Study from God’s Word… Deut 26: 16-19; Deut 28: 1-68; Deut 29: 2-29; Deut 30: 1-20; Deut 27: 1-26; … Passage for Reflection: Deut 29: 19 … NIV 19 When such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way." This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
My Journal for Today: Well, in all the devotional entries I’ve read from F. LaGard Smith this year thus far, this one today is the most disquieting and personally disturbing. In The Daily Bible in Chronological Order, Dr. Smith, as the Editor, had readers today reading through the sections from Deuteronomy where God solidified His covenant with His people, demanding that they realize the seriousness of disobedience to this oath to God as well as reviewing the blessings which would flow to them from their obedience.
Unfortunately, I agree with Dr. Smith in his devotional entry today, that in our New Covenant lives as Christians, we have a far too lackadaisical attitude about our saving relationship with Christ than we should. Sadly, in this post-modern era, I believe we’re living in an age of “easy” (or “cheap”) grace, many thinking that they have spiritual fire-insurance against “hell” (though many don’t even believe there is such a place). However, these folks, who become nominal “christians,” don’t live out their lives as if God has saved them from their sinful nature. Smith states, “… it is frightening – as long as we confess our sins, we’re tempted to believe it’s actually okay to persist in those very sins! If we just throw God a bone, we think surely He will be satisfied!” So, making and keeping solemn vows to our God concerning our way of living has become passé; and we float through life thinking and acting no different from the world nor showing any of the fruitfulness promised by our God to those who are truly saved.
Ouch! Ugh!! Groan!!! … I think of the Apostle Paul’s admonition and exhortation in Romans 5: 20 – 6: 4, upon which we should all meditate here and now (as I have in the NIV):
>>> 20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. … 1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Yes, 1st John 1: 9 is no less true in the life of any Christian today; but the promise that our sins have been paid for in full on the cross and our confession of those sins brings full cleansing does not give the Christian the right or the license to sin with impunity and treat God’s saving grace with such reckless abandon. In fact, reading the entire 1st letter of John, tells us that Christians – true, born-again believers – simply will not be able to continue to sin with chronic and reckless disregard of God’s Law and His provisions for us to join Him in heaven. I grieve to think that there are many – if not most – of those who will sit with me in church today who believe they have a license to be a sinner, rather than the grace to be a saint in the eyes of God. I can only pray to my Lord that I am not one of those.
My friends, I pray that I pursue the righteousness which is eternally mine when I know that I know that I know that I know that Jesus Christ is my LORD … as well as my Savior, … when I live so that the fruit of His Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23) is apparent in my life, … when I have a sense of dread when I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon my sinfulness so that I can keep short accounts and be cleansed from self in order to glorify my Savior.
May I never have a false sense of security in my walk as a CHRISTIAN.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I sit and stand here as a CHRISTIAN, … let me live as one! Amen
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