A Firm Foundation Pt. 3

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

I guess you could say I'm into foundations lately.

Imagine, if you will, a five-story apartment building which you own. At the fifth floor you decide you're going to blow out the exterior wall and build a new room suspended over the ground below with virtually no supporting structure. A wise friend rushes up to you in mid-progress, assuring you that this endeavor is way out of code (not to mention extremely dangerous) and urges you to stop and rethink what you are doing.

Inevitably we all do things that stray from God's perfect will, including outright sin. We do things and get into thinking patterns that are not supported by the foundation of our relationship with Him and his Holy Word, the Bible. We sense we are off course, yet sometimes we press on.

Our wise friend (i.e., the Holy Spirit) is warning us, pointing to the building codes and standards (i.e., the Bible). If we don't heed the warnings, our "building" will crumble and we incur damage upon our lives. However if we listen and repent, we will save ourselves from a lot of hurt and ruin.

God does more than just help us to change course, though. We actually incorporates our mistakes into our lives for good (see scripture above)*.

Imagine God dropping a plumb line straight down from your furthest progress on the attempted building "experiment". First there is more foundation built to accommodate the new structure. Then God proceeds to build and incorporate the mistake into the building so that not only is it stronger than before, but the new design is more beautiful than the old.

Thanks be to God who can even turn our failures into something good.

*Incidentally, the Greek word for "together" is where we get the word "synergy"

No Condemnation

"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard" Daniel 10:12

The above verse is precious for those of us who sometimes are overzealous to please God in our own strength, and then fall under condemnation when we fail. It reminds us that God was "for" us way before we were ever "for" Him (cf Romans 5:8). Why do we so often fall under the condemnation of Paul's "wretched man" of Romans 7:24?

The chapter of Romans 7 confuses some, who think that it was either about Paul before becoming a Christian, or that he was overcome by sin on a daily basis. In reality it is a continuation of Romans chapter 6, which deals with freedom from sin, but it is freedom from the law. Paul is relating his post-conversion experience of abject failure at trying to keep God's holy law in his own strength. 

This may seem foolish or counter-intuitive to some, but sometimes when we get the urge to do something for God, we may be in danger of falling from our heavenly "position" in Christ (Ephesians 2:6).  This is where Satan loves to trap those who have consecrated their lives to the Lord and are picking up His cross daily and following Him (Luke 9:23).  If Satan cannot cause a victorious Christian to outright sin, he will try to convince that person that they are not doing enough for God and need to do something immediately!* The person, laden by guilt, carries out the task, it fails, and falls under greater condemnation. If he or she does not discern their error, they may wonder "what's the use?", fall into despair, and engage in sins previously conquered. If the cycle continues they may even doubt their own salvation. Thus Satan's plan of reversing the progress of God's plan of salvation shown in Romans 5 through 8 is complete. 

So how do we get victory over condemnation? Paul gives the answer after his "bottoming out"experience: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?**  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24-25).  The answer is simply Jesus our Deliverer. 

Romans 8:1 goes on to declare "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (my emphasis). Period. End of story. If you are in Christ, and Christ is in you, then there is no ground for condemnation. The blood of Jesus has cleansed you from past sins, and the cross has forever crucified your sinful nature (Romans 6:6). You do not need to follow the law in your own strength (the body of death), but you are set free by a new law, the Law of the Spirit of Life (Romans 8:2). You can now perform good works Christ has prepared for you (Ephesians 2:10), because you are attached to the Vine , and He produces fruit through you (John 15:4), and no longer demands it of you.

Let us praise God for the precious gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

* This incidentally is an easy test to distinguish the Holy Spirit from an evil spirit: the Holy Spirit is gentle and neither drives nor pushes
** It is called "the body of death" because death is weakness to the most extreme

A Firm Foundation Pt. 2

"God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places." 2 Samuel 22:33-34

I just came back from my lunch break run, which is when I get a lot of my ideas for devotions. It's a steep incline straight out of my office of about a half mile, to a loop around a scenic pond. The climb up is not so fun (especially in the winter), but the more level run around the beautiful pond makes it worthwhile. 

As I was making my way around the loop today, in the "zone" and feeling pretty good about myself, I prayed that God would increase my "territory", or my influence for His kingdom. It was then the verse from 2 Samuel above came to me, but maybe not in the way you think.

As I shared in "A Firm Foundation Pt. 1", I've been sort of "rebuilding" myself as a barefoot runner (let's face it, there wasn't much to tear down). It's a slow process of rebuilding yourself from the ground up. What I felt God was saying to me was that I still had more foundational work to do until I had the spiritual "hinds feet" to reach more people for God. (An attempt down a gravel trail also told me my natural feet had more work to do too!) It also occurred to me that building our spiritual foundation is not a one-time deal: we are to constantly make it bigger and wider so it can support a bigger "building" (i.e., God's kingdom around us). 

Lord, may we always be humble enough to recognize we always need a bigger foundation based on Your Word to impact others for Your Kingdom. Amen

Is the Gospel Enough? (Video)

Is the Gospel Enough?