The Wrong Direction

A few years ago I remember I was in the yard with the lawn mower on its side.  I was trying to get the blade off so I could replace it.

I had a wrench attached to the nut but couldn’t budge it.  I got a length of pipe and slipped it over the wrench handle to give me leverage and was leaning on it – still unsuccessful.

Next I took a large hammer and was banging on the pipe.  By this time I was beginning to get emotionally involved with our lawn mower.

Then I remembered that the threads on this type of bolt go in the opposite direction of a conventional bolt.  I reversed my exertion and sure enough, the nut turned easily.

I was glad I remembered this simple fact.  I was saved from frustration and failure.  I would never have gotten the job done; no matter how hard I tried, doing it my way.

To realize that we are wrong is sometimes an embarrassment, especially if someone else points it out to us.  We want to run and hide our heads in shame.  But there are times when finding out we are wrong is sudden and immediate relief.  No longer do we have to keep doggedly trying to do something that isn’t working.

When God inspired David to write Psalm 121, He was gently and kindly telling us that we are, perhaps, wrong in the way we are going about life, and then, very simply, showing us the right way.  For many, the first great surprise after baptism is in the form of problems.

Somehow it is not what we had supposed.  We had our minds set on “peaches and cream,” smooth sailing right into the Kingdom of God.  We are rudely awakened to something different and we look around for help, scanning the horizon for something or someone who will give us aid: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from where comes my help?” (Psalm 121:1).

Psalm 121 is like a friend coming over and telling us that we are doing it the wrong way, looking in the wrong place for help.  Psalm 121 is addressed to those of us who, disregarding God, His word, His ministry, gaze all around, making long and devious circuits in search of remedies to our troubles.

As members of God’s church we encounter a trail or tribulation and cry out, “Help!”  We lift our eyes to the hills?  No, “My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”

A look to the hills (physical solutions) for help ends in disappointment.  For all their majesty, for their quiet strength and firmness, they are, finally, just hills.

Note how Jeremiah put it, read Jeremiah 3:23.

Psalm 121 rejects a worship of nature, a religion of stars (astrology), a religion that uses the hills as high places of worship; instead it looks to God who made those hills.

Help comes from the Creator, not from creation.  The Creator is always awake.  He will not slumber or sleep.  The Creator is lord over time.  “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in,” your beginnings and endings.  He is with you when you set out on your way; he is still with you when you arrive.  “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil.”

No written matter is more realistic and honest in facing the harsh facts of life than the word of God.  At no time is there the faintest suggestion that the way of life we have been called to exempts us from all difficulties.

What God’s word does promise is help and deliverance from them.  Throughout the Bible we find that faith encounters troubles.  The sixth request in the sample prayer Christ gave is “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).

That prayer is answered every day, sometimes many times a day, in the lives of those who are obeying God’s way.

All the water in all the oceans cannot sink a ship unless the water leaks into it.  That is the promise of his psalm.  None of the things, which happen to you or me, none of the troubles we encounter, have any power to get between us and God (see Roman 8: 28, 31-32).

When anxieties threaten, when illnesses come, when conflicts disturb our relationships with others, do we conclude that God has gotten bored in looking after us?  Do we take our eyes off of God and His plan of salvation?

Do we use the everyday religion of the world, advice from a self help book, astrology readings from the newspaper, the hustler of wisdom of a talk-show celebrity to solve our problems?

We know that God created the universe and has a master plan.  But sometimes we find it difficult to believe that He is willing to watch and be concerned about the daily soap opera of our personal trials and tribulations; so we try to find our own remedies.

But Psalm 121 says that the same faith that works in the big things works in the little things as well.  The God of Genesis 1 who brought light out of darkness is also the God of this day and age who delivers us from all evil.

God is merciful in giving us help along the way.  Our daily prayer should be “Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O may God, do not delay” (Psalm 40:17).

Words

When we speak or write, do we mean what we say?

Let’s consider the position of a federal judge in our country’s judicial system.  How many years of in-depth learning and experience did these people go through before being appointed to their post?

Usually the minimum training required to even enter the legal profession is four years of undergraduate study and then at least three of intensive training in a law school.  After that comes years of experience in the legal trenches.  But to reach the position of federal judge, a certain amount of character, including discretion, must be a way of life.

