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What Makes You Irresistible To God?

Faith That Walks In Trust

SYNOPSIS: Between the journey of faith and the destination of faith—faith obeys. It grits out a determined obedience in a faithful direction, by believing, trusting, and expecting that there is no more important issue in this life than to follow the call and carry out the commands of God. And it does so with great delight—not because it has to obey, but because it wants to serve. As J.R.R. Tolkien said, “In the last resort, faith is an act of will, inspired by love.”

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

What is faith? In its simplest form, it is belief. Yet it is more that mere intellectual assent, because the Bibles tells us, “Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19) Belief is important, but it is only the beginning; belief begins the journey of trust.

Faith that walks in trust says, “I will put my complete confidence in God and his promises—even though I may not see any evidence at this point that those promises will be fulfilled.” In fact, sometimes the evidence even seems contrary to the promises of God. But faith trusts anyway. It is sure that what is hoped for, that is, what God has promised, will come to pass, relying on that certainty as the evidence of faith itself. (Hebrews 11:1) Aquinas wrote,

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand. 

Trusting faith is expectant faith. It believes that God rewards. It believes that at the end of the day, the earnest journey of faith will be met with the eternal joy of God—both the joy that is revealed in the smile of God at our faithfulness (itself, the biggest and best reward of all) and the joy that is felt as the crown of righteousness (along with all the other tangible wonders of eternity awarded in that moment) is placed upon the head of the faithful.

In the meantime—in those steps taken between the journey of faith and the destination of faith—faith obeys. It grits out a long obedience in a faithful direction, believing, trusting, and expecting that there is no more important issue in this life than to follow the call and carry out the commands of God. And it does so with great delight—not because it has to, but because it wants to. As J.R.R. Tolkien said, “In the last resort, faith is an act of will, inspired by love.”

You see, faith, more than anything else, is both focused on and fueled by relationship with Almighty God himself. It is not the results of faith that drives the faithful, it is the relationship experienced along the way that is most important. That is the very heart of Hebrews 11, the greatest chapter in the Bible on the lives of the faithful. None of them saw God’s promise tangibly fulfilled in this life, but they were commended for their faith because they kept a penetrating focus on the next world as the real object of their journey. (Hebrews 11:13, 39-40) That is why God was pleased with them. (Hebrews 11:16)

You, too, can join that illustrious list of God-pleasers if you will live by faith—believing, trusting, expectant, obedient, God-focused faith.

He finds that irresistible!

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. ~Thomas Aquinas

Reflect & Apply:If it is impossible to please God without faith, then the most important investment of your life’s energies and resources will be in nurturing your faith. Not always an easy task, but a worthy one. Take a moment to consider what Gordon McDonald wrote about faith: “To trust in spite of the look of being forsaken, to keep crying out into the vast, whence comes no returning voice, and where seems no hearing; to see the machinery of the world pauselessly grinding on as if self-moved, caring for no life, nor shifting a hairbreadth for all entreaty, and yet believe that God is awake and utterly loving; to desire nothing but what comes meant for us from His hand; to wait patiently, ready to die of hunger, fearing only lest faith should fail—such is the victory that overcomes the world, such is faith indeed.”

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God Is Watching

So Be Careful Child Of God What You Do

SYNOPSIS: God is watching, not just over the big issues of how we treat one another, but even in the smaller ways that we might take advantage of our neighbors, or short change our customers, or do something because we can get away with it, or go light on a violation because it is a victimless crime. No matter how minor it seems to us, it is a big deal in God’s eyes. He is watching, and he cares because justice at levels big and small, seen and unseen represent his immutable character as well as his ideals for his people. We would do well to remember this: God is watching. That is not so much a threat; that is a comfort!

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 19:14

When you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession, you must never steal anyone’s land by moving the boundary markers your ancestors set up to mark their property.

When I was little, we would sing a song in Sunday School called, O Be Careful Little Eyes. The song taught that we were not only to take care what our eyes saw, but what our ears heard, what our mouths said, where our feet went, and what our hands did:

O be careful little hands what you do
O be careful little hands what you do
There’s a Father up above
And He’s looking down in love
So, be careful little hands what you do

The lesson of the song was clear: a loving God was watching us at all times and he was quite concerned that we always did the right thing. Good theology could be found in those lyrics: God is loving, God is Father, God is omniscient, God is omnipresent, and God is just. All true, and we would do well to remember each piece of that theology, even as adults.

