Deaf Devotion 4/30/2011

“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:16-21 NLT)

Jesus was quoting Isaiah 61:1-2. And what he had to say about it caused a stir among those present.

There is a story about a man who had been in prison for twenty years. He had now completed his sentence and was preparing to be released back into society. After twenty years he was about to be a free man. Would society accept him? How much has the world changed in twenty years? Before leaving, he makes a strange request: "Please take this cell door off its hinges and strap it to my back." The jailers comply, and the freed man chooses to spend the rest of his life this way.

This man’s story sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Yet many of us carry around guilt like a prison door strapped to our back. Jesus Christ freed us from the burden of sin on our back, but we have trouble leaving the old jail completely behind. The problem is that we don't believe God has really forgiven.

Brenda and I learned recently of a friend of ours who is now in prison. He and I have been friends since High School and he was the best man at our wedding. He left a bar drunk, hit a motorcycle, and then left the scene. The man on the motorcycle later died from his injuries. Our friend was caught, tried, and sent to prison.

The only way to explain how Brenda found this is to say that it is part of God’s plan. I am attempting to make contact with our friend to let him know that we are still his friend and that God loves him still. I have been burdened with trying to reach him. I do not yet know how he feels about forgiveness. I am sure forgiveness from society and from the motorcycle rider’s family may be hard to accept if it were given. I want to make sure he understands that God has already covered the sin. What happened is tragic and terrible, but we all make mistakes to some degree and the results catch up to us one way or another. And the truth is, God still loves us.

When we hear stories like this we tend to think, “Yeah, right….” Or even “Yes…..but….”

There is no "but." Either God forgives or He doesn't. If we trust Jesus Christ as Savior, then we are free of sin. It is covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:14 KJV)

The Lord promises that He will not hold our wrongs against us or even remember them. The writer of Hebrews quotes from Jeremiah 31. “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:17 KJV)

No good can come of carrying around old failures and sinful habits that He has put behind His back. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” (Isaiah 38:17 KJV)

Jesus Christ has purchased our freedom with His blood. It was finished at the cross. Accept and believe. Get the prison door off your back, lay down your guilt and live free. Praise God for His grace and mercy that has no limit and no end.

When God looks upon a believer, He sees a spirit washed clean of all sin. Don't allow guilt over past wrongdoing to hold us captive a second longer.

Take God at His word, and believe that He has removed it from us as far as the east is from the west. “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12 NLT)

Deaf Devotion 4/3/2011

“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” (Proverbs 20:7 KJV)

This is an interesting verse in the Bible. It really causes a person to think: “Who is the ‘just man?’” Or it may make us wonder just what exactly “integrity” is. The New Living translations says it this way, “The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.” It’s the same verse. It means the same thing. But we are left with these words “godly” and “integrity.”

To be “godly” is to seek the same things God seeks. We should want not our righteousness, but God’s righteousness. We should seek to become the person that God created and not the person the world expects us to be. We should rise above the beliefs and false security of the world and seek what God has planned for our life. We are created in God’s image. Therefore, we are capable of things like love, anger, forgiveness, and sacrifice. We are being shaped into the person like Jesus. But it’s not just that easy.

Integrity, on the other hand, goes a little deeper. Not only are we to become “godly” and see how God acts and how God expects us to act. But we are to use what God has given us and live a life that shows God’s plan of salvation, not only for ourselves, but for everything and everybody He created.

The word “integrity” comes from the Latin word “integer.” Any person familiar with math will remember that the word “integer” means a whole number. It is not a decimal or fraction. Integrity is the same idea. Integrity is our whole person. It is our whole life. It is how we think and how we act. What we believe, our faith, our knowledge of God, our salvation should be shown in the way we live both privately and when we face the world. This means the way we think is the same as how we act. How we act in front of others at church is the same as how we act when we are at the grocery store.

The world says if we could just arrange our circumstances where we never have any sorrow, pain, or hurts then people will change. If we can change our circumstances, our situations, our plans we can change one’s character. We become more “godly” toward each other.

But the Bible teaches just the opposite. The world puts the emphasis on one’s situation. God puts the emphasis on character. Someone has well said water does not become pure if it is put in a fancy glass. And yet that's what we try to do. We think that if we can change the exterior or make a situation such that we never have any hurts, then we're going to be okay. But Jesus put the emphasis upon character, on what we are in God’s eyes, and not what we have or don’t have.

Integrity is influence. Character is influence. Influence is not pressure, power or control. Influence is affecting other people with what they see us doing. What is important to the leader will be important to the follower. Whatever is important to God will be important to us. Don’t ever desire that something be important in someone else’s life that isn’t important to God. We need to be an example and desire for others what God desires for us.

If we are able to live by God’s standard, and not the world’s lives will be changed. “… blessed are their children who follow them.” Children watch and children learn. We are all God’s children. We are all created in the “Image and likeness” of God. We should be watching Jesus to learn. Jesus is the example of integrity.

Ours is a “pro-active” faith. It means that we are doing something from what we know and not “re-acting” after the fact. In other words, one of the surest ways we can keep from doing the wrong thing is if we are focused on doing the right thing.

Husbands and wives encourage and lift up each other in godly ways. Mothers and fathers act with integrity to teach children godly ways. Seek God’s plan for integrity. Children look to godly role-models to learn what god has planned. The world does not provide role models. Only God provides role models and that is in the person of His Son, Jesus.

Pray together. Encourage each other. Study together. Seek God’s character together. Then worship together. Thank God that He is the source of our “integrity.” God does not want to save part of His creation; God wants to save ALL of His creation. God is not only our creator, but Jesus, fully God and fully man, is our Savior. Trust Him.