How easy would it be to waste precious years of training and experience with a careless word or phrase.

These judges didn’t rise to their offices by being careless with their speech and writing.  Being precise with words is paramount in the legal profession.

Christ requires this same carefulness of us.  Consider his word in Matthew 12:36-37.

One of my favorite saying is “There’s no such thing as a meaningless word.”  Every word has meaning although it may not have the same meaning as intended.

But, there is another side to this that few fully consider.

While we are held responsible for what we say or write, many unfortunately take it upon themselves to not only judge what was said but why something was said.  They divert their attention from what was meant and perhaps unknowingly falsely impute motives.

Further misunderstanding results when people discuss these faulty thoughts with others.  “This is why so and so said that,” or “He’s doing this because there’s something in it for him, you can be sure,” are common phrases.

Too many casually damage reputations and cause disruption with such words.  Remember who is the accuser, who is behind false rumors, Satan the devil (Revelation 12:10).  He is vicious, a liar and the father of lies.  Let’s not allow ourselves to be used as his tools.

All too often we forget what God inspired Paul to write in Romans 2:1.

This is not a phenomenon exclusive to our time.  Consider the misunderstanding about Paul’s writings in II Peter 3:16.  Many people assume that Peter comments here that Paul is a bad writer.  They see the section about “things hard to be understood” and conclude that Paul confused certain doctrines through his writing.  Some then say that if Peter couldn’t understand Paul’s writings then I can’t either.

What Peter meant is that some of the topics Paul wrote about are difficult to understand, not his writings.  Paul was a learned Hebrew scholar (Philippians 3:4-6).  God used Paul to authoritatively declare and explain complex theology, particularly how God’s law works within God’s Church.

Yet, even then, Paul’s writings were twisted by others.  People attached wrong meanings to his epistles (II Peter 3:16).

But that was not the only distortion Paul had to deal with.  Paul had to correct the Corinthian church for imputing motives and judging his behavior.  Note what he said of certain member in that congregation (II Corinthians 10:10).  Paul answered in verse 11 that they would find out what he was like when he arrived to visit them.

Paul was besieged on both sides.  Even though he was personally commissioned by Christ to deliver the Gospel (Acts 9:15), people wasted time and energy finding fault with both his writing and his speaking.

If U.S. federal judges must be careful in what they say and write, surely we as God’s begotten children must exercise even more care not only with our spoken and written words and additionally imputing motives to others words and actions.

Slavery

Back when the earth had been renewed by God and Adam an Eve were just created, all mankind was free.  But as the families of man began to forge themselves into civilizations they formed social, economic and legal institutions to maintain order and to insure the productive growth of their society.  One such institution was the institution of slavery.  In every civilization that has existed, whether small or great, that civilization has either enslaved another group of people or has been enslaved.

The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, has a great deal to say about slavery, you might be surprised to find.  Certainly the great civilization of Egypt, and what it left behind, relied heavily upon slave labor.  It used millions of people to build its cities and monuments to eternal life, what we know today as the pyramids. 

 Read Exodus 1:8-14:

vs 13  Some Jewish commentaries interpret this verse to mean because of Israel’s wiliness to serve the Egyptian, the Egyptian were encouraged to enslave them more until the conditions we read of in verse 14 was a fact of life.  Israel was oppressed with severe bondage.  And all because they were willing to do so.

When God freed Israel and brought them into the land of Cannon and established them as a nation, God gave to them an institution of slavery.  This institution of slavery was to serve a different purpose than what it served in Egypt, or other civilizations, it was primarily designed to make lazy people to not be lazy.  It was designed for people who were foolish with their money to not be foolish with how they spent their money.  The institution of slavery was as much a part of Israel’s culture as it was of the nations that surrounded Israel, again for different purposes.

In the first century AD when the Church was established and the New Testament (NT) that we have today was written, virtually the entire known world was under the dominion of the Roman Empire.  Slavery was wide spread.  In fact, the social structure and the Roman Empire were dependent upon both skilled and unskilled labor.

To put it crudely, but correctly, slaves were the machines of their day.  They were responsible for the empires rise and expansion to greatness.  As well, it was a element in the empires demise.

Slavery was a fact of life in the Roman Empire; it was something the people took for granted.  So much so that the most basis distinction in the Roman law of persons, was whether a person was free or not.

