The Devotional – 030 – Is it by work, or By Faith

The Devotional – 030 – Is it by work, or By Faith

Proverbs 27:22 – Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

 

 Comments and challenges

There some passages in the Holy Bible that can scare, depress and anger us. Now don’t be shy about this since it is very easy to say it isn’t so. We say things like “well this isn’t talking about me, but my neighbor is like that” to be honest our neighbor is no doubt saying the same thing about us. You don’t believe me do you? Okay let’s look at the passage in Romans 2:1 which says this: Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Are you plagued by some sin that seems to hang on to every fiber of your humanity? There are several passages of scripture that list those sins and the ONE or TWO that identify the FOOL in us seems always to stare back at us, like looking in the mirror. James has this to say about these sins.

James 1:21-25 – Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Go ahead now agree with God that you have these areas of weakness, no one else is interested in your foolishness, I have mine to deal with; just as you. Also it is not something that is odd to just who you are and it is not something we’ve not heard before usually removed from the “first person” of conversation to maybe the “third”! You know that person; the one you met on the bus ten years ago that nobody knows. Now we are foolish about this too, we would not bring that person up… think about it. Do we not remember it like it happened, just yesterday? Hmm! A bit too close for comfort, don’t you think?

1 Corinthians 10: 12-13 – Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Proverbs 27:22 – Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.

 

Foolishness will not go away, the verse of scripture above has angered, depressed and scared me over the years, if I could scratch it out of the Holy Bible I would, but God in His Mercy has etched it into my soul and the work to remove the words and clean up those areas have failed. Foolishness (SIN) is who I am, but praise God… Jesus Christ is the GREAT I AM! There are also many passages that identify HIM as the one who takes away the foolishness (SIN) of man. In a WORK related way I have utilized every verse of scripture I could find to be a solution and rid myself of foolishness. Actually it is why I say “Bah humbug!” my effort does not work and neither does yours if you are seeking to clean up your foolishness, guess what? Jesus has already cleaned you and you know it.

 

However – and I would not be writing this if there were not a “however”. Notice what the apostle Paul has to say about a similar problem (whether it be physical or spiritual health it does not matter, yet he is talking of spiritual matters) it is what we do with what he says that matters.

 

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 – And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me; and He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

Verse 9 and 10 are for me the key to what I am seeking to get across to us this morning. The work of you and me is not to clean up our life, this for me has been an effort of failure and I am not guessing when I say this could be true of you as well; if you are seeking to make a better person out of who you really are then you are shoveling it against the tide… and you know it.

Knowing this is half the battle; I mean “your half way there!” in fact, most crazy people are crazy and they do not know it. The ones who do have a chance for recovery are the ones who know they are crazy, so if you know that you are a sinner saved by grace, this is all the work that God requires of you, this rest is up to God and His gift of daily grace.

Jesus explained to the apostle that His grace was sufficient for Paul, it was all he needed and it is all we need to overcome “weakness” (there is much scripture to prove that we cannot control those deep routed areas of sin) I could spend much time in searching these out (I have) but let’s continue. Why is God’s grace sufficient? Because we can rely on the strength of the work of Jesus Christ that has already overcome and has already obtained the VICTORY over our foolishness.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. This does not mean that I can continue being the foolish person, but it does mean that I can understand who I am in Christ. Also that He has considered my humble estate, if I am proud of my weakness there will be no acknowledgement of grace in my life, but if I acknowledge my weaknesses to Him I have all the grace I need because HIS strength is made perfect in my weakness resulting in the power of Christ resting on me.