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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 01:09 am |
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Righteous By Faith
Most of us grossly misunderstand righteousness. We think of it as either adherence to a vast set of rules of internal and external good behavior – or – something that is imputed to us by Christ with no need to show forth its fruits.
The Pharisees appeared to be righteous on the surface, because of their fastidious attention to outward laws, many of which stemmed from tradition and nothing more.
Most modern Christians claim to be righteous because of the works of Jesus and yet show no evidence of this work and live from one sin to the next, their hearts filled with the same lust which is found in the world.
But Jesus told us that unless our righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees, that we should in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
He was not kidding. Jesus never, never jokes about eternal matters and neither does He tell you one thing and mean entirely something else.
The problem with the Pharisees was the same problem with all sinners: the heart. They may have outwardly did the acts of worldly holiness, but inwardly they were unclean. How many of us claim to be dedicated Christians and are inwardly unclean – our minds filled with filth and our souls on fire with lust of the flesh and our eyes wandering and committing adultery every chance they get? How arrogant and defensive and angry are we and refuse to be humble and contrite before God? Who do we trample upon to get what our lust desires? DO WE WALK OVER THE DEAD BODY OF OUR OWN SOUL – SLAIN BY US TO CHOOSE SIN – DISOBEDIENT TO GOD!
Set your affections on things above – Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and spirit – Love your neighbor. Be faithful to God!
If we love God, we should strive to please Him. And yet, the scripture says that without Faith it is impossible to please God. But is it possible to generate Faith from a divided heart? Is it possible to have Faith and not love God with all your heart? How can you be faithful to someone you don’t completely love? How can you love someone else when a craven, ugly, selfish being is demanding to be fed with filth and forbidden acts of pleasure? Is it a demonstration of Faith to seek to pleasure the body? Is it a demonstration of Faith to sneak and hide and seek everything unholy to put out the flames of lust which flames we take great pleasure from?
Nay, this is not Faith. And neither is it Righteousness by Faith. Righteousness comes from an Upright Heart, a clean Heart. It springs forth like wells and it flows to those who hunger and thirst after it. Are you hungering and thirsting after righteousness? It is the heart that loves and the heart that desires and the heart that chooses.
Righteousness hath fled you, because your heart is divided. You do not love God as you should and cannot possibly force a walk upon yourself that your heart does not really want. Because the heart is still in love with the flesh.
My friends, a house divided against itself cannot stand and Faith and Unfaithfulness cannot live side by side. One overpowers the other and that by our own choosing. The heart that continuely chooses sin is not upright - it is wicked (forked downward) - it absolutely must be made clean by Christ. Faith does not arise from a downwardly turned heart - unrighteousness does. Set your heart upon things above – upon God. Seek Him with your whole heart and He shall be found of thee. Only then will His Righteousness spring forth from your Faith. It will no longer be difficult for you to obey – but easy – because you will delight to do the Will of God and sin’s power over you will be broken forever.
Hallelujah to God and His Son the Christ – who hath made salvation possible – even for the lowliest of sinners. Be zealous therefore and repent.
Wilderness Voice
This was not printed for a debate of theory or doctrine - but to add another view through the window of the soul - another glimpse of hope - of the way out of sin to those seeking it. If you don't want to believe this, then don't. It is meant for those who just cannot find the answer anywhere else. It is meant for those who wish to serve God, but cannot find the way to do it and are bound by their sin. It is an appeal to them to do, as Jesus said, "The First Works." Loving God with our whole heart is the First Commandment. You cannot begin to victoriously obey the others, if this one is neglected. It is impossible to please God without Faith and it is impossible to have Faith without Love.
Last edited on Thu Oct 25th, 2007 01:10 am by Wilderness Voice
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Seeking God
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 06:06 am |
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A very inspiring post WV,
Thanks,
Sometimes I'm torn between the temptations of sin and God.
But what does sin offer me? sin offer lust, lies, a fiery hunger that lead to an eternal burning pit.
But God offer grace and love. Sometimes I view Him as an old, strict, discipline sergeant, but He proved how wrong I am, His love is always refreshing, His grace always lead me to fresh green pasture. My life is never boring (compared to staying at home, craving for porn), He led me to open up to exciting people, challenged me to grow even more, gave me a dream to unite His disciples under His pure banner.
