Self-deception

Pride is rooted in a lack of self-knowledge or a willing self-deception. It's motivation is self-interest. Often it is hidden in the subtlety of my criticism of others, a critical spirit--perhaps, the most insidious form of pride. In any manifestation, self--pride--is incompatible with the Spirit's purpose in our lives to transform us into the image of Christ. It is the devil's sin--and his weapon against our desire to draw near to God. When I humbly submit to the need I have on a daily basis for cleansing by the Word and for the purifying of my heart of self-love by a confessing--an agreement with God--about the sin in my life, He supplies the forgiving grace that I need to walk in fellowship with Him and other believers--to spend my day walking in the light. And it is such submission, cleansing, confession that resists the devil and sends him fleeing. There is no greater battle to be fought than the one I must fight each day between pride and humility. And the only way to fight the battle is with an honest admission that I need God's forgiving grace daily and that there is more abundant grace available than all my selfish sin. "Thanks be to God who gives the victory through Christ Jesus, our Lord."

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."

Today

"Today is the day of salvation."

"Give us this day our daily bread."

"Choose you this day whom you will serve."

"Take up your cross daily and follow me."

"Each day has enough trouble of its own."
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I shall rescue you, and you will honor me."

"So teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom."

This day is your life. Not yesterday--it's gone. Don't try to live there. Not tomorrow--it is not here, nor is it even promised. No, this day is your life. How will you spend it? Trusting in Him for the provision of this day; thankful for its abundant supply? Making choices that you know will serve His purposes in the kingdom? Embracing the cross He has lovingly given you to bear so that you might know Him more deeply who willingly suffered for you? Learning that He is willing and eager to help you bear it with an infusion of His cross-bearing joyful strength? In humility calling out to Him knowing that it honors His love to do so?

To not so "number your days" is to live a fool's life--to be a practical atheist denying by your festering in yesterdays heartaches and failures and in tomorrows worries and fears that He is Lord of Lord, King of Kings. and Lord and King of love. You are not an afterthought in His plans for today. You are His beloved child--the adored child of the perfect Father.

"This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Anything else is disobedience. And disobedience is a lack of love for Him. And the idolatry of self-worship.

This day is your life. Have you dedicated it to Him, surrendered it to His wisdom and love? Do you trust Him? Do you believe He is good with all your heart? Then, live it in such a way that all will know that this is your life, a gift from Him, and committed with thanksgiving to His will.

Duty or Love

I have found that obedience to Him must come from a heart of love not a sense of duty if it is to bring me the rest necessary to continue to obey Him in all things. The obedience that comes from duty leaves me prone to search for other gods that I can love for the Christian walk is not an easy walk. And usually I don't have to look far. Just into the mirror in the morning. "Why not," duty asks, "do what's best for you not Him? Hasn't obedience too often led to sorrow and struggle?" When I look at my circumstances as proof of His love, I doubt His character and promises. I draw away from Him. He never draws away from me. But when I remember who He is, when I rest in who He is, when I long to love Him, obedience becomes a joy. That obedience teaches me to love Him more. I find that what's best for me is always obedience to Him. I have found that there is never a reason to disobey.

Why

I have found that the curse has been a blessing. The sweat and sorrow of life has always--if I submit to it as a gift from Him--allowed me to find His unconditional love, a growth in the strength of my character, a clarity about truth and the very few things that really matter, and an incomprehensible peace and joy that permeates my soul in the absolute worst human moments. Who but an all wise, all loving God could make the curse the foundation for love, strength, truthfulness, and joy? I have found it to be undeniably so. In the midst of doubting who He is, in the midst of a son with cancer and its lifetime complications, in the midst of betrayed love, in the midst of seeing God's work and God's men misrepresented and even lied about, in the midst of trying to raise two sons as a single father, in the midst of personal failure that was no one's fault by my own, in the midst of discouragement and despair, in the midst of wondering anxiously what God is up to in the lives of those I love most dearly, in the midst of doubting one's calling or wishing it was a different one, in the midst of the sweat, toil, and suffering of life, I have found Him always to be true, always to be faithful. Always. In the fiercest storms of life or in the gentle breezes of good times, He has given me the faith to soar on the wings of eagles.

I do not understand how, but I do understand why. No one loves me like He does.

Walking in Integrity

"He who walks in integrity, walks securely."

