Reckless Abandon – Being Real and Being Compassionate - Purity 604
Purity 604 12/17/2021 Purity 604 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the fading sun beyond the horizon with a tiny nearly
full moon rising somewhere between Glens Falls and Easton, NY comes to us from
a “special friend’s” commute home from work on December 15th. As another work week begins to fade to black
and we are just a week away from Christmas Eve, we can rejoice over all that
the Lord has done and thank God it’s Friday!
Of course, in truth we all have a lot more to be thankful to the Lord
for than just another Friday. Personally,
I am in a constant state of thankfulness and wonder over how the Lord has
transformed my life and taken me out of the darkness that I lived most of my
life in.
Marijuana, Michelob Ultra, Porn, Video Games, Rap, Rock and Alternative
Music, Vicodin, Ecstasy, Vodka, Magic Mushrooms, Internet Drugs, Sports
Gambling, NFL Football, and Electric Guitar.
Now, while that list could describe some of my old friends’ current Christmas
wish list, it actually describes some of the things that I went to for relaxation
and comfort when we rolled into the weekend in years gone by, before coming to
faith in Christ. Okay, let’s be real. Those things weren’t just for the
weekends, those things were good for any day of the week as I lived by a philosophy
of meeting all my personal desires as they came up.
I recently sat down with someone who reminded me of my former self and
who is surrounded by the trappings of addiction that I used to be in bondage to
but seemed blissfully unaware of the very real danger that they are living in. I felt great compassion for this person but
felt absolutely powerless to convey what I wanted to say without coming across as
judgmental or old so I have taken the stance that I will remain silent and pray
for the Lord to convict them and bring them to repentance. I have made the hard choice to be present and
ready to encourage but not to preach.
I know that no amount of preaching would have changed me in my former
darkness and instead am leaving them in the Lord’s care. I feel almost reckless or irresponsible in
trusting the Lord with this situation, but I somehow feel that this is the
course I am being led into.
I guess the Holy Spirit’s strategy in this is to love them anyway? Or I
am to shine a light by my example of recovery and Christian discipleship in
their lives? Honestly, I don’t know but every time I am thinking about “saying
something” I feel led to remain silent. So I do, and will, and will wait on the
Lord to see how this goes.
Unfortunately, this person doesn’t seem to be content in their personal
choices of addiction and actively encourages the corruption of others. While it is hard to imagine anyone being
impressed by their lifestyle and wanting to follow in their footsteps, I fear not
only fear for this person but for those in their circles of influence.
Scripture indicates that sinners are not content to sin but will feel
compelled to justify themselves in their sin and seek to encourage others to
join them on the road to perdition. The
Bible is the truth, and you can see its wisdom in situations like this.
Depression, Anger, Wanting, Fear, Anxiety, Hatred, Lust, Shame, Guilt,
and Suicidal Thoughts.
This could be a list of things to ask about on a psychological evaluation,
but it is also a list of how I felt while I was engaged in trying to satisfy
myself with the previous list that began with Marijuana and ended with the
Electric Guitar.
I apologize to my friend, Bob, we both know that the guitar is not evil
in itself but when we look to it or any other hobby for our peace instead of
God we know we have gone astray.
Anyway, I give that list of negative mind states because I know that they
are all usually present in someone caught up in the cycles of addiction.
While the secular world now allows for “recovery” to be defined by each
individual and allows for the possibility for recovery to mean “less drugs and
alcohol” or whatever the individual may choose, I have to point out that while
we can play games with the amount of substances we take, or change them to not
so illicit alternatives, those negative mind states basically will go
untouched.
The dangers of being “open minded” to recovery alternatives like safe
injection sights or the use of a drug to cure my drug habit is that of the
ultimate hopelessness we end up allowing people to live in.
At one point in my life of addiction I was so low that I was willing to
try anything to “feel good” again. I found some drugs available via the internet,
but they were labeled “not for human consumption” and the literature was about
50/50 on whether this drug would get you high or kill you.
People had been known to get high on this substance and others reportedly
had died from it. I was so depressed,
and frankly when you are in an addictive cycle you sort of have a death wish,
to make it all go away, or at least I did and I’m not afraid to admit it, - I
was so depressed that I figured I would give it a try.
So I wrote a note to my wife and kids saying I was sorry, and not
knowing if I would live or die took the substance. I didn’t die, I got high, and I tried it
more than once. I eventually stopped taking it because it did make me sick on a
few occasions and I didn’t like that.
So I know what hopelessness and a life of addiction can make you capable
of. Your pain can be so great that you take chances that could cost you your
life. So instead of advocating for
medications or moderation for recovery. I know that you have to stop completely,
and you have to have hope.
