2 Chronicles 16:7-9

At that time the seer Hanani came to King Asa of Judah, and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram, and did not rely on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped you. Were not the Ethiopians and the Libyans a huge army with exceedingly many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the Lord, he gave them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to Him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.” (NRSV)

Asa had been, for the most part, a good king for Judah. He turned the nation back to God and restored some of what needed to be restored. But not all! Even then, God saw his heart and gave him a great victory against the Ethiopians and Libyans. But later, Asa began to fail in his relationship with the Lord. He trusted in his own power and in the power of human effort, rather than in the Lord. And God withdrew His protection, allowing the nations around Judah to come against them in wars.

Two dynamics are revealed in this passage:
• Because you relied on the Lord
• Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the Lord

I am guilty of a great sin, of not relying on the Lord. It is a vicious circle and one of which I am not proud. I have prayed and when God failed to act as I thought He should or in the time I wanted, I began to believe that—while He was able—He might not be willing. And I saw no reason for my prayers. I stopped praying! I stopped relying on God and began to rely on my own efforts, on the answers that the world gives (which really aren’t answer at all).

Thankfully, God has forgiven me of my sin. And I have begun to pray again.

The Lord uses the most amazing things to get through to obtuse minds, such as mine. In this case, He used two Christian writers and a fictional story to share this passage from 2 Chronicles. Verse 9 is the most amazing part of the entire passage:

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to Him.

The New Century version: The Lord searches all the earth for people who have given themselves completely to Him. He wants to make them strong.

The New American: The eyes of the Lord roam over the whole earth, to encourage those who are devoted to him wholeheartedly.

The New Living Translation: The eyes of the Lord searches the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

The Lord wants to strengthen those who are wholeheartedly devoted, fully committed, and true to Him. He wants to make us strong! But He can only do it when we throw ourselves completely upon Him and trust Him to do! Our mission is to trust; His is to complete.

Matthew Henry writes:

“That those whose hearts are upright with him may be sure of his protection and have all the reason in the world to depend upon it. He is able to protect them in the way of their duty (for wisdom and might are his), and He actually intends their protection. A practical disbelief of this is at the bottom of all our departures from God and double-dealing with him. Asa could not trust God and therefore made court to Benhadad.” (Emphasis mine).

The Lord intends for my protection! It is an amazing thought. But this is another if-then promise. If I rely solely on the Lord, then He will make me strong! However, if I fail to rely on Him, then He cannot and will not protect me.

I know that I want to rely solely upon the Lord. I want my faith to be strong and pure so that no situation can disturb my trust in Him. I want my every response to be prayer first and action later.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

1 John 1:10-2:2

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (NRSV)

Whatever the Lord does, He does fully and completely. He is a great and mighty God Who is able to fully and completely do whatever is needed for our good, including providing forgiveness of all of our sins. John states clearly that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. And not only is Jesus the atoning sacrifice, but He is our advocate when we do sin.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In other words, there is only one outcome when we sin. Death. Spiritual death which also results in physical death. But as our advocate, the Lord Jesus doesn’t just argue for our cause at the Father’s throne; He is able to set Himself in our place, stating that He has already suffered and died for that sin. The price (the wage) has already been paid. It doesn’t have to be paid again. And the Lord Jesus advocates for us even before we ask for forgiveness. He has already paid the price! “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NRSV).

J. Vernon McGee wrote:

“Notice that John does not say that if anyone repents, he has an Advocate nor if anyone confesses his sins, he has an Advocate. Neither does he say that if anyone goes through a ceremony to get rid of his sins, he has an Advocate. What he does say is that if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father. Before we even repent of that cruel or brutal word we said, the very moment we had that evil thought, and the moment we did that wrong act, Jesus Christ was there at the throne of God to represent us as Satan was there accusing us.” (McGee, J. V. 1997, c1981. Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.). Thomas Nelson: Nashville).

I know that I often take my unbelievable relationship with the Lord Jesus for granted. In fact, my guilt often overwhelms me and I’m concerned about what I need to do to appropriate God’s forgiveness. Am I sorry enough? Have I said enough? Can I somehow make up for it enough? And yet, even before I was thinking about the sin I had done, the Lord Jesus has already been advocating for me before the Father. The sin I just committed is already forgiven!

