FALLING BEHIND Peter followed Jesus at a distance to the courtyard of Caiaphas’ house. That’s an indication that we find ourselves in trouble when we don’t follow the Lord closely. If you followed the Lord closely at one time, but you have hung back and now you follow the Lord at a distance, before long you find yourself hanging out with the wrong crowd. And soon you find yourself doing the wrong thing. John 18:15-18; 25-27
According to the world’s standard, Paul was a failure. He was unpopular. There was usually a mob after him. He spent more time in jail than he did in hotels. He was shipwrecked, beaten, and stoned. According to Ignatius, when Nero was Emperor, Paul was locked in the Mamartine prison in Rome. He was taken from the prison and beheaded, which was a benefit afforded him as a Roman citizen. Beheading was quick death, unlike crucifixion. The moment his head was severed from his body, he was absent from the body and present with the Lord. A failure? Think again. Today we name our sons Paul and our dogs Nero. Why? Because God can turn human failure into heavenly favor.
Do you have an episode of failure in your past that you can look back to and say, “I blew it there. I was a flop, a failure. But I got back up and God has blessed me since.”? If you’ve had a midnight basket escape of your own, it equips you to deal with the next time you fail. That’s a great promise of God from the Bible: We will fail, but failure doesn’t have to define us. God can still use failures like Paul and like us.
There is a deep-seated need in the human heart to seek forgiveness. For those of us who know Christ, we find our forgiveness in God’s amazing grace. But what about the millions of people who claim to have no relationship with Jesus? They are still desperately seeking ways to find forgiveness and to unload their sense of guilt. Because of this need to confess and seek forgiveness, there are a number of “apology websites” in cyberspace where guilty people can go and anonymously confess their sins.
You may think your sin only affects your life, but it always affects others. Your sins are like a pebble dropped in a pool of water–the ripples always spread out and touch those around you. Because of Achan’s sin, 36 soldiers died. Because of Achan’s sin, his entire family died. Sometimes people try to justify sin by saying, “It’s my life, as long as what I’m doing doesn’t hurt anybody else what’s wrong with it?” The problem with that is that none of us lives in a vacuum. We are connected to other people and our sins always hurt those we love.
There are no beauty contests when it comes to God’s love. There is nothing you can do to earn God’s love. He knows me for who I really am, and He still loves me–warts and all. I think that’s one reason why the animation movies Shrek and Shrek 2 are so popular. Fiona was once a beautiful princess who lost her beauty. But ugly old Shrek loves her for who she is on the inside, not on the outside. And in a way, his love makes her beautiful. That’s the kind of love Jesus has for you.
Are you aware there is something we may call the “perfect will of God?” There is something that has sometimes been called the “permissive will of God;” it’s not God’s perfect will, but he allows it and then he takes it from that point. God has a perfect will for your life and if you don’t stay completely on track with that, there are some times that God will give you what you ask for. Israel wanted a king. God did not want them to have a king, but he permitted them to have a king and they got what they asked for. This is true in our lives sometimes when we seek that which is less than God’s best.
Of course the story of Samson is a story you have heard all of your life. I don’t know about you, but I always used to picture Samson as some huge, built-up, bulked-up, he-man! I mean a guy that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Incredible Hulk all put together. The more I studied the text, the more I am convinced he probably didn’t look like that at all, because the source of Samson’s strength was not his hair, the source of Samson’s strength was not his muscles, the source of Samson’s strength was the Holy Spirit of God, because of his commitment and his devotion. It is clear every time he did something requiring supernatural strength, it was the Spirit of God coming on him. A study of “the downward slope” of Samson’s spiritual decline.
God takes the simple things of life and tests us. What was God trying to teach Gideon? What was he trying to teach the Israelites? The New Testament message is this “Be serious. Be vigilant, because our enemy, the devil, roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” You and I as Christians like these three hundred faithful must be vigilant.
When somebody directs us to do something, before we take the first step, most of us want to know all the details. In fact, if Abraham had been like most of us, and God had spoken to us, we would have said, “Now wait a minute. I need to know who you are, God. What’s your name?” Abraham didn’t ask. We would have asked, “Now, Lord, we want to know exactly where it is you are going to take us. What is the name of the land you are leading us to?” Abraham didn’t ask that. Later on, Abraham just kept on moving by faith until he came to this land that was going to one day be Israel.
