THE STORY THAT STARTS AT THE END

I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.  Isa. 44:22, R.S.V.

At sometime we've all turned to the end of the book to discover how the story ends before we've read the whole narrative.  There is something in us that can't wait!  We've got to know!  Does it turn out all right?  Perhaps the deepest longing in our hearts is reflected in such acts of "peeking"--the longing to know that life is going to turn out all right for us!

Have we been left helplessly adrift in a chaotic universe?  Is there any hope, any answer to the dilemma into which we were born--that is, our estrangement from God?  God Himself has turned to the end of the book, as it were, that we might be comforted in the knowledge that life will turn out all right.  We have only to return to Him.

Simple as this may sound, returning to God is not that easy if you feel very guilty about the choices you've been making in life, or if you are not at all sure what God will do with (or to) you when you return to Him.  I believe many so-called atheists are not really rejecting the exercises of God; they are rejecting the concept of a God with whom they could never feel secure.  How, indeed, could everything turn out for the best if your concept of God leaves you wondering if you'd even want to spend eternal life with Him?

Is heaven just a place where there will be no more pain or sorrow or crying? a place where good food is never lacking and endless tomorrows are assured?  Is eternal life merely the absence of death?  Do we secretly wish we'd never have to face God, that somehow we could just get "lost in the crowd" on the sea of glass?  Or is heaven a ceaseless approaching in sweetest fellowship to the One for whom our hearts long?

If we could but catch a glimpse of our greathearted Father sweeping away our misconceptions (the true source of our misbehavior) about Himself as He proclaims that He has made every provision for counterbalancing our years of separation from Him, would we not eagerly allow our lives to be reunited to Him?

In fact, God announced His intentions toward us even before we knew He cared!  And He assures us, "I've made everything right.  You can come home!"

​HOW TO FIGHT SIN

Come to your right mind, and sin no more.  For some have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame.  1 Cor. 15:34, R.S.V.

With her chin resting in her hand and with a scowl on her face, a young woman blurted out her perplexity about her boyfriend.  "Why is it that he spends so much time in prayer and yet still does such stupid things?  He's so immature, yet, he is certain that we ought to get married!  I don't spend nearly as much time in prayer as he does, yet I can see all kinds of reasons why we shouldn't get married.  Doesn't prayer make a person think right?"

That's not a silly question.  Though every Christian is soundly in favor of praying, we still know of too many times when we prayerfully made a decision we later know to be the wrong one.  And it's easy to think at those times that God let us down--that He didn't tell us what to do.  Does prayer, in itself, lead to correctness and maturity of action?

Spiritual maturity is not something that God shoves into our minds.  He does not wave His hands over our brains and infuse us with some type of spiritual magic by which we suddenly think only righteous thoughts of the highest quality. He made our minds to be educated.  He created us with the capacity to process truth, and to handle it with clarity and integrity.  And then He gave us the Holy Spirit to aid us in apprehending the deeper, spiritual meanings of truth.

Paul's invitation to come to our right mind is most specifically tied to his next sentence: "For some have no knowledge of God."  That is the central core of the sin problem.  To know God's great love for us is to trust His forgiveness, His caring, and His plans for our future.  To know the Father's wisdom is to trust the total adequacy of His will, His law, and His guidance.

In essence, sin is the condition of being separated from the Father.  It is alienation from God, which comes from believing that He is either hostile, indifferent, or irrelevant.  To believe such things about God (and thus remain distant from Him), especially in view of all that Jesus has shown us about Him--that is the ultimate stupidity.  Let's come to our right minds!

WEARING SUITABLE ARMOR

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  Eph. 6:1, R.S.V.

Everybody has seen her.  Her hair is always a little unkempt, her lipstick just a shade too bright, and her clothes too youthful for her mature years.  Her eyes wander the room as she enters, as if she is looking for someone.  She is.

We all know that she's "no good."  She hasn't followed the rules and is now paying the price.  If we could see into her past circumstances, perhaps we would see that she had been trying for all her years to compensate for deep feelings of inadequacy.  Granted, it isn't the acceptable way to handle her problem, but it is evidently the only way she understands.