When we come to Deuteronomy 19, we find that God is expressing the same concern for the children of Israel. He is quite determined that when they come into the land of promise, his justice would be represented in their legal system:

  • Cities of refuge were to be established: Deuteronomy 19:1-3
  • A process was to be set up for adjudicating both manslaughter and murder: Deuteronomy 19:4-5, 11-13
  • Rules for the evidence needed for a conviction were to be followed: Deuteronomy 19:15
  • Protocols for witnesses to a crime were to be obeyed: Deuteronomy 19:16-17
  • Procedures for judges were to be defined: Deuteronomy 19:18
  • Sentencing guidelines were to be definite: Deuteronomy 19:19-21

And in the middle of those very serious legal protocols, there is another rule issued that seems a bit out of place because it doesn’t seem to be at the same level of intensity as the others: the honoring of boundary lines (Deuteronomy 19:14). By comparison, this might seem to us to fall into the category of a petty crime. We might be tempted to adjudicate it as a “white collar crime.” We might give in to going a little easier on the violator in this particular case.

But even though this crime didn’t leave a dead body, and while it was done out of the view of witnesses, and most likely would have no physical evidence—just a property owner’s word against the accused, since land surveys were not available in those days—we should not miss this cogent fact: this was an act that God had witnessed. And it was a big deal to him.

The point being that God is watching, not just over the big issues of how we treat one another, but even in the smaller ways that we might take advantage of our neighbors, or short change our customers, or do something because we can get away with it, or go light on a violation because it is a victimless crime.

Not in God’s eyes. He is watching, and he cares because justice at levels big and small, seen and unseen represents his immutable character as well as his ideals for his people. That was true for the Israelites, and that is true for us. We would do well to remember,

There’s a Father up above
And He’s looking down in love
So, be careful little child what you do!

God is watching. That is not a threat; that is a comfort!

Going Deeper: Are there any areas of moral compromise in your life—even in little things? God cares, and he will reward our every effort to bring what might seem like things that are no big deal under his loving rulership.

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God Is Your Prized Possession

There Is No Better Inheritance

SYNOPSIS: Like the Levites, the Apostle Peter declares that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9) That’s a pretty big deal: we are God’s prized possession—and God is ours! And there is no better inheritance in this life, and in the next, than in God choosing us to intermediate his holy presence. I’m not sure we have the capacity to grasp that glorious calling, but I think it would be worth meditating on what God has done by his grace in choosing us for that role.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 18:2,5

The Levites will have no land of their own among the Israelites. The Lord himself is their special possession, just as he promised them…. For the Lord your God chose the tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever.

There were twelve tribes in Israel, each the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons. Eleven of those tribes were given land as their inheritance. When they entered the Promised Land, God specifically assigned them territory that would be theirs in perpetuity. But there was one tribe that didn’t receive any land—and land ownership was a very big deal in ancient Israel, even more important than land ownership is today. One tribe was singled out for no inheritance of property: the tribe of Levi.

Now that might seem a bit unfair, or a lot. Yet they were given a better inheritance. Not better from the perspective of the carnal mind, but better from the true perspective of heaven. They were given the Lord himself. God had singled out one tribe, the Levites, as his own prized possession in a nation that was singled out from the rest of the world as his prized people. So the Levites were the prized of the prized.

God chose them for the ministry of worship because they had defended his holiness at great risk to themselves during a times of national rebellion. For their costly sacrifice, God set them apart for the sacred duty of ministering the tabernacle sacraments; for set up, breaking down and moving the holy furnishings from place to place; and for intermediating the rest of Israel’s sacrifices to the Lord their God. The Levites were a very special bunch indeed, both in God’s sight and in the eyes of the rest of Israel.

They had no land, but they had God. They had no earthly inheritance, but they had God. They had no other possession, but they had a prized possession to a degree that no one else had—they had the Lord God himself as their ever-present and eternal reward. I am sure that we don’t fully appreciate what that meant in a day and age where we look to the abundance of things and the accumulation of material wealth as the grand prize, but that was a very big deal, indescribably so.

Here is the deal: God is your prized possession, too. Like Israel, you have been set apart as holy unto the Lord; you are distinctly his. But even more so, like the Levites, you have an even greater, more special calling, for you too are set apart as a priest to God. Revelation 1:6 and 5:10, respectively, tell us,

He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

Furthermore, the Apostle Peter taught that like the Levites, and in reality, at even higher new covenant level, you are “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

That is a pretty big deal, my friend. You are God’s prized possession—and God is your prized possession. And there is no better inheritance, in this life and in the next, than being chosen by God to intermediate his holy presence.

I am not sure you and I have the capacity to grasp the blessed reality of that, but I think it would be worth meditating on what God has done by his grace in choosing us for that role.

