Confirmation

One day I was recovering from doing something I knew to be wrong. I confessed to God but was caught somewhere between my sin and forgiveness. I could sense the Holy Spirit was grieved by my disobedience and I was saddened by the seeming separation. Instead of wallowing over my sinfulness, which is so easy to do, I stepped into repentance. What this means is that I turned my mind from my old way of thinking in the flesh, about my sin, to think about that which pleases God. I focused all my energy on being led by the Spirit.

I pulled into a shopping center when an old man on the side of the road caught my attention. He was asking for help. I knew God was prompting me to give, so I prepared my offering as I was leaving the store. I positioned my minivan in front of the man and could sense there was something very different about this situation. He gradually rose from the camping chair where he was seated and steadily walked toward my van. Cars began to reroute as this encounter was already taking extra time.

When he reached my van he was rambling about needing a watch. We exchanged a few words and he asked if he could take my hand. I was surprised by how clean his hand felt. He kissed it and looked me straight in the eye. He delivered the most beautiful word of God that healed my heart in an instant. He said that if I asked God, He would clean my whole body. My eyes were drawn toward the silver cross hanging around his neck. I sincerely thanked him.

As I drove away, God’s love enveloped me. I was grateful for His confirmation and encouraged to believe the truth about my sin and forgiveness. By the blood of Christ, I am clean. I’m honestly not sure if the old man was homeless or an angel. Either way, God used him to deeply touch and heal my heart.

Sometimes we just need to hear we are "good." No amount of likes on social media, bonuses at work, or good deeds can give us the confirmation we truly need. We need to hear with our own ears that we are saved, forgiven, and God is pleased with us despite our sin. Today, when we walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit, this is the confirmation God so lovingly desires to give us personally. When we tune our ears to hear His voice above the rest, we will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant." We will know without a shadow of a doubt we are good because of Christ's deed in us.

Let it Go!

In high school, I had the wonderful opportunity to work closely with our youth pastor as a student leader. My male counterpart, John, was a friend I dearly loved and admired. He was incredibly talented and a strong leader. Not only were we part of the planning and organization of our youth group, but we were personally discipled by our pastor and met on a regular basis to discuss reading assignments and life in general. This was a phenomenal opportunity to grow into the leaders God created us to be.

John and I went our separate ways in college. John was so talented he majored in English and then continued on to medical school after graduation. As I was starting my family, John was in his residency. In 2006, my young family and I were in my hometown visiting my parents. A flood of phone calls streamed into my parents’ house with rumors that John committed suicide. Immediately, I rejected the idea and denied my grief; my emotions were channeled into anger.

Indeed, suicide was just a rumor. John died from an anaphylactic reaction to a substance used to cut cocaine. He was a secret addict who struggled to overcome his addiction all throughout college. Having already returned home to Cincinnati, I decided not to travel back for the funeral. I spoke to our youth pastor and thought I would be fine. I wrote John an angry letter and filed it away thinking I had put it all to rest. Little did I know there was a sickness growing inside; I was carrying a seed of bitterness. From time to time I would return to the angry letter and stew over the shame of it all. I would look at the funeral notice and think about what might have been. I didn’t realize I was refusing to forgive John. I should have known something was wrong when I was surprised and slightly annoyed by classmate’s questions at our high school reunion the year after his death.

Just before Easter of 2008, God started to work on my heart. He led me to a website John’s parents created. It was an organization and scholarship program designed to help other parents and children struggling with drug addiction. When I explored the impact John was having on so many people, my heart began to soften. God has been accomplishing all He had in mind through John’s life and death.

On Easter Sunday our church had a call to repentance. When unforgiveness was mentioned, God pierced my heart. “I’ve forgiven John,” He said, “Have you?” Tears flowed freely down my face as I confessed my unbelief and lack of forgiveness. For the first time, I honestly mourned my great friend.

