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 Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 5:17 am
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Wendy Alsup / December 2, 2016
I’m emerging from a brutally hard season in life. But even as I emerge with my feet on more solid ground than I’ve felt in a long time, I still face a life that, like many of my cohorts from Bible college, wasn’t the one I envisioned as an earnest Christian teenager in youth group and then college. And no amount of peeling off layers of myself to get to my core heart is going to rescue me from the twists and turns my story has taken.
Don’t hear fatalism in that last sentence. Like the woman diagnosed with terminal cancer, there’s a precious jewel hidden in the layers of suffering and self-sacrifice with what seems a permanent blight on one’s life. Among other issues, I struggle with multiple chronic illnesses. Though death is certainly not imminent, I think of spiritually dying to self as I face more and more physical issues that evidence the fact that my physical self is in fact dying. I am a jar of clay. Unlike a hard marriage or family relationship or ministry commitment, I can’t escape these physical symptoms no matter how hard I try. I can’t run from them, so I have to face them head on and figure out how to live abundantly in light of them.
Continue reading: link
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Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2016 8:28 am
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Not to take away from the overall message (which was about perseverance, dying to self, allowing God to form you into something better and obeying God's Commands, even when people discourage you to), which was sound, but there was a deviance I noted that must be pointed out and submitted to the truth:
Quote: But God is faithful to us when we’re faithless (2 Tim. 2:13).
@the bolded: that's erroneous paraphrase and adding to His Word—He stays faithful to Himself, to what He promised, for He cannot deny Himself. He does not stay faithful to us when we are faithless to Him.
2 Timothy 2:12-13 (NIV)
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
He stays faithful to Himself.
God treats us back the way we, in our relationship with Him, treat Him. If we stayed faithful to ourselves (instead of to Him), He stays faithful to Himself (instead of to us). Follow the pattern of the previous verses. If we disown Him, He will disown us.
The concepts documented by 2 Timothy 2:12-13 are echoed by other passages, Old and New Testament alike (just that not all of them say it as succinctly):
1 Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)
9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
James 4:8 (NIV)
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Psalm 119:113 (NIV)
I hate double-minded people,
but I love your law.
1 John 3:4 (NIV)
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
Hebrews 10:26-29 (NIV)
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Romans 11:19-21 (NIV)
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
1 John 3:7 (NIV)
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.
Hebrews 10:36-39 (NIV)
36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”[a]
38 And,
“But my righteous[b] one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”[c]
39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Footnotes:
a. Hebrews 10:37 Isaiah 26:20; Hab. 2:3
b. Hebrews 10:38 Some early manuscripts But the righteous
c. Hebrews 10:38 Hab. 2:4 (see Septuagint)
John 6:40 (NIV)
40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV)
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 (NIV)
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.[b] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
Footnotes:
1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife
1 Thessalonians 4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Psalm 40:8 (NIV)
8 I desire to do your will, my God;
your law is within my heart.”
Galatians 5:19-25 (NIV)
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Romans 8:7-9 (NIV)
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
Ezekiel 36:27 (NIV)
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
All that to say, when we are faithless to Him (thus faithful to ourselves), He is faithful to Himself (not faithful to us): His Word still stands because He cannot deny Himself, but He can deny us. It may not be immediate because, like everything else, we must persevere in either (1) faith in God / Jesus, faith in the Word, and upright, holy living OR (2) distrust in God, not believing what is written, and wicked living, to receive its recompense, either one.
It's what we continue in that matters:
Revelation 22:11-12 (NIV)
11 Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
Ezekiel 33:10-20 (NIV)
10 “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of[a] them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
12 “Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ 13 If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. 14 And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.
17 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. 18 If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. 19 And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. 20 Yet you Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to your own ways.”
Footnotes:
a. Ezekiel 33:10 Or away in
Galatians 6:7 (NIV)
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)
13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Luke 3:7-14 (NIV)
7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
Point is: what you plant (sow) and continue to water (indulge in), that is what will grow up and be nurtured into fully developed, ripe fruit. It better be the fruit of repentance, not the fruit of wickedness. Stay repentant in your attitude towards sin, hate it. You do not want to be indulging in sin, enjoying it, when it is time to reap (like those on whom the tower of Siloam fell, like those who Pilate put to death while they were sacrificing, nor like...).
Amos 8:2 (NIV)
2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.
“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
Tremble. exclaim
On a related note: [Do Good: A Man Reaps What He Sows]...it's not just how we treat God, it's how we treat others too.
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