| January 25th, 2001 - Slow Burn, Burned Out... or New Birth? In my last Jam's Java message I mentioned satan using the slow cooker method of taking my soul as opposed to getting me to sell-out in one stroke. Please indulge me while I attempt to describe that to you. I got into a lot of fights as a kid. It was tough enough just being a boy (you had to be tough in my neighborhood), but being a Catholic boy made it even tougher. I constantly found myself trying to prove to the public school boys that I was just as tough as they were. Many times I felt like an outcast. I felt their rejection because I didn't go to their school. I was different. You could say that I had somewhat of a chip on my shoulder, an axe to grind, although not a very noticable one. It was just something that would pop up every now and then. By nature, I was very independant and did what I wanted to do. I was always the cut-up in class, always hung out with the rebels and the trouble makers, always got negative attention from the teachers (especially the nuns). So much of my popularity (notorious though it may have been) was due to my being the side show, the class clown, the outlaw. One of my greatest highs was getting my classmates to laugh at me. I learned to love the admiration of others for my defiance and boldness which I exemplified. Psychologists tell us that a boy like me is simply in need of love and guidance, but what does God have to say about this condition? Let's look at a few scriptures: There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubborness is as iniquity and idolatry. (1 Samuel 15:23) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour your father and your mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with you and that you may live long upon the earth. (Ephesians 6: 1-3) While it may be true that all of us need love, guidance and inner healing there is another principle at work here which is much more the culprit of injustice and evil toward others and must be addressed. It is the sin of rebellion and stubborness (self-willed defiance). "Sewing wild oats" is packaging this behavior much too nicely. A deeper look behind the scenes of every life reveals an inner condition of rebellion toward God and a contagion, infectious to others, which is all too often overlooked or glossed over as simply deviant behavior resultant from some form of abuse or neglect. The self-centeredness inherent to humanity is what is really on trial here and must be repented of first before any healing can possibly take place. I was going the way that "seemed right" to me. I did NOT honour my parents' wishes, and in many cases was overtly defiant of them. I was rebellious and stubborn. When the verse quoted above says, "obey your parents in the Lord" it means to obey them in any thing that is not in conflict with God's commandments. What I did not see was that I was storing up the wrath of God by going my own way and doing what I wanted to do. Yes. God was merciful to me. No. I didn't always get immediately punished for my willful disobedience, but eventually... had God not saved me and turned my life around, I would have been cut off. My end would have been the ways of death. "For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." (Galatians 6: 8) "The ways of death..." "corruption..." these are terms to describe the consequences of choices made by a self-ruled, self-centered lifestyle. This is the condition and destiny of every man and woman born into this earth because of our association with Adam (which translates "first man"). Only through a rebirth of the spirit through union with Christ (who is called the second Adam) and a continual reliance upon God's Spirit to guide us into subserviance to His higher law of love can we be delivered from this endless cycle of sin and death (Roman 8: 1,2). A frog placed in boiling water will immediately hop out of it, but if you place it in warm water and turn up the heat slowly he will be cooked alive. Satan's plan is to get your soul, either all at once, or over the course of time. But God's plan is to redeem your life and join it to His own for His glory and honour. |