Sweet as honey

Have you ever tasted honey straight off of the comb right after it was just collected from the bees?

"My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off." - Prov. 24:13-14

I have tasted honey fresh and straight off the comb. My dad kept bees when I was a kid, and one of my favorite times was when dad would get in his white bee-suit and go out to get the honey. He would bring it in the house after he smoked all the bees away, and setup downstairs. He would then proceed to get the honey off the slides. At any rate, he would let me come down and watch. But he would also let me get a piece of the honeycomb and eat it. It was amazing! Just like the proverb says, it was incredible and sweet to the taste.

Yet, as the years of my life went by, I was always searching for something that was sweet, but life seemed to be somewhat empty and painful, even though my childhood was a great one. There was something deep within my soul that knew that something wasn't right with the world and with me.

Then be the power of God, I found something sweeter than honey that gave me a future and gave me hope. I have been eating of this sweetness for the last 18 years everyday. That sweetness is wisdom as the Proverb says.

But what is it?

Well, it isn't just facts. Facts are cool and are good at parties to show that you are smart, but facts aren't sweet. It isn't just knowledge either. Knowledge is deeper than facts, and is related to the understanding.

No. Wisdom, the wisdom that I have experienced, that is sweet, is a relational direction, or life direction. But it was not something that I got in one step. There was something that happened in me first.

A creative, renewing work happened in me that changed my soul and made me a new person. This was a supernatural, creative work of God called the new birth. I was born again by the Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Spiriit. The one who hovered over the waters at creation, and has b en actively involved engaged in His world ever since opened my heart to God. It was then that I began to have wisdom and seek after it.

Earlier in the book of Proverbs it says this:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Prov. 1:7

"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength." - Prov. 8:12-14

Essentially, wisdom is the fear of the Lord. But fear does not mean a frightened, servile dread, but rather a holy reverence and awe. This is wisdom. Wisdom is recognizing and knowing who God is and that you truly know him on a personal level. The fear of God is knowing that you are really a created being that owes his/her life to God, and not a breath of yours happens without Him granting it to you. Wisdom is knowing that you are broken and have missed God's mark of perfection, and are guilty before Him. Wisdom is knowing that God won't wink at this evil, but must punish it. Wisdom is knowing that God loves you so much that He sent Jesus to pay this penalty for your missing his mark of perfection. Wisdom is accepting and acknowledging this truth, and confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus who died for you is your Master and King, and you  will submit to Him in all things.

Wisdom is hating what God hates and loving what God loves. It is seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. It is not living for self, but living for God.

You will know when the new birth that is given by God happens when you suddenly know, believe and accept God's message. The new birth enables you to long for wisdom and experience its joy and sweetness, because the reverence and awe you now have for God comes because you personally know Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Knowing that God is not far off but close brings a sweetness that is so far beyond the sweetest thing you can experience in life.

Why? Because He made us, loves us, and takes care of us. When we know we are valuable in His sight, we no longer have anything to fear, we have value and significance. Then have a relationship with  our Maker, the Creator, and the One who holds the universe together. This is joy and this gives hope.

Why? Because we know that one day we will see Him face to face, and instead of an angry look, we will get His smiling face as He sees us as righteous and perfect through His Son's work.

So how do you get wisdom?

"The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown." - Prov. 4:7-9

You get wisdom by acknowledging yourself as missing the mark of perfection that God has, and accepting the free gift of Christ's righteousness, and the offer that He gave of taking your debt. Then by submitting to Him as you read His revelation found in the Old and New Testaments. It is found coming from the mouth of God which can be read in the Bible.

This wisdom is so sweet and wonderful. If you have experienced it, then I hope it still has joy. If it doesn't, pick up the Bible and start reading again. If you haven't experienced it, then ask God to forgive you, because of Christ's work on the cross, for missing His mark of perfection, and if you have done this, you more than likely have already been remade. If so, then you can begin to get wisdom by learning and seeking after God with reverence and awe.

True freedom is not where we think

Are you really free?

Those who have been redeemed by Christ are the most free people in the world. Why are we free? Because we are free to live in holiness, loving God and others.

Being able to do, watch, and say whatever you want is not freedom, but bondage to sin and self. Being able to love and pour your life out for God and others is true freedom, for it is what we were designed to do.

Is a roller coaster more free on the track, or sitting on the ground off the track?

Christ requires us to die to self and live to him. Living this new life where sin is attacked and righteousness is pursued is the most freedom that we can experience in this life.

I know from personal experience that when I am fighting against the world, flesh and Devil who try to control me, and I am actively engaged in acts of holiness and righteousness, that I am the freest, and happiest. I have lived for sin and worldly freedom and I can tell you that it is misery compared to the freedom of living for righteousness and bounded love.

Romans 6:4-14:

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

Love, Honor and Fear

Love, Honor and Fear


Malachi 1:6b

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?  says Yahweh of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name.”

The immediate context of this passage is God declaring his love and faithfulness to Israel, and the priests return for this love and faithfulness is a lack of love and respect for Him.

