God Honors Humility

 [God] says, "I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free...Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country." (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the Lord drove out before Israel.)

When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

1 Kings 21:21, 24-29

For anyone who has read the Bible Ahab's name is synonymous with idol worship, murder, and wickedness. Very few men in Scripture are treated with as much contempt as he is. Yet, these few verses aren't really about Ahab's wickedness but about His repentance and God's mercy. 

According to verse twenty-five Ahab had maxed out his sin before God. It says, "there was never anyone like Ahab" in regard to his sin. And yet, when Ahab finally found fear of the Lord, when he became convinced that judgment was coming; he repented from his heart. Ahab, the great king of Israel, took off his royal robes and put on sackcloth. He gave up his kingly feasts and fasted before the Lord. This wasn't done privately but publicly. Ahab publicly repented of his sin before God.

Perhaps, even more surprising than Ahab's abrupt about-face is that a holy and righteous God would relent and show a measure of mercy to him. Here's a man who had dedicated himself to wickedness for decades. Yet, when he humbles himself before the Lord, God still chooses to honor his humility and repentance. As James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

No matter how bad your sin, God honors humility and true repentance. Conversely, no matter how good you are, arrogance and a self-righteous attitude will incur God's wrath. So humble yourself. Stop and consider the sin you're ignoring in your life and repent from your heart. God will honor it.

Make Them Wait!

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

Luke 12:1

Many thousands had gathered to see Jesus, to hear Him speak, to be touched and healed by Him. Can you imagine the weight of those expectations? I can't. I can't imagine what it would feel like to have thousands of people all wanting to see me and hear from me at the same time. But notice what Jesus does. He ignores the thousands for the moment and speaks directly to His disciples first.

It strikes me that Jesus always does the most needful thing. He never seems to get distracted by the pressure to meet people's expectations of Him. Because Jesus doesn't care about pleasing people. He only cares about pleasing God with each and every second of His life. 

How often do you run yourself ragged trying to please everyone, or even trying to please only one person, when what you ought to be doing is living to please God?

Lord, help me to be like Jesus. Help me to do what is most needful. Help me to be immune to the pressures of other people's expectations of me. Help me to be comfortable allowing everything else to wait while I do the one thing that is most needful: living to please You. Amen.

Who Will Bring a Charge Against You?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Romans 8:33-34

If beating yourself was a sport, some of you would be black belts. You have spent many years beating yourself up, criticizing yourself, accusing yourself, condemning yourself, discouraging yourself. Others of you don’t have to do that because you have someone in your life who does it for you: a spouse or a parent or even a toxic friend who excels at pointing out your faults. And then there is that slanderous, accusing Enemy who whispers accusation and condemnation in all our ears from time to time. All of this being reminded of our faults and failures has a discouraging effect on us.

What do you do when you’re faced with condemnation and accusations from within and without? Very simply, you remind yourself that God has already declared you innocent on any charge that can be brought against you. If God has justified you (meaning if God has declared you innocent on all counts), then who can condemn you? No one! Nothing in your past, nothing you have ever done, can be charged against you. Your record has been expunged, wiped clean. As Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” You don’t have to listen to or believe any condemnation that is hurled at you anymore.

Let me tell you why. In vs 34 Paul gives us four reasons why you will never be condemned. It says, first, that Christ died for you and paid the penalty for your sins. You don’t have to live on the run, because your debt has been paid. It’s done. Second, Jesus didn’t just die to pay the penalty for your sin. He was also raised from the dead. This proves that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice. It proves that His death was effective. It’s almost like the believer’s sales receipt proving that God accepted payment and your debt was paid in full. Third, Jesus has ascended the throne and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty in Heaven. This means that Jesus shares in God’s power.* The One who died to save you from your sins, now has power to make sure you stay saved. And fourth, Scripture tells us that Jesus uses His position and influence at the right hand of God to intercede on your behalf. Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Jesus has God’s ear and He lives to intercede and appeal to Him on your behalf for what you need, for what is in your best interests.**

If you are a Christian and you have all of that going for you, then who is powerful enough to bring any charge or any condemnation against you? No one!

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, vol. 2 (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), p.243.

**Schreiner, Thomas R., English Standard Version Study Bible, note on Revelation 8:34. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway. 2008), p.2172.

Putin & Zelenskyy

Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy are giving the watching world a lesson in representative headship. Putin, the President of Russia, has invaded President Zelenskyy's native Ukraine. Putin's aggression, lies, and greed have caused dishonor and economic sanctions to fall not just on himself but on all of Russia. While Zelenskyy's bravery and selflessness (not to mention the tremendous bravery and selflessness of the Ukrainian people as a whole) have inspired admiration and adulation on a nearly global scale. 

Are all Russians to be hated and blamed for what is happening? No. I am sure they are not all in favor of Putin's actions. Are all Ukrainians brave and selfless? I would have to image they are not all that way, though many certainly seem to be. Yet the actions of both leaders necessarily spill over beyond themselves onto those they represent. Russia will have to bear the consequences for what Putin is doing because the actions of a representative head have implications for the people under that head. In the same way, the Ukraine as a whole will reap the benefit of Zelenskyy's actions. 

This is a biblical concept. Only in Scripture it isn't Putin and Zelenskyy, it's Adam and Jesus. Check out what Romans 5:12 has to say about Adam. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." Adam was the first man, the representative and head of all men. As he went, so do we all. Adam's sin plunged the whole human race into sin and death. His decision to rebel against God and declare war on Divine authority has dire consequences for us all. Death and condemnation trickle down from Adam onto you and me. 

But there is another representative head. Romans 5:15 says, "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" We don't have to keep Adam as our representative head! God has provided another option, Jesus Christ, and all those who are under Christ receive not death and condemnation but life and grace. In the same way that Adam's sin has been credited to us in the past, Christ's righteousness can be credited to us now and in the future! All we have to do is change representative heads.

How do we do that? You defect by becoming a Christian. "If you declare with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). Making Jesus Lord of your life is how you come up under His authority and receive His blessings. If you aren't a Christian, then you are still under Adam, and trouble is coming your way. So, are you under Adam or Christ?

Leaves & Fruit

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Matthew 21:18-19

Jesus' is acting symbolically in this passage. He's acting out a parable, a warning for those who look like they are producing fruit but in fact are not. You see, many of the religious leaders of Jesus' day were all leaves and no fruit. They fasted twice a week. They prayed three times a day. They gave to the poor. But they did all of this to be seen and honored by men (Matthew 6:1-18). None of it was for God. As Isaiah prophesied about them. "These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me" (Isaiah 29:13 & Matthew 15:8). Such "religion" brings God's judgment.

This kind of religion is just as common today as it was then, though. There are Christians today who go to church every week and who can answer all the questions in Sunday School but whose hearts are far from God. They have no fruit! They haven't lead anyone to the Lord. They don't have any good deeds for the Lord to rejoice over. Their lives are full of secret sin. The only righteousness they care about is the kind that other men can see. They are not peacemakers or reconcilers but slanderers and gossips. When Jesus comes by looking for fruit in their lives, He will be disappointed. 

Don't let that be true of you. Inspect your tree now. Make certain you aren't all show and no fruit. Because there will come a day when our Lord will come inspect you and look for fruit. You may be able to trick people now with a lot of leaves but your false religion won't trick Him! Don't get caught up in the leaves of the faith. Focus on the fruit.