Going Deeper: Memorize 1 Peter 2:9 this week. Then mediate on what that means for you. Finally, offer up prayers of gratitude to God for offering himself as your prize possession and eternal inheritance.

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The Powerful Word

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

SYNOPSIS: The gospel is the power of God that saves us—past, present and future. For that reasons, not only should we not be ashamed of it, but  we should be actively and even aggressively enthusiastic about it. Why wouldn’t we be? It is the only hope for humanity—which means on a more personal and practical level, it is the only hope for your unsaved loved ones, the people you work with, go to school with and those who live next door to you. It is the only hope for real people you really care about. The Good News, written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is now waiting to be expressed through your lips and by your life.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

I echo Paul’s words: I am not ashamed of the Gospel! Why should I be? It is the very power of Almighty God to transform a life for all eternity. The Good News—written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is what saves us.

The Good News saves us in the sense that we are rescued from our sins and brought into the forever family of God. We commonly refer to that as salvation; being born again. The Good News also saves us in the sense that day-by-day in this present life, we are being transformed by it into the very likeness of Jesus Christ. That is what we refer to as progressive holiness. And the Good News saves us in the sense that when this earthly journey is complete and we stand before Almighty God, we will be welcomed into the eternal kingdom. That, of course, we longingly refer to as our ultimate and final redemption.

For those reasons, not only I should not be ashamed of the Gospel—and neither should you—but you and I should be actively, even aggressively, enthusiastic about it. Again, why wouldn’t we be? It is the only hope for mankind—which means on a more personal and practical level, it is the only hope for your unsaved loved ones, the people you work with, go to school with and those who live next door to you. It is the only hope for real people you care a great deal for.

The Good News, written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is now waiting to be expressed through your lips and by your life. Other than its proclamation by preachers, that is the most compelling way it gets proclaimed these days—exemplified in word and deed through you. So let’s quit keeping the Good News to ourselves and begin looking for opportunities to slip it into our conversations at every chance we get.

I like how Eugene Peterson translates Romans 1:16-19 in The Message:

It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

The Good News really is good news—and it’s powerful. So proudly proclaim it today! You will be glad you did—and someone who might hear and respond to it will be even more glad you did!

“This is the new evangelism we need. It is not better methods, but better men and women who know their Redeemer from personal experience…who see his vision and feel his passion for the world…who want only for Christ to produce his life in and through them according to his own good pleasure.” ~Robert E. Coleman

Reflect & Apply: Lynn Thomas wrote, “I’ve often thought the first class we should teach on evangelism should probably be, ‘How to Make New Friends.’” Perhaps establishing some new “redemptive” friendships could be your first step toward a more evangelistic life.

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Permissible vs. Blessable

It's Best To Ask, "What Does God Want?"

SYNOPSIS: God may give us what we want, but what he gives and what we want do not guarantee it will be for our best. What is permissible is not always blessable. Rather, we should always and only seek what God wants, and trust that he will then take care of what we want.

the Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 17:14-16

You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, “We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.” If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner. The king must not…

“Like the other nations.” That is an oft-repeated commentary on the mindset of the Israelites. In this case, Israel wants a king, against God’s clear warning. And ultimately, God gave them what they wanted, when what they needed was to trust in his God sovereign leadership.

God had pulled the Israelites out of bondage and ignominy among the nations to be their only God, their one true king, and to give them the high honor of being his distinct people—a holy nation set apart for his purpose. But early and often, they would want to crawl back into the pit from which they were dug. “Everyone else is doing it!” was often the basis of their appeal. “We want to be like them.”

Since God knows the end from the beginning, he anticipated the Israelite’s cry for an earthly king. When they settled into the Promised Land as a nation, he knew they would see that all the other nations had a monarch—even though that wasn’t working out too well for the heathen—and Israel would begin to long for what they didn’t have: a king to rule over them.

Four hundred years after Moses, the Israelites rejected the Lord’s desire to be their sole ruler and asked for a king. At the end of the period when the judges ruled Israel, the people came to Samuel with the request:

“Look,” they told Samuel, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.” (1 Samuel 5-9)

God knew way in advance what was in their heart, and in his permissive will, he would accommodate their worldly desire. That brings us to a teachable moment: Sometimes God gives us what we want, but what he gives and what we want do not guarantee it will be for our best. (Psalm 106:15) What is permissible is not always blessable. In Deuteronomy 17, God anticipated their longing for an earthly king and told them when that time came, he would grant the desires of their hearts. However, his provision would be with several important provisos:

One, the king was to be a man the Lord chose. The king was not necessarily to be the obvious, the smartest, the wealthiest or even the guy that would win the popular vote: “be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses.” (Deuteronomy 17:15) God wanted the Israelites to look to him for the leader that he would choose for them. God wanted the people to trust him in the selection.

