Our sincere Love and Devotion toward God,
can be measured by the Greatness of the many Sins that He has forgiven us from!
Today’s blog was inspired by my study of Psalms 116:1-18
No Greater Love
There is no greater love a human being can demonstrate throughout their lives than the love which flows from our hearts to that of a loving God. Our devotion toward God in love is grounded in the spiritual reality that it was He who first loved us.
The measure in which we love God in faithful obedience is oftentimes in direct correlation with the mensuration of heavenly grace of God on our account. The freeing liberation of His applied grace and mercy throughout our relationship with Him is far too wonderful for my limited vocabulary. This is equally true also of the many promises and blessings that God alone has for His People.
One of the greatest tragedies facing our culture today is moral apathy and the lack of consistent Christlike behavior from those who are redeemed of the Lord and the institutional church. This lack of spiritual discipline is manifested in our individual lives and our public lives.
For clarity, I am not suggesting that it is only the redeemed of God and the institutional church has the cornerstone on practicing morally yet at least in America, there is not too much difference in the attitudes, worldview, and behaviors of our citizens in the church and culture.
The most popular and rich image of the church is that of the body of Christ. The Church is meant to be the visible sign of what is now otherwise unseen: the risen body of Jesus of Nazareth.
And perhaps no scene in Scripture represents the confounding character of this church’s constitution better than that recorded in latter verses of the Gospel of Luke (23:33–43).
Here we learn that Jesus was hung upon the cross not alone but with two criminals flanking him: one on his right, the other on his left. Reviled and exhausted, Jesus spent the last moments of His life between two justly condemned criminals, indistinguishable and interchangeable, at least until the 39th verse.
For then the two are differentiated, as one rebukes and turns away from the so-called Messiah, while the other beseeches and turns toward Him as Lord and Savior of his soul. In the middle of these two fundamental orientations hangs the body of Christ. [Gleaned from “Communion of Saints and Sinners: Loving an Imperfect Church, americamagazine.org]
The most important point of this setting is oftentimes overlooked at least in the writers of the Synoptic Gospels. Both the sinners on Jesus’ side were nameless because each human being who has lived since Jesus’ first appearance, is like these two sinners, nailed on the same cross. They were nameless because they represent you and me!
You and I each day of our earthly existence have two choices of our free wills, either we can criticize, or hate Messiah and turn away to perish, or we can invite Him into our day-by-day experience for Christ to live in us!
The second important point about this scene is whenever we are in the presence of the Lord our greatest need of all humanity can be actualized in that our hearts can become renovated and spiritually transformed.
For within each of us lies a dormant spiritual place that before encountering Christ, all of our choices, perspectives, and actions were formed by us not knowing, denying, or hating God.
Seneca the Younger, (4 BC-AD 65) wrote these words,
” The First and Greatest punishment of a sinner is the conscience of sin.” Why is this important?
The oblivious response is all about spiritual regeneration, membership into the Kingdom of God, soul salvation now, and the eternal life to come.
However, just like the two sinners on the cross with the Messiah, an unknown author of the featured Psalms 116, will in the second portion of this blog, provide each of us some needed spiritual encouragement about praising God for our own deliverance in this life from various forms of bondage that we too face today.
The ideal setting is that a living soul that has a conscience of sin will effectively have the Godly identity to act in a humane, ethical, reasonable, and moral way is based on a civilized society where civilians know the difference between right and wrong. This is not the case today.
Those of us who are changed by our intimate encounters with The Lord innately know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. To maintain this kind of society, it is imperative that the actions of citizens of any country, be judged against a scale of right and wrong concerning humane, ethical, reasonable, and moral behavior.
Both above comments seem to be “Otherworldly” based upon what we all have experienced recently. Besides, researchers all agree that America is not a Christian nation but a secular nation.
A Status of Subjugation
Psalms 116 is a very fascinating portion of Holy Scripture where this unnamed writer communicates about their personal deliverance from thralldom as one living-soul who was able to call upon God despite his painful situation.
The noun thralldom by definition is a state of subjugation to an owner or master; bondage, enslavement, helotry, serfdom, servileness, slavery.
Our moral apathy or moral blackout culturally is because of the willful determination of many believers to permit sin [the very source of our moral imperfection] to deny them spiritual liberation toward behaving Godly in our godless society while modeling the same love of God in the earth as Jesus extended to the two thieves on the cross.
Any human being must be willing to be made aware of their own ruin and lostness before they can find how to enter into the different pathway of Christlikeness.
Without authentic fear of God, we will never spiritually encounter experientially what Christ offers each follower in the present age, knowledge of the Father as the only true God, and Christ who was sent from above. Only then can any of us begin our journey in what is defined as eternal life. John 17:3 [Gleaned and paraphrased from Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Williard]
“Wherever there are sinner, the weak, the sorrowful, the poor in the world, there is where you can find God!” Luke 4:18-21
Some of my personal interpretations and practical applications of Psalm 116:2-18
Any living soul who at this writing is so sick, weaken by any or all forms of enslavement is strongly encouraged to cry out loud to God. Who but one’s Creator has the willful ability to bow down His ear to His children’s mouth, hearing and receiving ever word of one’s prayer.
Life’s many cables or cords of death, and fetters associated with our captivity is an experience of the pains of the grave as though while living, one feels condemned as closed up in a tomb. Then is the most wonderful time to call upon the Name of the Lord for your soul’s deliverance.
God tends to and preserves the meek and lowly of heart. Those who are childlike in spirit will have peculiar protection and consideration from God. In times of distress and subjugation, seeking God is essential in our need for rest for our soul. Without the peace and rest of God, everything which is separated from God is without love, happiness, while living this life unprotected.
God will deliver souls from death, rescuing life from destruction on this earth to which each living soul is exposed. It is God who transforms tears of sorrow into joy.
Our Creator will take His Children’s feet out of the land of snares and pitfalls, delivering faithful followers into a plain and straight path in the land of the living.
Even during horrible seasons of affliction and distress, we are to believe God’s promises to be true; nevertheless, our human weakness oftentimes causes great struggles in our faith and confidence when oppressive times are long-standing.
In one’s weakness, when passion trumps reason and faith, I began to look at men and the things of this life, never obtaining my relief nor faithfulness. None is there but my dependence on God.
The Psalm closes with a Thanksgiving for Deliverance in a form of a question.
What can I offer the Lord for all He has done for me?
- To accept God’s blessings joyfully.
- Continue to call upon the mighty name of God at all times.
- Any vows made to the Lord should be demonstrated publicly while continually practicing random acts of service or kindness, and sacrifices of thanksgiving to others.
Grace and Peace
Brother Alonzo