So I offer the hope of the new life that comes from faith in Jesus Christ,
and I offer it in full and with all its implications.
The biggest complaint the nonbeliever has of the church are of the
hypocrites in the church, those who proclaim faith in Christ but who live just
like the rest of the world but claim to be holier than thou.
I had similar complaints before coming to Christ. So when I heard the gospel message that saved
me. I endeavored to make sure “this thing was real” and that if I was going to “do
this” – be a Christian – I wanted to “do this!” – be a real authentic Christian.
So I have tried to follow the Lord’s call to be that and to live
according to His ways and discovered that the path that the Lord has for you to
walk isn’t always easy, but it will take you out of the darkness you are living
in by trying to satisfy yourself according to the world’s ways and it doesn’t
play games with your sin.
Just because Christians are forgiven doesn’t mean there are no
consequences for sinning. If we choose
to sin we choose to suffer and stay locked in bondage to our sin and all the
negative mind states that come with them.
So as we draw close to Christmas, decide to have a real Christmas by being
a real Christian. Don’t just talk the
talk and thank the Lord for saving a “wretch like me”. Walk the walk and practice what you preach.
Repent of the things that you aren’t good.
We are personally supposed to take responsibility for our lives in
Christ by picking up our crosses and following Jesus into a life where we have
progressive victories over the things that ensnare us and that is defined by an
increase in the fruit of the Spirit.
But as for the weaker brother or sister, or the ones who are lost and
who are so entangled by the lies of the enemy, let’s love them anyway and try
to encourage them to discover the hope and new life that comes from not just saying
the name of Jesus but by following Him.
So be wise and discerning. Don’t compromise with your personal sin but
realize that it is the Lord that grants repentance, so you need to surrender to
Him in order to be set free.
And know that no amount of “tough love” will change the hearts of those
who are trapped. Christ sets the captive free and all we can do is pray,
encourage, and point to the One who bought our forgiveness and who gives us new
life.
Today’s Bible verse is
drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
5 Then you will understand
what it means to fear the LORD, and
you will gain knowledge of God.
DAY 21
JESUS—THE JUDGE OF HUMANITY
When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the
nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people from one
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep
on his right and the goats on his left.
MATTHEW 25:31–33
What is your concept of Jesus
Christ, my brother? If the “ten-cent-store Jesus” that is being preached by a
lot of men, the plastic, painted Christ who has no spine and no justice and is
pictured as a soft and pliable friend to everybody—if He is the only Christ
there is, then we might as well close our books and bar our doors, and make a
bakery or garage out of this church!
But that Christ that is being
preached and pictured is not the Christ of God, nor the Christ of the Bible,
nor the Christ we must deal with.
The Christ we must deal with has
eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished brass, and out of His
mouth comes a sharp, two-edged sword.
He will be the judge of mankind.
And, thank God, you can leave your loved ones who have died in His hands,
knowing that He Himself suffered, knowing that He knows all, that no mistakes
can be made, that there can be no miscarriage of justice, because He knows all
that can be known!
This is one of the neglected Bible
doctrines of our day—that Jesus Christ is the judge of mankind.
The Father judges no man. When the
Lord, the Son of Man, shall come in the clouds of glory, then shall be gathered
unto Him the nations, and He shall separate them.
God has given Him judgment,
authority, to judge mankind, so that He is both the Judge and Saviour of men.
That makes me both love Him and fear
Him! I love Him because He is my Saviour and I fear Him because He is my Judge.
Human justice does its best, but
because it is not all-wise it makes mistakes.
But God Almighty is never going to
judge the race of mankind and allow a mistake to enter. The judge must be one
who has all wisdom.
Therefore, I appeal away from St.
Paul; I appeal away from Moses and Elijah; I appeal away from all men because
no man knows me well enough to judge me, finally. And I don’t know you well
enough to judge you, finally.
I may pass brief judgment upon you
on some simple matter, or you on me, but when it comes to the placing of my
eternal and everlasting soul somewhere, I don’t want any mistakes made.
To be a judge, according to the
Scriptures, the judge considers those who are accountable to Him, and
accountable to Him not by a law imposed by another, but accountable to Him morally
and vitally, rather than merely legally.
And in order to be a righteous judge
of mankind, the judge has to have all knowledge so there can be no error.
In human affairs, many an innocent
man has been hanged. Many a “life-termer” has died in gray pallor behind prison
walls while the rascal who actually committed the crime died in his own bed,
surrounded by his friends.
Tozer, A. W. (2016). From heaven: a
28-day advent devotional. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.
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