This verse has been rolling around in my head and heart for the past few days as I have been grieving over the state of our culture. It seems that with each passing day, secularization is furthering its reach in society and its impact on our churches. Transgenderism is being fully embraced as normal and true. We are seeing the devastating impact that it is having on our churches, as many Christian parents are trying to come to terms with their children embracing the transgender identity and no longer calling themselves by their birth name, but the name of their choosing. June is Pride month which means business and organizations have incorporated the Pride colours into their logos and cities have incorporated the colours into their sidewalks. Netflix has taken over our favourite show, but has filled the current season with language, transgender storylines, nudity, and homosexual sex scenes, all which were absent in its prior seasons.
I believe grief is an appropriate response to what is happening with our culture. Even Jesus grieved over the people of Jerusalem before his crucifixion and wish he could just gather them up because of their lostness and the destruction that awaited them. Our culture is lost and broken. It claims to be offering people life and truth, but in the end, it will only give death and destruction. Our culture has always been lost, but it has descended further in its lostness. Even things it once saw as wrong, it has now decided to see them as right and natural.
We need to take our grief to God and lament before him so that he can show us healthy and proper ways to respond to the lostness of our culture. Jesus' grief led him to the cross so that he could redeem people of their sins and rescue them from their lostness. However, if we leave our grief unchecked and don't take it to God, we risk becoming angry, bitter, doubtful, and fearful over the current state of affairs and will cause more harm than good.
Sadly, some of us are already there; instead of responding with love and compassion, we have responded with hate. Instead of hope we have responded with despair and have disengaged from the culture around us. Instead of showing grace and sharing the life-changing message of the gospel, we have shown tolerance. Instead of persevering in the faith and the trials God has leading us through, we compromised our beliefs so that we would be liked and accepted by the culture.
We need to take our grief to God and lament before him so that he can show us healthy and proper ways to respond to the lostness of our culture. Jesus' grief led him to the cross so that he could redeem people of their sins and rescue them from their lostness. However, if we leave our grief unchecked and don't take it to God, we risk becoming angry, bitter, doubtful, and fearful over the current state of affairs and will cause more harm than good.
Sadly, some of us are already there; instead of responding with love and compassion, we have responded with hate. Instead of hope we have responded with despair and have disengaged from the culture around us. Instead of showing grace and sharing the life-changing message of the gospel, we have shown tolerance. Instead of persevering in the faith and the trials God has leading us through, we compromised our beliefs so that we would be liked and accepted by the culture.
Then yesterday morning, as I was getting ready for the day, God showed me that I need to use Proverbs 14:12 to examine my inward life first instead of using it to examine the world. It is our tendency to use verses like this as the lens in which we view the world, other religions, and other people. We can point out their sins, the error of their ways, and their lostness while neglecting our need for the verses to examine our own hearts and lives. However, we need to primarily use these verses as the lens in which we view ourselves. What if we began to make the shift towards self-examination? Would we become more compassionate towards the lost? Maybe we would be quick to remember that "such were some of you" before Christ saved us (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Maybe we would be more willing to empathize with them and willing to share their struggles? Chances are when Solomon penned Proverbs 14:12, the man he was primarily speaking about was himself. He surely experienced death and destruction as the result of following his ways.
When I used Proverbs 4:12 to examine myself yesterday there were 3 things that came to mind.
1) There are ways in which seem right to me. In the depth of my mind and in the crevices of my heart there are ways of mine that I believe to be right. There are ways in which I want to handle my money. There are ways in which I want to discipline my kids. There are ways that I want to handle conflict with my wife. There are ways in which I want to apply scripture. There are ways in which I want to make decisions for my life. If I were to follow these ways, it would only bring about destruction for me and those I love. Sadly, I have followed some of these ways in the past, and I am still suffering from the consequences. The good news of the Gospel is that God is actively at work in me through the Holy Spirit in order to call me away from my ways and towards his way that is always right.
2) There are parts of me that are still lost. I underestimate the depth of my lostness. I am quick to reduce it to an eternal issue instead of seeing it as my human condition. Sin just didn't affect our relationship with God and destined us for Hell; it affected every aspect of our lives. We each are born with a sin nature that affects us at our core. We all are bent towards destruction and have lawlessness ruling our hearts. The Gospel becomes such good news for us because God not only wants to redirect my soul back to Heaven and reestablish a relationship with me; he also wants to redirect my heart, my mind, my attitude and my behaviours.
