Burning For You

¹⁸Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. ¹⁹A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.

Acts 19:18-19 (NIV)

Paul was in Ephesus and many people were coming to faith in Christ. They weren't just simple "Ok, I'm a Christian. Now what?" conversions. No, the people were renouncing their old lives. Confessing the evil that they used to do. Taking the tangible signs of their old lives and burning them. Think about those books they burned. A drachma was about a days wages. Based on the 2008 average salary (as reported on the Social Security Admistration website) that translates to over 5.6 million dollars! Can you imagine a group of people coming to faith in Christ and destroying 5.6 million dollars worth of stuff just because it was an evil influence in the sinful life they used to lead? Honestly, comfortable materialistic American that I am, I can't imagine it. Why not? Why should such a radical conversion seem so strange to me? What from my sinful life would I be willing - and even eager - to burn to show the difference Christ has made in my life?

Seeing God

⁵ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. ⁶ Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Job 42:5-6

At the end of his ordeal, Job finds himself a changed man. He has seen God and he has seen his own unrighteousness which leads him to repentence. Truly seeing God should always lead us to repent of our sin. It's a shame that we spend so much of our lives just hearing about God and not truly seeing God. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord... I want to see You... to see You high and lifted up...

Less Than We Deserve

¹³ "What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins have deserved and have given us a remnant like this. ¹⁴ Shall we again break your commands and intermarry with the peoples who commit such detestable practices? Would you not be angry enough with us to destroy us, leaving us no remnant or survivor? ¹⁵ O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in your presence."

Ezra 9:13-15 (NIV)

Doesn't that just capture the essence of grace? God has "punished us less than our sins have deserved." That's something I need to remember every day. I may sin in ways that are completely acceptable to the world around me and it is still sin in the eyes of God. Certainly Ezra understands here what Paul says in Romans 6:1 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" "No" is Paul's emphatic answer. "No" is Ezra's answer. Ezra knew it was by the grace of God that he could stand before God in repentence. Paul knew that it was through the grace of God as manifested in the death of Christ on the cross and being united with Christ that he could stand before God in repentence. It is that same grace that allows me to write here that I have been punished less than I deserve. Should I go on sinning to experience more of God's grace? No, the grace He has given me is sufficient that I should be amazed by it and treasure it the rest of my life!

Did you notice who wasn't there?

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

John 8:7 (NIV)

They brought a woman accused of adultery to Jesus wanting Him to tell them it was OK to stone her. Did you notice who wasn't there? The Washington Post wasn't covering the story. Nor was the New York Times. Not CNN, MSNBC, or FoxNews. Not Huffington Post or DrudgeReport. Not Gawker. Not TMZ. Nope, our mainstream media completely missed out on this story. But did you see story on such-and-such about so-and-so? I'll send you the link. Ha, I can't believe what they've done! They deserve what's coming to them! Let him who is without sin... My sin? What do you mean? I'm just relaying something I saw on... It wasn't me saying anything in the first place. Shouldn't you be reproving the MSM for reporting salacious stories like this? What? How many fingers are pointing back at me? Come on, give me a break. There's a speck in your eye! Don't you know that! You expect me to get it out for you? Forget it! I'm not going to help you! (I can't because of this darn log in my eye.)

Cleaning House

I wrote yesterday of Josiah's responsive heart as he humbled himself before the Lord in repentence after the book of the covenant was discovered in the temple. 2 Kings 23 continues the story and shows how Josiah's responsive heart translated into actions. Perhaps there's something I can learn from what he did.

• He let everybody know. Josiah didn't stop at just himself reading the word. He had the book of the covenant read to all of the people. He knew this was important and was something that he had to share with others.
• He renewed his commitment to God. In verse 3 we see that he renewed the covenant "to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul." Repentence doesn't just stop at confession, it requires change and commitment.
• He cleaned house. Josiah had the priests remove everything from the temple that was dedicated to foreign gods. They didn't stop at just the temple, they went throughout the land tearing down anything that was dedicated to foreign gods. They weren't just throwing things out - things were "smashed" and "desecrated". Josiah was serious and not concerned with political correctness.
• He didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. In verses 17 and 18, we read of Josiah encoutering the tomb of a prophet who was a man of God and had prophesied of the cleansing Josiah was doing. Josiah realized that his tombstone could be left intact.

Josiah was serious about cleaning the kingdom of all that was dedicated to foreign gods. He knew that a holy God demanded His people be holy also. He sought to remove all that wasn't dedicated to God and still to retain and preserve all that was dedicated to the true God.

Heavenly Father, help me to know when I need to clean house. Help me to be strong and diligent in removing all that is not dedicated to You. Help me also to preserve and cultivate all in my life that is dedicated to You. For Your glory. Amen.

Responsive Hearts

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the LORD.

2 Kings 22:19 (NIV)

Josiah was young when he became king. The kings before him didn't seek God. The people had turned away from God. They had forgotten the word of God... until it was found when they were renovating the temple. Josiah read it and realized how far the people had strayed from God. He humbled himself. He wept. He repented. The fruit of his repentence was that he didn't see the disaster God was to bring upon the people.

I haven't gone a long time without reading God's word. I read every day. In the morning on my own. At night with my kids. How do I react when I read the word and realize how far I have strayed from God? It's been a while since I've wept. I don't know that I've ever torn my clothes (at least on purpose). I'm pretty quiet with my repentence. I just need to make sure that I'm quick with my repentence when I find myself confronted by my sin.

Heavenly Father. Thank You that Your Word exposes my sin. Thank You that as I confess my sin You are faithful to forgive my sin and cleanse me from my unrighteousness. Help me to be responsive when convicted of my sin and to humble myself and turn to You. For Your glory. Amen.

Coarse Burlap Pajamas

Coarse burlap pajamas don't sound very comfortable, do they? Not to me. Why do I bring that up. As I was getting ready to blog this morning, I looked up the passage I was setting my sights on in a variety of different translations. The phrase "coarse burlap pajamas" came from the Message translation and it definitely put a vivid picture in my head. Here's the passage in NIV:

²⁷ When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.

²⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: ²⁹ "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."

1 Kings 21:27-29 (NIV)

Elijah had just delivered a stinging rebuke to King Ahab after Jezebel had Naboth killed so that Ahab could have Naboth's vineyard. How did Ahab respond to Elijah's rebuke? He repented. He ripped his royal garments and put on his coarse burlap pajamas. He fasted and moped around saddened by his sin. God noticed. God made sure that Elijah noticed, too. Ahab is spared of God's wrath for the moment. In the next chapter, he messes up again and ends up getting hit by a "lucky" shot from an enemy archer.

What, I wonder, does repentence look like in my life? I certainly don't go around wearing sackcloth. Can I get a good sackcloth gown at my local Christian book store? Am I truly saddened by my sin? Do people notice when I repent? Did they even notice that I sinned in the first place? God knows. Yes, God knows and that's good enough. When I think about repentence and think about how Ahab fasted while wearing his coarse burlap pajamas, I am reminded of what Jesus said about fasting in the sermon on the mount.

¹⁶"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)

Ahab sinned. He was a pretty evil King and his wife Jezebel didn't help point him in a godly direction. He even called Elijah, who spoke the word of God into his life, his enemy. Yet, when Elijah rebuked Ahab here in 1 Kings 21, Ahab repented. God knew what was in his heart and made sure that Elijah knew it too. God made sure that we knew it too.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that I know that I am a sinner. Help me when I am convicted of my sin to repent and be saddened by my sin. Help me to humble myself in Your eyes. Thank You that Jesus died for my sins. Help to, through Him, to live a life pleasing to You. Amen.