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If You Play With Fire…

Things That Can Burn Us Beyond Remedy

THE BIG IDEA: “Adultery will reduce you to a loaf of bread; sexual indiscretion will prey upon your very life,” according to Proverbs 6:26. In other words, you mess around with sexual immorality (or any immorality for that matter), you’re toast! God never intended for our sexual needs to be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Our brain was meant to occupy that position, and our moral core was meant to be our navigator.

If You Play With Fire - Ray Noah

Meditation // Proverbs 6:27

Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

“If you play with fire, you’re going to get burned!” That’s what my father used to say to me, and I’m sure his father said to him, and his father said to him. The reason fathers the world over have to say that is that it seems there is just an innate curiosity little boys seem to have with fire. I’m sure even before matches were invented, back when man lived in caves, wore animal skins and first discovered fire, some troglodyte dad was telling his son, “Trog, you poke fire with stick, you get bad burn!”

Okay, maybe it didn’t happen quite that way, but around 3,000 years ago Solomon mused in Proverbs 6:27, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?” Of course, Solomon’s point is that what is true of physical fire is also true in the spiritual realm—we’re drawn to the very things that can burn us beyond remedy. This chapter in Proverbs mentions three of the biggies:

An unspiritual pursuit of wealth: Specifically, Proverbs 6:1-5 warns us about one of the riskiest, and therefore worst kinds of financial transactions of all: entering into a business partnership without prayerful and careful planning. Solomon doesn’t care whether the business opportunity has great potential or not, he just says agreeing to it apart from God’s wisdom is the height of foolishness. This is particularly true if the business deal is a get rich quick scheme, which seems to be the implication here.

If you’ve entered into a deal without doing due spiritual diligence, chances are, you’re going to get yourself burned! The wisest thing you could do would be to quickly and graciously extract yourself from your foolish partnership and chalk it up to a lesson learned the hard way.

If you’ve gone into hock with your neighbor or locked yourself into a deal with a stranger…Don’t waste a minute, get yourself out of that mess!

An irresponsible approach to success: Perhaps the most common way we play with fire is by rejecting the common sense approach to work and wealth that simply rolls up its sleeves, sees the responsibilities before it, doesn’t over-think what needs to be done, just seizes the day and gets after it.

Solomon describes this approach to life in Proverbs 6:6-11 by illustrating the work ethic, of all things, the ubiquitous ant. More success stories are birthed from the ant’s I-work-hard-for-the-money life philosophy than any other. Far too many people in our day, lured by lust for quick fame and easy fortune, are waiting for their ship to come in. The problem is, they’ve never put their ship out to sea. God will reward you with the good life, but he expects you to get up in the morning, grab your lunch pail, put on your hard hat, and get to work!

A day off here, a day off there, sit back and take it easy—Do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life!

An uncontrolled sexual appetite: Need I say more? Solomon knew from first-hand experience what we have observed in the lives of countless high-profile people—men and women—in our lifetime who have crashed once promising careers and have burned sterling reputations by allowing their sexual drives to do just that: Drive their behavior.

God never intended for our sexual needs to be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Our brain was meant to occupy that position, and our moral core was meant to be our navigator. As strong as our sexual drive is and as susceptible as it is to temptation, just mark this down: If you give in to your sexual desires apart from God’s plan for sexual satisfaction within marriage, you’re toast, man! That’s what Proverbs 6:26 says,

The adulteress will reduce you to a loaf of bread, sexual indiscretion will prey upon your very life.

Well, there you have it. You keep poking your stick in those three fires, and eventually, you’re going to get burned. There’s nothing really profound about Solomon’s teaching here; he’s just telling it like it is. And like that little ant in verses 6-8, which doesn’t need anyone to help it discover the deeper, hidden meaning of life, neither do you. The ant just does the right thing. I hope you will, too!

Now, as someone famous has said, go do the right thing.

What Now Think carefully about this and answer honestly: Are you playing with fire by the unspiritual pursuit of wealth, an irresponsible approach to success, or an uncontrolled sexual appetite? Being truthful and accountable in these three areas may mean the difference between a blessed or a cursed life.

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Taking Care of God’s House

Getting Zealous For Your Church

THE BIG IDEA: We live in a day when passion for the physical house of God is downplayed. For many, it is downright unimportant. Now there are some good reasons for focusing on the spiritual house of God over the physical, but still, if the literal house of God was important to King David, and the Son of David, King Jesus, should we have a little passion for the physical house of God, too—or a lot.

Taking Care of God’s House - Ray Noah

Meditation // Psalm 132:3-5

I will not enter my house or go to my bed—I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.

David had a passion for the house of God. He couldn’t tolerate the thought that as king, he would be able to build himself an unbelievably opulent palace while God’s dwelling was just a simple tent, the tabernacle, that had been used since the days of the exodus.