Unfortunately for us, this is not a one-time event or an instant fix, but a daily process we must endure. God is actively at work in this process through the Holy Spirit and empowers us to make the necessary changes in our lives. Just when I think my heart has been found, God reveals areas of it that are still lost. Just when I think my mind has been found, God has shown me areas of my thinking that are still lost. God goes through such lengths and details in sanctifying me because He is a God who doesn't just want some of me, he is a God who wants all of me. He knows I will not truly be satisfied until I am rooted in him. This is a process that will continue my whole life and will not be completed until he calls me home.
Unfortunately for us, this is not a one-time event or an instant fix, but a daily process we must endure. God is actively at work in this process through the Holy Spirit and empowers us to make the necessary changes in our lives. Just when I think my heart has been found, God reveals areas of it that are still lost. Just when I think my mind has been found, God has shown me areas of my thinking that are still lost. God goes through such lengths and details in sanctifying me because He is a God who doesn't just want some of me, he is a God who wants all of me. He knows I will not truly be satisfied until I am rooted in him. This is a process that will continue my whole life and will not be completed until he calls me home.
3) God is still rescuing me. God saved me when I was 13 and he is still saving me. The mistake that we all tend to make is to think that our salvation is merely a past event, but it is also a present and future event. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, reminds the believers that they have been saved, they are being saved, and will be saved: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain (v.1-2). God just doesn't want to save some of me, he was to save all of me.
I can be fully confident in the salvation that God has granted me because he is at work saving areas of my life that are still subjected to sin. This is a tremendous gift from God that serves to remind me that I am free from sin, but I am still prone to it. I am still prone to hatred, I am still prone to greed, and I am still prone to pride. I will never fully arrive in this life, but I can take heart knowing that I am being transformed from one degree of glory to the next.
I can be fully confident in the salvation that God has granted me because he is at work saving areas of my life that are still subjected to sin. This is a tremendous gift from God that serves to remind me that I am free from sin, but I am still prone to it. I am still prone to hatred, I am still prone to greed, and I am still prone to pride. I will never fully arrive in this life, but I can take heart knowing that I am being transformed from one degree of glory to the next.
I am thankful for God's gracious revelation to me and I will need to take the time to ponder over specific areas of my life that need attention. I know as I become more aware of my own lostness and need for God, I will become more compassionate and loving towards a culture that desperately needs to be saved because I am growing in my love for God.
I encourage you to partake in this self-examination as well. Whatever verses you use to examine the world, would you allow them to examine your own heart first? What would begin to happen in us if we spent more time examining ourselves instead of condemning the world around us? What would happen in the Church if we spent more time reflecting over our own need for the Gospel instead of pointing out the sins of the world? Would we see the people around us as enemies of the Church or people who need to be rescued from the same condition that God has rescued us from? Would we see that the real war is not against culture, but Satan and the sin that still remains in us? What shifts would begin to happen in culture if they saw the Church admit her own need for Jesus and confess her sins? Only God truly knows and time will reveal this to us, but may we begin to use the Word to do what it was meant to do, to shape us and transform us into the likeness of Christ.
Dear Christian, I believe that as we submit ourselves to this process, that we will see our anxiety and fears over our culture dissipate because we are trusting in the One who can truly deal with the problems of the world. By doing so, this frees us up to demonstrate God's love and compassion towards a world who desperately needs Jesus as their Saviour and King.
I encourage you to partake in this self-examination as well. Whatever verses you use to examine the world, would you allow them to examine your own heart first? What would begin to happen in us if we spent more time examining ourselves instead of condemning the world around us? What would happen in the Church if we spent more time reflecting over our own need for the Gospel instead of pointing out the sins of the world? Would we see the people around us as enemies of the Church or people who need to be rescued from the same condition that God has rescued us from? Would we see that the real war is not against culture, but Satan and the sin that still remains in us? What shifts would begin to happen in culture if they saw the Church admit her own need for Jesus and confess her sins? Only God truly knows and time will reveal this to us, but may we begin to use the Word to do what it was meant to do, to shape us and transform us into the likeness of Christ.
Dear Christian, I believe that as we submit ourselves to this process, that we will see our anxiety and fears over our culture dissipate because we are trusting in the One who can truly deal with the problems of the world. By doing so, this frees us up to demonstrate God's love and compassion towards a world who desperately needs Jesus as their Saviour and King.
Comments
Post a Comment