Ouch!

[dave c]

simpletruth #138ac Revisited 24JUL10 salicart@msn.com

HOSEA 10:12—Part Twenty Nine: Ouch!

by rev. dave c

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).

Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. 11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (NIV).

These passages from the writer of Hebrews sting. I walk day by day through my Christian life first reveling in the miraculous joy of so great a salvation, then slipping into pettiness, grumbling, and ingratitude because the desires of my flesh are not being met in a fashion that satisfies my pride. Jesus, the very Son of God, had His prayers heard by the Father because of his reverent submission—and He was able to submit to the Father because He had learned obedience from what he suffered. Jesus submitted to unimaginable suffering in His mind, body, and spirit because of His love for His Father and mankind. Too often I choose to suffer in my concept of self because of my love for ignorance and arrogance. Ignorance of the eternal power and divine nature of God, and arrogance because I love myself more than I love my brothers and my sisters in the Faith.

Whenever I am more devoted to my wants, needs and interests than I am to the worship of my God and service to others, I am displaying a deep lack of understanding of who God is. The New Testament concept of “to know” requires more than mere head knowledge; that is, real learning is more than exposure to, and the retention of, information. True knowledge of God demands expression of change in my daily habits of thought and action—“Righteousness is as righteousness does,” if you will. According to Luke in Acts 26:20, Paul tells King Agrippa, I preached that they should repent, and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds (NIV); in Ephesians 2:10 Paul continues, For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV); in James 2:18b we are told, Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do (NIV); and John tells us, This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1Jn 3:16-18; NIV).

Jesus cried out to the one who could save him from death, not because the Son of God required spiritual salvation, but because, as the Son of Man, His physical body needed redemption from the grave through glorified resurrection as a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. As a consequence He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. And what does our Lord and Savior command that requires our obedience? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk 12:30&31, NIV), “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34&35; NIV), and “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15&16, NIV).

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (He 5:7-14, NIV). Any and all areas of my inner and outer life that do not reflect The Great Commandment and The Great Commission are indisputable evidence of my lack of maturity in those particular areas. This is the fallow ground of Hosea 10:12. Hebrews tells me in verse 5:14 that I must persist in the practice of acting out my faith if I am to go beyond the milk of God’s merciful saving grace and pass into knowledge of His righteousness (i.e., solid food). Almost thirty years ago I deeded the “farm of my life” over to Jesus Christ, but I have as yet failed to surrender all of what I once thought were my fields to Him for His occupation, cultivation, and the raising of crops grown from righteous sowing and merciful reaping. The truth is that I was never the master of my life. At the moment of salvation controlling ownership passed from Satan to Christ. The Good Shepherd, however, is a gentleman. Even though He now has every legal right as covenant landlord, He does not go into the fields of my life where He is not invited. He stands at the door and knocks…. It is my decision, today...right now, to open the door of my life to His saving grace—or to ignore Him and so add another layer of hardened callousness to my heart. “Break me, Lord, and break up my fallow ground. Please give me a heart of flesh and take this heart of stone. Amen.”

[MacUser]

Gal 5:9