God is Truth (May 2021)

I knew a guy who, as a juvenile, was convicted of second- degree murder. The evidence was overwhelming. At first, he marginalized the incident, even defended his act. Later, in his journey with Christ he became a new creation.

There is this guy in the Bible named King David. To make a long story short, King David pursued and seduced a woman that was not his wife. To make things even messier, after finding out that this woman that was not his wife was pregnant, he tactically put her husband in a situation in which he would die. After these incidences he kept living as if nothing took place. Soon thereafter, he confessed his sins before God.

As believers we seek the Lord, but at times we open the door to sin (it only needs a crack) and we become numb and blind to it. We justify it, ignore it, proclaim it.

I know the story of a man who defines what it means to be successful in the eyes of the world. In a drug-induced state he pounded his fists on a kitchen floor crying out to God in repentance. The battle that had for some time raged in his heart against God, surrendered that night. The Holy Spirit’s conviction of his ways (his sin) lead to salvation and new life.

Sometimes I want to re-write the word of God, according to me. Sometimes I want what God says to be completely, false. Sometimes I want the Lord to be obedient to me, instead of me being obedient to the Lord. Sometimes I just want to call the shots. Sometimes I have an elevated view of sin, and a lower view of God.

There was a King in the Old Testament, and his name was Josiah. (2 Kings 22 8-11) One day at the Temple, portions of Genesis through Deuteronomy were being read. When King Josiah heard these words from the Scriptures “he tore his clothes in despair.” In other words, he experienced a deep conviction of His Nation’s sins and he experienced a deep conviction of grief over his very own sins.

In our repentance, God puts in us His Holy Spirit in order to navigate the world in which we live (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is this same Holy Spirit (God in us) that transforms the heart and mind and enables us to choose God even when our feelings tell us something different . It is this same Holy Spirit that gives us the courage to admit to ourselves that God is God, and we are not. It is this same Holy Spirit that exposes our sin that leads us to a life of obedience and freedom through his grace.

In Jesus,

Pastor Rich