Our text today talks about standing against the wiles of the devil.  The Phillips translation says it this way: "So that you can successfully resist all the devil's craftiness."  So much of our bad behavior is really human caulking in the cracks of our hearts.  Satan has access to us because of our broken relationship with our heavenly Father.  He has totally misrepresented God's attitude toward us, leaving us susceptible to his suggestions as to how we may best cope in life

There is an answer!  We do not have to fall prey to the devil's trickery.  We may put on "the whole armor of God"--truth, the truth about God and His attitude toward us, to gird the loins (figuratively, our vulnerability); righteousness, the restored right relationship between us and our God, as a breastplate (to cover our emotions); the gospel of peace, the good news of how God deals with fallen man, to shod our feet (to guide our way of dealing with each other); faith, that unshakable confidence we have in who God is, as our shield against the darts of the devil (to guard our right concepts about God); the helmet of salvation, that protective reality that we are safe with God (that necessary security in order for us to be able to make rational decisions); the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (that divine, outside-of-us testimony to all these things)

Only as we allow God to cover us with His protective armor--with the truth about Himself, and by our restored relationship with Him--will we find no need to try to compensate for the endless emptiness of life apart from Him..

GOD DOES A GOOD JOB

Your beauty should reside, not in outward adornment--the braiding of the hair, or jewellry, or dress--but in the inmost centre of your being, with its imperishable ornament, a gentle, quiet spirit, which is of high value in the sight of God.  1 Peter 3:3, 4, N.E.B.


A friend once introduced me to a young woman with the following request: "I'd like you to meet Julia; will you please explain to her why your church discourages the wearing of jewelry?"  It wasn't exactly the topic I would have chosen as a way of getting acquainted or of introducing her to my church!  But the request had been made, and she seemed eager to know.

So we spoke of today's text and of the deeper issues Peter had in mind when he wrote it.  It seems true that Satan is always seeking to destroy our self-worth.  Every time we follow his path, we end up feeling less valuable, less lovely, less sure of our inner worth and true esteem in the eyes of others.  Feeling so empty on the inside, we try to compensate by hanging decorations on the outside.

I suggested, however, that Christ's dealings with us are designed to restore and build our true sense of worth and dignity.  To rest in His accepting love, to walk in His wise paths, to enjoy His kind of quality relationships, and to know the grand destiny He has for us all--these lead to a rebirth of true inner worth.

"And so," I concluded, "for a Christian to still be hanging the shiny little decorations on the outside would be to advertise that Christ hasn't done a very good job on the inside.  Christ deserves better credit than that.  He does a good job of restoring our self-esteem."

She nodded in understanding.  "Do you know what my job is?  I'm the representative for a leading costume jewelry company.  My job includes teaching sales personnel how to sell jewelry.  And that is exactly our pitch.  Jewelry helps an insecure woman feel better about herself."

The Lord says, "You are my witnesses'' (Isa. 43:10, R.S.V.).  It is our privilege to portray in the most attractive light the quality of the work that our Father does as a skilled craftsman of the soul.  No longer do we feel a need to resort to baubles, bangles, and beads to draw people's attention away from the gaping inner holes and frayed edges of the soul.

THE COSTLIEST FREEDOM

By the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.  2 Cor. 4:2, R.S.V.

Those of us whose families for several generations have been United States citizens too often take for granted the wonderful freedoms guaranteed to us by our Constitution.  Our cradles were rocked by the great-granddaughters of the American Revolution--whose own cradles were made secure by established precedents of civil and religious liberty.

We have forgotten (or perhaps we never really understood) the price of our nationally celebrated freedoms.  Undeniably, there was bloodshed and loss of life.  However, there was something equally costly, something inherent in the framing of our Constitution.  It is what made our nation unique among all other nations.  In a nutshell, it is the concept that freedom of conscience should be guaranteed to all people, even though we recognize that some would misuse that very freedom.

Think about it!  Would you, should you, give a person or people freedom when you know that they will possibly misuse it?  It is not an easy question to answer, especially when it means the potential hurt of other innocent people.  Yet in order to preserve the dignity and value of individuals, it is expedient that such freedom be allowed.  In fact, it is for this very reason that God Himself has chosen freedom rather than forces as the foundation of the government of heaven.

As our text today indicates, God desires our intelligent response to truth and our genuine allegiance to His kingdom.  He is interested in the quality of our relationship with Him, not merely proper behavior.  In order to preserve our ability to be open and candid in our friendship with Him, He has given us the real option of not agreeing with Him.  The fact that He is our only source of life is revealed to our minds only because it is reality.  It is not a treat; we may choose not to believe this.

What a testimony of God's faith in our ultimate destiny!  We were created to enter into genuine, spontaneous friendship with Him and with all the other created beings of the universe.  The cross of Calvary is an eternal testimony of the extent to which God has been willing to go to preserve that quality of friendship.  Only as we begin to appreciate what it costs God to continue to guarantee us such freedom will we cherish every opportunity afforded us to improve our relationship with Him.

