The Godly Person

In the Bible, nothing negative is written about Joseph or Daniel.  Both were promoted to the king’s court.  Both stood alone for what is right.  Daniel was thrown into the lions’ den; Joseph was thrown into a pit by jealous brothers and later into prison.  Daniel interpreted dreams, Joseph interpreted dreams.  Neither changed the interpretations to save himself.  They were men of God.  They exhibited godly character qualities.  They never once backed down or compromised what is right. 

In a day when we have a desperate need for godly people in our homes, at work, among friends, and as leaders, I think it would do us well to determine the characteristics of a godly person.  We could look at many passages of Scripture, but for the sake of choosing one, I think the very first psalm gives us a wonderful characterization of what a godly person looks like, acts like, and thinks like.  Let’s take a closer look.

First, the godly person orders his life around godly counsel: “Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly” (v. 1).  A godly person is not too proud to seek advice or too self-centered to ask.  He understands that he can still learn and there is much he doesn’t know.  He wants to dip into the well of godly advisement.

Second, the godly person seeks friends with fellow believers: “Nor stands in the path of sinners” (v. 1).  That does not mean he does not have friendships with unsaved people.  But I believe his closest friends are believers.  No matter how successful, sophisticated, or influential unsaved people are, a godly person longs to have his or her closest friends be persons of godly character who follow after God’s heart.

Third, the godly person gets enjoyment, encouragement, and refreshment from the Word of God: “His delight is in the law of the Lord” (v. 2).  He loves the Bible more than television, hobbies, or any other form of entertainment.  He not only delights in the Word of God, but also meditates on it: “And in His law he meditates day and night” (v. 2).  Meditation is gnawing on what was just read.  It is different from memorizing.  Meditation asks questions.  What did this just tell me about God?  What did this just tell me about myself?  What do I need to change?  How does this apply to my work, friends, and home?  Meditating on Scripture is absorbing the truth into our very being.  It is totally different from a cursory reading.

Fourth, the godly person will successfully stand the storms of life: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water” (v. 3).  His or her roots go down deep.  The godly person has a taproot all the way down to Jesus Christ.  He is continually being nourished, refreshed, and cleansed by his relationship with Christ.  He can stand all the winds of life because he is firmly rooted.

Fifth, the godly person is a fruitful person: “That brings forth its fruit in season” (v. 3).  He is more interested in investing in a life than merely spending his.  He is interested not only in how much fruit he spreads, but also in its quality.  “And his leaf does not wither” (v. 3).  He sticks with it.  He can be counted on.  He doesn’t wither under pressure.  He is consistent.  He is faithful and loves bearing fruit.  He plods away at investing his life in the lives of others.  He doesn’t live for a paycheck.  He understands that winning others to Christ is more important than reaching the top of his profession.  Actually, evangelist Billy Graham led one of my professors in seminary to Christ.

The beginning of being a godly person is receiving Jesus Christ as Savior.  That’s the foundation to build on. 

Homes need him.  Churches need him.  The world needs him. 

I hope you know one. 

I hope you are one.

I hope I am one.

There are many other Scriptures that characterize a godly person.  Can you help us name a few?

Restitution

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24).

Has it ever happened to you?  You’re right in the middle of time with God when you remember something that happened long ago.  You just can’t turn the thought off.  Needless to say, these times are at the very least uncomfortable, and if unresolved, can affect our relationships with our family, our coworkers, and God.

The principle of restitution is a key concept in the New Testament.  Making right a wrong isn’t just good morality; it’s thoroughly biblical.  Our relationships with others are of vital concern to the Father.  In Matthew 5, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount, there is specific reference to this dilemma with instruction on what to do.  Jesus lays out the perfect plan for those who are devoted to God.  The pure in heart.  The peacemakers.  The description of a godly man or woman is beautifully portrayed within the more familiar verses of this sermon.  Yet many times we fail to continue our study and recognize the importance of what Jesus was saying to those present in His admonition regarding their personal relationships and unresolved issues.

Jesus did not admonish those in the crowd on the mountain to get their hearts right with God.  Instead, He urged them to put God on hold for a time!  “First be reconciled” (5:24).  The term translated “reconciled” is used only here in the New Testament.  It literally means “change.”  In other words, “Change things.”  Do whatever you have to do to right a wrong.