First Things First

If we are to experience an abundant life, we must first turn from our old life and receive the new. The old is temporary, the new is eternal. If we are to experience eternal life, we must turn from all that is temporary within to the life given to us by Christ’s resurrection. How do we know what is temporary unless God reveals it? We must allow the Spirit to search our heart and search our soul. As we consume truth, as we allow His Word to penetrate our heart, as we realize more of God’s character revealed in us- all that opposes becomes clear. When we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit reveals God’s heart. The Spirit’s testimony within our spirit will tell us when we have transgressed. We must step quickly into repentance when the Holy Spirit convicts, lest our flesh and the enemy rise to condemn. There is no need for a Christian to remain in feelings of guilt.

We have an opportunity in Christ to take our shame, our guilt, and condemnation to the throne of God and receive forgiveness. In the world we will be told we are at fault and we will feel the burden of responsibility on our shoulders. But in Christ there is a different way. We have the opportunity to go to God, lay our burdens down, and listen to the truth. Sometimes we will hear God correcting us and showing us a new way. When God corrects, we do not feel condemned but relieved; His way is like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes the worldly guilt and blame will be unjust. Either way, we walk forward in forgiveness. In this way, we let go of our failures and walk in newness of life and are naturally able to extend forgiveness to our accusers because we no longer feel the burden of accusation.

God’s forgiveness is tangible. It’s not some far away dream we know to be true but experience the contrary while we are here. It is not intended we exist in a lake of regret and condemnation for what we did or did not do. The new reality is that we have freedom in Christ. Today, when we step into obedience to the Holy Spirit, God is able to confirm us in our everyday life.

The New Reality

One of the most amazing things about God was the way He redefined reality with words. God looked into chaos and spoke the hopeful words of creation. He looked into the chaos of our sin and declared us righteous in Christ. By speaking those words, coupled with our belief in them, He reconstituted our reality. If He had declared us lost He would have spoken truth, but He spoke a greater truth by recreating us with His words. 

—Martin Luther, Reformer – Sunday Sermon (1500s)

In the Bible, God promises new life in Christ. It’s the kind of life Jesus talks about in John 10:10 (NKJV) when He says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Other versions of the Bible talk about a rich, satisfying life, one filled with reason and fulfillment. This life has an eternal quality. It is a life marked by more. However, we don’t have to look far to realize many are not yet experiencing abundant life. We distance ourselves from the people and testimonies in the Bible, telling ourselves things were different when it was written. We believe the characters were superior, or that they had an unusual connection to God, so He treated them specially. Many believers are not experiencing spiritual riches like love, joy, and peace. Our lives can be just as riddled by restlessness, sin, and anxiety as the rest of the world. We are bothered by what we see on social media, concerned about violence in the news, and uncertain about the future of our nation. 

When we believe God for new life in Christ, the Spirit opens our eyes and ears and awakens us to new realities. We become alive as the Lord stirs our senses to realize things of the spiritual realm. This is meant to enhance our life on earth, giving us awareness of greater purpose and power. As we believe God’s perspective communicated through the Bible and the Holy Spirit, we begin to experience life in a whole new way. Because we see, hear, sense, and recognize God’s work in the earth, following Him becomes natural. We see the enemy’s work, recognize it as a distraction, and are no longer bound by his authority. We walk in the power and authority of Christ causing us to rise above the fallen condition of the world. We begin to recognize God’s supernatural involvement in our life and in this world.

We have the opportunity to come into agreement with God. Our old self has been crucified, we are no longer bound by the sinful nature, and we now have abundant life available in Christ. We have an option, a new way of life that comes from the Holy Spirit’s presence within. Our new reality is in God’s kingdom filled with the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

One-A-Day

One-A-Day: A Daily Dose of Wisdom

Welcome to One-A-Day: A Daily Dose of Wisdom! Join me by reading one chapter in Proverbs a day and reflecting on Wisdom through daily questions. The questions are designed to open a dialogue between us and God. They are progressive by nature in order to push beyond the surface of practical knowledge to go deeper into the character of God and the insight of the Holy Spirit. Not all answers are concrete, but prompt us to seek wisdom beyond human reasoning. Read the Proverbs in a version which “speaks” to you personally and be patient with the work of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks so much for joining me on this journey through Proverbs. Please feel free to email me through the blog contact form or social media. I would love to connect.