Our Hidden Faults

"The desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality and the awareness of it. If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He only asks you to accept the light of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. When the light shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light. Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it." --Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest.

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Have you ever had a moment –a terrible moment- when you realize that something that you thought you were SO right about and SO good in was actually really selfish or sinful?

An argument with your spouse, in which you took the high road, for example. Days later, as your loved one is doing penance, you realize how bitter and power-hungry your heart has been since winning the fight. Or, you’ve gone out of your way to encourage and uplift someone, and you’re reaping praise. But, in your heart, it’s not about loving the other person, it’s about looking good.

Been there. And does the Lord know it!

In Psalm 19:12, we find David praying “But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”

That’s right before He prays in verse 13: “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.”

We’re reminded of several truths in these simple verses:

• ·         Sin is a condition we’re born into.
• ·         Sin can be, and often is, willful.
• ·         Sin can also be sneaky –we don’t always choose it outright but we’re attracted to it anyway and our hearts can be corrupted by it without us even trying to rebel on purpose against God.
• ·         Sin needs forgiveness, and we can’t earn that! There are sins we’re not even aware of that need forgiving.

There are a lot of sins that are hidden even from ourselves - often they are ones committed deeply within our hearts that have no apparent or direct bearing on the surrounding world. Some of these sins can’t even be found out by introspection. But the Lord knows them.

We belong to a Lord and creator who knows everything, even hidden things that we don’t know about ourselves.

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind…” Jeremiah 17:9-10

God’s Word has a lot to say about things that are hidden and what God does with them:

• ·         “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:14
• ·         "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” –Luke 12:2
• ·         “…wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God.” – 1 Corinthians 4:5

That sounds scary, doesn’t it? If we’re honest with ourselves, especially after one of those moments of “oh Lord! My heart is SO corrupt!,” we know that by ourselves we’re bound up in sin and wickedness.

How is that even when we’re trying avoid sin and cautiously following the path of the Lord that our hearts and still stray so far from Him?

We can’t come up with anything truly good by ourselves, or do anything out of pure, selfless, unconditional love…apart from God.  Likewise, we can never grasp the depth of our sins, how egregious our ways are before God, or how corrupt our hearts are.

Don’t be surprised when you discover a sin in your heart that you didn’t select consciously. Don’t be shocked to discover that you’ve hidden your own selfish intentions from yourself. Even moreso –don’t be taken aback when the Lord reveals your hidden faults to you.  

Pray a prayer like David’s. Examine your own heart: what sins have you committed? What have you hidden from others, yourself, and the Lord? Confess and repent. Your hope is in Christ and His mercy, not how effectively you yourself handle the sins you’ve already committed.  

Then, go farther. Ask for the Lord to forgive even the evil in your heart you don’t know about.

Because here’s what happens when you ask the Lord to forgive even your hidden faults:

• ·         You surrender some of the deepest parts of yourself to Him, His mercy, and His good purposes.
• ·         The deep-rooted sins that even you don’t recognize are at work against the Spirit of God. Acknowledge that to live in the Spirit and be free in Christ, you have to rely on Him to do work in you that even you don’t understand.
• ·         You are humbled and cleansed for His glory: “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer” –Psalm 19:14
• ·         Instead of worrying about the Lord knowing your faults and you making up for them, you can go boldly and eagerly before Him: Christ has reconciled you to God.

Fix your eyes on Jesus rather than trying to make up for the messes you’ve already made. What He illuminates He also cleanses and handles righteously. 

Why We Like False Gospels

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When a false gospel is preached, it seems that often the falsehood is simple derived from over-emphasis on one trait, one gain, one reward, etc.

For example, a gospel of “prosperity” is considered false because of its focus on personal gain and the misconstrued beliefs that follow, like that Christians should always prosper and that Jesus exists to make us happy. Likewise, a gospel of “experience” may put excessive value on the personal encounter with God, leading many to believe that whatever they feel or interpret must be true.

When such a one-sided gospel is presented, it is often to make the true Gospel more palatable. “Gospel” means “good news.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel. It’s the good news that we are redeemed in Christ and can be reconciled with God. But that is big news, and, while giving the deepest joy and peace and purpose to life, is also hard news.

Often false gospels are just snippets of the easier parts of the good news. They address one particular need that is being felt.

Many false gospels, rather than sharing the truth of Jesus Christ, select and run with a chunk of the truth easier to accept for those who aren’t looking to give their lives over to God, acknowledge their sinfulness, and spend eternity glorifying the Lord instead of themselves (and really, how many of us are eager to do that?)

Prosperity gospels share good news about feeling fulfilled and gaining what you desire, not self-sacrifice or laying up treasures worthy of heaven and denying the power of currency of this world. Experience gospels validate feelings and soothe fears of inadequacy at the cost of standing on the more difficult to like, whole truth.