Too good to be told,
Too beautiful to be true.
Last edited on Thu Oct 25th, 2007 06:07 am by Seeking God
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TimM
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 04:06 pm |
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WV,
Thanks for sharing your faith and hope.
I think your description of our condition probably rings true on some level to any addict. Being divided against ourselves is absolutely a daily experience for addicts. So is struggling and failing to righteous, or struggling and failing to have a clean heart, or struggling and failing to love God well enough.
If I think about how I would have read your words three years ago in the midst of active addiction, or if I think about how someone like Man may be reading them today, I think I would have found them very confusing. I knew I was divided. I knew I was doing wrong. I knew God was judging me. I desperately wanted to will one thing. I desperately wanted to have a pure heart. I desperately wanted a faith that would give me strength not to act out. For decades I had been hoping and praying and struggling for just those things. I prayed, I fasted, I went to confession, I talked to my priest, I pleaded with God, and I kept sinning. All this is the experience of lots of us, and probably your own past experience as well.
What I still have trouble seeing in your diligent and passionate shares is a recipe for Man or for others who are suffering. Telling us our hearts are divided doesn't help us unite those hearts. Telling us we don't love God enough doesn't help us be able to love Him. Telling us we lack faith doesn't help us find that faith.
I keep wondering if there aren't personal things you could share that might help bridge the gap between the doctrine and the person who suffers? Are there ways to offer, if not a recipe or a roadmap, then at least a concrete, practical exposition of the experience of healing? For instance, are there ways not just to say, "Your hearts are divided," - something we all know - but rather, "My heart used to be divided, which I perceived in these ways. And then I did these concrete actual things and I began to sense less division. I could experience unity in the following real and down-to-earth ways. Here's what it felt like during the process of rebuilding unity; here's places I had trouble; here's what I did and what happened; here's what I feel like now. Here are the insights I have learned, and the blessings I receive, and here is what I still do on a daily basis to stay connected with the source of those blessings."? Is it possible to say things like that and to help people understand what otherwise seem like abstract doctrines? Or was your own experience such an instant miracle of transformation from outside that it's impossible for you to perceive, and therefore to convey, what led to the transformation, by what process the transformation occurred, and therefore what others might do to experience your same hope and joy?
I hope this doesn't look like a debate on doctrine or theory. Believe me, I have no interest in either. It's just that in the absence of concrete stories from the lives of real people, it's hard to understand what your program is, and it's hard to take hope from your words. I keep wishing for something less enigmatic, something down-to-earth for the Mans of the world to grab on to.
Or is that not possible, and must the truth stay abstract and mysterious and inaccessible?
Again, thanks for sharing. I know it's been a lot of work, and I'm sorry some of us are finding it so hard to follow.
Tim M.
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 08:01 pm |
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Those who don't know my story or why I would say what I do, may want to read or re-read My Testimony in the introduction.
To me, these truths are the concrete steps that led to my freedom. For I too spent years trying everything, including simply giving up and giving over. Nothing worked for me, nothing.
But something told me that what Jesus said was true: that ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So I began operating from this point of beginning. I told God and myself, that obviously I didn't know the truth, because I certainly wasn't free. What I'm sharing with you in these posts is what I learned as God showed it to me. And the application or steps was crying out to God on my knees, again and again. As I saw the depths of my disobedience and wickedness, which I really thought that I already knew and just blew it off, when I re-examined myself and asked God in all sincerity to see myself through His eyes - oh my! Such ugliness that I never imagined came to view. I thought I was disgusted, I thought I knew what my sin was - after all, I was familiar with every bit of it, or so I thought.
I'm telling the reader, and have told them before, that the Word slew me. It literally annihilated the sin in me. God graciously let me see the real hideous nature of what was in my heart and it just destroyed any possible thought of pleasure that my sin could bring. It became an abhorrent torment to me - something easy to refuse. Yes, this took time. But it was the receipt of truth that did the work - not a program or friends - but something between I and Christ.
Now don't get me wrong. I totally believe that we can help one another. If I didn't, I wouldn't post on this board as there is nothing for me to gain here other than answering my Saviour's call to "feed my sheep."
