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Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins. Amos 7:7-8 (NLT)
I remember a Sunday School story from years ago. It was the story of a little girl that got caught lying to her Grandma. After being ‘caught red handed’ the little girl confessed that she lied but it didn’t seem like such a big deal because it was just ‘a little white lie’.
The wise grandmother said nothing. She asked the little girl if she’d like to help make brownies, which of course, she did. After adding all the ingredients from the recipe grandma handed the girl a small bowl and asked her to go out to the barn and ask grandpa for a small bowl of manure to put in the brownies so they could finish baking them.
The girl was appalled! “Grandma! We can’t put manure in the brownies. It will ruin them.” Grandma assured her that it would only be a little bit of manure, not much, and she’d hardly taste it.” The argument continued until grandma smiled and put her hand on the little girls arm.
Honey, you’re right. We won’t put any manure in the brownies. Even a little bit would completely ruin the whole batch. But that’s like sin, even little white lies destroy our relationship with God and with others.
It was a lesson well learned by the little girl…and me for that matter. The enemy wants us to believe that small sins don’t matter. Especially those things we do in private that only affect ourselves. “The Lie he wants us to believe is that “Little sins only hurt me.”
This lie of the enemy is flawed in two ways. First of all, there are no small sins in God’s eyes. Sin is sin. Period. It doesn’t matter how large it is or how small it is. It isn’t important if the thing you have done affects thousands or yourself alone. In God’s eyes there is no difference.
That’s a good news/bad news situation for us. Because there is no ‘sin hierarchy’ in God’s eyes then anything you have done that you (or others) consider horrendous is on the same level as what others may consider ‘minor sins.’ The bad news is that you are no better off than any other sinner! This puts us in the same class as a child molester, or a terrorist or any other person. Sin is sin. Period.
The other flaw in the enemies lie to us is that sin is something we do against God, not people. People may have the scars. People may bear the pain of our sin. But ultimately our sin isn’t against ourselves or anyone else. It’s against God himself. That makes his forgiveness and acceptance of us even more amazing.
When we buy into the enemies lie about sin we tend to rationalize about it (He did it so I can too; If you think this is bad, you should see what she did; I know it’s wrong but…) or we play the comparison game (at least I’m not as bad as…). When we do this we are trying to live by human standards and not God’s standards.
In Isaiah, God says, I’ll set the plumb line. I’ll do the measuring. If you fall short of my standards in ANY way you will be judged. Only by the Grace of God and the forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ can we approach God.
Increased love for Jesus leads naturally to obedience just as increased love for our lover drives us to want to do whatever we can to make that person know how much we love them. The sign of a person that loves you is that he/she encourages you to do what you excel at; supports your dreams; seeks your good, not theirs. That’s what Jesus has done for each of us.
In spite of our sin we are loved dearly by him. That’s why he came to die for us. God will do whatever he can to build a passionate love relationship with you but obedience is the key to that relationship.
Truth Statement: Sin is sin and affects our relationship with God regardless of how it affects others. (But complete forgiveness is available through Jesus Christ no matter what we’ve done, big or small!)
PRAYER: Father God, I’ve been listening to the lie about sin. I have many ‘little habits, or vices’ that I know are wrong but have overlooked them because I didn’t think they hurt anyone. Now I realize they hurt you and our relationship. Forgive me for the little things. Empower me to stop listening to the lie and live for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
(From the series “Lies that Keep Us from Loving Ourselves. Osceola Community Church-October 2011)
[To my friends at OCC, the next couple days are review of points we talked about on Sunday for the benefit of my other Blog readers and those who weren’t able to be with us. Have a blessed week.]
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)
The Lie: My Distress signals God’s Disgust
In the battle for peace of mind, the enemy tries to get us to believe the lie that the struggles we go through in life are somehow the result of God’s hatred of us. Because of our sin and refusal to obey God sends all sorts of terrible things our way to punish us. Some have linked natural disasters, plagues and political upheaval to God’s anger and vengeance. Make no mistake about it sin has an effect on nature and the events of our lives. However, we often mistake God’s silence as God’s disgust or anger rather than the natural consequence of sin.
The rules God has put in place for us aren’t some unplanned system of meaningless rules. They are there for a reason. God hates sin, but not sinners. God doesn’t hate people living a gay lifestyle, but he is opposed to the activities involved in that lifestyle. God hates divorce, but he doesn’t hate people who are divorced. God hates abortion and murder, but he doesn’t hate the people who are involved in abortion or murder. God loves people unconditionally, but because of his holiness can’t allow sin to be any part of his relationship with us.
There is a thing we call conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. When we as Christ-followers sin, the Holy Spirit guides us towards repentance so our relationship with God can be restored. True peace of mind comes when we change course by confessing our sin, asking forgiveness, and changing our mindset towards that sin (repentence).
When the enemy reminds us of sin he does so in order to cripple us, to keep us defeated and living in guilt. Once we have asked Christ to forgive us of our sin we no longer need to feel guilt. We are free. Forgiven!!
When we are going through tough stuff in life we must learn to trust God. We have to remember and live in the truth that God is, in essence, love. Even if we don’t agree or understand why he does what he does his actions are based on unconditional love for us. Secondly, we must believe we are forgiven. Satan loves to remind us of our faults long after God has forgiven them. Placing false guilt on the believer is one of his favorite weapons. Lastly, remember that God is sovereign. That means that absolutely nothing can happen without his knowing about it and allowing it to happen.