Sometimes, apologetics becomes a false gospel of reason and intellect. Addressing the needs of those who find God irrational or Christianity foolish, the false gospel of apologetics often fails to address the aspect of Christ that is indeed foolishness to this world and that isn’t rational within our bounds of reason.

Apologetics can be presented as being supportive of faith rather than supported by faith. Further, rather than basing a relationship with the Lord on a faith so deep and true that it includes reason, apologetics at times suggests that as reason stands, faith can have a place if you’d like it to.

It’s not that apologetics or appreciating intellect is wrong. Or that the Lord causing you to prosper or blessing you with His presence is anti-Jesus.

Few false gospels that live under the auspices of Christianity say “this is it. It’s all intellect. It’s all in your heart. Or it’s all in your wealth.” It’s rare for such false gospels to even claim to be anti-Jesus.

But rather, in “sheep’s clothing,” many who proclaim false teaching seem harmless and even enticing (Matthew 7:15). At their core, many false gospels fit within the confines of truth, but rather than building up off the foundation of Christ, they build out additions to make the space of faith a little more comfortable.

In Jeremiah 5:30-31, we read that:

“An appalling and horrible thing

    has happened in the land:

 the prophets prophesy falsely,

    and the priests rule at their direction;

my people love to have it so,

    but what will you do when the end comes?”

2 Timothy 4:3 seems to echo the words: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”

It’s no surprise that false teachings always seem to align with the fears or obsessions of current generations or cultures. Many arise not out of a desire to divert from the truth, but to gratify the part of the flesh that is currently hungering most. Like a piece of candy given to a crying child, false gospels are given in response not to needs, but to desires.

We’re a part of that. Our demands to have things our way and to have our preferences often affect the truths we’re willing to hear. We feed and reward those churches that perhaps aren’t heretical but certainly aren’t mature, wholesome, or Biblically-based when we fail to seek the Lord for what He says we need. Instead, we tell the Lord or we direct His words in order to meet the wants that we perceive.

Imagine what we lose. 

At a Price: The Relationship Between Love and Freedom

“Why do the innocent suffer? Because of love. God designed love to be based on our free will. He didn’t want to be loved out of fear, or out of compliance. He wanted to be loved out of gratitude. But love has a price tag. If love is free, then a lover is free to be unloving. Otherwise love is forced. Because we are free to be unloving, many of us have been run over…” –Pg. 71. Safe People by Cloud and Townsend

Love and freedom are inextricably connected. The two are interdependent.

Without love, you cannot experience true freedom. Without freedom, love isn’t love.

That’s the way God designed it, and the implications are many:

What Love Gives Us: Freedom

• ·         Because He loved us, we are free

“The truth will set you free.” But what is the truth? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The truth is revealed by the loving character and actions of our Lord. That’s how He gives us freedom.

• ·         His love gives us the freedom to truly love others

1 John 4:19 says it concisely: “we love because he first loved us.” The love we have to give, in and of ourselves, is limited by our sinful nature. Our natural love is flawed and distorted. But the love of God, instilled in us and flowing through us by the Spirit –that’s perfect. In Christ, we are free to truly love others as He intends, in His timing, as His children.

• ·         The love of God frees us to be who He made us to be

Sin, as exemplified by Satan’s temptation tactics, tells us that who we are isn’t enough and that we can change who we are in order to be like God. We’re enslaved by the sinful conviction that we must take the place of God in our lives. When we ground our hearts in the love of Christ, we find that we can be who we are and that His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9).

What Love Costs: Freedom

• ·         For God, love meant giving up freedom temporarily

In the person of Christ, God “Himself bore our sins” (1 Peter 2:24). The Lord who created everything and lives forever died for you and me before rising again. He “gave Himself up,” temporarily surrendering His freedom and rightful place. And He did that because of His great love for us.  

• ·         Loving God means becoming a slave to righteousness

When Christ died and rose again, we were redeemed. Each of us was “bought with a price; do not become slaves of human beings” (1 Corinthians 7:23). Instead, your freedom means being a “slave to righteousness” (Romans 6:18). When you love the Lord, you surrender your will and your freedom to Him that you may gratefully serve Him as an expression and a natural result of your love.

• ·         Emulating His love requires that we allow others their freedom

The Lord’s love sacrifice’s self. Those who love the Lord plead “take this cup if you are willing” and obey when the answer is “no” (Luke 22:42). Often encumbrances on our freedom are the result of loving others as the Lord does.

Consider the fruit of the Spirit. Those fruits aren’t conditional on those you love behaving how you would like them to. To love like the Lord, you set aside your freedom to sinfully manipulate others or to seek personal gain, and you emulate Godly love (patiently, gently, meekly) as others use their freedom (even in ways you don’t like)!

3. Our Perfectionist God

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How overdue this post is! I've actually been trying to write it for months. But the words are never quite right. I can't seem to proclaim as loudly or neatly as I want to this wonderful truth:

GOD.IS.PERFECT.

