February 14, 2011

Comments (5)

  • What fruit is there of actual likeness to God in you?

    The Word says to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith, but I don't know how to look in myself for fruit of the actual likeness of God.  I'm afraid that my assessment of myself will be prejudiced either for or against.  How could I be objective about this?   I wonder how far God would go in encouraging me to think either highly or lowly of myself.   Maybe all of this is a sign that He still is working in me to do His good will?   How do you answer the question for yourself?

  • @quest4god@revelife - These are some great questions! And I agree w/ you that we can't be objective, and the fact that you're saying this IS a good thing and IS His work in you.

    I do think those verses M'Cheyne referenced serve to point us in the right direction:

    Psalm 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

    His Spirit has to do this work of examination (~ Heb. 4). Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. We do need to continue to examine ourselves rightly. It's a fine line b/c we don't want to dwell obsessively on our sin and be hopeless and discouraged and never moving on, on the other hand we don't want to tell ourselves "Peace, peace" too soon right as we've discovered sin, to patch over it w/ that untempered mortar and not rightly grieve it and see how it's grieved the heart of God. And of course, we have to keep being humbled so we acknowledge that any fruit and any good works are none of us and all of Him, all to His glory alone. That's where our Father's loving discipline comes into effect.

  • @naphtali_deer - I'm still on the "personal" examination aspect here.  I can see the value of basic examination of our faith as in 2 Cor 13:5, and reflection on our daily walk in 1 Cor 11:28, usually read as preparatory to receiving the Lord's supper.   And further, in the Catholic Church we would walk the via dolorosa, meditating on the final walk of Christ to the cross and His suffering on the way as well as on the cross.  And some of my most favorite hymns deal with the cross: In Christ Alone, How Deep the Father's Love For  Us, Near the Cross, And Can It Be, and many, many more.

    But there is a great deal of evidence that our Lord wants us to know that our sins are perfectly dealt with and no longer a barrier to our relationship with Him - they are remembered no more...Lest I sound stony-hearted, I almost hesitate to say that all of our sins nailed to the cross and borne by Him had been future since we had not yet walked this earth at that time. 

     I can see that I have grieved over sins dealt with popping up time after time ( and no sin is a SMALL sin) which I count as my having grieved the Holy Spirit.

    So my question still remains: what has greater value to God - my constant recognition of sin in me or my thankfulness and faith that it has all been atoned for?  Maybe there is no "greater" or "lesser."  I suppose my asking this places me in some doctrinal category, but to me it's just where I am.

  • @quest4god@revelife - We can't allow ourselves to get away with a sterile type of reflection and/or a cursory examination, e.g. - those checklists which often focus on the externals or an examination which stops w/ our comparing ourselves to other men rather than to the holiness of God and the character of Christ. This must be a deep and true examination that comes from the Spirit only and goes to the depth of our hearts, to our inmost being. Most of us aren't that "bad," and so we can do the checklists and most often pass them fairly well, but it's when the Spirit works in conjunction w/ the Word of God to reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart, those deep things, when we say, "Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me," when we open ourselves up completely, that's the type of examination we must all undergo. If we don't do that, we won't be able to be led in the way everlasting. We won't really thrive unless we are in that everlasting way. And we can't get to that everlasting way without this type of examination. We must come into the light. This lack of self-examination has left the church wanting in many places today.

    And we can't forget that our sin problem goes beyond our individual sins to that fact that we were shapen in iniquity, we were sinners from the womb, estranged from the womb, our minds were enmity with God. Our whole nature is corrupt to the core, and we have no way to be holy apart from the grace of God at work in us.

    Christ died to take away sin and was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. If our sin doesn't bother us, if our sin doesn't grieve us, if we're not seeking to mortify and to destroy our sin through the Spirit (Rom. 8:13), then we can't say we're of one mind with Christ, and we are grieving and quenching the Spirit b/c the Spirit lives in us make us holy, to cleanse us from sin.

    Borrowing from a good friend, we can't merely say, as many have told him, "It's under the blood," and treat our sin lightly. Each sin is a sin Jesus died for. Each sin is a sin Jesus shed His blood for. Yes, if we are saved, our sin IS under the blood, but the blood is precious! We have been purchased by incorruptible things, bought with that blood so we might be dead to sin and alive to righteousness. So yes, our sin IS covered by the blood, but let us show that we truly treasure the blood and treasure the Savior whose precious blood was shed for our sin and then continue to grieve our sin, to fight against our sin by the Spirit, and to put off the sin that entangles and clings to us.

     Psalm 5:4  For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

    Psalm 139:19  Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. 20  For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. 21  Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22  I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

    It's true God doesn't want believers to be unassured and doubting, and He will grant us that sweet assurance, but alongside that assurance He will also grant us an even greater hatred for our sin. As we see in a greater light His saving work done for us, we can't help but see more of the depth of our sinfulness. And then as we mourn and grieve and confess our sin, we will have an even greater sense of thanksgiving and praise to God and an even greater love for God for His mercy and grace and love and His justifying and sanctifying work for us in Christ. And it will all continue to escalate. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

    (I don't think this does it justice. I have more I would like to post on this eventually.)

  • @quest4god@revelife - P.S. to my last comment ...

    I had also wanted to say that we shouldn't examine ourselves and dig around in such a way to "find" sin in order to make ourselves look or feel more holy, or because we think we should be finding something, or because it will earn us favor with God.

    We shouldn't ever try to work up the broken and contrite heart or repentance, for those are the gifts of God. However, as we do put ourselves into the light of the Word and allow His Spirit to work in us, God will reveal His truth to us and show us our hearts rightly and He will break our hearts and make us contrite and repentant over our sin and sinfulness.

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naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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