And yet, John, like the apostle Paul, clearly writes that we should understand this relationship not so that we might freely sin, but so that we will not sin. We are free to obey our Advocate, our Lord, because of the power of the Holy Spirit residing within us. We have the power to walk in the Light because of what the Lord has done for us.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

1 John 1:7-9

If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NRSV)

Walking in the light is a choice. Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night and bumped into something, usually with your shin or toe which is very painful? Of course! Almost all of us have. We don’t turn on the light because we either don’t want to disturb the others in the house or we don’t want to fully wake up so that we can return back to sleep. We choose to walk in the darkness.

Walking in spiritual light or spiritual darkness is also a choice. Spiritual darkness is unrighteousness. Conversely, spiritual light is righteousness. Righteousness is more than just what is considered to be morally acceptable. Righteousness is completely pleasing God with everything that we do. Righteousness means being right in His eyes. It is living His character in our behavior, our choices, and our actions.

John warns us that unrighteousness—behavior that is unacceptable to God (sin)—will not only bring separation between us and God, but will also break the relationships that we have with those around us. Even if our family and friends are unaware of our sin, sin changes us in such a way as to cause this separation. But Father God, in His infinite love, is willing and able to completely forgive if we choose to confess our sins.

Two things happen when we regularly confess our sins. The first is marvelous; the second is necessary.

The first thing that happens when we confess our sins is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from those sins . . . all of them. And this is more than just forgiveness (because forgiveness is included); it is a complete cleansing. Psalm 103:12: As far as the east is from the west, so far He removes our transgressions from us. (NRSV). This is an interesting metaphor; God chose it specifically and well to show us how far our sins are away. Think of a world globe. Begin at any point and travel north. Once you reach the North Pole, you will no longer be able to travel north and will have to travel south. It is the same with traveling south; once you reach the South Pole, you will have to travel north. But begin again at any point and travel east. You never stop traveling east. When you travel east, you never reach the end and have to begin traveling west. It is the same with traveling west. East never meets west. It is the same with our sins. Father God removes them so far from us that our sins never touch us again. They are gone forever!

The second thing that happens when we confess our sins regularly is that the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to us the sins of which we were not aware. Psalm 19:12 (NRSV) states: Clear me from hidden faults. There are sins in our lives that we ignore, that we have hidden, or that we are even unaware are sins! We are forgiven of even these, but the Holy Spirit reveals them to us so that we can deal with them, confess them, and turn from them.

As a society, Americans are so enamored with self-esteem that little is often said from the pulpit about sin confession. And yet, this is an essential dynamic in our relationship with God and with those around us. By failing to understand the power of sin confession, we are leaving ourselves wide open to the delusions of the enemy who would try to convince us that we are fine and dandy without the Lord and His cleansing work at the cross. And because many Christians have believed this lie, we exist in ever-distanced relationships with those around us, feeling increasingly lonely and alone. We can restore those relationships and our relationship with the Lord by accessing sin confession and clinging to His promise of complete forgiveness and restoration.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

1 John 1:5-6

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true (NRSV)

Honesty and lies. These aren’t topics much talked about these days. In fact, it may be that the American culture is on its way to being completely delusional, believing that lies are the truth simply because it’s what we believe.

Delusion is the state of being mislead, of misleading one’s mind or judgment. It can also mean to evade. When someone is delusional, they choose to believe that the truth doesn’t exist, but what they believe is the truth, regardless of the facts or evidence given to them.

The apostle John talks about delusion in these verses: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.” This verse is specifically about Christians who claim they are Christians, but whose lives (habits, choices, practices) demonstrate that such a claim is a lie.

Is that me?

That is a question that I should ask myself everyday. I claim to be in fellowship with Him, but what does that actually mean: to be in fellowship? And once I understand that, is it true? Or am I lying to myself?

Delusional (another word for liar).

When I “fellowship” with God, the meaning is actually that I am closely joined with Him. In a sense, I am a talmid (disciple) to His rabbi. In this Jewish practice, the talmid imitated the rabbi as closely as possible in dress, eating, and other behaviors. The talmid was doing his best to become the rabbi. Over and over, the apostle Paul encouraged believers to imitate him. Why? Because he was imitating Christ! (This is the process of being a talmid). When the apostle John writes about fellowship, I believe it is this same process of which he speaks. When we fellowship with God, we are doing more than simply hanging out with Him. We are in His presence for the purpose of becoming more like the Lord Jesus every day.

