The Great Deception

Tonight, I want to share with you a thought from 1 John chapter 3:

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother . . . Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

This can be misunderstood. Don't read this and come away thinking that truly saved people don't sin anymore--they do. But the difference is that unsaved people enjoy sin, and saved people cannot enjoy sinning because they are grieved in heart and pricked in conscience when they willfully rebel and sin. Now, repeated rebellion and a willful lifestyle of sinning after one has become a believer suppresses the Holy Spirit's ability to influence you, and your soul becomes calloused and hardened. But generally, if you are saved, and if indeed the Holy Spirit dwells in you, then you will find yourself pricked by sin and unable to enjoy it--at least, not for very long. I find this often. The more I read my Bible and consistently pray and meditate on things that are pure, good, lovely, and of good report, the more I am offended and grieved by the evil language of some of my classmates and colleagues. I am glad for this, because it is all too easy to become used to it. I do not want to ever become used to it. I want to be pained every time I hear my Savior's name taken in vain. I work very hard and pray for wisdom all the time to discern truth from error in what I hear, and what I am taught in my classes.

For example, today we entered our unit of death and dying. Now, in the medical field, it is recommended to incorporate a "spiritual element," whatever that happens to be, for each particular patient, so that they may die in peace after having "lived it up" at the end of their lives. Nowadays, we're allowed to recommend that terminally ill diabetic patients eat whatever they want, so long as they enjoy themselves in their final months on earth. The focus is comfort and pleasure. Now, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with these recommendations. What's wrong is that they woefully miss the point. Not every road leads to heaven, but inevitably, every patient who dies is spoken of as having "gone to a better place"--whatever that may be, and nobody really seems to be willing to say, because they actually have no idea.

They are all deceived. Those who die apart from Christ do not "go softly into that good night," to quote a famous poem. They go to a terrible end, which is really not an end at all. Salvation has nothing to do with being "a good person," thus being earned by good deeds; it is entirely by faith alone in Christ alone. And, as a Christian, I encounter these topics with a far heavier weight of sober understanding than those around me. How grieved I am, how I choke back tears of anguish when they carry on in such a way, blindly stumbling into hell, yet they are repulsed and offended by such "narrow-minded" views as mine. But I know that narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it. Wide is the way of destruction, and many are those who enter by it.

So my loves, let the Spirit of God reside unfettered within you. Fill your heart with his holy thoughts. It is good and right and profitable to be offended and grieved by sin. Let his love fill you. Let that love flow out of your grateful soul into the world around you--let it wash over the people in your home like a healing wind. Be an instrument of peace and purity, not in word only, but in deed and thought and private meditation.

Reckless Abandon

(From my email to the girls this evening, thoughts laid on my heart in these late, quiet hours.)

Tonight, I'm reading from Matthew 26 through 28.

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment,
and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table.
And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?  

For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”
But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? 

For she has done a beautiful thing to me.
For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.
Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world,
what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Here are a few thoughts for you to ponder about this woman and her love for her Lord. Her name was Mary (identified in John 12:3, the sister to Martha and Lazarus). Already a close friend to Jesus, Mary here takes a flask of very expensive perfumed oil, and anoints Jesus with it as a demonstration of her love for him.

If you were to give a gift like this, you would spend over a year's wages. Who does a thing like that?

She understood that there wasn't much time left with Jesus. His death was imminent, and although she didn't know any more than the disciples knew about upcoming events, she sensed that the time was drawing short, and she didn't want to miss an opportunity to shower pure, humble, grateful love and honor on her her Savior. The disciples, however, missed the urgency of the hour and complained about what a waste all that oil was! Look at it now--gone. It could have been sold, and just imagine how many good deeds could have been done for the poor people with the money! What a waste. They missed the point. Entirely.

There is no gift too costly, no attention too lavish, no devotion too extreme for Jesus. The disciples, well-intentioned, were blind to what was right before their eyes. Mary had eyes to see and ears to hear. Who knows how much she gave up to get that oil for Jesus. And while anointing might seem strange to us, in that culture it was a symbol of honor, devotion, highest esteem, purity, holiness, being set apart, etc. etc. How fitting.

Oh, sweet girls! If only we could be like Mary, and love Jesus with such reckless abandon that nothing seemed too grand to give him, but rather, all we have to offer seems too small in comparison to his grace which he has given to us. How can we give him any less than everything?

But notice this: Mary was no more pious than you or I. She was born a sinner too. How did she get that infectious love for Jesus? By being with him. By spending time at his feet, gazing at his face, soaking up his every word. She immersed herself in him, and the love that filled her soul and burst out in glorious acts of devotion was a direct result of spending time with her Savior. So must you and I do. We cannot expect to be spiritually minded if we allot a mere fifteen minutes to Jesus several times a week. We must be drenched, saturated, mind and soul, drowned in his words of righteous truth. We must shut out the world from our mind, sweep it clean and fill it with his voice. Then we can love him as we have not yet loved him.

Goodnight, dear ones. If the Lord returns before tomorrow, then I will see you at his feet. If not, I will see some of you among his people, his bride, his beloved Church, tomorrow as we worship together.