O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
— Second Samuel 7:28
Because this is a moral universe, character, which is the excellence of moral beings, is naturally paramount. As the excellence of steel is strength and the excellence of art is beauty, so the excellence of mankind is moral character. An honest man is the noblest work of God, an apothegm usually attributed to John Wesley, may sound at first rather extreme, but if we allow the word honest to stand for all the moral virtues we may be able to understand the apothegm and possibly to agree with it. A saint should be not only a man of intense spiritual devotion but a man of symmetrical virtues and perfectly balanced character.
Relationship between moral beings is by confidence, and confidence rests upon character, which is a guarantee of conduct. It is true that sin has introduced confusion into the world so that we do not always find consistency of moral conduct among men; yet to live in a moral world it is necessary that we put confidence in our fellow man. A complete breakdown of confidence would destroy the adhesive quality of society, tear apart the fabric of civilization and turn the world into a cage of savage beasts. However bad men may at times become they must still trust each other. It is either confidence or chaos. What has all this to do with faith in God? Just this: God is a being of supreme moral excellence, possessing in infinite perfection all the qualities that constitute holy character. He deserves and invites the unreserved confidence of every moral creature, including man. Any proper relation to Him must be by confidence, that is, by faith. Where there is no faith it is impossible to please God.
thought
Gods character is altogether impeccable. We may fully trust Him even though we will certainly not always understand Him since He is God. Because of who He is, lets fully trust Him!
prayer
You have never failed me, Father. On the basis of the past I can trust You for the future and today.
. . . Enoch walked with God . . . Enoch walked with God . ..
— Genesis 5:22, 24
Without faith it is impossible to please God has become an axiom of the Christian way; yet I suppose not many stop to ask why faith should be so vitally important in our relation with God. But there is a reason. This is a moral universe. At bottom it is not material, though it contains matter; it is not mathematical, though it involves numbers. The God who made the world is a moral being and He has filled His world with moral creatures. We hear of mysterious beings who have access to the presence of God and who range throughout the whole creation as servants of the Most High. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
The Scriptures tell us of at least four orders of such beings and refer to what they call watchers and holy ones, which may indicate other orders or may simply refer to the previously mentioned four. In addition, there is another and of course a more familiar order of being, the last and (before his fall) the highest of all the creatures God created and made. I refer to man who was made in Gods image and likeness and who for that reason bears toward God a unique moral and spiritual relation.
thought
Enoch walked with God. Also reported to have walked with Him are Noah, Abraham and Isaac. To walk humbly with God is our unique privilege. What other segment of creation is so honored?
prayer
Enoch walked with You, Lord. I can, too! I want to know what it means to so relate to You.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
— Galatians 6:14
The cross is a symbol of the selfless, others-centered life of Christ, but it does not end there. Our Lord made it also a symbol of the normal Christian life. If any man will come after me, He said, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. The teaching here is too plain to miss. The self-interest motive in our conduct, though it is inherent in fallen human nature, is nevertheless an evil and destructive thing that can lead at last only to tragic and everlasting loss. Love alone can make our conduct acceptable to God. It is time we checked our brand of Christianity against the New Testament. There is real danger that we may overlook this radical new motive for human conduct and go on serving our own interests under a disguise of godliness. And that is a mistake none of us can afford to make.
thought
To most of us the cross is far too symbolic. We fail to see it as it is-an instrument of death, our death. This that we may experience Christs life.
prayer
In Your cross, O Christ I glory. May I not forget to carry mine.
And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whosoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
— Matthew 10:38-39
Human society is built upon a balance of personal interests. People are so used to seeing everyone serving his own ends that no other kind of conduct is expected. Only the eccentric dreamer would expect that unregenerate men could be persuaded to surrender their personal rights and devote themselves wholly to the interests of others. Occasionally small groups of persons have come together to try to form a selfless society, but in every instance they have lived to see their little utopia tear itself apart by the centrifugal force generated by the very selfishness they were trying so nobly to escape.
The human heart is essentially selfish and it cannot be cured by external organization. With the advent of Jesus Christ a new and radically different motive for human conduct was introduced into the world and its symbol is the cross. By His words Christ exposed the evil of self-interest and by His cross He demonstrated pure selfless love in its fullest perfection. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Christ pleased not Himself, but lived in total devotion to the honor of God and the welfare of mankind, and when He died He set a crown of beauty upon a God-centered and an others-centered life.
thought
Whoever loses his life for Christs sake finds it. It is an altogether new life redirected away from self and centered in God and others. It is Christlike living!
prayer
Lord, it seems so threatening, even frightening, to let loose of self and sink into Christs life. May I have the good sense to do it.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Dont they come from your desires that battle within you?
— James 4:1
Whether we are considering two men or two nations we see how personal interest controls their relation to each other. Two men can live together in perfect harmony as long as their interests coincide. Indeed it might correctly be said that human society can exist only by organizing itself in such a manner as to serve the interests of the majority of persons composing it, or at least of those persons who are in a position to fight for their rights. As long as their interests do not conflict nations may for centuries live side by side in peace; when a shift in population or a change in the economic structure takes place nations that have been friends for generations may suddenly become enemies.
