Dear Covenant Family:
I am sending this week’s TGIF message early. Tomorrow, Cindy and I are driving to Miami to celebrate the life of our dear friend Hal who passed away a few weeks ago. We will be gone tomorrow and Friday, so I wanted to get my message out before we left Gainesville. See you all on Sunday morning for church and Thanksgiving dinner at 5 PM!!
TGIF
I was planning to write on a topic different from last week, but when I researched some scripture for my newly chosen topic, I found this scripture from James with the highlighting added by me.
James 4:7-10 – Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
This scripture made me think more about last week’s TGIF message, and I decided maybe I needed to do more follow-up on that topic. I will say that in this past week I have become even more concerned about the seemingly growing hatred and evil being shown to all Jewish people in our country and globally. I am surprised that there has not been more of an effort to quell these intensely negative and evil thoughts, especially in the US. So today’s message is more on the topic of evil from last week, and the proper Christian response to evil.
In these four verses of scripture, James reveals to us the path to receiving God’s saving grace. I have highlighted for you the 10 commands James offers to us in these verses. In verse 7, James uses the word Submit to describe a willing and conscious submission to God’s authority as the sovereign ruler of the universe (see Matthew 10:38). The flip side of this command is to resist the devil which commands us to take a firm stance against evil and hatred. Each person can only be under the direction of God or the devil, there can be no middle ground. Those people who give their full allegiance to God will find that the devil will flee from you because he has been defeated.
In verse 8, we are told to come close to God and have a close loving relationship with Him. We are told to cleanse your hands which is an outward external cleansing whereas purify your hearts reflects an internal cleansing symbolizing our inner thoughts, true motives for your actions, and desires of your heart.
In verse 9, we are to be miserable, mourn, and weep for our sinful nature (see Mark 14:72). We are told to let your laughter be turned into mourning, where laughter represents the people who give no thought to God, life, death, sin, judgment, or holiness. James is calling on such people to mourn over their sin.
In verse 10, we are told to humble yourselves. This is the final command to believers which sums up the preceding nine commands “to make oneself low”. Those who are conscious of being in the presence of the majestic and infinitely holy God are truly humble.
I then found more scripture that I would like to share with you. These words come from Paul and offer the response we need to give to those who consider us enemies. I ask you to read these next 5 verses very slowly and let Paul’s message clearly be absorbed by your mind.
Romans 12:17-21 – Never repay evil for evil to anyone.Respect what is right in the sight of all people. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Like last week, there is nothing more that I can add to this very clear and Godly statement from Paul. It is as clear and relevant for today’s world as it was when Paul penned these words many years ago. Last week, I shared scripture from the prophet Isaiah and from David, and today from James and Paul. All four of these Godly writers commented strongly on our need to believe in God and to resist and reject all the evil that we see and experience in our world. It is important that each of us clearly defend God’s Word and to always reject the evil surrounding us.
Let me close this message with the following verse also written by Paul:
Romans 1:18 – For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Amen!
I will likely not be sending out a TGIF for the next two weeks as Cindy and I will be heading to DC to spend Thanksgiving with our children and their families. I expect to resume my TGIF messages beginning on December 8.
May God bless your Thanksgiving holiday and make it a special time for each of you, your family, and loved ones!