I had to be willing to spend my time with God and absolutely zero, zero, zero, zero, zero time with the things of the devil. Zero. I first had to be so utterly sick and terrified and brought low that the very thought of breaking God's heart and destroying my soul on purpose again was just as horrid as committing a viscious murder (the best comparison I can make). But you can't be a vacuum for long. I had to fill and fill and fill what was empty with prayer, and scripture, and good reading. No questionable input from any media source whatsoever. As I wrote in my testimony, my reprobate mind was slowly healed. It's been years since I was in that condition. Now, I actually have a love and desire for holiness and am thrilled at what this freedom means to me. It is as breathing a completely different air. Now to re-light those fires of lust seems a total absurdity. Temptations are not but fleeting nightmares - easy to push away because they are simply so ugly and terrifying. There is nothing tempting in them. I desparately needed the chastisement of God and finally was able to receive it. It was not pleasant, but it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness, just like the bible says.
I am giving you the path. I am telling you the truth. It is a narrow way and probably not very recognizable. But the Light of Jesus Christ is therein.
Wilderness Voice
P.S. I cannot say or judge what is needed of each soul. Only God knows. I am actually very tender by nature. But . . . . what kind of relationship that I thought I needed from God was not the case. I needed Jesus to come into this temple with a whip and scourge me. I needed a stern and disciplined Father not willing to put up with one single bit of my excuses, but to demand obedience from me or else. God will be this to us if we humble ourselves under His mighty hand. He will raise you up in due time. He was this way with David, the Apple of His Eye.
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TimM
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 10:33 pm |
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Thank you. To me, that sort of more personal story said in more relaxed words helps make your path seem more concrete and more accessible than the theological quotations can do. A lot of addicts start out by finding someone they can trust, and the more it's possible to see the person behind the words, the easier it is to imagine trusting that person. I, and I hope others, appreciate your trying to reach out more personally.
Do you mind another small question?
You're clear that the whole process for you was a vertical one - that relationship with Christ was the thing you were lacking and the thing you found. For me, there has also been a missing horizontal component of healthy and honest relationships with other people; and for me, learning to trust others and learning to trust God are happening together. I'm interested in whether your experience has been that at the end of your process of transformation, your relationships with other people are still the same as they always were, or if these relationships have also been transformed? I think I understand that you don't see relationships with other people as relevant to your way, but I wonder if they may have changed secondarily? Or is it the case that on a horizontal level your relations with other people have always been more or less the same?
Thanks in advance for any insight.
Tim M.
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guitarist63
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 10:55 pm |
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Tim, What you say about the horizontal (i.e.relation to others) and the vertical reminds me of what my pastor has preached not too long ago. He described how the cross is made of the horizontal and vertical. First, vertical, our relationship to God, and second, horizontal, our relationship with each other and that we can't have one without t'other.
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Thu Oct 25th, 2007 11:09 pm |
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Oh yes, my relationships are very different. If you could ask my wife, she would tell you, as she does those we know closely, that I am not the same person at all. Our relationship is radically different, we are so close now and the feeling, effects, sharing between us is just wonderful. With the sin gone from the midst of our marriage, it is as beautiful as could ever be imagined. It is as if God is right their with us and we share the most joy. We grow closer every day and our love grows for each other. Neither of us knew such a thing were possible.
I was always sort of outward and gregarious with people, but I encouraged so many to do very bad things. Drinking and partying and talking so filthy and lewd. I did not care as I should have for their souls. Now my love and prayers go to them. I never used to pray for other people (except in the most extreme circumstances), I was always too selfish. Now I actually set aside time every day to pray for others.
I like Guitarist's illustration of the cross and also believe that one cannot be without the other. The bible says this also that a person cannot hate his brother and say that he loves God. But God must be first and foremost, or we are not connected to the very source from whom all blessing flow. All true love comes from God and with such abundance, we have enough left over to give to others.
Wilderness Voice
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guitarist63
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Posted: Fri Oct 26th, 2007 07:09 pm |
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Well said, Wilderness. I rejoice with you that you are blessed with God in the centre of your marriage, drawing you together in perfect unity. It's good to hear about your prayers for others also.
Last edited on Sat Oct 27th, 2007 12:56 pm by guitarist63
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