No More Excuses

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.  It is not in heaven, that you should say ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’  Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’  But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”  Deut. 30:  11-14

            God has left us without excuses.  He has given us His Word, clearly and easily understood.  He didn’t hide it or put it out of reach so that we had to search for it or have someone else interpret it for us.  He has written it down for us, and then He lived it for us. 

            We have many excuses for not living our lives the way we know God would have us live.  We’re tired.  We’re shy.  We’re broke.  We don’t know what His will for our lives is.  It’s hard.  The whining becomes an overwhelming litany that we have used for so long it springs automatically to our lips.  But it’s not the truth.

            The truth is that God has made His word immanently accessible to each of us.  He has made His word clear, and has not hidden how He wants us to live.  He wanted to make sure it was clear, so He came to earth as one of us, and gave us an example of how it could be done.  He placed His word in our hearts and on our tongues so that we could obey. 

            We have the choice.  We can live by faith, reflecting the image of the Son, or we can continue to wallow in excuses, being defeated not by Satan or the powers of hell, but by our own weakness.  We win this battle “not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord”.  As we conform to the image of the Son, making each decision by modeling it after His character, depending on His strength to succeed, we live by faith.  It is simple, and yet the hardest choice to make.  We must be vigilant, making each choice consciously and deliberately. 

            We cannot live by the Word unless we know the word.  Without study and meditation on the Word of God we leave ourselves defenseless, floundering in a sea of uncertainty.  We cannot make choices based on the character of God unless we know the character of God.  God has made His word abundantly available to us.  Every Goodwill Store has several copies for sale, most hotel rooms come furnished with one, many Christians would give one to any one who asked. You have questions? We all have questions. Ask. Ask your pastor or your Bible study leader. Ask me. But ask.

            Give up your excuses.  Reach out to God and ask Him to help You live His way.  You’ll be glad you did.

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  For the scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him

will not be disappointed.’”  

Romans 10: 9-11

He is Speaking

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1:1, 14

            From the very beginning, before time, God spoke His Word in our behalf.  In Genesis 1, He spoke and the world came into being.  He spoke, and we were created in His very image.  He breathed life into us, and walked and talked with us in the garden.  When we sinned and fell, He spoke hope of a redeemer to us.

            Later He spoke to Moses, giving him the law that would allow some kind of relationship between Him and us, and that would remind us of a need for a savior.  He continued speaking through the judges, kings and prophets.

            And then, when time was ready, He spoke the final Word.  He reached across eternity, beyond the differences between Himself and us, and spoke the one Word that we could understand.  He spoke Jesus.  His Word became incarnate.  In that one Word, He bridged any communication gap that might exist. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and lived among us.  He lived the grace and truth of God in human flesh.  Instead of God around us, He was Emmanuel, God with us.  Then He became sin for us, died and rose for us, and indwelt us.  Peter says that we were “born again not of the seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding Word of God.” (I Peter 1:23)  In the end, it is the Word of God who will come again and redeem the world.  “He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God.”  (Rev. 19:13)  He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and last Word.  We were created by the Word, saved by the Word, and now indwelt by the Word.  

What word do we communicate to the world around us?  If we live as a light shining in the midst of a dark world, we communicate the Word of life.  If we blend into the world around us, we speak nothing at all.  We must hold fast to the work of truth, letting it dwell in us richly and living it so that it communicates to those around us.  We must live truth and grace, revealing God through our lives.  It is the way God chooses to communicate now.  It is the Head, speaking through the body.  It is the hope of our generation.

What word are you speaking to the watching world around you?