THE WRONG ONE COMES FIRST

Then he will be revealed, that wicked man whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, and annihilate by the radiance of his coming.  But the coming of that wicked man is the work of Satan.  2 Thess. 2:8, 9, N.E.B.

Around the world millions of earnest, Bible-believing Christians are looking forward to the soon return of Jesus Christ.  They are anticipating a dramatic pattern of events surrounding His coming: a time of terrible trial, the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the destruction of the wicked.  But most important, these Christians are letting this blessed hope shape their daily lives.  And I would hope that every reader of these pages would be included in this group!

Sometimes, however, Christians seem almost to compete with one another in asserting how quickly they believe Christ might return.  It's as though the ones who believe He could come in a year are more devout than those who suspect ten years to be more likely.

There is a great risk involved for those whose primary concern about Christ's coming is its "soonness," and that is that the wrong "Christ" will get here first.  Paul describes the fact that Satan, claiming to be Christ, will make a dramatic, deceptive appearing just prior to Christ's actual second coming.  He will employ all his demonic, miracle-working power to sway the emotions of eager believers.

Satan is no fool; he will seek to approximate as closely as he can those qualities that many have hoped to find in Christ.  He will heal the sick and even appear to raise the dead.  And he will align himself with political powers to seek to enforce peace and unity in a fractured world.  Those Christians who have believed all along that this is how God should solve the world's sin problems will gladly give their allegiance to Him.

Every emphasis on the nearness of Christ's coming should be matched with a strong emphasis on just who it is who is coming.  The manner and methods of Jesus should be so clear in our minds, in clear contrast to the manner and methods of Satan, that we shall be able to spot the imposter in spite of his drama and power.  Every message to the world that Jesus is coming soon should include such a clear and attractive picture of His character that people will indeed be glad to see Him when He arrives!

FROM RESTRAINT TO FELLOWSHIP

Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed.  Gal. 3:23, R.S.V.

The quest for freedom begins in the cradle.  It seems inbred in us to resist that which would inhibit our desires.  Deep inside each of our hearts lives that passion for independence.  Does the gospel mean to destroy that passion?  Don't answer too quickly, for God Himself hails a certain kind of independence!

Certainly we are not talking about the independence that seeks to live contrary to God's government.  That kind of freedom is always destructive to self and others and needs restraint.  Notice, however, that our text today says, "kept under restraint until."  The "until" implies an end to restraint, but does it imply an end to independence?  Let us read on, using the Phillips translation of Galatians 3:24: Or, to change the metaphor, "the Law was like a strict tutor in charge of us until we went to the school of Christ and learned to be justified by faith in him."

Ah!  There's the first key!  Restrained until we have learned to be justified by faith in Him.  And, as the text says, we shall learn this by going to the "school of Christ."  What is taught in the school of Christ?  Jesus Himself testified that He came to reveal to us the Father (John 17:4; Luke 10:22).

Therefore, we shall come to know the Father by studying the life of Christ.  And in coming to know Him, our relationship with Him will be healed, or "set right," as the word justify implies.  Having learned how good, how reasonable, and adequate, are His ways, we will joyfully adhere to His counsel.  As it was Christ's, it will be our meat and drink to do the will of God.  Not because we have to (restraint), but because we desire it ourselves.

We desire it ourselves!  That is the second key.  What restraints need be applied to the driver who wants to drive safely?  The restraints are in himself.  Even so, his choices are still his own as to where he will travel.  His independence is not at variance with the law; it is served by the law!  For the law is not to abort independence but to guide us safely in our choices.

God created us to be more than restrained children.  He created us to have fellowship with Him (1 John 1:1-3).  By our own independent choice we may do just that.

ARE WE SAFE IN JESUS' PRESENCE?

So Mary came to the place where Jesus was.  As soon as she caught sight of him she fell at his feet and said, "O sir, if you had only been here my brother would not have died."  John 11:32, N.E.B.


A young wife and mother was sobbing her anguished prayer.  "Father!  Why did You let my husband die?  Where were You?  Did he not ask You to be with him the very day of the accident?  Surely You would not have let this happen had You been there!"

There is a sentiment in that heart-wrenching prayer that is not far from many of us.  Do we not start most every day with a prayer for God to be with us?  And what is it that we wish to experience by His presence?  Isn't it assumed that if He is present we will not face tragedy or heartache?