This directive leaves no doubt that getting things right with God isn’t enough.  There are other people to consider.  Our relationship with the Father doesn’t let us off the hook for things we did that hurt other people, things for which we never attempted to make restitution.  Jesus said, “First be reconciled . . . and [second] then come offer your gift.”  As much as we would like to forget the past and reap the benefits of being new creatures in Christ, Jesus recognized our relationship with God is affected by the way we deal with our past.

When we consider this passage in light of personal experience, we may note that we’re doing a great job at being faithful in our relationship with God.  We have our quiet time every day.  We tithe.  Then, when we least expect it, we remember!  It could be any number of things.  A financial obligation we haven’t taken care of – and worse, we’ve avoided the calls from the one we owe.  It could be that we injured someone in an accident and left the scene.  Perhaps we lied on a job application.  The possibilities are endless.  The bottom line is this: there are people we’ve hurt and people we’ve offended, but we’ve never resolved the situation.

“But that was a long time ago” is a familiar excuse.  Or, “God has forgiven me” sounds pretty good.  “I wasn’t a Christian then” or “They’ve probably forgotten” are excuses I hear all too often.  Though all of these statements may be true, a person of character must take responsibility for actions now, tomorrow, and yesterday!

We can’t be right with God while something is wrong between us and another person, and we are to blame for the conflict.  The main thing that distinguishes believers from the rest of the world is love for others.  When God leads us to deal with past wrongs and we don’t, progress stops.  There is an obstacle in our relationship with God that cannot be solved until we deal with the problem.

Why?  God will not be used.  Jesus paid a high price to reconcile us to Himself.  We are responsible for working restitution.  Zacchaeus understood the connection between what he did in regard to others and his relationship with God.  He paid back those he owed four times as much as he stole from them (Luke 19:8).  No matter what we try to tell ourselves, the consequences of unresolved conflict will affect us despite our best efforts to deny the truth.

The first consequence of unresolved conflict is the sincerity of our prayers, services, and counsel.  There will always be that nagging thought: What about that time when . . . ?  As long as someone is back there that we need to call or repay, we will never be able to put our whole heart into our service or pursuit of God.  It is like carrying around extra weight; it taxes us mentally, emotionally, and often times physically.  Many people struggle with attitudes and habits they can’t shake, and the reason is they have never taken responsibility for their past actions.

The second consequence of unresolved conflict is that Christianity becomes ritual instead of relational.  People who refuse to deal with the past often do and say all of the “right” religious things.  Yet, as times goes on, they put less and less heart into it and God seems a bit distant.  A quick survey of people seated around us on Sunday morning might pose quite a picture.  The women are dressed just right.  The men have on their best suits.  Children are groomed better than they’d like to be!  The smiles are polished and the handshakes are firm.  Yet, inside there is a terrible feeling, and the thought comes through, I wonder if they knew about . . . ?  The guilt of unresolved relationships is a primary reason why some Christians live defeated lives.  They try to live as new creatures while strangling the guilt of past sin that has never been resolved.

The third consequence of unresolved conflict is limited intimacy.  This is a direct result of the fear that someone will find out about the past, which automatically creates a sense of isolation and aloneness.  I think about men who fathered children and walked away.  The fear of someone discovering the dark part of the past they’ve tried to escape will always result in a lack of intimacy in any new relationships they encounter.  It is something that cannot be avoided when there are unresolved relationships.

If you want to know how important this whole idea of restitution is, turn it around for a moment.  What difference would it make to you if someone who really hurt you came back and made things right?  What if the parent who rejected you a long time ago showed up at your doorstep and apologized?  What would happen if the boss who treated you so badly apologized?  What if that old friend who stabbed you in the back apologized?  What would happen if that ex-spouse apologized?  For many, it would be the beginning of healing.  That is why God insists we take time out to deal with the past, so we can then be ministered to in our relationship with Him.

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous have long understood the importance of making restitution.  As part of the twelve steps, restitution is found in steps eight and nine where members pledge, “We became willing to make amends to those we had harmed,” and then “Made amends to such people, except when to do so would injure them or others.”  Those who find sobriety have discovered the importance of not carrying around the extra weight of conflicts that remain unresolved.  These two steps present a picture of one becoming willing to take responsibility for the past and then doing something about it.

The problem with making restitution is we have to deal with some unpleasant situations from the past that we’d rather ignore or forget.  However, as believers, we must face up to the past to fully experience the intimacy that God withholds for those who are willing to abide by His principles.  He said to love one another and it’s impossible to do that with past offenses hanging over our heads.

