My style's like a chemical spill

Author: Nick (Page 4 of 24)

Against You Have I Sinned

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
-Psalm 51:4 (NIV)

After King David was exposed of his affair with Bathsheba, he expressed his sorrow through the words of this psalm. The domino effect of his sinful choices had sent piercing ripples throughout his own life as well as others.

David could have written, “Against Bethsheba have I sinned,” and that would be true. He took advantage of her sexually. He could have added, “Against Uriah have I also sinned.” Another fact, since David plotted his murder. He could have even threw in, “Against Joab too have I sinned,” since he made him force Uriah to the frontlines of battle.

If David had written his psalm using those examples, no one would argue with it. But David was honest and knew that no one had experienced more pain from his sin than God. Ultimately, David rebelled against him.

Sometimes when you sin, it only affects you. On the other hand, sometimes your sin affects others. And sometimes it affects you and others.

But your sin always affects God because it always breaks his heart. That’s why acknowledging our sin is an issue of our relationship of God more so than just our relationship with others. And thankfully David understood that.

Therefore, we’ve got to be careful when we start justifying certain behavior with comments like, “It’s not hurting anyone!” Because there will always be sinful things that don’t seem to do any damage to others on the surface. Even though that may be true, a better question is, “Is this hurting God?”

David couldn’t be more clear. With any sinful action, the answer is assuredly, “Yes.”

I think that perspective is the key to overcoming the battle with sin. The point isn’t that we have a sin problem per se… It’s that we have a God problem.

What I mean is that many people claim to love God above all others. But if you truly love God, will you blatantly choose to do things that cause him pain? When all is said and done, we must realize that our sinful choices are a direct punch into his gut. Whether they hurt someone on earth or not, God is still wounded.

Despite what we try to convince ourselves, our sin isn’t truly about ourselves or others. At its core, it is an issue between us and God.

In a moment of true repentance, David said it best… Against God, God only, have we sinned.

 

What Someone Will Pay For It

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
-1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)

One of my favorite television shows is Pawn Stars, which depicts the day-to-day dealings of a Las Vegas pawn shop. Oftentimes someone will bring in some super-rare historical item, something the pawn shop owners have never seen before, so they’ll have an expert give them an appraisal. Sometimes they will comment that a similar item sold at auction recently for a certain price. But sometimes the expert is dumbfounded. They don’t have a clue where to begin in pricing the item, so you’ll hear them say something to the effect of:

“It’s worth what someone will pay for it.”

What they mean is because of the item’s uniqueness there’s no precedent for what it would sell for. It’s virtually impossible to place a specific value on it. You basically have to just throw it out on the market and see what happens. Because you never know… At auction, two guys could bid against each other back and forth all day, sending the price through the roof.

In Peter’s first letter, the author reminders his readers that they too were purchased at a great price by God. He uses the slavery/hostage term “ransom” to explain this, which is simply a payment that buys someone’s freedom. Just like a slave is controlled by his master, we are slaves to our sin. But, as Peter points out, our freedom was paid for with the blood of Jesus.

So if something’s worth is established by what someone is willing to pay for it, then what does that say about our value to God? Wow! It’s inconceivable!

God sacrificed everything, and that changes everything. It shifts the way we think about ourselves, the way we think about others, and most importantly, the way we think about God. Our Father in Heaven wanted nothing more than to set us free from the entrapment of our sin that he was willing to pay whatever it took to do just that. And we weren’t bought with gold, silver, or buckets of cash. It was the sacrifice of his son, Jesus.

When our lives were thrown out on the the market, the devil put up a fight, but God didn’t hesitate. When he put down the decisive bid of Jesus, it sent a resounding message to all… “They are mine and I don’t care what I have to pay to get them!” And because of that, we are free.

Thank God, he was willing to pay for it.

Shut Up And Say Wow

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
-Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

I recently had the incredible privilege of witnessing the birth of my first child, a son. I will never forget the feeling of seeing my little boy in flesh and bone for the first time. It was an indescribable experience and one of the best moments of my life. I can hardly imagine topping it.

But on the other hand, in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that consequential. I mean, statistically speaking, 4 children are born in the world every second. Expanding that further, 250 babies appear per minute, and 15,000 in an hour. That’s approximately 360,000 newborns entering into the world every, single day! Hardly something worth getting excited over. Babies being born is basically the equivillent of my heart beating. It’s cool and all, but it’s certainly not newsworthy. And clearly isn’t not something worth praising God over! Anything that happens 400+ times while I brush my teeth isn’t worth celebrating or giving the Creator any credit for.

Two wildly different opinions on the exact same event. And according to David the psalmist, the ideology of the second is thoroughly and utterly wrong.