You may have done something terribly wrong. You may be feeling guilt right now for mistakes of your past. You may even be living with life-long consequences for what you did years ago. Remember that even though you may be living in the consequences of sin God has forgiven you. He promises to protect and comfort even during those times. Living in the consequences of sin doesn’t mean you aren’t forgiven. Notice the verse for today. The words are not “If you walk through deep waters, but when. You will suffer struggles. You will have things to endure. You will feel distant from God from time to time. That doesn’t change the fact that he is there for you.
Truth Statement: God forgives the penalty for our sin and strengthens us through the consequences.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m being constantly reminded of things in my past that I know you have forgiven. The enemy continues to trouble me with thoughts of my failure and rebellion towards your ways. I hereby claim the freedom and peace of mind that comes from your forgiveness. With the power of your Spirit I refuse to listen to Satan’s lies about this. Thank you for your love. Amen.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT)
If you have ever been arrested and charged in a criminal case, or suspected of a crime that you did or didn’t commit, or have struggled with some addiction or another you know how your past can haunt you.
Maybe you are a believer who has gone through divorce. Perhaps, as a young person you made some horrible mistake. You may have failed a couple times on business ventures that you were sure would be successful and, instead of making money, you lost money and not only your own, but your investors, the people that trusted you with their money.
The enemy loves to bring up your past. He loves to remind you of your failures and your sins. He uses your past to cause doubt or worry. He uses your past to keep you from looking to the future because he knows that as long as he can get you to dwell on the past he can rob you of fulfilling your dreams or using the gifts God has given you.
The Big Lie he uses to threaten your future is that ‘YOUR PAST DISQUALIFIES YOU FROM BEING ALL GOD HAD PLANNED FOR YOU. Remember, he loves to quote scripture. So he may remind you that ‘All things work together for good to those who love God’ (a slight rephrasing of Romans 8:28). Then he’ll go on to remind you that your disobedience proves you don’t love God. Therefore no good can come from your life. Focusing on our past handcuffs our ability to have vision for the future.
What the enemy doesn’t want you to do is to look at the type of people God used for mighty things in the Bible. Adam and Eve lied. Abraham slept with his wife’s servant. David was a murderer, an adulterer, a conniver and, as a parent he failed to instill discipline in his children. All throughout the Bible God has used people with questionable pasts to fulfill his Kingdom work.
God’s ways are completely opposite of our ways. We look for people with NO SCARS and make them leaders; God looks for people WITH SCARS and makes them leaders. When God formed you in the womb of your mother he saw your entire life. He knew your victories. He knew your failures. He knew if you’d be divorced, an addict, an abusive or absentee parent or a child molester. Still, he created you and loved you enough to offer you forgiveness, hope for the future and eternal life with him.
2 Corinthians 1:4 teaches us that the very things you struggle with are things God can use or comfort and encourage others. The best counselors in rehabilitation centers are those who have gone through addictions. The best grief counselors are those that have lost loved ones. The best people to help someone who has suffered the devastation of abortion are those who have had an abortion themselves.
What is your loss? What mistakes have you made? What have you learned from those mistakes? How can you use them to help others in the same situation? As Christ followers we have the answers to the problems people are going through. Don’t let your past keep you from giving others a future.
Truth Statement: The struggles of your past empower you to encourage those who are struggling.
PRAYER: Father God, it amazes me to think that you knew all my mistakes before they happened. What’s even more amazing is that you want to use me in spite of myself! Forgive me for my past. Empower me to use the lessons of my past to encourage others. Keep me from believing the lies of the enemy. In Jesus name, Amen.
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)
A lion roars to defend his territory. We as believers must always realize that we are in Satan’s territory. Because of this we must always be on our guard against his attacks. If you’ve ever seen a cat on the prowl you know that they are quiet and agile. They waste no energy in pursuing their prey.
Peter reminds us to be alert but it’s hard to stay alert to enemy attack when we have so many things that distract us. It’s the things that distract us that allow the enemy a foothold to attack. He lurks in the shadow ready to prey on the slow, the weak, the distracted.
We get cutoff on the interstate and give the enemy opportunity to make us angry.
We find out a close friend is the root of a vicious rumor and give bitterness an opening.
The woman in the office cubicle next to ours makes a statement that could be taken in a lustful way and gives the idea of an affair a nudge.
The credit card company notifies us of a credit line increase at the same time an email announces a discount on the ‘toy’ we’ve always wanted and desire whispers in our ear.
Friends in school ridicule a fellow student for the same convictions you hold to and you hide in the shadows allowing the name of your savior to be mocked. Apathy taps you on the shoulder.
A co-worker convinces the boss to take one of your accounts away from you and give it to him and revenge squeezes your hand.
One of your children makes an irresponsible choice. You feel the urge to be reactive and sarcastic rather than understanding and forgiving.
Distractions. Those little things that cross our path every day. Distractions give the enemy opportunities for attack. We must choose to let our guard down or to stand firm in the face of the enemy.
The good news is that we have a God who offers us the power to resist distractions through his Holy Spirit. And when the distractions of life catch us unaware and we give in to the enemy we can find mercy and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Heed the warnings Peter offers us. Stay alert in the face of the enemies attack. Stand firm when distractions urge us to give in. It’s difficult at first, but like any discipline, the more we practice standing firm the easier it is to handle the distractions he throws at us.
PRAYER: Father I confess to you that I’m all too often distracted by the attacks of the enemy. Forgive me for the times I’ve stumbled. Empower me with your Spirit to stay focused on your love and forgiveness. Thank you for the grace and mercy you give every day. Amen
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 