I challenge all of us to consider these two things as we think about the past and what we may need to make restitution for: (1) what we are giving up by holding on to the past, and (2) what we could gain by writing the letter, making the phone call, or dropping by the residence or place of business we’ve avoided for so long.  We are giving up peace of mind and peace with God if we do not make restitution.  If we become willing to take responsibility, we will gain the opportunity to express love and experience it.  “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference” (Serenity Prayer).

Assurance of Salvation

To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy (Jude 24).

It would be a terrible thing for children (or adults!) to wonder how they fit in their families.  And while that is terrible in an earthly family, it is even more unsettling in the spiritual family.  Many Christians live with the thought that they are just not sure how God sees them.  Is He in a good mood or a judgmental mood?  Are they in the family or has their Father decided He has had enough?

What a horrible way to live!  How incredibly sad for children of the King to live as beggars!  I am surely not being critical.  I find it heartbreaking for people whose sin debt has been paid in full to squirm under the uncertainty of whether they belong in the family of God.  Let’s look at some basic reasons why people tend to doubt their salvation:

The first reason is because of sin in their lives.  Sin brings a feeling of estrangement from God, a feeling of isolation.  John warns Christians to take a close inventory of their salvation if they continue to sin and do so merrily, often, and long: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9).  If sin is the constant bent of our lives, we should worry about our salvation.  The non-Christian can sin all day long and not sense any isolation from God; only His children experience a lack of harmony with the Father. 

The second reason people tend to doubt their salvation is because of false teaching.  This false teaching is primarily in two camps.  The first camp includes liberal pastors who do not hold to the view that the entire Bible is the Word of God.  They discount certain parts, verses, and authors.  False teaching that deletes portions of the Bible certainly leads to doubts of salvation.  The other camp includes teachers who strongly believe the Word of God from cover to cover, but overemphasize human performance.

The third reason people tend to doubt their salvation is because of an overemphasis on emotions.  There are those who place a lot of importance on “feel good” religion. I am all for joy in the Christian life.  But when the entire Christian life is based on emotions rather than doctrine, assurance of salvation is rare.  Heartaches will come.  Financial setbacks come.  Sorrows come.  Disappointments come.  This is the reality of living in a fallen world.  We can’t live on feelings.  The Christian life is not always going to feel euphoric.

The fourth reason people tend to doubt their salvation is because of failure to take God at His Word.  Sometimes, I meet people and they say, “Well, I used to be saved.”  I ask, “How did you get lost?”  They name something they’ve done or thought.  Then, I remind them what John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  If we take God at His Word – and He is indeed trustworthy – we will not wonder if we were bad enough to lose our salvation (or good enough to keep it, for that matter!).  Let me put it another way: if I came up to you and said, “I am very happy you’re reading my blog,” and you responded, “Oh, I don’t really believe you mean that!” you would be doubting my sincerity.  That is exactly what we do when we doubt what God has promised about our salvation in His Word.  We doubt His trustworthiness. 

The fifth reason people tend to doubt their salvation is because of satanic attacks.  Satan will be happy to whisper, “Look at you.  Look how you’re acting.  A Christian doesn’t act like that.”  Not only will Satan whisper that, but he often uses others as his unsuspecting agents.  A mother scolds her child, “A Christian girl wouldn’t behave like that!”  What conclusion is the little girl supposed to reach?  And the mother can’t understand why her daughter doesn’t have assurance of her salvation.  Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  We need the Word of God to answer Him.  There are some truths God wants us to understand to counter the enemies of assurance.

First, God wants us to understand His will for our salvation.  “He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).  God’s desire is for us to be saved, not for us to be condemned.  Peter tell us He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).  God is standing with open arms, just like the father of the prodigal son, to welcome us into His family.

The second truth God wants us to understand to counter the enemies of assurance is the provision He has made for our salvation.  He gave “His life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).  “He Himself bore our sins on His own body” (1 Peter 2:24).  He paid the price for our salvation.  Jesus died in our place, so we could belong to God.

What earthly father would provide everything his child needs, only for the child to wonder, “Are you sure you want me to have it, Daddy?”  Of course, that is what he wants.  He is grieved his child is so insecure of his love.  Our heavenly Father is the same way.  He has provided everything we need for salvation and is grieved when we think otherwise.

