The virus and the Holy Spirit

“I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me…..” Galatians 2:20

How do you know if you have Covid-19?

You take a test.

Many are required to take a test just to “prove” that they don’t have the virus.

The tests have come under fire.

Are the results accurate?

A New York Times study indicated that 90% of the tests were faulty.

The test requires amplifying the swab result.  The higher the amplification the more that can be detected.

Seemed like a good idea until it was discovered positive results were coming over dead virus and very weak virus.

Helps to explain why people who aren’t sick, or who have very minor symptoms, test positive.

The Governor of Ohio tested positive without symptoms one day.  He took a retest the next day and tested negative.

The best judge for whether or not you have the virus is the symptoms you feel.  Minus the symptoms, you have probably taken an over-amplified test.

I have the Holy Spirit within me because I, as a sinner, believed that Jesus took care of the consequences of my sins when He died in my place.  The old me didn’t believe that way.

Now the Holy Spirit can live within me, and does.

But how does anyone in my midst know that!

Without “symptoms,” I can make all sorts of claims but the symptoms of His presence within me are the ultimate revealer.

Does anyone suspect that you or I have the Holy Spirit within us?  Saying we do, is not enough.  Where are the symptoms?

 

 

Good for all seasons

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  Galatians 6:9.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading; Deuteronomy 28-29 and Galatians 6.

Believers do not have down time from doing good.

We are on this earth to rightly represent Him.

We must have our eyes/ears open to catch where we can serve Him.  Too often my head is down.  I’m thinking of what’s ahead in an agenda I’ve created.

God wants me to be flexible.  Be ready to represent Him in an instant, not of my own choosing.

Obviously, the closer I am to God the more likely I will be able to pull this off.

A good training ground is in the place where we live.  How well do I see the needs of those in my household?  How willing am I to stop what I’m doing and meet an in-house need?

I must not be helpful to get an earthly reward.  God is the Great Rewarder and He sees what goes on.  It is Him I must please because I am so in love with Him.

“Lord, forgive me for focusing on my own agenda and missing out on opportunities to serve You in Your Agenda.  Give me Your eyes and ears in my midst, I beg.  I love You, Lord,”

I must always be ready to serve Him.

 

Got other gods in your life?

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading; Deuteronomy 25-27 and Galatians 5.

Certainly a worthy goal!

When I became a believer, my goal then was to do whatever God wanted me to do.  I was overwhelmed with love for Him for saving me from the consequence (Hell) that I deserved.

Sadly, there are times when I am not reaching that goal for my life.  I’m distracted.  I’m disturbed.  Any number of things are going on. I lose sight of Him.  I wander about unaware of Him.  That “crucified” thing isn’t happening.

But I know, that God doesn’t intend for me to live that way.  When I finally note slippage, I can opt to beg for His forgiveness and re-right myself with Him.

Tim Keller (“Galatians for you”) writes about the advent of counterfeit gods in writing about today’s verse.  He writes that we elevate “things” to the status of gods; things we have to have to be happy.  “Things” will NEVER bring lasting happiness.  That is only found in a relationship with God.

The counterfeit gods need to be identified: What are the things in my life that I must have to be happy?  If I find anything, then they are the counterfeit gods Tim Keller is writing about.

“Lord, You are the only true God.  There is none like You.  Reveal to me the counterfeit gods in my life.  Enable me to re-elevate You to Your rightful spot before them.  Thank You, Lord, for caring for me.  For giving me opportunities to learn about You.  I love You, Father.”

God is a jealous God.  I MUST remove all counterfeits.

The right approach

“It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always, not just when I am with you.”  Galatians 4:18.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading; Deuteronomy 22-24 and Galatians 4.

Today’s verse references motivation and consistency.

I want to be a Godly man.  But am I genuine?

Am I guided by God or by myself?  When I write this blog, what do I want out of it?

I have not tried to promote this blog in any fashion.  My wife is the only one of my associates that knows that this blog is done regularly.

I have kept at “His Word For Me” for all these years to hold myself accountable.  I try to write with passion but am I living the same way?

I am very aware that I must be accurate.  I have commentaries.  I looked at Tim Keller’s, “Galatians for you,” before writing today’s entry.