Then there was the time David publicly danced with delight as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem to its resting place at the tabernacle. (2 Samuel 6:14) The king’s public display of affection for that which represented the Divine Presence was so extreme that his watching wife despised David for it. But David didn’t care because he was passionate about the house of God.

David wanted desperately to build God a permanent structure—a temple. He knew God deserved the best. So he located property for the building, but rather than throwing his royal weight around to get a good deal for it, he insisted on paying full price. David wasn’t into immanent domain apparently, like too many politicians today. He said, “I won’t offer the Lord something that has cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24) David had a passion for the house of God.

God had other plans, however, and told David that it would be his son, Solomon, who would build the temple. So what did David do? He set about to make all the preparations for construction in order for Solomon to have a good head start when he was inaugurated as Israel’s king. (1 Chronicles 22:5) David was passionate for God’s house.

The Son of David, Jesus, was passionate about God’s house, too. Although he predicted that not one stone of it would be left upon another because of God’s judgment against the impure worship that took place there (Matthew 24:2), he did his best to bring purity to it. He drove the moneychangers from the temple—and not with gentle persuasion either. He made whips—and used them. He overturned the tables they had used to carry out their shady commerce. With an illustrated sermon that no one would ever forget, Jesus cleansed the temple. (John 2:13-16) Jesus was passionate about the house of God!

Of both David (Psalm 69:9) and Jesus (John 2:17), the Word of God says, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Saint Augustine aptly captured the reason for that zeal,

In the house of God there is never ending festival; the angel choir makes eternal holiday; the presence of God’s face gives joy that never fails.

We live in a day when passion for the physical house of God is downplayed. For many, it is downright unimportant. Now there are some good reasons for focusing on the spiritual house of God over the physical, but still, if the literal house of God was important to King David, and the Son of David, King Jesus, should we have a little passion for the physical house of God, too—or a lot.

So how about you? I’m not suggesting you take a whip to worship with you next weekend, but what I do hope for is that the same zeal for God’s house that consumed David and the Son of David will consume you. Me, too!

What Now: Take some time this weekend while you are at your church to acknowledge before God that it is his house. Then thank him for it, because many believers around the world don’t have what your spiritual family has—a physical place to worship. And many believers don’t have the freedom to show up for worship without the threat of persecution, or even death, for simply worshipping Jesus. Finally, ask God to give you zeal for his house.

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Two-Faced People

God Is Not Happy With Them

THE BIG IDEA: There is an all-to-large category of people in every church whose behavior, by and large, we excuse. However, God doesn’t. He doesn’t find them acceptable; they and the unseen attitude of their hearts he finds deplorable. They are the kind of people who will say one thing to your face but say another thing behind your back. Even worse to God than what they say about you is what they think about you in their hearts. The psalmist says they speak peace when they are in front of you, but even before you turn away from them, their minds are flooded with ill will toward you. We might say they are two-faced. The Bible calls them hypocrites. And while we pretty much excuse their behavior and accept their ways in our culture, there is One who doesn’t!

Two Faced People - Ray Noah

Meditation // Psalm 28:3

Do not take me away with the wicked, and with workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts.

There is a far too large category of people whose behavior, by and large we excuse. However, God doesn’t. He doesn’t find them acceptable; they and the unseen attitude of their hearts he finds deplorable. They are the kind of people who will say one thing to your face, but say another thing behind your back. And even worse to God than what they say about you is what they think about you in their hearts. The psalmist says they speak peace when they are in front of you, but even before you turn away from them, their minds are flooded with ill will toward you.

We might say they are two-faced. The Bible calls them hypocrites. And though we pretty much excuse their behavior and accept their ways in our culture, there is One who doesn’t! God’s righteous gaze cuts right through the syrupy surface of their lives with utter moral clarity and labels the wickedness of their hypocritical hearts, calling them what they truly are: Workers of iniquity.

Now I realize that at this point in your reading you might be thinking this is anything but an encouraging little devotional thought for the day. And truthfully, it is not. Rather, this is an exhortation. And the exhortation I have for you is twofold:

One, it is most likely that you will rub shoulders today with the kind of people David describes in this psalm. Be careful of them. Discern their hypocritical hearts and don’t be tainted by their iniquitous ways. If you allow them into your inner circle, they will ensnare you. So be careful.

And two, don’t be one of them. It is so easy to fall into this kind of two-faced living. Ask God to keep you from hypocrisy. Don’t fall into the pattern of saying one thing but thinking another in your heart. Ask God for integrity of word and thought.

That’s what David prayed: Keep me from them and keep me from being one of them. Hope you will pray that too!

What Now? Why don’t you put that prayer into your own words and lift it to God every day this week?