We still have a responsibility, though.  Jesus did not die, rise again, and ascend into heaven to automatically save us.  The Bible does not teach universal salvation (that is, all people by virtue of the fact they’re created are Christians).  We need to believe in Christ and receive Him as our very own.  There must be a personal and definite decision.  Jesus said, “Whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life” (John 5:24). 

Those who were saved very young often need to reaffirm or make sure of their salvation later in life.  This does not insult God.  Teens, especially, go through a long process of making sure they are making their own choices and not resting on their parents’ decisions for them.  They may need to resettle the issue.  Don’t be alarmed.  People are different and God deals with us where we are.

One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “How can I know I’m saved?”  That is the dilemma of many people.  Maybe you are wondering about your salvation.  You have prayed, you have read the Scripture, you have done everything you know to do, but you still don’t have any assurance of your salvation.  John wrote his epistle so his audience could know without a doubt they were part of God’s family.  You can know as well.  Tell God you are ready to settle this issue once and for all.  Tell Him you are taking Him at His Word.  Salvation is not a feeling; it is a fact based on the finished work of Christ at Calvary.  The truth is, once saved, always saved.  Once a family member, always a family member.  Nothing can separate a Christian from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).  Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28-29).  God is both willing and able to guarantee and maintain the salvation He has given us (Jude 24).

Adopted in God’s Family

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption… (Romans 8:15).

Whereas Jesus speaks of our being born into the family of God (John 3:3), Paul uses the term adoption.  Both are pictures of the same spiritual reality.  The emphasis is on a relationship – Father and child.  God’s ultimate goal in our salvation is the relationship made available to us through our adoption as His children.

God does not intend for us to consider Him a stern Judge peering over the bench at the accused.  Yet many believers have this perception of Him.  I’ve actually talked with Christians who fear the gavel may strike again – this time with a guilty verdict.  For some reason, they never get out of the courtroom and into the family room.  To them, God is always a Judge and never a Father.  This view is so unfortunate.  But even worse, it is a precursor to doubt basic doctrines of the faith. 

The good news is after the Judge pronounces us not guilty, He welcomes us into His family.  That is apparent from Jesus’ words in John’s gospel: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life” (5:24).  As believers, we will never be judged for our sins.  That is a settled issue.  It is so settled in the mind of God that at the moment of our salvation, knowing all the sins we were yet to commit, God adopted us as His children anyway.  I have heard of many unwanted pregnancies, but I have never heard of an unwanted adoption.  Couples adopt children because they want children.  God adopted us for the same reason.  He knew our shortcomings.  He knew our inconsistencies.  He knew all about us.  But He wanted us just the same.

The concept of adoption is a strong argument for the doctrine of eternal security.  To lose our salvation, we would have to be unadopted.  The very idea sounds ludicrous.  If the logistics of such a belief system are not enough to make us wonder, consider the relational problems.  Can we really put our total trust in a heavenly Father who may unadopt us?  Let me put it another way: can we pledge unconditional loyalty to a God who promises only conditional loyalty in return?  Isn’t it unrealistic to think we could ever grow comfortable with God as our Dad when we know if we drift away and fall into sin, our relationship will be severed?  I can remember one of the very first sermons I preached.  I asked the congregation if they thought a father would stop loving his child if he fell while learning how to walk.  “Of course not,” was the unanimous response.  The same is true with us as God’s children.  He will never stop loving us even when we stumble.

Persons holding to a view that allows for someone to be unadopted must confront another major theological hurdle.  Why would an omnipotent God choose before the foundation of the world to adopt someone He knew would eventually be dismissed from His family?  To believe we can be unadopted is to believe we are able to thwart the predestined will of God.

The permanency of our adoption is best illustrated by the parable Jesus told of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32): “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate” (v. 11-12).  With those words, Jesus had His audiences’ undivided attention.  In first century Jewish culture, no son with any respect for his father would make this sort of demand from him.  To make matters worse, it was the younger son who was making the demand.  What he did was unthinkable!

Jesus continued, “So he divided to them his livelihood.  Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living” (v. 12-13).  Not only did the son demand his inheritance, but he left town with it and squandered his gift.  Apparently, he had no concern for his father’s welfare.  He was concerned only about himself.  No doubt Jesus’ listeners were rehearsing in their minds what they thought the disrespectful brat deserved.  How dare he take such a large portion of his father’s hard-earned estate and throw it away! 