If I am trying to draw readers to me than I am a fool and ultimately in God’s sight, a failure.

To God be all glory!

“Father, forgive me for elevating me.  Every good gift is from You.  I am not the originator.  You deserve ALL the glory.  Enable me, Father, to consistently do what You want me doing.  Prick my conscience when I am misguided and misinformed.  I want, desperately, to please You.  Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.”

Am I motivated to please God in EVERYTHING I do?

Paul gets into Peter’s face

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.”  Galatians 2:11.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading; Deuteronomy 16-18, Psalm 38, and Galatians 2.

Paul’s reputation for being a hard guy to get along with probably came from this incident with Peter.

Paul could have been respectful to one of the original disciples, but he just couldn’t do it.  The truth needed to be told.  A wrong had to be ferreted out.  And Paul spoke up.

The Christian community is so often tolerant of wrongs.  We are fearful of calling something wrong because it might offend someone or turn them away from us.  We don’t want to forfeit a listening audience.  But at what expense?

We end up standing for nothing.  We water down, or under-emphasize, what we believe.  Before long, the church and the Elks Club have everything in common!

Obviously, the starting point is to be filled with God’s Spirit.  We can’t be running off at the mouth without that in place.  But if we are filled, and wrongs appear, or misguided programs are suggested, we MUST take action.  Maybe it’s a letter.  Maybe it’s a Pauline face-to-face.

“Lord, I want to rightly represent You wherever I am.  I want to speak Your Truth in a Godly loving way.  Help me not to forget that You are the source of every good thing and that I must not let evil get passed off as good.  Help me, Father.  Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.”

Will you confront what is wrong in your life?  How about in others’ lives?  Better go about it in a Godly fashion!

I earned what I got

“Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading; Job 31-32, and Galatians 5-6.

I live in a fallen world and it will rain on the just and the unjust.

There are things, however, that happen to me that enter the sowing/reaping category.

I didn’t get to bed at the usual time last night.  I’ve sown a seed for myself.  What will I reap?  I’m a bit tired today.

The choices I make are often made knowing the consequences.  I sometimes ignore the consequences and then regretfully live through them.

I have spent time lately thinking about witnessing.  Finally, this past Sunday I did witness to a neighbor.

How did that go?  I was fearful going into it.  I was fearful/excited during it.  I was excited afterwards.

When I had looked at witnessing in the past I experienced different levels of fear as I considered how it might go.  I forgot that I was on God’s errand.  I forgot that when I do His Will He is right there with me.  I forgot about Romans 10:15: “beautiful are the feet of those who tell good news.”

The consequence of my NOT sharing about God with others was obvious: They weren’t hearing about Him from me.  I was banking on others doing this work.

I was told Sunday that there are 100 million folks in the US who have not heard the Good News.  Forget going overseas, I should be telling those in my midst about Him!

“Lord, forgive me sowing indifference about You in my midst.  I love You.  I want all of those in my midst to at least hear about You and the Good News.  Empower me.  Make me a Godly sower.  I love You, Lord.”

I never liked the feeling of knowing that I needed to share my faith and the fact that I wasn’t doing it.  I was afraid to be a sower.

What counts?

“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”  Galatians 6:15.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading: Deuteronomy 28-29, and Galatians 6.

This is another way of saying that deeds will NOT result in ticketing someone to an after-life with God.

If I read Paul’s writing I can draw no other conclusion.

Yet others do draw other conclusions.  How?  Obviously, they have not read Paul’s writings.  Less obviously, the idea of earning something is ingrained in them.  They think, “If I do this, then I will get this.”  They are desperate to be involved in the process.

The Gospel is different: God has done the heavy lifting.  He has done it all.  He has put in place the solution to my aspirations for an after-life with Him.

A loving God and His loving Son Jesus conspired to take care of us.  Our sins are a deal breaker? Jesus died for them.  Our future uncertain? God raised Jesus sinless and us as well.  We all have a new life.  What heavy lifting was there on our part’s?  None.  And this is what so many stumble over: They want to do something to make things happen.  Not necessary when it comes to our after-life with God.  What do you have to do?  Believe what God/Jesus did happened and live accordingly.

“Lord, may my explanations above be accurate.  May those in need of trusting You act.  Open hearts and minds to Your leading.  To You be all glory.”