Unless you have lived in a time and place where slavery, or involuntary servitude, has touched your life in some way, it will be difficult for you to understand Israel’s experience in Egypt.  And it will be difficult for you to understand the numerous references to slavery in the NT.  Speaking for myself, living in this society and enjoying the many opportunities and privileges that I have been given, to do the many things that I have the ability to do, I have a hard time really understanding slavery.  Unless we have personally been effected, or come in to contact with slavery we will have a difficult time understanding slavery.

Yet the use of slavery as an instructional metaphor, and analogy in some cases, is a prominent part of scripture.  So prominent in fact, one name that God has chosen to call Himself, and has inspired for the reference of Christ, is the name Lord.  That term Lord has taken many different forms but one such form is Adoni and the relationship it implies is one of a bond slave to his master, one who has bought and paid for him.  So much so is slavery a part of scripture, especially the NT, many of the NT writers speak of themselves as slaves of Jesus Christ or slaves of God.

Paul speaking to the Church in Corinth, in I Cor 7: 22,  note “freed” man, not a free man.

In John 8: 34  Christ tells us that anyone that commits sin is a slave to sin.

The concept of slavery holds an important role in scripture; from Genesis to Revelation, but more importantly in the NT.  At this time as we prepare for the Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread  we need to seriously look at the subject of slavery and our personal relationship with Christ and God.  We need to ask ourselves some important questions:

What does it mean to be a slave?  As I stated earlier most of us will have a difficult time understanding it.

Why does the Bible use slavery as a metaphor to describe both a life of sin and a life of righteousness?   Seems odd doesn’t it?  But it does.

What did it means to those who were alive during the first century that heard and read the epistles from their authors?

What is it that we are missing when we go through and read the direct references to the institution of slavery?

I will not discuss all of these points (I give them as ideas for your own personal Bible study) at this time but for the purposes of this Note I would like for us go through a few scriptures and I would like for us to notice and come to grips with the stark and very realistic language used by Paul to describe this institution of slavery and how it relates to each of us personally.

For example, the book of Philemon was written about a slave and his master and the relationship; about diplomacy, tack and a whole host of other things.

Read Romans 7:14.

I Tim 2:14  Adam sold himself out willingly to sin.  Recall Israel’s willingness to serve the Egyptian, and the Egyptian afflicted them the more.  Adams sold us out and Paul confirms that fact he is “sold under sin”; Satan bought and paid for him; Satan owned him; Satan controlled him.  Just as he has controlled each and every one of us.

I Cor 5:1-5   This is a section often read during the Passover and feast of Unleavened Bread.

vs  4 to 5  Give him over to his master, Satan, and when this person is full of the control and dominion of Satan he may repent and save his soul.

This would be a very sad story if it ended there but it doesn’t.

I Cor 7:23  We have been bought back from the slavery that Adam sold us into.

I Cor 6:12   Paul going on an discussing the various problems of immorality and the selfishness of unrepentant sin were characterize the Corinthian people at this time.

vs 20  The point is, we were sold under sin, bought by Satan; we have been repurchased and bought again.  There is a different controlling element there and that’s good news.

Romans 6:16- 22  In the same way that Adam voluntarily sold himself into sin, Christ voluntarily gave Himself to buy us back.  It is very important that we understand that with the paying of this price we were released from the bondage of Satan and we have a responsibility to serve as slaves of God.  Slaves of righteousness.

These passages draw a very clear line, and that line is the most basic distinction in the law of our spiritual lives and our spiritual development.  And that basic distinction is that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.  There is no middle ground.  There is no other reality.

We also should note the voluntary nature of this servitude.  You will recall the example of Israel in Exodus 1, Israel was willing to yield itself to Egypt and Egypt oppressed them more.  We should compare that to the language Romans 6:19.  When we serve sin it oppresses us more.  Notice the word “present”, the voluntary nature it implies.  As well, the words “obey” in verses 16 and 17.

Who owns you?

Who do you serve?  Are we a slave of sin or a slave or righteousness?

Who bought you?  Who paid for you?

Who controls you?

Who owns you?

It is important that we each ask ourselves these questions as we approach the Passover.

Women and Children First

Have you heard of the British ship Birkenhead?  Or where the expression “women and children first” originated?  This month I would like to tell you how these two are related and what we can learn from them.