To walk in integrity is a difficult choice--only possible through the enabling of the Spirit. To walk in integrity is to live a life that is in perfect balance with what one claims to believe. It is to be who you say you are in light of what you claim to be true about God, His character, and His daily presence in your life and in your circumstances. Paul in the New Testament calls it "walking worthy." He uses a term related to scales used in the market place to buy food. You would put a one pound weight on one side of the scale and then put the produce on the other side--when the scale balanced, you had a "worthy" purchase. Spiritually, you have a worthy walk when what you claim to believe is in perfect balance with the life you live. And in perfect balance no matter who you are with and no matter the circumstances in which you find yourself. And any believer can live a life of integrity. It does not rest in how much you know, but how consistently you rest in the Spirit's control so that you live out what you know. It's not a matter of age, intelligence, or spiritual maturity, but a matter of submission to let Christ live through you--no matter what. Whether your circumstances are like a refreshing cool breeze on a hot summer's day, like an Arctic vortex on a frigid winter's morning, or like the whirlwind of a summer's destructive storm, you are the same--your behavior doesn't change. Your walk is a worthy walk--a walk of integrity. As David says, you are like a tree planted by the rivers of life--steadfast, and not like the wicked who in their self-centered meanderings through life are like the chaff that is tossed about in even the slightest breeze and devastated by life's whirlwinds.

Now, what are the basics of a walk of integrity?

First, it is an honest life. Honest in word--my "yes" is a "yes" and my "no" is a "no." Honest in walk--how I treat and respond to you today will be the exact same way that I treat and respond to you tomorrow. Honest in vulnerability--my faults are many, and I believe and am thankful that our Lord has put you in my life to strengthen me in my weaknesses; I cannot live this life without your exhortation, grace, and fellowship.
It is, in addition, a walk of speaking words that are a fountain of life. I must be slow to speak, careful to say what encourages and builds up in the faith. I must never forget that the tongue can start a raging fire in a drought-afflicted heart.
I must have a forgiving heart--a heart that readily forgives transgressions--eagerly forgives even those who have deliberately and maliciously hurt me and those I love. Even those who continue to do so.
I must have a teachable spirit--I must understand that I am called to be a life-long learner. No matter how deep my relationship with Him, I have barely "scratched the surface" in understanding the majesty of who He is. And my transformation into His likeness has barely begun. Godly wisdom rests on an understanding of how little I know.
I must have the fear of the Lord. My decisions must always be made with His heart in mind. I dare not grieve His love, dare not hurt His heart through willing disobedience--active or passive.
I must be diligent. I must do all that I do with all my might. He promises each day that I will have the strength I need to glorify Him in all things. I must rely on and use that strength day by day.
I must have His heart toward my money. He has called me to make a living for myself and my family--not to make a profit. My "extra" resources must be invested in the needs of others that He reveals to me. Only then will I truly grasp the real richness of life with Him as my Lord and my Provider.
I must have the right perspective. All my blessings--even the one's that don't seem like blessings--are a gift of His love and the working out of His wisdom in my life. Knowing that every blessing comes from Him, none of them are small, insignificant blessings. He deliberately gave them to me! Each day is a day that requires a heart of gratitude.

What are the "products" of a walk with integrity? What does security look like?
A life filled with memorials, memories of those times that He has shown His love for me--often when I least expected it, certainly when I did not deserve it. And as memorials to His love, I with joy can proclaim them to others. As His redeemed one, I can say so.
A life that when my parents think of me, their hearts are filled with joy.
A life that is immersed in an unquenchable gladness. I have an inescapable Hope--I will see Him. How can one who is the child of the Father by choice and adoption before the world began not be glad? How can a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords live in the regret of a grace cleansed past, live in anguish of today's challenges when I have a promise of a victorious present, or wallow in pity over an imagined future not to my liking when I am a joint-heir with my blessed Savior?

May God in His grace and love and discipline enable me to walk in integrity, to walk each day in security.

"He who walks in integrity will walk securely."

Diligence

I'm afraid that one of the most ignored commandments in the Bible is "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Or in the Iten translation: Regardless of your age, your gifts and talents, your intelligence, your physical strength, your economic situation--or whatever---God commands you to be diligent in all things!!!!

Diligence: the mindset to do all that you do with all that you are in a way that deeply desires this response from God: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The End of Our Rope

The reason God sometimes takes us to "the end of our rope" is to remind us of the power of prayer.