Instead of looking at the human experience with a wide lenses, he instead focuses on the up-close details. Just look how full of amazement and reverence David is… “God, you created my inmost being? Woah! You knit me together in my mother’s womb? Yeah! I am fearfully and wonderfully made, by you? Wow!” It’s as if David is saying, “I couldn’t care less how ordinary a new baby’s conception or birth is… I’m still going to praise you for it because you care about it, you were involved with it, and ultimately you still did it!”

Because it really is all about perspective, isn’t it? One can play devil’s advocate about the so-called “works of God” simply being nothing more than humdrum, day-to-day events. A baby is born? Cool, but no big deal. A colorful sunset? Yeah, that’s nice. I woke up and didn’t die in my sleep? Oh well, another day.

Just because something is common doesn’t make it any less miraculous.

When I laid eyes on my little boy for the first time, my first thought wasn’t, “This is neat, but it happens more than a quarter million times per day.” All I could do is marvel in the surreal, supernatural moment and say, “Wow.”

The more I read the Bible, the more I find story after story of people who, like David, were fixiated on God’s power and ability. They didn’t take anything he did for granted. Everything they encountered, it was done through him and by him and for him. They didn’t look for reasons to deny praise to God… Instead, they looked for opportunities to praise him for anything. To them, everything was a testimony to God’s majesty.

You can downplay things against God’s greatness. Or, you can drop your jaw in awe of him. Sometimes we all just need to shut up and say, “Wow.”

Who knows? You might even start praising him for the ordinary.

Even Though

 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
-Habakkuk 3:17-19a (NLT)

Toward the end of Habakkuk’s book, the prophet has come to terms with the fact that his people of Judah are going to be overtaken by the Babylonians, a result of their sinfulness and disobedience. Clearly the outlook is pessimistic, and Habakkuk describes life thereafter as one with fruitless trees and vines, plus empty fields and barns.

In this scenario, Habakkuk has basically lost it all — his possessions, his security, his accomplishments. And his first response is to rejoice? What in the world does he have to rejoice about?

And while Habakkuk’s list of devastation does get his point across, admittedly the loss of crops and livestock don’t have as much sting to a modern day audience. I can imagine that his prayer today would sound something like this…

Even though my cell phone is dead and my laptop’s hard drive has crashed; even though my car breaks down and I’m fired from my job for being late to work; even though my credit cards are maxed out and my checking account is in the single digits; even though my mother is sick and my house is being foreclosed on; even though my spouse has left me and the kids blame me…

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

Habakkuk realized that his feelings were not and should not be controlled by his circumstances, but rather by faith in God’s strength and sovereignty.

And when that trust in the Lord is built, like Habakkuk says, we become like deer on a mountain.  The struggle, pain and affliction we experience won’t be seen as opposition but rather opportunity… Chances to rise above it, live by faith, and see things from a new perspective.

Even though nothing is going to plan, can you still rejoice in the Lord? Even though all hope seems lost, will you still be joyful in the God of your salvation?

Even though…

6 Is Less Than 7

And [the beast] requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name. Here is wisdom: The one who has understanding must calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
-Revelation 13:16-18 (HCSB)

Even if you are not familiar with the book of Revelation, you probably at least know of the infamous number 666 — the mark of the beast, part of Satan’s unholy threesome. Whether or not we’ll ever crack the code and know the full identity of the “beast,” I can’t say. But there is some meaning behind the number that we can grasp now.

If you know anything about number symbolism in the Bible, you know that 7 is the number of perfection (creation). The meaning of the number 3 is similar, as it represents completion (Trinity). Therefore, 3 7s, or the number 777, would represent the complete, perfection of God.

And that brings us back to the beast’s number: 666. The point? 6 is less than 7. Things of Satan and not of God will always fall entirely short of perfection! And the fact that it is 666 magnifies the fact that he will never achieve the full, completeness of God.

But here’s why it’s dangerous: 6 looks almost like 7.

Satan loves to try to emulate God’s design and ever-so-slightly distort what God has made good. He is the ultimate copycat and counterfeiter. And then Satan tries to convince us that his imitations are OK… That his way is close enough… That 6 is pretty much 7.

So we must pay attention to the difference. Otherwise, we fall for the lie. Because if we aren’t on guard, instead of striving for an absolute, godly life, we might find ourselves saying things like…

  • It’s not wrong to download music/movies/software without paying for them… Those people are rich anyway.
  • It is fine to go this far intimately with my boyfriend/girlfriend… That’s technically not considered sex.
  • It doesn’t matter if I sleep in this morning and skip out on worship… I will pray and maybe read my Bible later on anyhow.

When Christians settle for less than perfection, Satan wins. And one of his best weapons is tricking you into believing that those shortcomings are OK. Once again, 6 is basically 7.

But the fact of the matter is that 6 is not 7, and never will be 7. In the same vein, Satan will never live up to God’s glorious standard. He is not God, and never will be God. The reasoning is simple arithmetic…

Because 6 will always be less than 7.

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