as you deserve to be loved. aabryscript

Flaws in Our Spiritual ‘DNA’

DNA by medoo-khfaga
DNA by medoo-khfaga

“What do you mean, ‘What’s the matter?’” Micah replied. “You’ve taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!”

Judges 18:24

“Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” ― John Calvin

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Here in Judges 18, we see the folly of a false religion. It is a crude and simple idolatry, and the foolishness of it is lost on these men. Micah had installed his very own personal priest, and had carved some idols to enhance his spiritual status. We see in Micah, the silly and shortsightedness of the idolater. He engages in some ‘unauthorized’ theology, that allows him this liberty.

But the ill-advised idolatry seems not only silly, but bizarrely primitive. It’s kind of a ‘do it yourself’ custom religion.  Micah had a spiritual need, and met it with hiring his own priest. However, the roving tribe of Dan, with an armed force of 600 men, have decided to take the entire ensemble to be their own. It now seems foolishness has led Dan astray.

The bickering between Micah and these warriors would be imprudent if pushed. Micah has just lost his religion by brute force. The ‘priest’ and all the accouterments are now forcibly taken from him. I suppose this is the painful folly of his ‘homemade’ religion. He watches as the riders take it all away.

What an empty spiritual condition! But religious people often seek out idols to help them deal with life. An idol can be anything that takes God’s place in a person’s life. But the results are sad. A counterfeit faith of any kind is profoundly sad. The modern version has become much more sophisticated, but the end result is the same. It would seem  that idolatry is etched in our DNA.

“Those who worship false gods [idols] turn their backs on all God’s mercies” (Jonah 2:8).

The only way to protect yourself in a time of spiritual anarchy is to come to the true and living God. Insist on your needs be met by Him. We really must shun anything that could take His place. Our idolatry is different today, but God has never changed.

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Blessed Assurance

praying-hands 29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”

John 16:29-30, ESV

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There will often come a distinct point when you discover all is quite real. This is not to say that it wasn’t real before, but suddenly a deeper awareness crashes into your understanding. These are special moments indeed, but they are often transitory. It seems we are wired with a switch; it is not on-off, but more like a dimmer. Turning it makes the light move more precisely to the level you want.

We need to realize that these precious times are not ordinary. The disciples came to the place where ‘lightning struck,’ and they just knew (deep down) that Jesus really is who he says he is. Personally, I have to believe they arrived at the point where the ‘real’ was truly real. This is a pivotable point for these men.

Obviously, the Holy Spirit is the initiator of these times. We certainly will come up empty unless he gives it to us. This sudden burst of truth is what we understand as ‘assurance.’ And I personally feel it’s quite critical for the Church at this precise moment.

Have you grasped the real real? Having ‘assurance’ of God’s kingdom can reframe reality and enable consistency. Being assured of Jesus’ promises will enable a person to obey. It is really another form of faith.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1, ESV

I happen to believe that the ‘Bible world’ is the real world. It lives invisibly all around us, and occasionally breaks through and blesses us in some tangible way.

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