"A lion in the forest does not roar unless it has caught an animal; it does not growl in its den when it has caught nothing. A bird will not fall into a trap where there is no bait; the trap will spring shut if there is nothing to catch. When a trumpet blows a warning in a city, the people tremble. When trouble comes to a city, the Lord has caused it. Before the Lord God does anything, He tells His plans to His servants the prophets. The lion has roared! Who wouldn’t be afraid? The Lord God has spoken. Who will not prophesy?" (NCV)
"Before the Lord God does anything, He tells His plans to His servants."
The Lord is so good, amazingly good. I think that if you’ve been a Christian for a long time (like I have), it’s easy to begin to take the Lord for granted. But He is so good! Before He does anything, He tells His plans to us. And, in fact, He has laid out His plans in His Word sufficiently that we can know His intentions and even His future interactions with this world. We may not know the dates, but we can know what He will do and why He will do it.
"The lion has roared. Who wouldn’t be afraid?"
This message from the Lord is one of love, but it is also one of judgment. Why of love? Because the Lord has chosen, before He does anything to tell His plans to His servants (us) through His prophets (in the Word). Why of judgment? Because He is never pleased with sin.
I think we mistake the Lord’s patience with tolerance or even approval. The two are far different. The Lord loves each of us so much that He will give us time and time and even more time to repent of our sins and turn back to Him. But at some point, He will lift His hand of protection and bring down judgment upon us.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." (Galatians 6:7-8 NKJV).
There is, in a very real sense, a system of cause-and-effect, action-and-consequence that God has created within the universe. This system in inherent even into the smallest piece of creation, but perhaps is most evident within the lives of people. "For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Paul uses a farming analogy to explain this system. How we live determines what our future will be. If we live a life of sin, the promise is corruption, but if we live a life unto the Spirit, the promise is everlasting life.
As Christians, we should live with a healthy fear of sinning and of God’s judgment upon that sin. That kind of fear is good for us because it can act as a deterrent in those moments when we are faced with a temptation we think we cannot withstand. God’s love is so great that He has a provided a means of forgiveness, but only if we repent of our sins which means to turn away and put them aside.
"Now the works of the flesh are evident . . . just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19, 21 NKJV).
When Paul wrote these words, he wasn’t preaching to nonbelievers, but to believers, believers who evidently were choosing to continue to embrace their sin, even though they now had the power of the Holy Spirit, the power that allows us to turn away from sin and embrace righteousness. Paul was telling them that their very salvation was in jeopardy if they continued to choose to sin. "Those who practice such things." This isn’t about a singular sin, but a lifestyle. And certainly, if we are honest, there are certain sins that we are likely to do over and over again.
That pattern has to be broken. Our hearts need to be broken so that we will surrender even those "comfort" things that we use to insulate us from the pain of the world. We need to begin to live as if having the Holy Spirit were enough (He really is enough!). We need to begin to live as if our calling as the light on the hill was important, rather than continuing to indulge our flesh.
We need to begin to live as Christians!
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
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