JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE CAMP

What does God consider evil?

When we think of sin, we think of things like murder, envy, strife, wickedness, rape, cheating, hatred and more. All these things are considered sin but they are just symptoms. At its root, sin is simply turning away from what gives us the most joy: God himself. Listen to the words of Jeremiah the prophet.

...for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)

God says that his people have committed two great evils. First, they have forsaken God. He is the fountain of living waters, he is our source of life. Yet, his people have turned away from their source of life and instead, committed evil number two. This second evil is the act of digging out our own cisterns. Cisterns are pits carved out of limstone rock and plastered to prevent seepage. Runoff water flows into such pits and collect there. Often, there is silt, mosquito larvae and dead animals in cistern water. But what's worse, is that God's people have broken cisterns! There isn't even water in the cisterns we have hewn for ourselves.

In other words, we have turned away and dug into the ground with our hands, thinking we can find a better alternative to the Living Waters that is God himself. Instead, we end up eating dirt. We turn away from what is best for us and create for ourselves lives of misery. This brings to mind what Adam and Eve did. They had experienced God, their Creator and sustainer of their lives. They had experienced his goodness and provision. With him, there was happiness. But they turned away, chose their own path and looked for life elsewhere. Their life ended in misery. (Genesis 3)

Turning away from God, our source of life, is the first great evil. And the second is similar: carving out our own miserable existence. We dishonour God when we turn from him. That is the essence of evil: turning away from God. 

Raising kids who love the Lord

My wife and I were panelists at the TRAC-organised event: Spiritual Habits of a Child's Heart. We were a little nervous being asked to share about how we parent our kids. We figured, our kids were still young so that means that the jury is still out on how they will turn out. And it made us a little more nervous when there was a turnout of 200 or so parents and Sunday School teachers at the event.

Participants of the event worshipping the Lord together.

But the Lord swiftly reminded us that it was not our own effort, but him drawing us to him, both us and our children. It was he who 'turned on the lights' and put us on the path of following him. And that's what we shared: our amazing journey of being half-hearted about him not too long ago to today's situation, where we can feel the fire of the Holy Spirit leading, teaching and guiding us.

And that's what we shared with the parents: how to throw ourselves at God's feet, surrendering our lives to him and he makes much more of our lives than we ourselves ever could. I think our biggest encouragement to the parents was this: make God the treasure of your life. Get rid of everything else that stands in the way. If golf is in the way, get rid of it. If TV is in the way, get rid of it. If your career is your treasure, it's time to change your priority. Our children are our priority. We only have them for a season, and while they are under our care, God has commanded us to be his representatives. As he tells us:

"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates...." (Deu 11:18-20)

There is nothing more important that bringing up our children in the way of the Lord. And our family's heart verses reminds us that it is not by our willpower nor determination nor strength that will help raise children who will love the Lord but it is the Lord who promises to do it. And we thank him for that because on our own, we know we will fail.

"And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me." (Jer 32:38-40)

The depth of truth in simple verses

I have been learning the value of looking carefully and studying deeply the verses in the Bible. So often, I would just zip pass what seem to be simple verses, especially those verses at the opening of epistles that just appear to be greetings and nothing more. But now I realise how much truth can be embedded in these seemingly innocuous verses. I'm learning that God never wastes a word in His Word.

Romans 1:5-6
Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

How often have I breezed through these two verses without giving them a second thought. But I after I had heard a sermon and then looked closely at the verses, oh what joy these two verses have brought.

Through him... we receive grace. Paul is pointing out that through the conduit of Jesus, we receive grace. Grace is God's unmerited love freely given to us. We are all rebels. We are all sinners. We deserve nothing but God's condemnation and punishment and we bound for the hell that he created for his enemeies. But because Jesus died for us, and gave us a righteousness that was equal to his righteousness, we can stand before God and be his friends. That's the moment when God unleashes his grace on us, pouring down his love on us like the Niagra Falls into a cup. Amazing!

And what's the purpose of God dying for sinners and then pouring out his love on us? It is "for his name's sake". In other words, God gets the glory for dying and saving unrighteous sinners. We are unable to rescue ourselves, we blaspheme the name of God by how we live, we trample on his glory by ignoring him and living for ourselves. God corrects all this by wiping out our sin and making us righteous and so he gets the glory for it. Only he has the power do this.

What are the implications for us when we understand this? Joy! Joy unspeakable. Because it means we never have to wonder and worry if we're good enough for God to love us. Are we ever good enough? Can we do anything so that we merit God's love? No and no. We are unworthy. But through Jesus, God rescues us.

Can we ever, on our own, make ourselves understand the message of the Gospel and thus be saved? No we can't! Verse 6 clearly says we are called by God. In other words, we are blinded by Satan (see 2 Corinthians 4:4), lost in this world, with no way at all to understand God's message of salvation. But God calls us and draws us to him. He made us believe! This means that even in our belief and act of faith, we cannot truly claim we did it. God did it. He put understanding and faith in our hearts. And this is good news! Because it means we never have to worry, is my faith right? Am I trusting in Jesus enough? Since God is the one who puts the faith in us so we can trust him, we don't ever have to fear that we didn't believe hard enough. God does it. And he gets the glory for it.

These verses for me, tie in so closely to Jeremiah 32:40. "I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me." I see that God has promised to never let me go. He has promised! And so he will call, he will hold on to me, he will rip out my sinfulness and give me his righteousness, he will pour out his love on me. And in all this, he will be glorified! Ah, the depth of truth in such simple verses.