Have you got new life?  It is already in place for you.

 

It won’t work!

“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”  Galatians 5:4.

Verse chosen from today’s Bible reading: Deuteronomy 25-27, and Galatians 5.

Could Paul be more direct?

Trying to work your way to being right with God, doesn’t work.

God does the heavy lifting.  Your part is to recognize that He has done it and then live accordingly.

In many ways, the Gospel is so simple that many can’t accept it as fact.  They want more responsibility.  They want a hand in the final arrangement.

There are many Scriptures where folks are reported to have said that they did this and that for God.  God’s reply?  “I never knew you.”  There will never be any works that will earn you an after-life with God.

When Jesus died, He took our past/present/future sins with Him to death.  They were buried and forever ended as a deterrent to our having an after-life with God.

I reflect again on Hiroo Onoka.  For twenty-nine years he stayed on in the Philippines fighting a war that had officially ended.  What a waste!  Think how different Hiroo’s life would have been if he had believed (there were numerous tries to convince him) that WW2 was over and acted accordingly.

Hiroo’s folly is the folly of many in our day.  God has taken care of their sin problem.  They are clean in His sight ultimately.  They need to realize that this has happened and live accordingly.  They have a new life.  Why not accept that reality?

“Lord, thank You for loving me enough to die for my sins.  My life is new.  My future is with You.  My present is with You.  How blessed I am!”

Are you following the Hiroo Onoka pattern?  Please, tell me you’re not!

He made us family

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” Galatians 4:4-5.

Verses chosen from today’s Bible reading: Deuteronomy 22-24, and Galatians 4.

Note that I am reading Deuteronomy as well as Galatians.  I am being confronted with an extensive section of rules, rules, and more rules in Deuteronomy.

In Galatians, I find relief from the rules.  That’s good, because no one has ever been able to abide by all of them.  Punishment is a certain future because of our sinfulness.

But in Galatians, our sins and God collide…….and God wins!

All of us are under the law and doomed because of it.  We can’t be perfect.  The system of sacrifices was put in place but it only temporarily gets us right with God.  I say “temporarily” because our sinfulness does not go away and it plays itself out in one form or another quite quickly.

In Galatians, we learn that God redeemed us from our sins.  He paid our way out from under them; past, present, and future.  We are in the clear.  We have a new life without the burden of our sins.  That’s Good News!

Because our sin problem is settled, we are now welcomed into God’s family.  We are His children with all the rights and privileges that go with it.

“Lord, thank You for loving me enough to remove my sin problem from me.  My future with You is secure.  I thank You for the new life You have given me free from sin’s consequence.  I love You, Father.  I want to live my life in harmony with Your wishes.  Open Your Word to me that I might understand what You want me to do.  Give me Your power to live as I should.  You are indeed a great, great God.”

God has done what it takes to make you a family member.  Do you realize it?  Act accordingly.

 

Doing good does not get us right with God

Doing good or trying to do good doesn’t get us right with God

“For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ – (Deuteronomy 27:26) Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because, ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ – (Habakkuk 2:4)” Galatians 3:10-11.

Verses chosen from today’s Bible reading: Deuteronomy 19-21, and Galatians 3.

Doing good to gain an after-life with God is a fraud.

There is plenty of Scripture about doing things that are right and good.  But they are NEVER connected to being a means to gain an after-life with God. Good works, however, are expected from those who have believed the Gospel.

God lifted our sins when Jesus took them with Him to death.  God raised Jesus from the dead and our sins were removed as a future impediment in our potential after-life.  If you believe this you have a new life.

If we believe that we have this new life, unburdened by our sins, we will live accordingly.  We will obey the One who took care of us.  We will want our works to be Godly.

We will, however, not be counting on our works to determine our after-life. It was the death and resurrection of Jesus assured us of that after-life.  We are in the clear, eager to please such a wonderful Savior.

“Lord, thank You for taking care of my sin problem.  Thank You for the new life I have because I believe that You did this for me.  Help me to live accordingly.  Help me to honor You in every thought and deed.  You are indeed a good, good, Father.”

If Satan tells you that you’re “good enough” to deserve heaven, recognize the lie for what it is.