But then the story took a surprising turn: “But when he had spent it all, there arose a severe famine in the land, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed swine.  He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one gave him anything” (v. 14-16).  The crowd must have become almost nauseous as Jesus described the condition in which the son found himself.  The Pharisees would not go near swine, much less feed them.  By definition the boy was ceremonially unclean.

The crowd listened carefully as Jesus continued: “When the son came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and went to his father” (v. 17-20). 

I imagine everyone who heard Jesus that day had an opinion about what the father should say or do when the son began his speech.  I doubt any of them would have ended the parable the way Jesus did: “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (v. 20).

The Pharisees must have cringed at the thought of embracing someone who had spent time feeding pigs.  Jesus then added:  “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’  So they began to celebrate and were merry” (v. 21-24).

Culturally speaking, what Jesus described in this parable was a worst-case scenario.  The son could not have been more disrespectful.  He could not have been more insensitive.  And he certainly could not have been a greater embarrassment to the family.

No one would have blamed the father if he had refused to allow the son to work for him as a menial servant.  The son didn’t deserve a second chance, and he knew it.  He recognized how foolish it would be to return as a member of the family.  In his mind, he had forfeited all the rights to sonship.  He was of the conviction that by abandoning his father and wasting his inheritance, he had relinquished his position in the family.

His father, however, had a different perspective.  In his mind, once a son, always a son.  The father’s first emotion as he saw his son returning wasn’t anger.  It wasn’t disappointment.  He felt compassion for him.  Why?  Because the boy was his son.  The father said, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again.”  He did not say, “This was my son, and now he is my son again.”  On the contrary, there is no hint that the relationship was ever broken, only the fellowship.

The imagery of adoption is a powerful one.  It is powerful because it is volitional on the part of God; He chose to adopt us.  It is also powerful because it is permanent: once a child, always a child.  At the moment we trust Christ as Savior, we are justified (declared not guilty) and adopted into the family of God.

Humility vs. Pride

God extends His grace to the humble, but resists the proud (James 4:6).

Humility expresses a genuine dependency on God and others.  Humility recognizes we live the Christian life in the same manner we become Christians – by the grace of God. 

To those who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everybody else, Jesus told a parable about two men who went to the temple to pray (Luke 18:9-14).  Both men appeared and sounded religious.  As the story unfolds, we quickly understand the focus of each man.  The Pharisee trusted in himself and looked down on others.  He was proud he was not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even the tax collector standing next to him.  He looked on outward appearance and was consumed with his behavior to a fault.  He spent little time evaluating the motivation behind his actions.  He overlooked the fact God looks at the heart and is concerned about not only what we do, but also why we do it.  The Pharisee was so rigidly self-righteous that he missed the opportunity for God to change him from the inside out.  He overlooked the humility required to apply God’s grace to his life. 

The tax collector, on the other hand, was keenly aware of his sinfulness, and looked to God for mercy and forgiveness.  He recognized humility put him in a position to hear from God.  We too, like the tax collector, understand the heart of God more clearly when we approach Him with dependence rather than smug self-sufficiency.  Humility is an attitude of the heart.  When God sees humility, He sees someone with whom He can entrust His grace.  God responds to the humble prayer.  Humility arrests the attention of God!  The proud prayer is ignored, but the humble prayer is powerful.  God says in His perfect timing the humble man will receive the proper recognition he deserves, while the proud man will be disgraced.  There are at least three characteristic of humility I find in this parable.

First, humility is quick to confess sin and slow to point out the sin of others.  The tax collector asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner.  Humility asks God to surface sin, so we can repent.  Pride, on the other hand, is slow to confess sin and quick to point out the sin of others.  We can hear the pride in the Pharisees voice as he thanked God for not being like other men (v. 11).  Outwardly, his actions looked right, but inwardly, his heart was ravaged by pride and selfishness.  He was not teachable; he was not humble; he knew no compassion or mercy.  To him, it was his way or no way.  Pride says if you don’t look, talk, and act just like I do, you are wrong.

Second, humility asks for and receives God’s forgiveness, and in turn is quick to forgive others.  Once we have received God’s forgiveness, we recognize the need to forgive others.  We realize we cannot expect perfection from others until we get to heaven.  A proud person, on the other hand, sees no need to ask for God’s forgiveness, nor does he forgive or seek the forgiveness of others.  Pride says, “I will never forgive you.”  This is where a lot of people are today.  There is nothing the offending person can do to compensate for the wrong.  Since the offended holds on to the wrong and does not forgive, anger, bitterness, and pride seep into his heart.  Only through humility and forgiveness can the relationship ever heal.