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Tears in a Bottle

Spilled Tears Are God's Reminder That He Cares

THE BIG IDEA: What is it that is making you cry today? A heart broken by a fractured relationship? A dashed hope or the death of a dream? A failed family? A personal sin? The consequences of a past mistake that continues to haunt you? What is it that is making you feel such deep sadness? Entrust those tears to God. And let the very next tear that fills your eyes and spills down your cheek be a reminder that your tears never really just dry up and fade into a painful memory, they go right into the bottle of that One who truly cares!

Tears in a Bottle - Ray Noah

Meditation // Psalm 56:8

You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Aren’t tears a mysterious part of what it means to be human? It is strange that we have the capacity to cry—to expel water from our eyes when we are sad. It seems to serve no real purpose—although science can explain the physiological “why” and mental health experts can explain the psychological “why”.

That still leaves the question of “why” tears—why were we created with that capacity?

Perhaps this psalm provides a clue. Maybe they are to remind us that God cares about the things that make us sad enough to shed tears. So much does he bear our sorrow that he collects our tears in a bottle, as the New Living Translation says, or as other versions put it, “he records them in his ledger.” In other words, God takes note—implying that he is not only aware of our sadness, but he will not forget it.

What is it that is making you cry today? A heart broken by a fractured relationship? A dashed hope or the death of a dream? A failed family? A personal sin? The consequences of a past mistake that continues to haunt you? What is it that you feel such deep sadness over?

It is likely that no one truly knows the depth of what you are feeling right now. Maybe no one will ever see those tears that have rolled down your cheek—and the intense hurt that caused them. Even if they do see your tears, how sad it is that long before your pain is healed, people will forget and move on.

But there is One who sees…and One who cares…and One who never forgets…and One who will never move on! And He wants you to know that, my friend. And that One, your Heavenly Father, simply asks you to take comfort in His compassion for you:

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:13)

And that compassionate, loving Heavenly Father likewise asks you to place your trust in him. In fact, so strongly does he desire your trust, that he extends the invitation twice in Psalm 56 just to make sure you really know his heart for you:

In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 56:4,10-11)

I hope you will do that. Entrust those tears to God. And let the very next tear that fills your eyes and spills down your cheek be a reminder that your tears never really just dry up and fade into a painful memory, they go right into the bottle of that One who truly cares!

What Now: What is it that is making you cry today? A heart broken by a fractured relationship? A dashed hope or the death of a dream? A failed family? A personal sin? The consequences of a past mistake that continues to haunt you? What is it that you feel such deep sadness over? Why no other human being may know how deeply you feel, or if they do know, they may not care all that much, just remember, there is One who is collecting those tears as you lift your brokenness to him.

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The End

Try Living With the End in View

THE BIG IDEA: What if you lived every day with the end in view? What if you fast-forwarded your life story tape to the end, to that day when another will stand before a crowd at a memorial service to eulogize your days on earth? What if you transported in your mind to that day in the end of all ends when you stand before God to give account for the breath of life He’d loaned you for the 70, 80, or 90 years of your earthly pilgrimage? What you want said of you at the end by another person and more importantly by God means that you’ve got to rewind the tape to the present and begin now to live with the end in view! You see, the end is nothing more than a compilation of the motives, thoughts, attitudes, habits, words, and actions that have issued from your head, heart, and hands moment by moment throughout all the days of your life.

The End - Ray Noah

Meditation // Proverbs 14:1

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

The end! Hate to break this to you, but it’s coming faster than you think!

So, what if you lived every day of your life with the end in view? What if you fast-forwarded your life story tape to the end, to that day when another will stand before a crowd at a memorial service to eulogize your days on earth? What if you transported in your mind to that awesome and fearful day in the end of all ends, when you, along with all mankind, stand before the Righteous Judge to give account for the breath of life he’d loaned you in this life?

What you want said of you then, at the end, by man, and more importantly, by God, means that you’ve got to back the tape back up to the present and begin to live that way now—to live with the end in view!

What do you hope will be said of you then—in the end?

Here’s the thing, my friend: What you want said of you then, at the end, by man, and more importantly, by God, means that you’ve got to back the tape back up to the present and begin to live that way now—to live with the end in view! The end is nothing more than a compilation of the motives, thoughts, attitudes, habits, words, and actions that have issued from your head, heart, and hands moment by moment throughout all the days of your life. They add up. They count. They form a pattern. They create the trend that is your life. They tell your story. So be careful with the material you give them, because it will come out in the end.

Yes—there is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it produces only death. On the other hand, there is a way that is right—right in the sight of God—and in the end, it leads to life.

We’re all headed for the end, that’s for sure, so let’s just make sure the reputation that gets there ahead of us will be celebrated by both God and man.

