Deuteronomy 8:11-14 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God.”
Michael continues: In a season of comfort and complacency, our heart will be tempted to fall into sin. King David left the battlefield, forsaking God’s call as Israel’s commander in chief. Instead, he retreated to his palace for rest and relaxation. Then in a moment of complacency, he gazed longingly upon his neighbor’s wife Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop. He was consumed with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. David’s lust was consummated in adultery, deception, and murder.
1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The sin is anything that breaks our fellowship with God by leading our hearts away from God’s heart. Sin is missing the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The solution to sin is to aim for and pursue the mark ... to chase after our Lord together with others who also chase after Christ. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. King David in his confession said in Psalm 139:23-24,search me O Lord and know my heart... if there is any evil thing in me. Create in me a new heart O Lord, and cleanse me from all iniquity.
It’s easy to deceive our own hearts. As humans, we look at our own outward appearance. However, God looks upon the heart. Men and women often do the right things but for the wrong reasons. The people said to Jesus, didn’t we cast out demons ... didn’t we prophesy and do many wonderful works in your name? Jesus said, depart from me ye workers of iniquity ... I never knew you. He said to the Pharisees in Mark 7:6-7, “Well has Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
How do we know if we’re doing the right things for the right reasons? According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding (the truth of the Law of God) as in a glass (mirror) the (spiritual) glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory (of the flesh) to glory (of the spirit), even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” When we through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes look into the Word of God, it reflects our true nature as born-again believers ... the reflection of the Holy Spirit of God in Christ in us.
The nature of God is mercy, grace, compassion and love. Romans 3:23 says, all have sinned and come short of God’s righteous standard. The solution to sin is the Savior from sin. According to Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin Is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Thank God for reproof and correction. For whom the Lord loves, He takes the time with care and concern to chastise. To correct means to return to an upright position before the Lord. Even though it’s painful to be straightened, when we have our vertical relation with God in alignment, we can live in the abundance of life to which He’s called us. The blessing is in seeking the Blessor and not the blessing that our hearts may be made right to praise and glorify our Heavenly Father through His son, our Lord Jesus Christ ... that we may ever live in fellowship, in communion with our Lord to love, honor and glorify God.
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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