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True Hidden Treasure
God’s Word
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”– Psalm 119-11
These words, penned by King David, give great evidence why he was called a man after God’s own heart. This is exactly what God wants. He wants us to treasure His Word, His Law. This was what He was trying to tell the Israelites in the Book of Exodus when He told them to bind it around your forehead and to put it on your doorposts. Though the Israelites took it literally, they missed the spiritual implications of the instruction.
What does it mean to “hide” His Word in [y]our heart? Usually when we think of hiding something, we think of putting it away for safety reasons or to protect it from prying eyes. Yet, when David said that he had hidden God’s Word in his heart, he was meaning just the opposite. He hid God Word in order that people may see that he possessed it!
Perhaps a better phrasing would be, “Your Word I have stored in my heart that I might not sin against You.” God does not want us to hide His word under or behind something. He wants us to live it so it will everyone will see. Psalm 1:2 says that the righteous person delights in the Word of God and meditates on it day and night. Why? To memorize it? No. Teachers will tell you that people who memorize things just for the purpose of memorizing them, do not really learn them and soon forgets what he memorized. On the contrary, we meditate not to memorize but internalize.
When David said he had hidden God word in his heart, he was saying that he had internalized it. He had digested it. He had made it a part of himself. It could be considered that he was saying that he had made God’s Word so much a part of him (his heart) that you could not tell it from him; thus it was ‘hidden’. They were so much alike that they were essentially blended together. One could not tell where the Word ended and David’s heart began.
Could this be said about you and God’s Word? Have you made it so much a part of your life that you no longer have to think to do it, it becomes nature? An analogy I often use is that of a cupcake. I love Hostess cupcakes (though the sugar doesn’t love me). In the middle of the cupcake is the cream filling. In the cupcake is sugar, flour, eggs, chocolate, and a host of other things. You can separate out the cream filling and still have the cupcake. You cannot separate out the sugar from the cupcake. To those of memorize the Word of God, the Word is the cream filling. To those who internalize it, the Word is the sugar.
In your life, is the Word cream filling or sugar? If it isn’t sugar, ask God to help you change that. Develop a plan to read and study God’s Word regularly. Don’t just read it; understand what it says and why it says it. Once you understand the purpose for it, applying it becomes easier.
Be transformed!
EVERY KNEE WILL BOW
One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Those who denied that Jesus was real will bow. Everyone who denied that Jesus was the Son of God will bow. Everyone who has denied that Jesus was God will bow. Everyone who has denied that Jesus was the Messiah will bow. Everyone who has denied that Jesus was the only way will bow. That means that Mormons will bow, Muslims will bow, Jehovah’s Witnesses will bow, Satanists will bow, and atheists will bow. Even Hitler will bow. Pharaoh will bow. Hussein will bow. Satan will bow. Everyone will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Will you bow now by choice?
Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise Him all creatures here below; praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen
The Old and the New, Part 2
A new nature? A new mindset? What’s that all about? Perhaps you may have said to yourself, “Why do I need this new nature? Aren’t I good enough for Heaven the way I am? After all, I’m not a thief or a murderer or a pedophile.” Getting into Heaven is not about being ‘good enough’. That is a lie from the devil. No one is good enough for Heaven (save Jesus Christ).
No it is not about being good enough. It is about being perfect. Only Jesus was perfect. In order for us to qualify for Heaven we must not only trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but we must be changed. We must be transformed. The Greek word metamorphosed is the word translated changed. It is the same root of the word used by the narrator of the old Incredible Hulk series when he would describe the transformation of David Banner into the Hulk—“a startling metamorphosis”. When Banner was the Hulk he didn’t look like Banner and when Banner was himself he did not look like the Hulk. When a person is transformed by God, they should not look like their old self because they are, in essence, a different person.
Why does a person have to be changed before they can enter Heaven? If God let people who were not transformed into Heaven, Heaven would become like earth full of liars, thieves, blasphemers, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Jesus said that unless a person is transformed or regenerated, they cannot even comprehend God and His Kingdom. A person who has not committed themselves to Christ has no real desire to go to Heaven, especially when they find out what Heaven really will be like—worshipping God throughout all eternity. They don’t even know if there is a Heaven. They just desire not to go to Hell.
Perfection is required to get into Heaven. Though we are not perfect now, we are being perfected through a process called sanctification. Sanctification can best be described using the words of John the Baptist—“I must decrease and He must increase.” It is being conformed more and more into the spiritual image of Christ.
How does this transformation process work? As we immerse ourselves in the Word, our minds are transformed and our thought process is changed through the work of the Holy Spirit. He opens our spiritual eyes and gives us a new understanding. He reveals God’s truths to us (Matthew 13:11). As we apply those truths to our lives, our lives begin to take on a new definition, a new purpose, and a new look.
If you have trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, does your life look different than it did when you first believed? Have you abandoned some bad habits? Some unsupportive friends? Some old haunts? Some sins? Have you found yourself doing something for the Kingdom that you thought you’d never be doing. If so, then that is the new nature at work in your life.
The Old and the New, Part 1
In relation to how my sin relates to Adam’s sin, I would hear preachers say that Adam sinned and that because of his sin, we are all born sinners. I would hear how we are not sinners because we sin but we sin because we are sinners. Yet, at the same time, I hear that we are each responsible for our own sin. Hearing this made me ponder: , how can we be held accountable if we are, in fact, sinners because Adam sinned?
Perhaps, I can restate the question using a question many people ask in relation to Jesus: How can one man’s actions many years ago have an effect on my life today?
I took this question to the Lord and this is the answer He gave me. When Adam was created, he was created sinless and holy, without defect, for a relationship with God. But, because he made a bad decision and disobeyed God, his nature (his essence, his mindset) changed. He was no longer holy but rebellious. He was no longer sinless but corrupt. He was no longer in communion with God but separated from Him. It was this nature that was transferred down through the generations to us. His children were born spiritually dead and separated from God with a heart bent on disobedience and selfishness. This is what David meant when he wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me (Psalms 51:5).”
It is from this nature that Jesus came to deliver us. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that we had to be born again. We need a new nature, a new mindset. We need a nature that is not bent on disobedience and selfishness, but one that is governed by love and righteousness. When we put our trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sin, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us and regenerates us. Our spirits are made alive and we are given a new nature.
Paul stressed the importance of living by the new nature and not the old. First, to the Corinthians, he explained that if anyone belongs to Christ, that person is a new creation (has received a new birth/new nature); the old (nature/mindset) is gone and a new one has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). He goes on to tell the Colossians that since they belong to Christ, they are to put off the old man (nature/mindset) with his ways and to put on the new man whose mind is being renewed by Christ (Colossians 3:9-10).
In Part 2, I will explain how this new nature relates to our salvation.
Cyber-Discipleship 