And not perfect like we think of perfect...

We say "perfect" when things are convenient. God's timing is more than convenient.
We say "perfect" when something fits together really well. God's unifying work is more than that.
We say "perfect" when the highest standards we set are met. God IS the standard.

What's amazed me most recently is that both God's intentions and His actions are perfect. 

So often we do things that end up hurting someone or failing...BUT we meant well. 

Like when I make all sorts of plans for my husband after work so we can have tons of fun because I love him and want him to have fun (but he ends up feeling more stressed and tired because he really needed quiet time.) Or, when I say something that comes out sounding insulting (but I mean it as a compliment.) Or, when someone gives me a hug (but squeezes too tight and it hurts.)

It's just as often that we do something that makes someone happy or works out for good...but we meant ill. 

Like when I nicely clean up the whole apartment (just to point out to my poor husband that I did all that work and he didn't.) Or when I give someone a vague compliment that makes them feel good (but that I actually meant very critically.)

You get the picture. 

That's not how it is with our Lord. When He means something for good, His will is perfect AND He does what is good, because His way is also perfect.

What does Scripture tell us about the unified, genuine, unchanging perfection of God?

-His works are perfect, He does no wrong (Deut 32:4)
-His way and His Word are flawless (2 Sam 22:31)
-His knowledge and all that flows from it is perfect (Job 36, 37)
-His law is perfect for what it is designed for: reviving and shaping (Psalm 19:7)
-His faithfulness and resulting plans are perfect (Isaiah 25:1)
-His beauty and splendor is perfect (Ezekiel 16, 27, 28)
-His gifts are perfect (James 1:17)
-His will in all things is perfect (Romans 2:2)
-His power is perfect, without any contribution (2 Corinthians 12:9)
-His love is perfect and casts out fear (1 John 4:18)
-His work in our lives makes our path perfect (Psalm 18:32)
-His person in Christ perfects us (Col 1:28, Matt 5:48)
-His perfection and the perfection through which He creates, revives, and works are forever (Hebrews 10:14)

Lord where can I look

When every view I find

Is darkened, obscured, and surely tainted by lies?

When the best that I’ve found

Has an end to itself and there’s still a gap

But somehow we’re bound in it?

Lord, I praise you

That when my eyes search you out,

You’re enough, you unify perfectly

This broken, sinful world and all of its content,

Simply because you are.

I can look to you, Perfect LORD. 

What a sight for sore eyes.

To Save a Life

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The phrase is everywhere. When someone pulls another person from a car wreck just in time, we say that their life was saved. Some people say that they were saved by the influence of something or someone that caused them to change their lifestyle or perspective. There is even a popular song entitled “To Save a Life”. 

If we stop to look at the phrase carefully, though, we see that it’s misleading. It is impossible for any person to save a life. There are instances in which a person is spared from a form of suffering. Death can be delayed. But as for life itself, no person has the power to prevent its ending altogether.

As depressing as the inevitability of death is, it only illuminates the precious gift Christ gives. 

Christ alone defeats death. His saving work is not as simple or temporary as that of a doctor or a mentor or a so-called hero. When Christ saves us, it is forever!

This is the reason for our hope. How can we not praise Him and rejoice in gratitude?

Jesus destroys death for us. Then, He gives us new life. Eternal life. As if that isn’t enough to astound us, He saves us from more than death -it is eternal punishment that we are spared from. 

Everything that we deserve because of the condition of our sinful hearts is not only forgiven and wiped away, but replaced by this new life in Christ. Romans 6:23 phrases it this way: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

All of this –free. Absolutely, 100% free to us as receivers. He paid the price for us. To rescue and redeem that which we considered ours but that He also freely gave –life itself. From the beginning He has known and formed each of us, His breath is the only thing that gives life. Our God is the creator of life –and He’s the one who saves our lives, making us new for eternity.

We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about life. At funerals, in hospitals, when tragedies occur, we mourn that life is short and fleeting. As we celebrate achievements and reminisce about how they could never have been, had someone not “_________”, we rejoice that lives can change and improve.

At the same time, we spend plenty of time thinking and talking about death. In many of the same places, we look at death as if it really is inevitable. We act like that's okay and talk about finding meaning in it anyway. 

Isn't that crazy? We obsess over people "saving lives" -yet we rarely get to the fact of the matter: our bodies will die, each and every one, no matter what we do. It's nice to have more time on earth, sure, but that's all we get. Except that salvation is possible. Eternity is at hand if only we will accept His free gift of new, everlasting life. 

We rejoice more over the delaying of death than over repentance leading to salvation. When the opportunity arises to speak about life or about death, we must be clear about the options we have. And we can start by re-tuning our phrases for accuracy. 

How can a life be saved? By Christ alone. 

How amazing that our Lord is who He is, can do what He did, and does what He does!