In times of terrible danger at sea, Englishmen abroad ships are likely to say:  “Remember the Birkenhead.”  They know the story of what happened when that famous ship met disaster in 1852.  Sometimes it has helped them die calmly and bravely, or steeled them to self-control that saved many lives.

The Birkenhead was a troopship carrying soldiers and their families.  En route to South Africa it struck an uncharted rock.  In ten minutes, while passengers were stumbling and crawling through smashed timber to reach the deck, the ship struck again and split in two.  The forepart sank, but everyone managed to reach the stern, where there were three lifeboats that could carry 60 persons each.

Of the 630people aboard, 170 were women and children. The broken ship had only minutes to live.  Anyone who didn’t get a boat faced almost sure death because the waters swarmed with sharks.  The stage seemed set for mass panic.

But, there was no panic.  The commander of the troops,Col. Sidney Seton, ordered the men to form ranks on deck.  The ranks stood firm while children and wives were placed in the three boats.  As the last boat pulled away, its passengers saw the line of red-coated soldiers and drummer boys standing proudly at attention. The crewmen stood with them as the water rose around them and the Birkenhead went down.

A few men stayed afloat by hanging onto flotsam. But 436 men died before help came. One was Col. Seton, who hung onto a plank until he saw two cabin boys drowning nearby.  He pushed his plank to them, and when he found that it would not support all three he let go and sank.

The Birkenheadstory stirred England.  Monuments were erected to its merit.  Before the disaster, when a ship was stricken the usual cry was “Every man for himself!” In the stampede the strongest got the lifeboats and women and children were left to die. 

But the heroes of the Birkenhead made “women and children first” a sea tradition. 

That tradition has saved countless lives at sea during the last century by averting panic.

This is an incredibly moving story.  Individuals who willingly laid down their lives for others. After hearing such a story I find my self asking myself if I would do the same thing.  In a life-or-death crisis,most of us would rather die bravely than try to save ourselves by getting ahead of others.  But do we all bring this same spirit to everyday life?

This inspiring example calls to mind the type of love that the New Testament Greek world agape ascribes to God Himself (I Cor. 13:13).  Agape,God’s own love is characterized by unconditional, unselfish giving.  It is a conscious commitment to give without trying to get anything back.

It is this type of godly love that true Christians are to radiate.

The people who tend to inspire us most in our everyday lives are those whose actions are motivated by this type of outgoing concern. When we think about people we have considered our true friends, we usually think of people who have served us in times when we have had no means to repay them.

When people are truly motivated by a spirit of give rather than a spirit of get, they serve others regardless of whether they will be repaid.

From a physical point of view, it is easy to give to those who give to us.  The real test of our Christianity is whether we can give to our enemies.  Serving our enemies is the pinnacle of Christian love, as it involves total unselfishness.

Of course,godly love is not something we are born with or have by nature.  We therefore have to continually ask God for His Spirit of love – we have to ask Him to replace our human nature with His nature (II Cor. 10:5).

And think:  When we resolve, with the help of God’s Spirit, to love our enemies, it becomes much easier to love everyone else.  By making a specific commitment to indiscriminately love others without expecting anything in return, we are building the very character and nature of God Himself (Romans 12:9-13).

Love, after all, is a quality that lasts – forever. Our physical lives don’t (James 4:14). When this life is over, we will be left only with the spiritual character we have developed by serving others, rather than with any physical possessions we may seek to get in this life (I Tim. 6:17-19).  That godly attitude and nature ingrained into us is what will fit us for eternal life in God’s Kingdom.

God never gets tired of loving, and neither should we. When we lock ourselves into God’s way of give, we can feel real stability in this changing world, because God’s way of giving is the only thing that is permanent (I John 2:17).

When we unselfishly give to others, we are happy; because we are living the way that God lives (Acts 20:35).  Therefore we are sharing the spiritual fruits of God’s nature (Gal. 5:22-23), and we experience the deep-down joy of unselfishly loving and being loved.

At the resurrection, we will be born as literal children of God (I Cor. 15:52).  We will then be graduates in the way of give,and we will have qualified to live forever on the same plane as God – we will live exciting, new lives in the very Family of God, serving on an even grander scale (Rev. 3:21, 5:10; Matthew 25:21). We will then be love, just as God is love (I John 4:16).