Is that true about me?

John uses darkness and light as metaphors of sin and righteousness. He claims (rightly so) that in God there is no darkness; there is no sin. If I am fellowshiping with God—if I am imitating Him—then it logically goes that there is no sin in me.

Is that true?

I think that, in America, we now have the tendency to overestimate our abilities and our own value (both to society and to our families). A recent study (http://dailytrojan.com/2011/06/21/student-self-confidence-at-all-time-high-study-finds/) concluded that college students are actually over-confident, that their estimates of their own abilities and values is beyond what is actually true. Another study (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/10/college-students-prefer-s_n_806918.html) concluded that college students may be on the verge to being addicted to self-esteem. They like feeling good about themselves . . . whether or not they should!

Delusional?

In Philippians 2, Paul wrote:

Do nothing from self ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus (v. 3-5 NKJV).

I think it is very possible that we have become so egocentric as to believe that we must tend to our own needs, rather than trusting God for them, that we must have our desires fulfilled, rather than pouring our lives out in service . . . as Christ did for us. And I think that it is very possible that we are deluding ourselves into believing that God wants us to be happy rather than to be righteous.

The apostle John writes as if he were living in our society, on our streets today. Of course, he wasn’t, but the Holy Spirit Himself knew that we would need to hear these words, that I would need to hear that I am being delusional when I think I am in fellowship . . . and I am not! I want to learn how to be bluntly and totally honest, to learn to do what is truth!

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (NRSV)

Four kinds of amazing people are described in the first verses of this chapter.

The first person is someone who has the gift of gab. This person can speak to anyone in their own language or culture, can communicate any number of ideas, and is always understood. This person is an amazing communicator.

I’m not . . . an amazing communicator. I’m way less than average, often putting my foot in my mouth and frequently (but unintentionally) offending those around me by what I say. My best own advice to myself would be simply to shut up. I think that communicating with others is an extremely difficult task.

Paul says, in this passage, that being the most skilled communicator is nothing. That person is simply a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. Now, I’m married to a drummer, so I’m intimately familiar with gongs and cymbals. Used sparingly, those sounds can add a little to a song; however, used incessantly, their noise is unbearable! The best communicator in the world—living without godly love—is simply a crashing cymbal. Words without love are just noise.

The second person is someone who is a scholar, but not just a scholar, a scholar of great knowledge, someone who truly knows everything. Being a teacher and a student, I do understand the value of learning. But notice that this person is more than just a learned person. This is someone who also has prophetic powers. This person knows everything that God is willing to impart. This person is the host of all the knowledge possible for a person to know. Amazing! To be able to know that much, to be able to shift through all the knowledge and use that knowledge prophetically, speaking into other people’s lives, to give others insight and wisdom.

Paul tells us that, without godly love, a person can know everything and have the skill to know how to use that knowledge and yet . . . that person is nothing!

The third person is a person of great faith. In fact, this person’s faith is so great, that they can actually move mountains from one place to another. This isn’t a metaphorical faith, but a true faith that believes God can do what we ask Him to do. A faith without wavering, without doubting. And yet, Paul says that without godly love, this person too is nothing!

The fourth person is a person who is willing to give sacrificially. This person will give their possessions, holding nothing back, and even their own life if it means benefitting someone else. And yet, Paul tells us that even those who are willing to sacrifice all gain nothing if they fail to have godly love.

The love spoken about in this passage is the love that is the heart, soul, and nature of God Himself. This is the love that is God and that is impossible to have without Him. When Paul describes the characteristics of agape (godly) love, he is actually describing the Father Himself. And when we are encouraged to love like this, we are being encouraged simply to allow the Holy Spirit to live through and in us, for without Him, loving like this is impossible.

For all of us who aspire to excellence in our lives—to be great communicators, great students, great in faith, and great in sacrifice—we need to remember that nothing that we do (or attempt to do) means anything if we do it outside of God’s will for our lives, if we do it outside of loving others as He loves us. If we fail to be patient, kind, humble, and courteous, if we insist on our own way or resent others (for whatever reason), we have lost before we began.

© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.