23 May 2013 - what are we waiting for?

23 May 2013 - what are we waiting for?

Delay not your conversion to the LORD,
put it not off from day to day.

If we are honest we find that we have plenty of excuses that keep us from turning to him.

We rely on our own strength.  We think that we only need to go to God for really big things or only for specifically spiritual things.  But when we say “I have the power” to Jesus he replies that on our own we can do nothing.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us but without him we are building on shifting sand.  It doesn't mean that we will keep the thought of him in mind at every moment.  But we will work toward that end by taking every thought captive for him (cf 2 Cor 10:5).  We will at least begin our undertakings by offering them to him and end by asking for his blessing on the work of our hands when we are finished  (cf. Psalm 90:17).

We downplay the consequences of sin.  We look at the patterns we know we need to change and downplay the consequences that those patterns have on us.  We say, “I have sinned, yet what has befallen me?”  We miss the destruction we allow because we are nearsighted.  Without reference to eternity and lasting things we gauge our actions based on short term pleasure and our comfort levels.  This is why we need to seek the things that are above (cf. Col 3:1) and remember that our citizenship is in heaven (cf Phil 3:20).

In the worst cases we start to take his mercy for granted.  We no longer cooperate with his grace in us to change.  Instead we become content to sin boldly and yet recklessly assume forgiveness.  We say, “Great is his mercy; my many sins he will forgive.”  But we do not say this after having fallen or in a spirit of contrition.  We say it as we go off to commit sins which we convince ourselves we cannot resist.

But if we do not delay and covert we are blessed indeed.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

Even the devout among us underestimate how serious sin is.  The words of Jesus are sobering.

If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed 

The saints are repulsed even by venial sins in a way that is at best challenging for us.  Yet in their commitment to his ways they open themselves more than all others to the joy the LORD longs to give.

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Unlike those to whom the law is a burden the saints find there joy therein.

But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.