John 3.19
The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Why is it that we feel that we cannot make it, why is it a times we feel hopeless, insecure, do we fear the light of God’s presences, did Jesus not say that he was the light that leads to life,
Psalm 27:1
[ A Psalm of David. ] The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 36:9
For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light
How are we to walk in the light and let our deeds done in the light, do we believe that God is quick to judge? Do we have faith in a God who can minister His grace, that His mercy triumphs over his judgement
When you read the story of Jonah, did not God say that in his judgement he would destroy Nineveh, did he not send his prophet into the city to proclaim their doom, is God still in the business of the prophet of doom,
Does God not say that those who don’t believe will perish, after Nineveh repented God forgave them his prophet was so angry, can we too get angry when justice is not seen to be done, what a surprise may await us in heaven who will be there or not.
God did not make us to be anyone’s judge,
We know that the expression of God’s nature was revealed through his son who had plenty to say to the Pharisees regarding their actions and their heart attitude being one and the same,
We read of the woe’s that Jesus pronounced upon them saying that they laid up heavy burdens upon people that they were actors or hypocrites
He says to them you say one thing but you do another.
He then turns to the crowd saying to do as they say but not as they do
Jesus apparently had all the time in the world for the sinner, those who realised that they were not right with God but those who were self righteous;
Jesus wants to lighten our load
My burdens are light and my yolk is easy.
He says in Luke 11 he says to them “you wash the outside but on the inside you are full of sin.”
What about the world we live in today, does it seem that most people are concerned with the outside appearance
Do we have things on the inside that we are ashamed of
Do we believe lies we have been told about us in our past, do we believe that He can change us from the inside out,
God looks on the heart, its man that looks on the outside
Jesus says “deal with the inside and the outside will be clean too,
Do we live lives of hypocrites do we ware a mask
What if that light can penetrate into our hearts revealing everything about us as it goes through our eyes, as when our eyes are opened and we are no longer blinded by the god of this world, that light shines through the face if Jesus our lives are exposed,
Before when I was not a Christian I could sin and be happy,
Example I was talking with someone this week
Do we live a divided life do we find that we are only cleaning the outside and the inside needs dealing with?
Jesus confront the Pharisees’ the religious people of that day, people who pretended to be something
The performance, are we putting on a performance are we blind to our life, are we ashamed of our private life that we keep it buried so tight that we don’t even dare to admit to our spouse what we are really like
Are we tired of living a divided life?
Are we consumed by our passions?
Are we driven by our flesh nature?
Can we be honest with ourselves with no fear of judgement?
Show me what it means to live in the light living in the light of God’s presence
Show me what it means to be a new creation old things are past away, can we ask for God’s help to live an undivided life
Self
Truth is that all of our life needs to be connected to God, we cannot separate our eating drinking waking sleeping working family time rest time, the natural things from the spiritual things
Deuteronomy 6:6-11 (New King James Version)
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
To a Jew the law was connected to every part of their life, they could not escape as there was something or some regulation that covered their waking and sleeping.
When Jesus came he did not come to do away with these laws but he was the fulfilment of them, that through allowing Christ into every part of our lives we fulfil everything
Do we pretend to live a life when things are not what they should be are we going through he motions
When you are confronted with your weakness he is made strong
Have we been convicted of any wrong in heart, can we ask for the peace that comforts us
God knows our heart, and when we confess we agree with God what he says about us,
Repentance is a decision to return to the true path, turn in the right direction.
Can we turn to the cross and realise that although we may seem like we have not got it all together but we submit to Him and own up to the way our life is and admin that we are a new creation, believe that God will show us ways that we can manifest him from the inside out,
Today is an invitation to the undivided life, the new life the new creation.
We no longer have to live in slavery to our human nature
We no longer have to live slaves to our past and we can reject the teachings that have led us to destructive guilt. Feelings of being a failure, not meeting up to the standard that is set, perhaps we have been fed the lies for years that we are no good that we are ugly, that we always make mistakes; this may be for some that they feel that they cannot break free from our past
Let us stand and we are going to ask the holy Spirit to help us.