When we unconditionally give to others, we are acting out our destiny (I Thes.3:12-13).

This is why God says that “pure religion” is “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble”(James 1:27), as they cannot repay us. God also says that when we “give a feast,” we should invite people less fortunate than us, and not just those who are able to invite us back (Luke14:13-14).

We become like God when we see the needs of others and supply them (I John 3:17).  We grow the most spiritually when our hearts are dedicated to fulfilling God’s great commission of giving a warning and also a message of hope to this dying world (Ez. 33:6, Matthew 24:14).

Our relationship with the world is one of true friendship when we totally devote our lives to giving to others.  It is not the type of “friendship” that accepts and follows this world’s evil ways, to be sure.  It is the type of true friendship and love that God displayed when He gave His only begotten Son, so that the world might be saved (John 3:16).

When we seek only to give to others, then we don’t worry about others not giving to us, and we don’t fear losing anything (Mark 8:35-36).  “Perfect love casts out fear,” says I John 4:18.  When we are motivated by godly love, there is no fear even in laying down our lives, symbolically or literally, even for our enemies.

The crew of the Birkenhead gave of themselves without expecting anything in return.  They were true friends.  We can also look forward even more to the resurrection when we will meet Jesus, our elder brother, who laid down His life on the cross and did it totally out of godly love, expecting nothing in return.  He is our truest and most loyal friend. 

Let us each strive for what Jesus Himself said in John 15:13 to be our daily motto.

You're Being Watched

Recently I saw a program about a young violinist that was fascinating and would like to relate an item I gleaned from it.  The violinist had been studying a piece of music for several months and was eagerly anticipating what he was about to see and hear.  He was about to see it performed by one of the foremost masters of the violin.  The young man had listened to recordings and read all that he could about technique, the piece and it’s composer and, of course, practiced, practiced and practiced some more.

But now, watching the virtuoso’s bow coax emotion out of the instrument, he understood how the piece should be performed.  He knew now how the piece should be performed.  He knew now what the composer intended when he penned the lines.  He watched the performer move his fingers, and his whole body, to extract real depth of feeling out of what had been only ink on pieces of paper.

The young man learned more from that one performance than he had learned on his own and from books.

We learn by seeing.  Researchers estimate we learn 83% of what we know by watching and observing.  How many skills have each of us learned from watching alone?  Visual aids help us retain what we’ve learned and teach us the fine nuances of a skill. They inspire us to accomplish what we may not have thought possible.

God illuminates His law for us with personal examples in the Bible, examples of His commandments in action and His commandments being broken.  He clearly spells out the consequences in each case.  God knows that examples are clearer and more powerful than words alone.  The life of Jesus shows us the intent of God’s law we did not see in the written code.

A righteous example adds credence and force to the way of life we teach.  We are representatives, ambassadors, of God’s government.  Think of all the people outside of God’s Church we come into contact with during each day.  How well does our personal example represent God’s way to them?

Our examples can add to what the Church proclaims through its various means.  Just as the prophets some times acted out the prophecies they proclaimed, we should act out the establishment of God’s government and values on this earth.

The examples of a person who can remain faithfully confident, even joyful, under stress and in spite of personal trails can convince us of godly faith and joy more than if we would search a concordance for every biblical mention of those words. That’s the way God made us.

Peter said we should act so that people are forced to respect our way of life (I Peter 2:12). This glorifies God.  People will eventually come to see that only Christ living in us enabled us to be honest citizens, profitable employees and good neighbors.  They will see that our life style required the love and help of God.  Our examples should point to a better way of doing things and revel Satan’s world as a counterfeit (Ephesians 5:8, 11).

We must be positive examples.  Treat your neighbors with God’s love and treat them with joy.  There are enough pessimists today.  A positive person stands out.  We need to smile when we are out in the public.  God’s law of love isn't a nicey-nice Protestant sentiment. But God’s law living in our life should produce a joyful, positive outlook or our Christianity isn’t working.

An example needs to be noticed.  Christ said that we are the light of the world.  Don’t go out of your way to hide you belief and faith in God.  Don’t be afraid to be different from the world. Use the talents God has given you to show His virtue.  You don’t know when someone will notice your example and benefit from it.

