Dead Works part 2
Dead works. Trying to perfect yourself through the flesh of human effort. Trying to do what needed to be done (before the cross) without receiving the gift that was given THROUGH the cross. Trying to do it yourself. We looked Galatians 3:3 yesterday, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" And today I want to link that up with Psalm 53:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God..." And while that IS pretty foolish to deny the existence of love... the words "There is" are in italics. Which means they weren't in the original writing. Which means, "The fool hath said in his heart, no God." My point is, it's foolish to try to do what has already been done. Its foolish to try to do it on your own. And saying no to God... well, Biblically that makes you a fool. Because your heavenly Father has your best interests at heart. And while we THINK we know what's best... He KNOWS what's best. Because He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the Way we should go because He IS the Way we should go. The straight and narrow way that leads to life. And, contrary to popular belief, just because something is straight and narrow that doesn't mean its hard. I think its hard to carry around the corpse of the dead Old Man who died in the watery grave of baptism. I think its hard to try to be someone you're not. I think Jesus offered us rest because He saw how hard we were trying, but He knew that all of our effort wasn't able to get us what we desired. Look at Psalm 37:4, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." In Him we find the desire of our heart. Because what else could our heart desire... but love? And where else could we find it... but at the source? In the God who IS love! I'm telling you, we spend so much of our time, talent, and treasure looking for love in all the wrong places. We rob ourselves from experiencing the gift we've been given by trying to enter the sheepfold any other way but through the Door. THAT to me is the hard life. THAT to me is what dead works give you. Because, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 16:25). What else could dead works get you but death? What else could eating of the tree of death (the tree of knowledge of good and evil) get you but death? One more Bible verse for today: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Provebs 3:6). If you say there is no God, or if you say no TO God, then you're kind of putting yourself in position where you're on your own. And life is too big to do all on your own. Now don't get me wrong, God swore He would never leave you nor forsake you. But I believe God is too much of a gentleman to force Himself on you. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden they hid from the presence of God. My point is, even though He's always there--He lives inside of us--sometimes we try things the hard way. The story of Jonah comes to mind. And, to some degree, God will LET us do what we're of a mind to do. Of course, Jonah was... convinced... to do what God had for him to do. But that's another story for another time. My point is: No man is an island. Its not good that man should be alone. We need each other. And we need God. Because we need love. Love is what connects us TO each other. Love is what its all about...