Certainly this is what Mary assumed when she confronted Jesus following Lazarus' death.  She was certain that had He been there, nothing bad could have happened.  Can't we identify with those feelings?

But what happens when tragedy does indeed happen to God's people?  We quickly conclude either that God was not there or that He was powerless or uncaring while there.  Seldom do we question our basic assumption about the effects of His presence.

You see, God's physical presence isn't the issue.  Safety is assured not by being in His presence, but by being in His will.  The focus of our prayers need not be that He should go with us but that we should walk in His paths, in harmony with His wise will.

Furthermore, the safety for which we should be the most concerned is not safety from disease, or even the first death.  Lazarus himself was walking in Jesus' will, yet he died.  But in the highest sense of the word he was safe.  He was safe from the second death.  As for that first death, Jesus simply called it a "sleep" and woke him up!

To long to be in Jesus' presence must mean so much more than wanting Him to be within shouting distance, or even being able to look Him in the eye.  It must mean being united with Him in spirit, to sense the joy of harmony with Him in one's basic values.  For only those who are close to Him in their souls will one day rejoice when He returns.

FOOLPROOF SALVATION

The faith that leads to righteousness is in the heart, and the confession that leads to salvation is upon the lips.  Rom. 10:10, N.E.B.

Most of us become a little suspicious when we hear or read of "foolproof" claims, such as the money-back guarantee that you can lose from two to six inches from your waistline in just one hour if you wear a special body wrap.  Or that foolproof plan whereby you can make more than $10,000 a year without leaving your home.  We know there's a catch somewhere.

In a similar way, "just believe" has almost become a cliche among Christians.  Yet many are sucked heartachingly into this oversimplified injunction.  They do believe, but find themselves relying on their own emotional discipline in order to sustain the assurance of salvation promised.  And since everyone has "down" days, the assurance comes and goes like the morning mists.  That's the catch.

It seems like a cruel trick.  Misgivings about God's part in all this can easily give way to outright skepticism and eventual disenchantment.  And if not disenchantment, then hopelessness.  What is left if God's own foolproof plan has failed?

The problem is not with God's plan, but in our understanding of it.  When we put the emphasis on ourselves, our belief, we will fail.  It makes a contest of our emotions.  To decide, instead, that the contest is with our intellect makes the problem only more complicated, for the intellect can easily serve a selfish heart.

The passions of the heart are unreliable if unguided by the integrity of our rational thinking.  Many a child has been nearly ruined by the ill-measured indulgence of his parents.  Our great God would have our hearts and minds balanced so as to bring wholeness into all our actions and interactions.

Therefore, He has ordained that with our minds we apprehend Him and with our hearts we hunger after Him.  In doing so, we are led back into right relationship with Him.  And this is our sure salvation.

UPWARD MOBILITY

To him who is victorious I will grant a place on my throne, as I myself was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.  Rev. 3:21, N.E.B.

Many years ago a television comedy series featured a family of backwoods hillbillies who had struck sudden wealth and moved to Beverly Hills in California.  As they fed their pigs in the marble fountains and wore overalls in the velvet-and-lace dining room, the humor unfolded.  It was humor based on the absurdity of people relocated into a palace, yet bearing the mind-set and style of the "sticks."

Though the plot was all a spoof, it does suggest one important insight for many in Western society who are "upwardly mobile," who are seeking to upgrade their status in life.  True nobility is based not on the lavishness of one's residence, but on the spirit and values of one's mind.

Many writers have scoffed at upward mobility, the quest for wealth and position, because it usually leads to greed and exploitation.  Yet, in its truest spirit, I believe that upward mobility was God's idea for us right from the start.  He created us for fellowship with the King of the universe!  Even after the Fall He still fully intends that we should once again be restored to sit with Him on His throne.  Now, that's upward mobility!

But that incredible "rise" in social status is not simply a relocation into a magnificent palace.  People will not inhabit the palace above who have not here on earth learned the language and spirit of the palace.  And this will not be found by shopping at the palace-makers of earth, but rather by giving attention to the matters of the heart.

The English writer John Ruskin said it well: "He only is advancing in life whose heart is getting softer, whose blood warmer, whose brain quicker, whose spirit is entering into living peace.  And the men who have this life in them are the true lords or kings of the earth--they, and they only."

Perhaps we should question why we so often hold such a dim view of ourselves when God has such a settled opinion of our destiny and our worth.  Nor would a proper appraisal of our destiny lead us to pride or arrogance, for pride, when seen for what it is, is but a cheap compensation, a thin cover-up, for low self-esteem.  But we are children of the King!