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Seeking Perfection In A World Full of Sin

I spent many formative years in a “holiness church”, with a strong emphasis on perfection and outward conformity to a prescribed pattern of holiness. Modest clothing, no alcohol, no makeup, no TV, no ‘disco dancing’, no secular music, etc. I remember a dedicated Sunday school teacher, emphatically beating his arm, boasting of how he was Sanctified such that his flesh – all worldly desire – was dead. By inference, he had overcome sin.  Of course I had no real knowledge of his personal life and so could never test the veracity of his claims.

What I do know is that those teachings placed a bigger burden on my psyche than I could bear, and I found myself ultimately slipping into a mild depression – wanting to be perfect but never attaining it. I thank God for eventually helping me to understand the message of Grace.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:8-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I know that many use the doctrine of grace as an excuse to sin, but Paul clearly addresses this in his letter to the Romans.

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Romans‬ ‭6:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I truly believe that if a person has genuinely believed in Christ and thus received the Holy Spirit as a seal of salvation, that person can never be comfortable in sin again. I didn’t say they will never sin; I said they will never be comfortable in sin.

“We know [with confidence] that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (Jesus) who was born of God [carefully] keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” ‭‭1 JOHN‬ ‭5:18‬ ‭AMP‬‬

The Holy Spirit who Jesus sent as our companion makes sure of that. He teaches, convicts and guides such that a true believer has no choice but to obey or be utterly miserable in disobedience until the point of confession and repentance. And of course, obedience brings with it the fruit of the Spirit, which include joy and peace.  See Gal 5:13-26.  The good news?

“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].” ‭‭1 JOHN‬ ‭1:9‬ ‭AMP‬‬

I believe that if a person is comfortable in sin, it’s a likely indicator that they have not genuinely believed in Christ.

“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” James‬ ‭2:18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I have still not attained perfection. However, God by His grace gives more revelation and wisdom as the years go by, such that I hope I am closer now than I used to be. I now believe that the journey towards perfection will continue until we see God face to face. This should never mean that we give up on the goal… to do so would probably betray the fact that our hearts never truly believed. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to obey Him.

I have nothing to boast about in myself. Jesus died to save me. By believing in his death and resurrection, I identify with what he’s done and I am dead to this world, but alive to God’s kingdom. My life should now be centered around God, his word, his plan and the life to come. I still live in this world, but as a traveler, a citizen of the world to come. However, because I am still in my imperfect body sometimes I find that I do things I don’t want to do.

I look to the following verses – among others – for encouragement, and would invite you to do the same:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians‬ ‭6:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word–He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].” ‭‭1 CORINTHIANS‬ ‭10:13‬ ‭AMP‬

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ’” Matthew‬ ‭6:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

May God keep us hungry for holiness and make us more like Himself every day.

 

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Sabbath Rest – Is This Still Relevant Today?

It’s so hard to find rest in the midst of a world which never sleeps.  In the context of our modern lives is a Sabbath rest still relevant or possible?

I work in a global organization and so live out the fact there is always someone up somewhere in the world, working. If you were so inclined, you could keep working all the time and never ever get rest. Would you be a super productive person that way? Probably not – I believe that your efficiency would reduce over time as your body and mind succumb to fatigue. You’d eventually burn out and not be able to do any work at all for a period of time… perhaps even indefinitely. I’ve seen this happen to others, and it’s not pretty.

God knows we need rest and designed our bodies that way. They signal to us when we are overdoing it, using tools like tiredness, sleepiness and physical pain. If we don’t listen, then we fail to operate in the way that we are designed and must brace ourselves for a malfunction.  It might be physical – resulting in physical illness – or mental, resulting in burnout, depression, or even a nervous breakdown.

God modeled the pattern of rest for us in Genesis 2, where he rested on the 7th day.  He also enshrined rest in the 10 commandments, directing his people to work  for 6 days, but rest on the 7th.  Now, I believe that we who follow Christ are no longer under the law, but under grace.  I do not believe in the statutory observance of a Sabbath day, but I do believe that God knows we need rest, showed us a pattern for rest and expects us to take rest on a regularly scheduled basis.  As Jesus famously said, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  It’s for our own good that we get at least one day of rest a week.

