by Wendy Elizabeth Middleton
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11:29-30
If what you want to do is different from what God wants you to do, YIELD to God, He has the right of way. This is one of the hardest lessons of Christianity. It is one of the hardest parts of being a Christian.
A lot of what God asks of us doesn’t make sense to the world, and often doesn’t make sense to us because we only have a limited vision of everything going on around us.
A lot of what God asks of us isn't at all what we want to do because we are only flesh and blood.
Just as we must forgive our fellow men and want them in heaven just as badly as God does, we must also recognize God’s timing. An addict will not benefit from AA until he is ready to admit his addiction. A sinner will not benefit from godly instruction until he is ready to admit his sin. God’s timing is perfect. If we do not adhere to his pauses as well as his prompting then we will be beating our heads against a brick wall for no reason.
Submission, yielding to the will of God is a prerequisite of obedience. Unless we are willing to accept God’s sovereignty, if we insist on picking and choosing which commandments we will obey then we are not obedient at all.
Simple – Ain’t – Easy
But we are always better off doing things God’s way
Wendy
A lot of what God asks of us isn't at all what we want to do because we are only flesh and blood.
Love your enemies? Bin Laden? ISIS? Murderers? These are my enemies. They do wicked things on this earth and to the people of this earth. Yet I am commanded to love them? HOW!
First of all acknowledge that God is God. Nothing catches Him by surprise, and nothing goes unnoticed.
First of all acknowledge that God is God. Nothing catches Him by surprise, and nothing goes unnoticed.
God is an avenging God. He will not allow evil to go on forever. Wicked men die and if they die in their wickedness then they are cast out of the presence of God, and therefore out of the presence of those who are in the presence of God. They are gone - forever.
And that is great! That is exactly what I want. I want my enemies to in the lake of fire, in hell! But that is not where God wants them to be. If a wicked man turns from his wicked ways then God accepts him with open arms and rejoicing in heaven.
If a murderer asks God to forgive him then he is forgiven indeed. Must I forgive him? Must I forget what he has done?
Here is the simple truth: My sins murdered Christ. My sins put Him on the cross. Christ has forgiven me for murder. That is the will of God.
So should we forgive all sins and empty our jails? God does not forgive sins without repentance and our jails are filled with unrepentant men. God can see the soul of a man. God knows who has repented and who has not. That is why He gets to judge. We cannot see into the soul of a man and accurately judge his repentance and we live in a world of sinful men. Justice requires that honest men be protected from dishonest men. As long as we live in a fallen world we will need jails and our jails will be full.
So where does that leave us in the forgiveness department? With the firm assurance that God loves our enemies every bit as much as He loves us and because He loves them we must love them as well. This is not the warm fuzzy kind of love. We have a firm definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This is the love of God. This is the love that we must show to everyone, friend and foe alike. And this love doesn’t excuse bad behavior but it does relieve us of the toxic effects of hatred through forgiveness.
We must forgive our enemies not only for their sake but for our own.
Do we want to? Hardly ever but the new command Jesus gave says we must. (John 13:34)
And that is great! That is exactly what I want. I want my enemies to in the lake of fire, in hell! But that is not where God wants them to be. If a wicked man turns from his wicked ways then God accepts him with open arms and rejoicing in heaven.
If a murderer asks God to forgive him then he is forgiven indeed. Must I forgive him? Must I forget what he has done?
Here is the simple truth: My sins murdered Christ. My sins put Him on the cross. Christ has forgiven me for murder. That is the will of God.
So should we forgive all sins and empty our jails? God does not forgive sins without repentance and our jails are filled with unrepentant men. God can see the soul of a man. God knows who has repented and who has not. That is why He gets to judge. We cannot see into the soul of a man and accurately judge his repentance and we live in a world of sinful men. Justice requires that honest men be protected from dishonest men. As long as we live in a fallen world we will need jails and our jails will be full.
So where does that leave us in the forgiveness department? With the firm assurance that God loves our enemies every bit as much as He loves us and because He loves them we must love them as well. This is not the warm fuzzy kind of love. We have a firm definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This is the love of God. This is the love that we must show to everyone, friend and foe alike. And this love doesn’t excuse bad behavior but it does relieve us of the toxic effects of hatred through forgiveness.
We must forgive our enemies not only for their sake but for our own.
Do we want to? Hardly ever but the new command Jesus gave says we must. (John 13:34)
Yielding isn't easy. Giving God the right of way is hard when everything in our flesh tells us not to, but we must! No matter what our limited line of sight sees, God sees more. He is never wrong. We can trust that He is never wrong and we must trust that He knows what He is doing, all the time, every time.
We must also yield when God says don’t go there. We must follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We must jump when he says jump and stop when he says stop.
Just as we must forgive our fellow men and want them in heaven just as badly as God does, we must also recognize God’s timing. An addict will not benefit from AA until he is ready to admit his addiction. A sinner will not benefit from godly instruction until he is ready to admit his sin. God’s timing is perfect. If we do not adhere to his pauses as well as his prompting then we will be beating our heads against a brick wall for no reason.
Submission, yielding to the will of God is a prerequisite of obedience. Unless we are willing to accept God’s sovereignty, if we insist on picking and choosing which commandments we will obey then we are not obedient at all.
Simple – Ain’t – Easy
But we are always better off doing things God’s way
Wendy
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