Two, the king was not to be dependent on human power. He was prohibited from amassing a huge army with overpowering weaponry. He was to trust in God (see Psalm 20:7), not in the arm of flesh: “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’” (Deuteronomy 17:16) God wanted first and foremost the king’s trust.

Three, the king was not to use his royal position to gain sexual satisfaction. As king, he would have all the power, so he could easily leverage it to gratify his fleshly appetites If he did, God warned that this would be his spiritual undoing—the women he took to himself would turn his heart away from God: “The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 16:17) Both David, and especially Solomon, were royal poster boys of unrestrained fleshly desire. God wanted the king to trust him for satisfaction of his every desire.

Four, the king was not to use his position to gain inordinate wealth. Rather, he was to serve God by serving the people, and by doing this, earthly and material blessings would come: “he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.” (Deuteronomy 17:17) The temptation with a king, as with all positions of power, would be to use royal authority to serve self rather than the sheep. Again, the king was to trust in the Lord, not in his position, for material blessing.

Fifth, the king was to lead by God’s law, not human wisdom. When a human being ascends to leadership and the people he leads begin to applaud, like clockwork, ego will rise up and cause his downfall. Israel’s king was to lead by the book—Book of the Law: “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) The king was to trust in the Lord with all his heart and not to lean on his own understanding.

God wanted the king’s trust. He wants your complete trust, too—now and at all times. Does he have it?

Going Deeper: Power, sex, money—those were the three temptations about which God warned the king. How about you? Are you jockeying for position, pursuing pleasure or chasing money to give your life meaning? God will give you what is best for you as you always and wholly trust him. Surrender your fleshly longings to him.

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Our Enjoyment Of God Is A Sacred Calling

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

SYNOPSIS: Six times in the twenty-one verses of Deuteronomy 16, God told his people they were to celebrate. The Lord commanded the Israelites to establish three giant parties on their national calendar in perpetuity to remind them of their call to party. They were to rejoice in God’s past acts of deliverance, offer gratitude for his guiding hand in the current moment, and look forward in anticipation of his promises. They were to laugh. And not just Israel, but according to scripture, our celebration is a sacred calling, too, So come on, celebrate good times!

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 16:16

Each year every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters.

Maybe Kool and the Gang were inspired by Deuteronomy 16 when they wrote “Celebration.” They were just paraphrasing Moses’ exhortation when they reminded us, “There’s a party goin’ on right here, a celebration to last throughout the years. So bring your good times, and your laughter too, we gonna celebrate your party with you.” Yeah, celebrate good times, come on!

Six times in twenty-one verses, God tells his people they are to celebrate. According to God, our celebration is a sacred calling. For the Israelites, the Lord established three giant parties that were to appear on their national calendar in perpetuity that would serve to remind them of their call to party. These celebrations reminded the nation that God had done great and miraculous things to bring them out of Egypt, out of slavery, to make them his own distinct people. They were to look back and laugh:

Eat the Passover meal with bread made without yeast. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, as when you escaped from Egypt in such a hurry…on the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt…. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees. (Deuteronomy 16:3,6, 12)

The invitations to party also reminded them as they camped on the east side of the Jordan that God wasn’t through with them yet. There was a Promised Land out in front that he was about to give them—and the call to celebrate was in anticipation for the day when the party would be in their new homeland. They were to look forward and laugh in advance as an act of faith:

You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you. You must offer it only at the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored. (Deuteronomy 16:5-6)

And while this call to celebrate implied good times, God gave them an additional reminder that they were to take time to be intentionally happy. He wanted them to remember with joy and gratitude what he had done, and allow those expressions to overflow into happiness as they partied. You might say, they were to offer the sacrifice of laughter to God. Literally, they were to look up and laugh.

This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. (Deuteronomy 16:14)

Perhaps it is time for you to party with a purpose—that purpose being to celebrate the goodness of God in your life. Maybe you need to be intentionally happy for the mighty deliverance from sin that God has accomplished in your life, or for the good place in which he has established you or in anticipation of the marvelous things ahead he has promised. Like the Israelites of old, it might be good for you to literally calendarize a sacred celebration or two that are dedicated strictly for enjoying the Lord. Come on, laugh a little, or a lot—it is a holy thing pleasing unto the Lord.

Celebrate good times, come on!

Going Deeper: Select a date, put it on your calendar, then throw a party celebrating the goodness of God. Try it, it will be fun!