We need to become comfortable with being seen.  If we are to become leaders in His kingdom,we need to practice now.  People should see the evidence of the Holy Spirit within us: power, love and a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7).

Christ is our chief example. Read the gospel accounts, noting Christ’s actions.  Read about the lives of our forefathers.  What does God commend in their lives?  What does He condemn?

Do our works, in every small aspect, show people the benefits of living God’s way of life? Can our neighbors, looking at our example, more easily understand God’s law?  Are we an encouragement to the new converts and long time servants that God has called?   This is a big part of our calling to be true followers of His way. 

Too Close To the Edge

Some years ago an army general needed to replace his staff driver who was being discharged from the service.  The general asked his driver to test the driving abilities of several applicants and then recommend three who could replace him.

So the driver tested several people and recommended three men.  And the general asked each of the men an important question:

“Suppose we were going to the front of a battle zone,” the general said, “and as we went up a mountain road, part of the road was bombed out.  On the right side is a sheer cliff, on the left is the mountain and there is just enough room for the car to get through.  How close do you think you could come to the edge of the cliff as you drove along the road?”

The first man answered confidently: “I’m a good driver.  I could put my right wheel right against the edge and take you on through without any problem.”

The second man said, “Well, I know I’m a good driver but I would give myself a foot or so and then go through.”

The last man said, “I don’t know how close I could come to the edge but I’d stay as close to the mountain as I could – as far from the cliff as possible.”

The general selected the third man as his new driver.  It was his life that was at stake.  He was interested in someone who would get him there safely, not someone who was only interested in demonstrating his driving skill every chance he got.

In our lives we have to have that same attitude.  The safe side of the road is keeping God’s law.  The other side of the road – the cliff – is where the danger lies.  That’s the world’s way.  We have to avoid seeing how close we can get to the world’s way and still make it into God’s family.

We can’t compromise.  God says to do to do it His way.  We can’t say to ourselves, “I know what God says but I think I can work just a bit on the Sabbath” or “It’s OK to repeat the gossip that I heard – God will understand.”  God may understand what you did but He will not approve your breaking of His law.

Remember Jesus’ parable of the sower (Mark 4:2-9, 13-20)?  Some of the seed fell among thorns and the thorns choked the seed (verse 7).  These seeds, verse 18 says, are “the ones who hear the word.”

Yes, they hear the Word of God – the warning – the truth about God’s way and it takes root.  But “the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful” (verse 19).

Notice, they get their eyes off the goal, God’s family.  They don’t concentrate foremost on building holy, righteous character and making it into God’s family.  They stray from the way god lays out before them.

Some respond to God’s calling, are visited by the ministry, start attending service, maybe even are baptized.  But then something comes up and snares them.  They say, “Well, I know God says to do this but I want to do that.”  They begin rationalizing and convince themselves that what they want to do is all right.  Well, it won’t work.  We can’t compromise God’s way with the way of the world.

Why do some leave the Church after many years of faithful service and overcoming?  Many times, they first think: This is a small matter.  I know I shouldn’t work on the Sabbath but this time I’ll just go in for an hour or two and then I’ll go to Sabbath services.

Without realizing it, they begin chipping away, weakening and eventually destroying that character they have built, with the help of God’s Spirit, over so many years.

Notice II Corinthians 6:14-15, 17.  There is no middle ground.

We must not be longing to be like the world and adopt its standards.  We must be like the general’s driver.  We must seek the safety and protection of God’s law instead of seeing how close we can get to the cliff and the disaster that will follow if we get too close.  This unfortunately is something I know all to well.

Read what Paul said in Ephesians 4:13.  That’s our objective.  Don’t compromise with it.

Everybody's Human

As my friends know, I am far from perfect.  I stumble.  I fall.  And I disappoint God.  And when I do, I ‘m reminded of the consequences, because God’s Spirit reminds me: “Ritchie, you’re doing it again.  Stop!  Stop before you really do damage to your relationship with God.”

Everyone – no matter how spiritually mature he or she is, no matter how firm his or her commitment to God’s ways – stumbles and makes mistakes and disappoint God.

The greatest men in the Bible were human – they made mistakes like we do.  My favorite example is David.  He was so close to God that God said; “I have found David … a man after my own heart, who will do all My will” (Acts 13:22).

