You Said You Would But You Never Could.

Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

The article that I had planned to write this week had to be shelved to make way for the article that I had to write, prompted by an experience just yesterday. You see, I have been talking to a dear friend in another state who recently agreed to meet with me to discuss truth from the Bible. I was looking forward to the trip and texted him the details of the flight time and so on, when I received a text back from him saying, “I am not ready for that to happen.” Furthermore, he asked me to not ask what he meant by those words.

I honored his request and began to think deeply about what he may have meant. I may be completely off on this one, but it occurred to me that he might have a significant misunderstanding about what I might say or do in our meeting. But then I thought about the content of my weekly articles and the fact that I knew that he read or listened to each one every week and began to see the potential problem.

If you have been following CherishEphesians64, you know that I do not typically write fluffy articles that contain lots of pats on the back for how good everyone is. No, they are pretty much, “here’s what God says, you probably aren’t doing it, so stop the disobedience, now let’s get going with our obedience and enjoy the blessings.” I think that my dear friend may be reading my articles and thinking that he would have to do an instant behavioral transformation in his life if he decided to become a Christian.

For the Christian, the message that calls us to be like Christ can be a daunting thing; for the non-Christian, it is such an insurmountable task that it can easily lead to a decision that they, “are not ready for that to happen.” But this is not what God expects.

Let’s go back again to our recent place of study, the book of Deuteronomy. I didn’t want to get into this because it does not directly relate to the parental instructions for children that we were studying, but the end of the book takes us to a place that to me, is incredibly significant. Moses has been telling the people what God’s commands are and how they will be blessed if they obey or cursed if they disobey. And after all of that is laid out for the Israelites, there are four verses where God says, you (the Israelites) are not going to obey.

31:16 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake meand break my covenant that I have made with them.

31:20-21 For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.”

31:27 For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!

31:29 For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

These passages give us important information about God’s expectations for our behavior and what He had to do change our behavior and make us ready for heaven. You see, God sets a standard before us that communicates a way of life that is pleasing to Him and reflects His perfect holiness, but He knows we are going to fail.

Let’s jump to the New Testament for a minute to see the consistency of this truth. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4 that we should live holy lives, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:15-16 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.

But throughout the New Testament letters, we also have teaching upon teaching that the Christian must turn to the Lord for the strength to actually obey what the Lord has commanded. Even the great apostle Paul, a man of God who would exhort us to live holy lives, wrote that it was his inability to not covet the possessions of others that led him to admit he could not fully please God. He even admitted the frustration that every serious Christian experience in the daily battle against sinful desires. Look at Romans 7:15 where Paul says,

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

He goes on to say in verses 18-19, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament God commanded that men obey Him, but He always knew that they could not meet His demands. They may say that they would do their best to obey, but even one act of disobedience over the course of their entire life, would mean that they did not meet the standard of holiness that God demanded, and therefore would be cursed. Paul writes in Galatians 4:10, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them.”

It should be noted that the greatest mistake that men make is that they can become good enough to make God happy, or that they can somehow outweigh all of the sinful thoughts and deeds that have been done in their life with some good deeds. However, this is just the opposite of what God says. He demands perfection and anything less earns hell forever.

Of course, our great God did not leave things there and if He did, it would be hopeless. In fact, going back to Romans 7 again, Paul gives us the answer in 7:25 where he says, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

And that, “through Jesus Christ” is referring to the Son of God becoming a man and growing into adulthood so He could die on a cross and receive the punishment for the curse we were under, so we would not. Jesus’ sacrifice for Christians covers all the times we fail to meet God’s holy standard and gives us the power to gradually change our behavior and become more like Christ over time. In God’s eyes, an exchange takes place: Jesus gets the punishment, and we are viewed by God through the covering that we have from Jesus- perfectly holy. It is God’s amazing, gracious plan.

This is where trusting/believing in what God has done is everything to us! No ceremonies will do it. No priests or animal sacrifices. Just a sincere recognition that you need forgiveness, a belief in what the Savior has done, and the desire to give your life to Him in obedience.

For the Christian, admitting our daily failures and going to God in prayer is our daily lot. We stumble and fail to obey God as we should, but we see change over time that aligns us more with the mind and heart of God.

For someone like my non-Christian friend, it is critical to know these two things:

If you think becoming a Christian means that you can no longer make sinful mistakes, you are dead wrong. Christians continue to sin, albeit less so over time as God works in them. Yes, meeting God’s standard is like climbing a mountain that is higher than the clouds, but it is a mountain that can be scaled by God’s forgiveness and power.
If you are waiting to become a Christian until you get yourself living like a Christian, please know that it will never happen. No person that has ever become a Christian was good enough and I can promise you that you will not be the first. To be a Christian is to admit that your actions will never be good enough to satisfy God. You need someone else to fix that problem and His name is Jesus Christ.