Hostility between nations or blocks of nations can always be traced to a clash of personal interest. All wars arise out of a collision of interests and must for that reason be recognized as a manifestation of sin. From whence come wars and fightings among you? asks James, come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
thought
Do our selfish interests collide with Christs Lordship? Are we wholly His or just partially so?
prayer
Thank You, Father, for Your patience with me. Often my own selfish interests intrude to challenge the Lordship of Christ. Forgive me.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
— Jeremiah 17:9
Selfish personal interest, says the Greek moral philosopher Epictetus, is the motive behind all human conduct. The children of the world, Christ tells us, are often wiser than the children of light. In his discovery of the springs of human conduct Epictetus reveals an understanding of mankind far beyond that of the average Christian; and this in spite of the fact that the Christian claims to possess the Spirit of truth and the Greek did not. If we would be wise in the wisdom of God we must face up to the truth no matter how uncomplimentary it may be to us. It would be more comfortable to shrug off what our eyes behold and loyally declare our belief in the intrinsic goodness of all men; but our eternal welfare forbids that we deal dishonestly with reality.
The truth is, men are not basically good; they are basically evil, and the essence of their sin lies in their selfishness. The putting of our own interests before the glory of God is sin in its Godward aspect, and the putting of our own interests before those of our fellow men is sin as it relates to society. We know men are sinners because when they must choose between others and themselves they choose themselves every time. Personal interest sees to that.
thought
If we would live out Christs love we will have to renounce the primacy of self. We do that by taking up our cross daily by the Spirits enablement.
prayer
Forgive me, Lord. Self so often gets in the way. Help me to nail it tighter to the cross.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes.
— Ephesians 6:10-11
The clever proponents of evil political ideologies are spending millions to make us Americans ashamed to love our country. By the use of all available media of communication they are persuading our people that there is little left worth defending and certainly nothing worth dying for. They are building up in the public mind a picture of an American as a generous, tolerant, smiling chap who loves baseball and babies but is not too much concerned about fringe political theories. This synthetic American subscribes to the doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man and lets go fishing-everything will be all right. And so in religion, especially among the Protestants.
Let a man rise to declare the unique Lordship of Jesus Christ and the absolute necessity of obedience to Him and he is at once branded as a hatemonger and a divider of men. The devil has brainwashed large numbers of religious leaders so successfully that they are now too timid to resist him. And he, being the kind of devil he is, takes swift advantage of their cowardice to erect altars to Baal everywhere. The Bible is a book of controversy. The Old Testament prophets were men of contention. Our Lord Jesus while on earth was in deadly conflict with the devil. The Apostles, the Church Fathers and the Reformers were men of controversy. They fought the devil to the death and kept the torch of truth burning for all succeeding generations. Is our contribution to history to be the ignoble one of letting the torch go out?
thought
Tolerance is promoted as the paramount virtue in contemporary culture. Intolerance is the great sin. Yet the Torch of Truth must be kept burning!
prayer
Lord, I want to be strong in You and in Your power. Remind me to use all the armor You have provided by which to stand against devilish schemes.
Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
— Matthew 16:23
Many times in history the Christians in various towns, cities and even whole countries have given up their defense for reasons wholly evil. Worldliness, sinful pleasures and personal ungodliness have often been the cause of the churchs disgraceful surrender to the enemy. Today, however, Satans strategy is different. Though he still uses the old methods where he can do so with success, his more effective method is to paralyze our resistance by appealing to our virtues, especially the virtue of charity. He first creates a maudlin and wholly inaccurate concept of Christ as soft, smiling and tolerant. He reminds us that Christ was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth, and suggests that we go and do likewise.
Then if we notice his foot in the door and rise to oppose him he appeals to our desire to be Christlike. You must not practice negative thinking, he tells us. Jesus said, He that is not against Me is for Me. Also He said Judge not, and how can you be a good Christian and pass adverse judgment on any religious talk or activity? Controversy divides the Body of Christ. Love is of God, little children, so love everybody and all will be well. Thus speaks the devil, using Holy Scripture falsely for his evil purpose; and it is nothing short of tragic how many of Gods people are taken in by his sweet talk. The shepherd becomes afraid to use his club and the wolf gets the sheep. The watchman is charmed into believing that there is no danger, and the city falls to the enemy without a shot. So Satan destroys us by appealing to our virtues.
thought
Jesus recognized the clever tactic of Satan who was using the good intentions of Peter. Remember how Satan had quoted scripture in the wilderness temptation of Jesus. We must be alert to Satans ploys.
prayer
Lord, I struggle between the extremes of seeing Satan in everything and, on the other hand, in nothing. By Your Spirit, make me wise.
And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
— Second Corinthians 11:14
The Devil is a master strategist. He varies his attacks as skillfully as an experienced general and always has one more trick to use against the one who imagines he is well experienced in the holy war. By two radically opposite things the devil seeks to destroy us-by our sins and by our virtues. First, he tempts us to sin. This might be called his conventional device. It worked against Adam and Eve and still works after the passing of the centuries. By means of it millions each year are, as Paul said, drowned in destruction and perdition. One would think the human race would learn to resist the blandishments of its sworn enemy, and it probably would except that there is an enemy within the gate-the fallen heart is secretly on the side of the devil. It is, however, Satans wiliest stratagem to use our virtues against us, and this he often does with astonishing success.
By means of temptation to sin he strikes at our personal lives; by working through our virtues he gets at the whole community of believers and unfits it for its own defense. A parallel to Satans technique may be seen in the activities of certain subversive political groups who use the Constitution of the United States as a shield while they work to destroy that Constitution. By unctuous pleading for the right of free speech they seek to destroy all freedom of speech. By talking piously about government by law they push our country toward the place where there will be government by dictatorship and all laws will mean what a ruling clique of base, cynical men want them to mean. So diabolical is this method that one can only conclude that those who use it learned it from their father the devil, whose they are and whom they serve.
thought
Master deceiver that he is, Satan attacks what we consider our strengths as well as our weaknesses. He does that to us as the community of believers and as individuals. Satan is the Great Deceiver!
prayer
O Lord, give me discernment to recognize the disguises of Satan and to resist him in Your name.