THE LORD SPOKE (May 3)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: II Samuel 3-4

II Samuel 3:36 - "All the people took note and were pleased; indeed, everything the king did pleased them."

"Better take advantage of it; it won't last." "It's the honeymoon stage - just wait until reality sets in." "You can please some of the people some of the time; you can even please all of the people some of the time; but you can't please all of the people all of the time."

Sound familiar? Have you heard it before? Have you said it before? There's probably some truth to it. After all, hasn't pretty much all of our human experience seemed to prove it? But does it have to be? Maybe that's our problem - we're too much into human experience instead of thinking God's thoughts.

Think of it as a geometry equation. Start with an equilateral triangle with God (G) at the top, person A at the bottom left, and person B at the bottom right. As the distances between G-A and G-B decrease, the distance between A and B diminishes also. Interpretation: if two people are distant from each other because of their differences, the closer each of them draws to God, the shorter will be the distance between them. To the extent that each draws closer to God, each draws closer to the other. Eventually they will be brought together when they both are so near to God that they are thinking God's thoughts.

Acts 13:22 (c.f. I Sam. 13:14 and Jer. 3:15) tells us that God's own evaluation of David was that he was "a man after my own heart". (By the way, could there ever be a greater epitaph than that?) If the people of Israel were thinking God's thoughts and king David acted upon biblical principles, the two had to eventually converge. Contrariwise, if either point of the triangle (A or B) grew distant from God (G), the distance between A and B had to increase and the honeymoon would be over.

With God, there is the possibility of a perpetual honeymoon. Aren't you glad?!


New Testament: Romans 6

We understand what being a “slave to sin” might look like. We’ve learned enough in our reading and our history classes to have a pretty clear picture of what slavery was like and we’ve experienced enough sin in our own lives to put the two together. It takes away our freedom, bears down with crushing weight, brings pain and frightful anguish into our lives, and causes miserable separation from all that we love.

But do we understand what being a “slave to righteousness” means? Paul puts the two in juxtaposition in Romans 6. He says that “when you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness” (Rom. 6:20) but “you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). This is accomplished first by what Christ did for us in His death (Rom. 6:8-12). Because of that we are told:

1. to count ourselves dead to sin (Rom. 6:11),
2. to not let sin have rule over us (Rom. 6:12), and
3. to offer ourselves to God (Rom. 6:13).

This is spelled out for us as meaning to “offer the parts of [our] body to Him as instruments of righteousness”. Then, sin will not be our master. Rather than being a slave to sin, we can be a slave to righteousness. So, it is “obedience that leads to righteousness” (Rom. 6:16). Paul’s graphic admonition should be applied very literally. “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” (Rom. 6:19).

So here’s an assignment: speak to God and, one-by-one, promise Him the use of your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your hands, etc. When we get to Romans 12:1, Paul is going to tell us “to offer [our] bodies as living sacrifices”. Here’s the clue to what that means. Verbally offer the different parts of your physical body to God and then do something tangible about your own words.

In so doing, you will become a “slave to God” (Rom. 6:22). Sin is a horrible master. It forever takes more and more and gives less and less but God’s grace is just the opposite. He frees from bondage and death and gives us eternal life and joy.