Love

God makes it clear, and anyone that has read the Bible through knows, that the story of history is God setting his love upon His people. It began with the perfection of creation. Then in Gen. 3:15 with the promise of Christ. It continued with Noah and his family being graciously saved in the ark, which was Christ. It manifested itself clearly when God called Abraham from the land of Ur and covenanted with him, and he sat idly by as God walked through the cut up animal that represented the harm that would come to Christ in order to save Abraham. It was seen in Isaac who was redeemed by the blood of Christ in the foreshadowing of the Lamb of God, Christ. Jacob encountered God's love in Christ time and time again, in the vision of the ladder, and even in his wrestling with God. It showed itself in Joseph, who had the King of the universe on his side at all times. Then the culminated of it in deliverance from slavery in Egypt by Moses, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the house of bondage..." and the Passover lamb, showing Christ. It continued through Joshua, the conqueror who like Christ would conquer all his and our enemies. It was clear in the Judges, that no matter how much sin, God would forgive and be gracious. Then it showed itself clearly in David, the man after God's heart, the kind and powerful ruler who was in love with God, and who was the ancestor of the Messiah, to which he predicted. It continued through the prophets, peeked its head up in Elija and Elisha, showed itself in Isaiah and Jeremiah, then in Hezekiah and Josiah.

The witness of Christ's love to the priests in the time of Malachi, and the people was so great that there couldn't be any question. God had set his love upon his people. So much so that they could look and see that the TaNaK (Torah [law], Nebim [prophets], Ketubim [writings]), the entire Scriptures, testified of the Messiah, Christ (Luke 24:26). Yes, this plan was made before the world was (Acts 4:27-28). God's grand design of love.

Love! That love was set on you, on me, and on God's people. This love was so great that it did not just allow God's people to be subject or servants, which all are, but also called them as sons!

So the heart of the Father was so loving towards His people, that they were part of the grand design of His Son dying on a cross.

But this love wasn't motivating enough for the priests to give God the very best in their sacrifices? This love, that Christ, God's Son, would be sent and pinned up on a cross, which they should have seen (Num. 21:4-9), and sacrificed for the remission of sins (Ex. 12:1-39).

But even so, if they didn't love God because he was their Father...

Honor

At least honor Him because He was their maker. They had Genesis 1-2 which clearly shows to them that God made them, and as such, he can command obedience and respect. After all, they were made out of the ground. They were not descended from gods, or eternal beings that had self-existence. They were finite creatures whose very purpose was to exalt God.

How is it that creatures, whose life essence, and continual existence, won't acknowledge that he is in charge, and that they should approach him with honor and respect. If he says come to me with the best sacrifices, then, if not because he set his love on them in Christ, but because he is the boss, they should do it.

But if that wasn't enough, if they didn't obey him and approach him as he required because he was their Father, or because he was their master, then at least...

Fear

They should approach him as if he was their ultimate judge. God holds the very keys of heaven and hell in his hand. Relationship with Him predicates eternal state and relation with Him.

If this is the case, then you would think that they would fear him, that they would revere and be in awe of Him.

Nothing

Nothing. No love, no honor, no fear. They brazenly did whatever they wanted to do, and approached Him in whatever way they felt like it. This is the height of arrogance and pride. And this is no different than Geneses 3:1-7. The fall.

But what about me?

Am I really any different or better than they are? I have more clear revelation, the NT. I have more powerful gifts, the indwelling Spirit that was promised (Ezek. 36). Do I offer to God sacrifices that please Him and that are according to His word and will? There are several areas to ponder this in:

Am I giving God my best

1. Worship

Am I offering God the best worship that I can give? Am I coming to worship with a heart that is prepared for Him to move? Have I confessed my sins to Him throughout the week, and ran to the cross for forgiveness? Have I confessed particular sins particularly, or just a general, "forgive me for all my sins?"

Have I prepared for worship? Did I go to bed at a descent time, and thus am wide awake and ready to listen to Him? Did I prepare my heart in the morning of worship by meditation on Him, by reading His word and experiencing Christ? Am I coming with an attitude of wonder and delight?

And the ultimate question: Am I coming through Christ? Because all worship that is brought through me is defiled and empty.

Am I giving God my very best.

2. Family

Do I really care about my family? Am I sacrificing my life for them? Am I teaching them that they are to be followers of Christ? Can they see Christ in me?

Do they know that I am giving them the best of my time and effort? Do they know that salvation is not by works but through Christ? Yet, do they know that we are to work because of Christ?

Am I discipling them in love? Am I really trying to be a mentor and a teacher, and not an authoritarian?

Am I giving God my very best?

3. Work

Am I working as hard as I can at my job? Am I working as if Christ was over my shoulder? Am I working as unto him?

Am I doing the right thing? Is my vocation one that is exalting God? Am I exploiting my gifts for God? Am I being an agent of regeneration in a lost and dying world?

Am I giving God my very best?

4. Play

Is my recreation time honoring to God? Or, is it a time when I exercise practical atheism? Am I constantly living my life corum deo, before the face of God?

If someone saw my "free" time, would they see that I am still a son of God, and servant of Christ?

Am I giving God my very best?

Life under the sun

Life under the sun is meant to be life under God. It is meant to be life that is lived in utter love, honor and fear of God.

Christ has redeemed us and set us free. He has put the Spirit in our heart. We have been regenerated, and now have a righteousness that we didn't have before. We have been given faith, and have believed in Christ. We have been justified, proclaimed innocent and declared righteous. We have been adopted, proclaimed to be sons or daughters of God. We are being sanctified, made more like Christ day by day, putting sin to death in our mortal bodies.

This is what Christ has done, is doing and will do. Does this fact motivate us to give our very best?

Let us today give our very best to God in and through Christ.