To my brothers and sisters who think that day of rest is on Sunday and yet you fill it up with lots of church work, I respectfully submit that  you’re missing the point.  You need rest, at least one day a week!  You’re designed that way! If you work 6 days a week in a secular industry and then spend most of your Sunday working as well, then when are you going to get the rest?  If you are committed to doing church work on Sunday (and this is in itself a noble and desirable thing), then should you not ensure that you get rest on Saturday or another day, if your work is flexible enough to accommodate this?  If you’re actually a full time minister of the Gospel in such a way that Sunday is one of your main work days, then should you not also ensure that you are getting a day of rest on another day?  To do otherwise is to rob yourself of long term health and effectiveness.

In my industry and in my personal experience, I’ve found Saturday to be the most likely day of rest and am increasingly making efforts to treat it as such – to labor the other 6 days, but not on the 7th.  I’m not there yet, but I’m better than I used to be.

I encourage you to join me in this quest.  Reclaim a day of rest, and allow your body to recharge itself in the way God designed.

Of course there is a deeper rest into which we enter by virtue of believing in Christ, his death and his resurrection for our salvation.  There is also a final rest into which we aspire to enter, in eternity.  If you’re reading these words but have not yet taken those first steps, then consider this:  the one day of rest will help your body, for the years allotted to you on earth, but you are missing out on a deeper spiritual rest that will be relevant for all eternity. (Heb. 4:1-3).

May God give us the wisdom to rest, and the grace to enter into His rest.

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Do We Always Get What We Ask For When We Pray?

Faith is an essential component of prayer. You don’t believe? Don’t expect to receive anything when you pray. It’s as simple as that.

“Without faith, it is impossible to please God because he who comes to him must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6).
“Let him ask without doubting, for he who doubts is as a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6).
“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; he should not expect to receive anything from God.” (James 1:8).

However, faith doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get everything you ask for, if you pray outside the will of God. Yes, the Bible says “ask and you will receive…” (Matt 7:7) but it also says “you do not receive because you ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts…” (James 4:3) There is always danger in taking verses of scripture in isolation, because then you only get partial truth. Even Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane asked for the cup of his suffering to be taken away from him, if it was the Father’s will. He prayed, “not my will but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42).

We have this comforting verse in the book of Jeremiah: “I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11). God loves us, and His will for us is good. It may not be something we understand, and it may not even be something we particularly want right now, but it’s what’s good for us in the long run.

The Bible also says, you do not have because you do not ask. So it’s clearly not the answer to just keep quiet and be fatalistic about life. We do have to ask; we are encouraged, no, exhorted to ask!

I therefore end up with the following suggestions:

1. Always pray and believe that God is able to answer you, if your prayer is in His will. Realise that He is Sovereign, meaning, He makes decisions which nobody can question, but that He is good. (See Shadrach Meshach and Abednego.. “Our God is able to deliver us… but if not, we will not bow down…”). (Daniel 3: 17-18). Trust in God’s ability and in His goodness.

2. Ask God for his will to be done above yours. (See Gethsemane prayer, also The Lord’s Prayer (Luke 22:42) “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”).

3. Keep praying. Pray all the time. Keep bringing up the matter until it’s resolved (Luke 18:1-8) or until you get a clear sense that God’s will is for it to remain (II Cor 12:7-10).

May God help us, increase our faith and align our desires to His so that we increasingly pray Spirit-led prayers, asking for things within God’s perfect will for our lives.

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Expect to Succeed, But Don’t Fear Failure

I love to succeed. I mean, I REALLY love to succeed. However, life had taught me some brutal lessons – despite your best efforts, you are unlikely to do well at everything you touch. How do we reconcile this reality of life against the promises in the Bible?  How do we deal with failure?