Third, humility is content to be behind the scenes.  A humble person is secure, knowing his or her service is just as important to God as the service of the one who is in the spotlight.  Pride, on the other hand, insists on being in the spotlight; it wants everyone to know how much time and energy are being sacrificed for “God’s work.”  Pride is always causing conflict because it insists on being the center of attention.  Jesus said the proud love to hear the praises of people.  Jesus also said the praises of people were their reward – nothing more. 

God hates pride.  Pride made sin a reality in His creation and brought evil into the world.  God has such a disdain for pride that He is willing to allow adversity in the lives of His children to inject healthy doses of humility and root it out.  The tragedy, however, is some of us are clever enough to weasel our way through or around the adversity God intends to use.  Through ingenuity and determination, we manipulate things in such a way as to temporarily bypass God’s plan for keeping us humble.  This may work in the short run, but nobody outsmarts or outmaneuvers God forever.  For a while, we may continue functioning as if nothing has changed, but eventually, what is true privately will surface publicly.

Signs of a Hard Heart

I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you (Exodus 7:3-4).

Have you ever met someone who was just plain stubborn?  We might know people within our circle of friends who insist on having their way.  They are hardheaded and obstinate about what they want.  A moment of reflection may cause us to feel uncomfortable at the thought – you know, personally.  God calls it a heart problem.  This problem of self-centeredness has existed from the beginning of time, documented in the lives of people we read about in Scripture as well as people we live with today. 

Pharaoh is probably the best illustration in the Bible of a person with a hard heart.  He was exposed to the truth over and over again, yet refused to respond accordingly.  Notice from the verse above that God said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”  God engineered the situation we read about in Exodus.  In doing so, God displays His power and provides a blueprint for what happens when a person refuses to accept and bend the will to the truth.

Pharaoh was presented with overwhelming evidence.  Plague after plague, sign after sign, miracle after miracle, but still he refused to accept God’s warnings and let the Israelites go.  God repeatedly presented Pharaoh with the truth of who He was, yet Pharaoh wouldn’t bow.  Even when faced with undeniable evidence that he was wrong, Pharaoh wouldn’t give in.  He refused to acknowledge that another kingdom was greater than his.  His pride, stubbornness, and hard-heartedness caused him great grief and distress.  His overexposure and under response to truth proved to be extremely costly for him, his family, and his kingdom.

All of us have experienced the stubborn desire to have things the way we want them, even when “our way” isn’t God’s way.  That’s what Pharaoh was doing.  If we are wise, we will learn from his experience.  Every time we say no to God, we live in rebellion, stubbornly asserting our selfish will over His will for our lives.  Just as Pharaoh stubbornly clenched his fist and said no repeatedly to God, we too cannot do that for long without developing a hard heart that will lead to destruction.  We stand in danger of following in the footsteps of Pharaoh if we refuse to submit to God’s standard.  The more we can be duped into believing we’re right and God is wrong, the more we are in danger of developing a hard heart.

Although we must be careful, we need not despair.  One of the primary reasons I believe God initiated this entire sequence of events was to provide us with a lesson plan for not following the way of Pharaoh.  God wouldn’t leave us without a way to experience victory over our tendencies to assert our rights over His truth.  We can rejoice in the graciousness of God as we study the lesson He gave us and apply its truth to our lives.

Let’s be honest.  We all want things the way we want them.  We all want what we want when we want it.  I’m more comfortable when things are the way I like them.  All people are.  The tension comes into play when what we want is not what God wants, when the two conflict.  Refusal to act on the truth time and time again will corrode the heart of man until nothing can melt the hardness.

Paul wrote, “Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).  It’s dangerous to say no to the truth because there will come a time when God allows us to have our own way: “Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind” (1:28).  Paul clearly portrays the inevitable downward spiral into sin when a hard heart develops.  God does not cause this steady progression towards evil.  Rather, when we reject Him, God allows us to live as we choose.  He gives us over or permits us to experience the natural consequences of our sin. 

We can count on this: frequently saying no to God will eventually result in God letting us have our own way.  Sounds pretty good?  Don’t bet on it.  How many children have cheered their independence from mom and dad only to weep in the dark of the night because they discovered having their own way was not always as appealing as it seemed?