David was special in God’s eyes, so you might get the idea that that he was perfect.  But he wasn’t.  You know the story.  David committed murder to cover up the sin.  He wasn’t perfect.  He was human like the rest of us.

Peter was one of the disciples who was close to Jesus.  But he denied Christ three times.

Thomas the disciple was so dedicated to Christ that one time when Jesus said, “I’m going to Jerusalem to die,” Thomas said, “I’ll go with you, Lord” (John 11:11-16).

But, after Christ’s resurrection, Thomas said, “I’m not going to believe Jesus came back from the dead till I can put my fingers into the nail holes” (John 20:25).

These are prime examples to think about.

All of us, regardless of the face we wear to services, regardless of how we stick our chest out and say: “I’m a pretty good Christian” – we all stumble at times.  We all disappoint God.

What are the results of stumbling and falling out of line with God?  Read for yourself how David, Peter and Thomas reacted in II Samuel 12:13-16, Luke 22:61-62 and John 20:24-28.  Think how they must have felt.

Remorse, regret, guilt and alienation – that’s happens in your life when you turn your back on God.  I guarantee that if you knowingly reject God’s way and go your own way, immediately He’ll seem a million miles away.

I’d venture to say you’ll have a hard time praying.  You might even feel that you can’t pray.  I know I can’t pretend that everything is fine when I know I’ve let God down.

And then there’s guilt.  Some people live a lifetime crippled by the weight of guilt.  I know from personal experience that you can reach a stage in your life that you think so little of yourself that you don’t care what happens.

What a difference between that attitude and the excitement God puts in your life when you follow and obey Him.  You know He’s got great things in store for you in His family.

How can we regain that close relationship with God?

It is fortunate that God’s word tells us how.  God know our weaknesses, so He has a perfect plan for helping us deal with mistake and restore our relationship with Him.

Though we hate to admit it, we all play destructive games – even with our Creator. These are sad, desperate attempts to cover up mistakes and sins in our lives.

One “game” is rationalization.  One way people rationalize is to say “Well, God, the reason I did that is because everybody’s doing it.  And since that’s the case, I’m sure you don’t mind too much.”

Sound familiar?  Don’t play that game with God.  When you commit a sin, be man enough or woman enough to say; “Alright, I admit it.  That was a big mistake.  It’s black and white.”  That’s the beginning of the real way out.

Another game people play involves a flippant attitude about God’s laws and love.  People say, “Oops!  I blew it but God understands.  He will let it go by.  He’s an all loving god, isn’t He?”

Oh yes, God is loving.  And God understands.  But God wants us to learn repentance and overcome our mistakes.

The Bible says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (I Peter 1:16).  Remember Revelation 2:26, “And he that overcomes and keeps my word until the end, to him will I give power over the nations.”

So, don’t rationalize.  Don’t be flippant with God’s mercy and love.  And, don’t crucify yourself with guilt.  Christ died for us our sins and we can’t add anything to His perfect sacrifice.

Here’s what to do instead:

Confess our sins to God in prayer.  There’s a great promise in God’s word, read I John 1:9.

Admit that we are wrong.  We chose that course of action.  No one forced us to sin.  We’re not victims of circumstance.  So admit that we chose the mistake or sin we’re confessing.

Sometimes, it’s hard to do.  I say; “Yes, God, I agree that it was sin but it sneaked up on me.  I never really chose that.”  Then I have to stop myself and say, “Admit it, Ritchie, you chose that path.”

That kind of admission exposes the darkness to light.  God’s word says we should walk in light (I John 1:5-7).  This means being honest with God.

Apologize.  Be willing to say, “I’m sorry, please forgive me.”  That’s easy enough, isn’t it?  We don’t have to do penance.  We don’t have to pay money.  We don’t have to hit our head against the wall to prove how sorry we are.  God will forgive us if we ask Him.

Finally, plan to forsake that particular sin forever.  Get rid of it.  Plan not to be a part of that sin again.

What are the results of dealing with sin this way?  Beautiful peace of mind, relief, a clean feeling that can’t be duplicated or matched.

God forgives and forgets, read Psalm 103:12.

Paul says that after we confessed our sins and God has forgiven us, we should put the past behind us and run full speed toward what God has for us in the future, read Philippians 3:13-14.

My prayer is that we all will press on toward our final goal.  Leave your mistakes behind and press on.