Lasting

[F]or the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. – Psalm 1:6

Though this is a brief psalm of only six verses, it effectively contrasts the wicked and the righteous.  Those who follow God are, like a tree by a stream, deeply rooted and enduring while the ungodly, the mockers and the scornful are little more than chaff caught up in the wind.  Their apparent movement and triumphant dancing in the air is an illusion that quickly passes away as they are left in dust, as dust.  Food for that cursed one:  The LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. (Genesis 3:14)

Dust and ash will be the end of the works of many who are saved themselves, as …  each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.  If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.  (1 Corinthians 3:13-15)

Many are the saints who will have much to show for their work here on earth -- me, probably not so much.  My time, energy, and meager abilities have most often been given to those things which will not endure.  The treasures I have laid up in heaven are, I am afraid, not very impressive, if there are indeed any that exist at all.  Perhaps there will be one or two that I have helped along the way.  I might point to loyalty and standing by a friend, but that is bred in me and hardly something for which I deserve credit.  I might as well try to claim a reward for blue eyes. 

I’m expecting my works to be turned to cold, gray ash, but that’s all right.  I’ve had a good time with it, and I have no room to complain if I am in heaven at all.  As I have more in common with the wicked than the righteous, apart from the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, I would have no hope whatever. 

The only Righteous One is Jesus.  He is that Tree, that Vine planted in the well-watered place.  None of us can be more than a branch, more or less fruitful, drawing from His abundant, everlasting life all that we may produce of any eternal value.  Everything of our old nature eventually gets cut off … and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 

So it is, and so it must be.  It is wise to not get too caught up by and invested in what we do, what we have, or how we live here.  If we do our best to dwell close to the heart of the Lord perhaps there will be some small thing of which we may say it was nothing of ourselves but it was done by Him through us to His glory.  And it will last.

The Hitcher

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  – Romans 1:29-31

Just as good works are the evidence of faith and love, so works of evil are not the source but the symptoms of a corrupt nature.   Jesus said that from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  Our words and actions are manifestations of the state of our hearts.  Focusing on cleaning up our act can be beneficial, but it does not solve the root problem. 

I often refer to John7:17 where Jesus said:   If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.  There is a difference between merely doing God’s will and having one’s will aligned with God.  When we choose to do God’s will, to be obedient to everything we know about God, by a volitional act, a process of renewal begins.  It is such a radical process that the Lord refers to it as a new kind of birth.  Just as the natural life of a child is likely to involve mistakes, accidents, a series of illnesses, burned fingers, skinned knees, bumps, bruises, maybe even broken bones, the new spiritual life is not without its dangers, difficulties and setbacks.  

My aunt and uncle had ten kids and my uncle believed in everybody working.  We always milked our cows from the right side, just like we always mounted a horse on the left side.  Since there were plenty of kids to go around, my uncle would often have his offspring double-teaming a cow to get done faster.  The kid on the side would milk out the front quarters while another – usually a younger child – would sit behind the cow and milk out the back quarters.  This would, obviously, lead to an interesting situation should the animal decide to eliminate waste during the milking process.  The impending threat was, no doubt, a highly motivating factor for efficient and rapid effort on the part of the child in the rear.  Someone was visiting my uncle at milk-time, and, upon observing one of the boys – my cousin Doc, I think – laboring at a bovine’s rear end, he suggested that in the event of an accident it might be easier to have another child rather than to clean Doc up.  Doc’s still around so I don’t know whether he was usually fast or my uncle was merciful. 

A spiritual failure is not a reason to give up any more than being covered in cow manure or getting the chickenpox is a reason to trade in your kid for a new one.  The problem I keep seeing in Christianity for much of its history is a tendency to “discover” some doctrine, formula, concept, ritual, or whatever that results in a sudden transformation.  If a person is not completely remade and turned into a perfect specimen after being prayed over, baptized in water, sprinkled, fire-baptized, anointed, slain in the Spirit, etc., someone may conclude that the person is “not really saved”.  It’s not at all uncommon for the “failed” Christian to be among those who question his or her salvation.  The reason I know this is because I am, in the view of many, most likely, just such a failure. 

My intention is to do God’s will, and I sometimes get royally and roundly pissed off when I fail.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.  I think that is an understandable response to not being able to do something I think I ought to be able to do.   I am fighting an intelligent, stubborn and resourceful enemy – I know him very well.  He is not without his good points, but he has to die nonetheless.  I look at it this way:  Patton was a better warrior in France because he had fought Rommel in North Africa.  Ali was able to beat George Foreman in part because he had fought men like Sonny Liston and Joe Frazier – whether he won or lost those fights. 

If your goal in life is to be nice and to be liked, that’s all well and good.  But if your goal is to be Christ-like, to do God’s will, to be transformed for worlds and wars yet unknown, for eternity, for new heavens and new earths, that’s going to be a challenge.  Do you want to make an good impression on the folks in your Sunday School class or do you want to put down the old man and put on Christ?  Did you ever see the old ‘80s’ movie, The Hitcher?  The old nature may be “dead” or at least, supposedly, rendered inoperable, but, like the Hitcher -- the wicked John Ryder, it keeps popping up on us and doing damage.  My job is to stop my own old man.  It’s not my fault that I got Rutger Hauer while my brother got Shirley Temple or Richard Simmons.    

We can gauge how we are doing by the fruit that is borne in our lives, but the fruit just reveals the root.  We know already that the old nature is corrupted and our battle is to operate out of the new nature.  Falling and failing are not things we brag about, but a loss or a failure is not a reason to surrender.  There is no magic formula for kicking our hitcher out of the car.  We can’t just pass him by and hope for the best because he will just be waiting for us where we lest expect him … on down the road.