To avoid the pitfalls that are sure to occur in our paths, we must understand the danger signs of a hard heart.  Otherwise, we can and will rationalize ourselves into disaster!  The saga of Pharaoh supplies us with signs to use as a checklist for a hard heart.

The first sign (and one that we all struggle with) is stubbornness.  Pharaoh was eaten up with a stubborn spirit when confronted with God’s truth.  All of us have been here.  It’s the way we react when we know we shouldn’t do something.  We respond, “I know I shouldn’t, but I’m going to do it anyway.”  When we are confronted with truth repeatedly and ignore it, our lack of response to God demonstrates a hard heart that no doctor can fix.

The second sign of a hard heart is a lack of concern for spiritual things.  This is made evident when God’s work becomes second to our own.  Insensitivity to God’s work is a sure sign we are developing a hard heart.  A lack of concern for spiritual things means we are more concerned with our business than with God’s.  The selfishness of that attitude is evidenced when God gets in the way of our plans, yet we choose to do things the way it works best for us anyway.

The third sign of a hard heart is ignoring the testimony of other people.  Similarly, if we ignore undeniable evidence over and over again, there is no doubt we are developing a hard heart. Whether the evidence comes from a person or event, ignoring it can result in tragic consequences.

The fourth sign of a hard heart is recognizing sin, but refusing to deal with it.  We know cheating is wrong, but we do it anyway.  We know lying is wrong, but we do it anyway.  We understand there is a speed limit for a good reason, but speeding is just something we do.  We may feel bad for a time (feeling bad relieves some of the guilt), but that’s as far as it goes.  If we are honest, some of us have no intention of doing anything about our sin.

The fifth sign of a hard heart is pride.  The prideful person says, “I know better than anyone else.”  Men suffer from this disease quite often.  We pretend to be experts about everything.  No matter what anyone else says, our way is the right way.  Often, it is hard for us to take instruction from anyone.  Even when we know we are wrong, we argue instead of facing up to it.  And the tragedy is everybody knows our problem is pride.  The root of Pharaoh’s hard-heartedness was pride.  He considered himself a god.  He wasn’t about to let some other God get the best of him.

The sixth sign of a hard heart is acknowledging sin, but attempting to make a deal with God.  Instead of turning from sin, we rationalize it and try to make deals with God, so we can continue sinning and not be plagued by our consciences.  Think about the college student who is scared he has gotten his date pregnant.  I can just imagine listening in and hearing him try to make a deal with God: “God, if You will just fix it where she’s not pregnant, I will go to church on Sunday, and I’ll even volunteer to help out in the nursery!  After all, it takes two to make a baby!”  Do you think God is impressed one bit with his excuses?  A woman who plays the same game, blaming her plight on the man she chose to be with, is just as guilty of the attempt to bargain with God.  While we may attempt to make deals with God, our efforts lead to more problems, and the gap between His truth and our desires get wider and wider as our hearts harden.

The signs for developing a hard heart are made unmistakenably clear to us in Scripture.  We don’t have to wonder and assume things because God has already given us a description of the problem and what we must do to fix it.  We can promise, bargain, and rationalize all we want, but unless we come to an accurate understanding of God and His will for us, we will fail miserably in our efforts to succeed.  It’s not so much our behavior that needs to change (although it certainly needs to change) as it is our hearts that need restoring.  Once that happens, our behavior will change, and we will know what is right and wrong.  We sometimes focus too much on changing behaviors when we should be focused on doing what will result in changed hearts.

As we grow as Christians, sin should bother us more, not less.  Yet every day we spend hours being entertained by the very sin Christ died for!  We rent it at Red Box, view it online, watch it on television, and read it in books.  “But I never thought if it that way,” you say.  Over time, we have changed the rules and our hearts have come to accept things we wouldn’t have dreamed of accepting a few years ago.  Do we remember when bad language really bothered us?  Perhaps now it hardly affects us. 

We must be sure of two things when we contemplate the problems of a hard heart: (1) the warning signs or red flags God has given us through Scripture, and (2) how to avoid taking the same road Pharaoh did.  Our response to truth determines whether our hearts will be hardened or remain pliable and ready to have God make them after His own.  Applying the truth we’ve obtained through study is the key to victory in this (or any) situation!  Unless we allow God to apply the truth to our lives, we will continue to go our own way.  And that’s a sure sign of a hard heart.