“The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭27:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/psa.27.1.niv

“The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭28:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/deu.28.13.niv

“no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭54:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/isa.54.17.niv

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:28‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/rom.8.28.niv

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭1:1-3‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/psa.1.1-3.niv

As ever, Scriptures must be read completely and in context. You cannot pick one segment of one verse and doggedly build your life’s theology around it. That is a quick path to disappointment, heresy and even falling away. God loves for us to succeed. But even more than that, God loves US. “Success” – as we understand it – is not always the right or best outcome for us. An example would be where “success” would lead to pride, which would lead to more sin, and ultimately to a fall. Another is where success would reinforce a belief or path that would ultimatley lead us to less than the best God has for us.

We are not to chase or expect failure. However, we should not fear it. Failure has no power over the soul who sincerely trusts that God is working all things together for his or her good.

Have you ever tried to rescue an insect from your bathroom and set it free? Have you watched that insect struggle, fly or crawl away from you in an attempt … to be free? You see, that insect doesn’t know what you’re trying to do. It’s beyond its understanding. You can see the big picture and understand the consequences if it stays in your bathroom. Sooner or later, it’s going to get squished. Out of your compassion for life, you struggle to capture it, or gently lead it out of the danger it had no idea it’s in. If that insect could pray, it might ask for deliverance from you. It might ask for a successful escape from your clutches. In this circumstance, its failure to escape you would be a good thing. While the insight might bemoan its capture and temporarily mourn its fate, it would eventually be transported to greater freedom as a direct result of that apparent failed escape attempt.

We are God’s creatures, well loved and very intelligent. However, the entire scope of our understanding pales in comparison to God’s, so scripture makes very clear. Therefore, all we need to do is trust and obey Him. The results may not always be what we expect, but there’s no need to fear. The Father sees, the Father knows and the Father is in control.

Nicky Gumbel,  Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (England) and pioneer of the Alpha Course, recently said that he had never met a strong person who’d had an easy life. This is probably because strength of character and conviction are forged in the fires of adversity. The process is tough, but the fruit is beautiful.

Let us not seek failure, but let us not fear it. Our disappointments may be signposts pointing us towards a goal and destiny greater than we originally envisioned for ourselves.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:11‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/php.4.11.niv

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬
http://bible.com/116/1co.13.12.nlt

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Life More Abundantly – An Awesome Promise

“I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). What an awesome promise this is. Being a Christian does not mean being sour, sad and deprived of every good thing that life has to offer. It does not mean that we can or should no longer enjoy life. Quite the contrary; the pursuit of Jesus is supposed to bring true fulfillment, true life – life more abundant than what we had before.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Galatians 5:22). If we are lacking these them we are deficient in our journey. We are lacking the essentials of our walk. Perhaps sin has snuck in through the back – or front – door and robbed us of our joy and peace. Perhaps it’s a lack of faith that has taken our eyes off the Master and placed it on the billowing waves at our feet. It’s no wonder then, that we sink. (See Matthew 14:22-33).  If we can only learn to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, then we can learn to run this race, walk this walk, and do so with a hop, a skip and a jump.

I’m not too naive as to think that true devotion to Christ will not bring its share of suffering, because it will. Blessed are you when people persecute you and say all manner of evil against you for falsely for His sake. Rejoice because they did the same to the prophets before you! (Matthew 5:11-12)

And there you have the full truth; following after Christ does not eliminate problems from our lives, but faithfully following Him unlocks the ability to be joyful and at peace in the midst of whatever life may throw at us.

Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. Turn your worries into prayers, and then the peace of God which is greater than we can understand will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. (Philippians 4: 6-7)

Life more abundant – not based on how much is in the bank, or how well our relationships are going, or how healthy or comfortable we feel, but based on the faith that God is in control no matter what, and will work it all out for our good. The circumstances become less important, and trust in the One who holds it all together takes center stage.

Derek Tidball told the story of a young boy who trusted his father was good, despite everyone telling him his father was a Frankenstein who cut people up. He knew his father cut people open at work and but he also knew that his father was good. It was only after he grew up a bit more that he full understood that his father was a surgeon, and he cut people up to heal them.

I have always loved that story. We can’t understand everything God does or allows now, but we know that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) This is the source of our joy, our strength and our peace. Our God is good, our God is in control and He’ll make it alright in the end, on this side of eternity or the next. (I Corinthians 13:12)

Rest, trust, and begin to live life more abundantly.