I think everybody would want unity, if it meant everybody else submitting to your own way of thinking. But if it means submitting to someone else’s way of thinking… well, that’s a different matter. So, for most people, the quest for unity comes down to persuading others to agree with you, or that they submit to your authority. Now that’s a major problem, when “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.” [Proverbs 21:2 KJV]
If your ways and ideas are right, then of course, you SHOULD want to persuade others. But if you’re wrong, you should WANT to BE persuaded, or corrected, and to change. Problem again… nobody thinks they’re wrong!!
Admitting you’re wrong has got to be one of the hardest things a man could ever do. Yet, when we each stand before the Lord in our day of judgment… before the awesome, overwhelming majesty and holiness of the Almighty God… it will be very EASY to admit we were wrong! It will be impossible to hide anything, or deny anything, or debate with God, in the presence of His glorious light!
I got a little foretaste of that a few times. The first time was when I had been really crying out to the Lord for months, to show me just how He saw me. I thought I had some idea what He might say, but I was in no way prepared for His answer. One day as I was at work at my desk, He started bringing some scriptures to mind. It was Proverbs 6:16-19. “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”
In a totally different context than I had thought, He started telling me specifically how I was guilty of some of those abominations, and had been guilty for over 30 years… as a born-again, Spirit-filled, Bible-believing, zealous, clean-living Christian! I’m not talking about immoral behavior that everyone can see is wrong. What He was showing me were the thoughts and intents of the heart, behind all the things that I thought I was doing RIGHT!
What I felt right then went WAY beyond ‘conviction’!! I honestly have no words to describe it. I did not even TRY to come up with any kind of excuse! Denial did not even cross my mind! I knew I was facing the God who sees all, and knows all, and judges righteously! All I could do was fall on my face, and plead, “Oh God, I’m sorry! Have MERCY on me!”
The best way I can describe what I felt for the next 30 seconds or so, was that it was like there was an avalanche, or a big truck, dumping tons of black rock or coal on me, about to bury me in heavy blackness. I was expecting God to pronounce judgment on me right then and there! But, after a few minutes, when no judgment fell, I looked up… and He was SMILING at me!!! …With nothing but love and joy in His eyes, He said to me, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this day!!” And He said that though He had seen all those abominations, for all that time, He had not cast me off, but had been patiently waiting for me to come to this place where I was open and broken enough that He could show me these things… yes, my sin… but also both His righteousness and holiness, AND His mercy and grace!
With the theology that I held at that point in my life, I had no grid for that kind of grace. He had to teach me from the Word, what He had done… AFTER I had experienced it. First He corrected ME. Then He corrected my theology.
(Let me say here, that from the Word of God (and experience), I don’t believe anyone can fully appreciate the love and mercy and grace of God, until they can see their own wretched, sinful state, and His holy, righteous judgment! The good news of the gospel has to include the judgment of sin. Only when we see the ugliness of sin, and the horrible judgment that our sin required, can we really appreciate the love of God at work on the cross. We need BOTH the love AND the fear of the Lord.)
So then, a couple weeks later, when I had thought His work had been done in me, and now I was good to go… He brought up several scriptures about false balances and diverse weights… more abominations… again in a totally different light than I had ever thought… and He revealed how that applied to ME! I was back on my face on the floor… again!
Similar scenarios repeated several times over the next few months, each time bringing more humility and fear of the Lord. I am quite aware now, that if He chose to release enough of His light on me… even right now… He could expose more in me that’s wrong, and needs to change… things that I may or may not even be aware of. And He will… and I want Him to!
And STILL, He calls me pure and righteous… right now… IN Christ! My name IS written in the Lamb’s book of life! I am washed whiter than snow! What AMAZING GRACE!!!
I share those experiences, because it forever changed the way I look at others. God could have judged me… justly… forever. He was right. I was wrong. Now, whenever I am so ‘sure’ I’m right, and my brother is wrong… I always have that reminder that God might see something I don’t see. And I need to deal with my brother as God dealt with me… yes, in holiness and righteousness… but also with love and mercy. And I need to keep a meek and teachable spirit.
That doesn’t mean we’re to condone sin or error, or to be weak in our stand on the Word. Many places in the scriptures, we are exhorted to ‘hold fast’— the faithful word (Titus 1:9); sound words (2 Timothy 1:13); that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21); even ‘traditions’ (2 Thessalonians 2:15). We’re even called to reprove and rebuke others. We really ought to know we’re right, before we go rebuking a brother.
You’re probably starting to see the dilemma here. How do you stand firm and confident that what you believe is right… persuading others… and still remain correctable… and teachable?
One thing above all: H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y. Again, humility is pretty easy in the presence of almighty God, but not so much so, man-to-man, with your ‘equals’, or those you even consider below you.
So how do you get humility? (The light bulbs ought to be coming on right now!) GET IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD!! Really, when you stand in the holy presence of the Lord, it WILL humble you, and put the FEAR of the Lord in you! How could it NOT?!!
Now, we know that there’s a presence of the Lord that you can feel in a worship service, which is wonderful! And you can feel His presence, all alone in your bedroom, or driving in your car… anywhere, any time. Each time, it can feel different, and the intensity can vary. There’s a certain level of God’s presence, where it really feels good, and you want more of it, but it’s not enough to really change you all that much. There’s another intensity level, where you fall on your knees before Him, and He does a real work in you. Then there’s a presence of the Lord, where you CAN’T stand on your feet, and you say “Woe is me! I am undone!” You are consumed in His holiness! Then God radically and permanently TRANSFORMS you! You come away trembling at His Word, but also bearing His glory and His fragrance! Let’s press into that… all the presence of the Lord that this human body can take!
But let’s be REAL! We’ve got to humble ourselves first, IN ORDER to come into His presence! That includes being willing to be corrected, and willing to SUBMIT. Withholding NOTHING!
Personally speaking, there is no subject that the Lord has dealt with me more on, than pride and humility. If that’s because I really needed it more than anyone else, then so be it. That’s fine. I receive it. But I don’t believe it’s just me. I see the effects of pride all around… about everywhere I look. I think that the way God has dealt with me has sensitized me, and it’s still an ongoing process. I have no desire to point out wrong in anyone, unless I can do it in a redemptive way… to restore a brother in a spirit of meekness… or to keep one from turning aside into the snares of the enemy.
I truly believe, that somehow, some way… we SHALL “all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” [Ephesians 4:13 KJV]
I pray that what I write will in some way help bring that to pass. God bless you all.
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