Psalms 16:2 and 8:1; add 31:1-3
My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, thinking about something that has been much on my mind lately. It is something I have observed since I posted the devotion titled “Beset and Befuddled” at the end of July. I was drawn back to Hebrews 12:1-2:
Hebrews 12:1 ¶ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We are told to “lay aside” every weight and the sin that so easily besets us. I have observed that there is amazing power in the exercise of our authority when submitted to God: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Can it really be as easy as simply laying aside the besetting sin?
For the past week, I’ve found myself responding to something that would often trigger my “besetting sin” and responding with, “Lay it aside.” I’m amazed at how powerful that is. Repeatedly, that act of submission alone dispels whatever devils are trying to draw me (seduce me) into a flesh response to an irritation. I check my spirit, and say, “Lay it aside,” and the pattern is immediately broken.
Along the still waters, I reflected on how effective this is. Today, as I pondered on it, I realized that the Spirit’s instruction regarding putting off the “old man” and putting on the “new man” is very similar.
Have you ever thought about the language God uses when He is talking to us about how we are to behave? The Spirit says “lay aside” the sin that besets us. I’m walking along with a stick of dynamite in my hand; lay it aside. Just put it down.
Regarding acting in a manner befitting the new man created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Ephesians 1:10), and not with the “manners” of the flesh, He says, “put off … the old man” and “put on the new man” (Ephesians 4:22-24). What is this? Put off the old man and put on the new man like changing your coat? It’s that basic, that “easy”? Just stop and change your clothes.
What about the crucible of self-denial and taking up your cross to follow Him? It’s merely a matter of reckoning: “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:11). Have you ever reckoned something? To reckon is an act of calculation that resolves in support of a conclusion. Paul reasoned that if Christ died for all, then were all dead (2 Corinthians 5:14). Is it that “easy”?
Consider one more example. The Spirit beseeches us to present our bodies to His service as a living sacrifice, which, He explains, is our reasonable service, since Christ gave His body on the Cross for us.
Of course, I have quoted these Scriptures hundreds, maybe thousands of times as a preacher, teacher, and believer. How did I miss the obvious tenor of these words: lay aside, put on, put off, reckon? What if that’s what I do, literally, just lay aside the besetting sin, just put off the “old man” and put on the new, simply reckon myself dead to sin, and present this body to Him for service?
In the valley, kneeling in the shadow of His cross, I was impressed with His words: “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).
When I heard Him call: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23), I realized He was not asking me to do what He had not already done, and He is not asking me to do something intrinsically hard and heavy, but reasonable and “light.” We, none of us, have “resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Hebrews 12:4; Luke 22:44).
At the table, we discussed the fact that the only time we struggle is when there is some opposition in us to His will. Jesus’ own struggle in Gethsemane is unlike anything we have or will experience, but it’s true that the only time He struggled with doing the will of God is when He cried: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36; see Luke 22:42). I saw clearly what He was saying to me, and I confessed it is true, the only time laying aside, changing out the old man for the new, or reckoning does not scatter the devils and break the power of sin over me is when there is at the root of it a resistance against His will. There it is! “Not my will, but thine be done.”
Praying for revival! 🙏
Going live asap:
0 Comments