A Dangerou Freedom

 

Monday, November 15, 2021

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.  There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.  For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.  For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge.  I will pay them back.”  He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  Hebrews 10:26-31

Ambivalence, that love-hate relationship of indecision and constant companion of procrastinators like me, is alive and annoying in the mind of Paul, as he holds up the most unsettling of truths for the followers of Christ – we have free will!

There is something deep within each of us crying-out to be free, yet recognizes the consequence of that freedom requires us to walk a dangerous line between the selfishness of doing what pleases us, as opposed to living obediently to another’s choices…namely our Creator’s will. 

The most dangerous place on the planet has nothing to do with war, global warming, or crossing a counter-punching ex-president; the most dangerous place on planet earth is between your own ears.  That’s so because in the recesses of our free will we make choices that have earthly consequence in the here and now, but also eternal consequence in the heavenly realms.  Free will is a dangerous freedom!

The consequence of sinning, deliberately choosing our own way in place of what God requires (doing what is right, loving mercy, walking humbly with God[1]) is judgment by our Creator.  That consequence is seen abundantly enough in Scripture to drive us to God’s mercy.  Yet we are prone, like the prophet Jonah, to hop a ride to the opposite direction.  We are running, but, as King David discovered – there is no place to hide.  In Noah’s day the freedom to choose devolved from any semblance of godliness until the only “salvageable” family left on the face of the earth was Noah’s.  God closed the door on the ark and drowned everything else with a flood of judgment.

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God is Paul’s final comment in today’s text; it makes my heart skip a beat, because I know it is true, and I stand as a fragile sinner before God just like anyone else.  Unlike the thinking of a favorite uncle of mine who used to tease me about getting a special sin discount because I preach on Sundays, I know my will is God’s biggest gift to me, and my own worst enemy.  My choices – my ways – are entirely selfish and my heart is as the poet Robert Robinson wrote it: 

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it —
Prone to leave the God I love;[2]

And so this dangerous freedom, cradled in the unstable will of this human man, is the one thing that drives me to the forgiveness of God – this prone to wander heart understands grace is the only thing that pulls me back.

For You Today

So…are you prone to wander into your free will’s selfishness like me?  Let God’s forgiving grace pull you back.  It’s what called you to Him in the first place.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this theme see I Believe in Me - Nov 23, 2018

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[1] See Micah 6:8

[2] Robert Robinson, 1758

 

Falling Into the Hands of the Living God

[1]

Monday, November 19, 2018

Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.  There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies.  For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.  For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge.  I will pay them back.”  He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.”  It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  Hebrews 10:26-31(NLT)

Most pastors I know have favorite passages of Scripture they love to preach.  We love to preach about how God loves the entire world, how everyone is welcome at the table.  We love to preach about Heaven and reunion with loved ones. 

And then there’s this passage … sinning past forgiveness … raging fire of judgment … trampling on the Son of God … falling into the vengeful hands of Almighty God.  It’s a message no pastor wants to preach, and which no congregation wants to hear.  But there it is, nonetheless!  And if a preacher would hide this message, stuff it away in some bin of stuff to be dealt with later, that so-called minister is as bad as a parent who wouldn’t snatch his child off the railroad tracks, or out of traffic.

This past Thursday’s local news[2] told of a Greensboro man who was supposed to be watching his three-year-old son while his wife was at work.  He fell asleep and the boy wandered out in the cold.  The father was arrested and charged with child abuse.

If a man who treats the physical life and emotional well-being of a child, his own child, as recklessly as that is despicable, what is a pastor who doesn’t tell people the truth about eternity … about the danger of wandering with their souls in darkness?

The writer of Hebrews was never in danger of being contacted by Hallmark to use his story for one of their feel-good movies, but this is a message the world can hardly afford to miss; it takes the feel-good passage of John 3:16 where God so-loves all of us, that he gave his only son to die in our place … and follows up with this message that, since you’ve accepted that truth, been forgiven, and welcomed into God’s family, you’d better follow-up and live like it – or there will be dire consequences.

Now, that may sound like a wide-eyed, furious threat, but it is simply a well-reasoned, loving caution, a warning from common sense that says when you bear the family name it is expected that you will behave like you are really a member of the family!

Friends, there is no other way to put this; God’s forgiveness is durable, and when He forgives you, it is forever!  But that does not mean you cannot willingly turn your back on that forgiveness, trample on God’s gift of salvation, and offend God.  Frankly, no human being owns that kind of Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card! 

The reason why I get up early every day to write this devotion is to remind any of us who want to be helped, that, while we can never repay God for the free gift of salvation, we do have a responsibility to live in gratitude for such a magnificent gift.

Nobody really wanted our dogs, Wellie and Gracie.  We adopted them into our home, and they get free room and board.  They are bathed, fed, protected, played-with, and cost millions of dollars at the vet each year.  Neither of them writes us thank-you notes or worships the ground we walk on.  But every day we see expressions of happiness, love and joy as we live together.  They engage with the Brownworth household, and act like they’re family.                        

Sometimes I think my dogs know how to respond to love much better than I do.

For You Today

So … the reminder every pastor dreads having to give:  if you’re a believer, don’t grieve the Spirit, or trample on the blood of Christ; He is a living God whose anger is fierce and final!

Rather, go close, stay in love with the Lord and His people.  That is the way to fall into the hands of a loving God!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] WXII 12 News:  Father of son found wandering alone near Greensboro apartment complex charged with child abuse