“I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it."
Matthew 5:17  

Is Forgetfulness a sin?

In Leviticus 4: 27-28 it says… (my paraphrase), “when one sins unintentionally, but later becomes aware of it, he is then guilty and must confess”.  If a person runs through a Stop sign, but didn't know it, he still has violated the law. But you might say, 'Aren't we living under grace and not the law?'   Yes !   It is Both/And. Why? 

Because Jesus came NOT to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. He became the sacrifice for our sins, but our sins are still sins. And, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". I John 1:9

In the last posting of Rivers Not Reservoirs I unintentionally forgot to add to the bottom of the post a short but simple sentence. That sentence I omitted was:

‘Thanks to Jay Link for his thoughts on this subject from his book 
Who’s in Charge Here.'

We know those blessed words that we long to hear from the Lord as we stand before Him,

“Well done…”  

Have you so focused on those two words that you may have never really pondered the two adjectives that describe the “slave” who will hear these words. The “well done” commendation goes to the “slave”   who is “good and faithful.” These are the words of the Master to the Master's slave. 

He doesn’t say, 

“Well done, efficient and productive slave.”  
 “Well done, doer of great deeds slave.”  
 “Well done, generous and sacrificial slave.”   

He uses two simple adjectives 

Good and Faithful. 

Are you like me, in that I forget that I am not the 'Master'? He is the Master, I am His slave. I do nothing but what the Master 'orders'.  I am only to be a good and faithful slave - of the Master's business, possessions, affairs and bidding.

He will say well done to me His slave because of what I am - Good and Faithful,  and not because of what I may have done. 

My being is just as important as my doing. And for those of us slaves who tend to be more focused on the doing than on the being, this revelation can be quite a sobering realization. Is my doing being 'ordered' by the Master? Or is my doing being done to 'please' the Master? 

I can think of nothing better than to someday hear, “Well done thou good and faithful slave”. To do so, I must be continually asking Him this one question, 

And as He reveals His plans for me and for all that He has put under my care and management, I need to obediently carry out those plans as faithfully and as well as I can. I need to be a Good and Faithful slave regardless of how much or how little I have been entrusted with or how much or how little I ultimately accomplish for Him.   

We often say that faith is a doing word. Faith is not just talking; faith should amount to action.  One of the hardest actions for many of us is that of waiting, especially waiting on the Lord.

A line from the devotional Streams in the Desert: says it well:  “Yet without trusting God, even great riches will leave us in poverty.”  What profound words; waiting on the Lord, trusting the Lord to steer our “car of life” to a better place when we take our hands off the wheel. 

The days of us acting like a bull in a china shop are over. We cannot do that, for the time we have left on earth is too limited. We have to sit quietly like the wise craftsman and figure out the best way to tackle the job at hand and then with clinical precision do it correctly the first time round.

The Lord says we need to wait upon Him. 1 Thessalonians 5: 24 says:  “Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it.” I like the way someone has stated it:  “If God orders it, He will pay for it”.

Waiting on the Lord, is NOT sitting still, with our mind in neutral, ‘waiting’ for a lightning bolt from heaven.  Waiting  on the Lord, IS actively meditating, praying, and reading His Word, listening for the voice of God.

For many of us today, rather waiting upon the Lord for a clear word from Him, we take action that we often regret later. Again, this is what the writer to the Thessalonians is saying: ‘There are NO quick fixes in the Kingdom of God. 

Lord today, I will wait on you. Then with confidence I will obey.

Over the years of growing up in the Church, I have often heard it prayed - "Lord, we want to know more about you". -- 'Lord, show us what to do' -- 'Lord I just want to obey you' -- and that list could go on.  A number of years ago, I heard someone say .... '

Most Christians in the United States are educated beyond their level of obedience'. 

Ouch ! I'm afraid they are right. We can even quote 1 Samuel  15:22 "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams", and yet still go right on walking past, or putting off what we know to do.

Why is it that we twenty-first century Christians have such a difficult time with obedience? We talk a good game. i believe we have good intentions. We make promises to change. But the difficulty continues. 

It seems that we believe that once a person is converted, that everything from that point will 'take care of itself'. But it doesn't does it? Our churches are full of extremely well 'educated' Christians - who know the Bible - who are 'involved' in every ministry program the church has to offer, but are still living on spiritual milk. I heard someone say, our 'cradles are full' of baby Christians.

For some reason, we have never really learned OBEDIENCE. Psychologists tell us that we learn best by doing.  So obedience is a DOING act not a KNOWING act. Could it be that we have never fully learned obedience because we have not learned it by DOING? 

I recently read a short article by David Watson – Missionary and Disciple-Maker in India and around the world for many years. The following paragraph caught my attention.

“People ask, “Why don’t we see church planting movements in the United States? It is because we read God’s Word, but are not obedient. We amass knowledge about God, but we don’t do anything with our knowledge. We say we read God’s Word inductively but we usually stop before we get to the hard part: obedience. Until we read God’s Word and obey it, we will not see church planting movements in the United States.

Obedience and sharing must happen within the next 24 to 48 hours. If too much time passes between reading God’s Word and obeying it, we disobey God and establish a habit of negligent disobedience in our lives.” 

So if we learn obedience by DOING, I guess I better start doing! But where do I start?  Let's do this: God 'shoots you thoughts' all day long.... "Call Jerry", "Send an email to Alice", "Stop by and say hi to Betty", "Go read  a passage of scripture", and so on. But how many of these do we 'obey'?  Will you join me, by DOING these IMMEDIATELY when God brings them to your mind? It will be the start of learning obedience. I will have more to say on this in future blog postings.  

For those who are already DOING, please help those of us who are still 'stuck'. You can walk with us, show us and 'teach' us . Help us each to be an obedient river.
I

God wanted to use Moses.  He chose to speak to him through a bush. So God picked out an old unassuming bush. It wasn't a beautiful Azalea bush, just an old bush. Having grown up in Southern California and Arizona, I imagine it was something like an old tumbleweed. And God used that bush by setting it on fire to deliver God's assignment to Moses. And you know the rest of the story. But have you ever thought of yourself as an 'old bush'?  God has someone He wants to reach today. He can do that anyway He chooses. However, I believe that He just may want to use you and me to be 'the bush' to someone. 

Aren't you thankful - that with God -
 "Any Old Bush Will Do' ! 
Lord, use me today.