August 10, 2015                                 WHEN  THE  VEIL  IS  TAKEN  AWAY

2 Corinthians 3:16-18: “but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

In the Old Testament, after Moses met with God, he had to wear a veil over his face as his face evidently “absorbed” some of God’s glory and until it faded away, the people could not look into his face (see verse 13).  Paul said that even in his day, the Jewish people had hardened their heart and still had a veil over their heart and therefore could not “see” Christ (verse 15). Many in our day still have a veil over their heart and cannot see Christ because they are spiritually blind.  Man cannot remove the veil that is covering his heart and mind by intellect, by logic, by education, by self- effort; but only when he “turns to the Lord” is the veil removed. Man is locked into and limited to, reason and logic, and the idea of “faith” sounds foolish to him.  God does give man the ability to use logic and reason, but God is also Spirit, and in fact, God said that the things that are unseen are more real than the things that are seen (2 Corinthians 4:18). For sure, the one that is not a believer, has a veil over his heart and mind; but I believe it is also possible for a believer to become somewhat blinded by allowing a veil to cover his heart and mind. For example, if a believer refuses to forgive himself or someone who has wronged him, then he evidently has a veil that is preventing him from seeing the blessings that accompany forgiveness. The wonderful and liberating news of the gospel is that any man or woman can have the vail that hinders their sight, removed by a simple act of faith.  Such a simple, but profound truth: by simply “turning to the Lord”, the veil is taken away. Our salvation touches every aspect of our lives including the removal of the veil-giving us unhindered spiritual sight and understanding.  When we are among those who are non-believers, we must remember that they are spiritually blind and unable to see what you and I see; and because of their blindness, we are to have a spirit of compassion just as we would with one who is physically blind.  Our posture is to be that of being light in such a way that others are drawn to the light. When the veil is removed, we can with an unveiled face “behold the glory of the Lord” as in a mirror, and as we behold Him, we are changed and are being transformed into His image! Wow! Simply by looking at Him, we are changed!  We “look at Him” by having a heart that desires Him above all else and having a desire to know Him. The scriptures are given not as a rule book, but are given to enable us to “look at Him” for who He is. May we be quick to turn to the Lord, because only as we turn to Him and behold His glory will we be changed and find what our heart is searching for.

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”

Blessings,

Buddy

August 7, 2015                                            A  CLEAR  CONSCIENCE

Hebrews 10:21-22: “and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

I think that we all would agree that a clear, undefiled conscience is priceless. Man, apart from God cannot truly experience a clear conscience because he was born in sin, separated from God.  It is also true that believers can find themselves plagued with an evil or unclean conscience. Many believers live defeated lives because of a bad conscience, even though a clean conscience is theirs “for the taking.” The wonderful truth of the gospel is that no matter what evil deeds or thoughts we have had in the past, or even in the present, we can have our conscience cleansed immediately. Jesus Himself is the great high priest over the house of God-and that includes us. The birth, the sinless life, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus qualified Him to be the “great high priest.” Jesus has cleansed us and washed away all of our sin and has made it possible for us to draw near to Him in “full assurance.”  Having a clear conscience is not automatic-there is a required response from us. Our response is not based on our work, but on our drawing near to Him and receiving from Him. Drawing near to Him involves confessing and turning from any sin that the Holy Spirit may have pointed out, and it involves a desire to be close to Him just because of who He is. Throughout scripture, God invites us to draw near to Him and we can draw near because we have been cleansed and are now our hearts are clean. In Hebrews we are exhorted to draw near to Him, but we are also made aware of the danger and the consequence of not drawing near and ignoring the grace of God as we see in Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” As believers we must always be conscience of the great sacrifice that was made on our behalf and realize that if it was not for the grace of God, we would be lost and forever separated from God.  When we choose to live contrary to the plain teachings of the scriptures and we do not live according to the Spirit, then we actually insult the Spirit of Grace and we incur the consequences. In verses 10:22-25, the believers were given some commands; such as “draw near”, “not forsaking our own assembling together”, “stimulate one another to good deeds”, and “encouraging one another.” By not obeying what God has said, then we are guilty of insulting the Spirit of Grace who was given that we might share the life of God. Our high priest has made the supreme sacrifice for us, He is faithful, He intercedes for us before the Father, and He has cleansed us so that we can now draw near to Him. Every command, every instruction that God gives is for our good and it is His desire that we stay on the path that leads to life. Because we have been made clean, may we accept His invitation to draw near to Him.

1 John 1:6-7: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Blessings,

Buddy

August 4, 2015                                         YOU  ARE  THE  LIGHT

Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world. A city set on the hill cannot be hidden.”

Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is heaven.”

        The fact is that believers are the only “lights” in the world, and they are lights only because they have been made new and have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Anything outside of the kingdom of God is darkness.  Even though a non-believer may have a desire to help others, the help he may give is limited and the “good deed” he does is done out of the flesh- his own strength. Because the world is in darkness, there is a need for us to let our light shine. We don’t have to “try” to let our light shine, because we “are” light. We are called to let our light shine in such a way that it glorifies our Father who is in heaven. It is a wonderful, life changing truth to realize that we are the light of God in a dark world. Even though we are saved by grace and not by good works, we are called to be about “good deeds” because we are saved. A misunderstanding of God’s grace can lead to a neglect of the “good deeds” that each believer is called to be about. I have heard it said that “it really does not matter so much about what I do, because God loves me as I am and it’s not about what I do.” There is certainly some truth in such a statement, but there is also a great lie as well. Yes, God does love us no matter what we do or don’t do, BUT it does greatly matter what we do. We are called to let our light shine “in such a way” that it glorifies our Father in heaven. The spirit or the attitude we have when doing good deeds is what determines whether or not our good deed glorifies our Father. If we are doing good deeds in such a way that we want the credit, then our Father is not glorified. In the scripture above, we are told to let others see our good works. There can be a false humility about doing good deeds, but the truth is that there should be no shyness or hesitation about engaging in good deeds because that is the very thing we are called to do. Doing good deeds-letting our lights shine, is something that believers who know their identity, do on a consistent basis. Jesus demonstrated good deeds and He is our example and we are His disciples. Our view of people in general has an effect on our being willing to do a good deed. Our view should be that God wants to demonstrate that He is good to all-even to those who are “undeserving” or “unlovely.” If we are evaluating, or judging people to determine whether or not they deserve a good deed-then we are in the wrong and out light is not shining.  Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Acts 10:38 states that “Jesus went about doing good..” Again, God has made us new and we have been transferred to His kingdom of light and we have become light. It is possible for us not to let our light shine, or for us to hide our light, but it         grieves our Father and we lose the blessings that come to us when we let our lights shine. We are light, so let us glorify our Father by letting our light shine in a dark world.

        Blessings,

        Buddy