Endings are better than beginnings. Sticking to it is better than standing out. (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

The end!

What Now If you knew that you had exactly one week to live, what would be the first five things you would put on your “To Do” list? Why not go ahead and do them?

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Of Filthy Rags And Transformed Hearts

My Hope is Built on Nothing Less than Jesus’ Blood and Righteousness

THE BIG IDEA: Relax about trying to be righteous and morally perfect! Jesus did it for you. God accepts Christ’s efforts on your behalf as good enough, so you don’t have to be good enough. All you have to do is accept it, believe it, and conform your life to it!

Of Filthy Rags And Transformed Hearts - Ray Noah

Meditation // Romans 10:9-10

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

You cannot be saved by your good works. Period! No matter how hard you try, your “good” is not good enough for the perfectly holy and completely righteous God. Nor can you be saved through an alternative, less stringent means, for only through God is eternal salvation possible.

Moreover, you cannot be saved by your moral perfection—no matter how moral you are or how close to moral you get. As the Old Testament prophet Isaiah pointed out, your righteousness is about as good as a “snot rag”. (Isaiah 64:6). I have actually cleaned that up a bit, because the Hebrew words for filthy rags, ukabeged ehdim, literally means, “like as rags of menstruation.”

Sorry if that disgusts you, but it’s Scripture—so blame Isaiah. The point is, both our acts of righteousness, and the quality of righteousness that we hope they produce, are disgusting to God. So if you are disgusted by Isaiah’s language, think of how God is repulsed by our efforts to get him to save us.

So what hope is there for our salvation? Well, no hope resides within us. None whatsoever. Ephesians 2:1 says “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” All a dead person can do is lay there and be dead, let alone try to be righteous before God.

No, our righteousness—and let’s be clear, we do have to be righteous to be acceptable to God—comes from Christ alone. You see, God sent his Son to die on the cross—hanging there as our sin—in order to pay the just punishment for sin that we deserved. That is our only hope, that Jesus became sin—our sin—and in so doing, he likewise became our righteousness. II Corinthians 5:21 says it well,

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

How dishonoring to God’s grace and Christ’s atonement when we therefore try to save ourselves by our acts of righteousness and our efforts at moral perfection. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we will discover salvation by grace along through faith, as Paul spoke about in in Philippians 3:8-9,

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them [our best efforts] rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

It is only through the power of Christ’s resurrection and our death to self (Philippians 3:10-11) that our heart—the core of who we are, that which represents every fiber of our existence—will get transformed. And it is out of a transformed heart, and only that, that our tongue can confess Jesus is Lord.

Then, and only then, are we saved.

So relax about trying to be righteous and morally perfect! Jesus did it for you. God accepts Christ’s efforts on your behalf as good enough, so you don’t have to be good enough. All you have to do is accept it, believe it, and conform your life to it!

What Now? Try memorizing and meditating on Romans 10:1-21 each day this week: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

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My Days Are Numbered

The Opera Ain’t Over … Till God Says It’s Over

THE BIG IDEA: God planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander, will keep me safe until the numbers of days ordained he has ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me. My life will be over when he says it’s over!

My days are numbered - Ray Noah Blog

Meditation // Psalm 139:16

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How many days do I have left? I don’t know. No one does, except God. He knows the exact number of years, days, hours and seconds that I will occupy my address on Planet Earth; the exact moment that my death will occurs.

Now that may not seem like a cheery thought to you, and in fact, most people would find that sobering, at best, and frightening, at worst. Not me. I find great comfort and security in knowing that God has my life so ordered that I will neither die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what has already been recorded in his book. You see, life and death are far above my pay grade, so I will happily let Father God take care of that department, thank you very much.

So if I truly and correctly understand this profound truth, then I am freed from the fear of death to fully live the life that God has planned for me. I can enjoy an intimate walk with the One

  • Who was intimately involved in each minor detail of my day (Psalm 139:1-4)
  • Who never lets me out of his sight (Psalm 139:5-8)
  • Who guides my every move with his Fatherly hand (Psalm 139:9-10)
  • Who is not limited by my circumstances (Psalm 139:11-12).

In fact, God is so involved in my life that he was even there at the moment my mother and father conceived me in love, and he superintended even the most infinitesimal details my physiological and temperamental formation.

God knows me! He knows everything about me. He planned me, built me, watches over me, can steer me back on track when I wander from his purpose (Psalm 139:23-24), can be completely trusted to keep me safe until the Divinely allotted numbers of days ordained for me are up, and then take me to the next life that he has prepared for me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand (Psalm 139:6, NLT), but it won’t keep me from enjoying this day and praising the One who is in charge of it!

What Now?:Throughout the day, declare, “God is in charge of me!” Then live like it’s true—because it is!