There’s only one absolute answer to the problem of a hard heart.  Nothing short of honest repentance will bring about the change needed.  I don’t mean rededicating our lives.  I’m talking about allowing God to change our hearts to the point where our no becomes a yes to His truth.  True repentance manifests itself in a changed life.

God’s priority for us is that we take Him seriously when He says, “Go into the world and change it!”  When we lead people to trust Christ as Savior, we change the world.  Recognizing this puts our response to truth in a totally different perspective.  We’re not in this world just for our pleasure or well-being.  God put us here for a purpose, and it was not to spend our days fulfilling selfish needs at the expense of those He would have us bring to know Him personally.  

We have to understand the big picture to understand why developing a hard heart will bring about disaster.  Putting all things into perspective, if we continue to insist on our way, there will come a time when God’s truth no longer matters to us at all.  When Paul wrote, “God gave them over to a debased mind,” he was making sure we understood what would happen to us if we continued to insist on our way long enough: God will back off and let us have what we think we want!  Sounds great until the reality of our depravity destroy our life. 

Humbling ourselves before God is a proven cure for the hard heart.  Christ can transform a hard heart into one that responds cheerfully and obediently.

Wisdom

Be very careful how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).

Knowledge is good, but there is a vast difference between “knowledge” (having the facts) and “wisdom” (applying those facts to life).  To have knowledge is not to be wise.  But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.  We may amass knowledge, but without wisdom, our knowledge is useless.  Many men have a great deal of knowledge and are all the greater fools for it.  We must learn how to live out what we know.  Wisdom is like a sixth sense.  It enables us to evaluate circumstances and people, and make the right decisions in life.  

I will admit there have been many occasions where I have been unwise.  I have been a fool in many ways and this has led to serious consequences in my life and the lives of others.  It is not unusual for people who lack wisdom to walk blindly into situations without giving much thought to the outcome.  Unwise people do not consider the consequences that follow their unsound decisions. 

The Bible, however, instructs us to walk wisely.  This means to scope things out, to think things through, and to look at things from every angle.  It is all-encompassing.  The wise person demonstrates caution in his relationships, finances, decision making, business transactions, family matters, and everything else.  

We are surrounded by people whose values are diametrically opposed to everything Christianity stands for.  It is easy to get swept along by the current of our society.  It may seem as if everything is working against us.  There is something in all of us that wants to take the path of least resistance.  But to do so is often to disobey the command to “walk wisely.”

There is a common characteristic in those who are wise: they make the most of time.  Wise men and women take advantage of every opportunity to do what is right.  They look for opportunities to move forward in their faith and service “because the days are evil.” 

The essence of wisdom, from a practical standpoint, is pausing long enough to look at our lives – invitations, opportunities, relationships – from God’s perspective.  And then acting on it.  Many issues we are forced to deal with on a daily basis are not specifically mentioned in Scripture.  Complicated situations arise and there seems to be no biblical parallel to use as a guide.  In these situations, we are to turn to God for wisdom (James 1:5).  We are to ask, “What is the wise thing to do?”

Wisdom takes us beyond the realm of mere right and wrong.  Wisdom takes into account our personalities, strengths, weaknesses, environment, and even our present state of mind.  Wisdom is often the tool God uses to personalize His will for our lives.  What is wise for you may not be wise for me – and vice versa.

All of us are tempted to excuse things because they are not overtly wrong.  No specific verse of Scripture prohibits them.  But wise men and women don’t ask, “Is there a verse that prohibits this?”  Instead, we ask, “What is the wise thing for me to do?”  It is not enough to merely stay on the right side of the line that divides right from wrong.  In many cases, God would have us stay a safe distance away from the line itself.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7).  Fear refers to reverence and respect.  Too often, we want to skip this step, thinking we can become wise by life experience and academic knowledge alone.  But if we do not acknowledge God as the source of wisdom, then our foundation for making wise decisions is shaky, and we are prone to mistakes and foolish choices.  The wise person fears the Lord, trusts Him, and seeks to obey His will.  Wisdom begins when we acknowledge God for who He is, when we recognize that His ways are best.  Wisdom begins when we submit ourselves to His will, trusting that if we could see our lives from His perspective, things would make perfect sense.  The only way to become truly wise is to fear (revere) God.