As we end another year and anticipate a new, fresh year, my question to you is: Do you need to renew yourself? Do you need to find your way back home? Or back to the warmth of the fire?
After King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered, he needed a renewal. And he prayed to God: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12).
Even strengths can turn into weaknesses if we don’t submit our strengths to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Paul warned Christians: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). If we don’t submit even our strengths to the teachings of Christ, we wander and find it difficult to find our way back.
Sin usually doesn’t start with one big, major decision. It usually starts with a small, seemingly insignificant decision. James writes in James 1:13 that our spiritual death begins with lusting after things that God has not given us permission to have.
There are a lot of voices out there that are clamoring for our attention and if we’re not careful, we’ll allow other people to overwhelm the voice of Jesus speaking to us (see John 10:4). When agents for the Treasury Department study how to identify counterfeit bills, they do that by studying the characteristics of true, genuine bills. When you do that, you don’t have to know all the different forms of counterfeits; you simply have to recognize that they are not the genuine. When it comes to our spiritual health, there is lots of people out there on TV, the radio, internet, podcasts, who are not teaching the truth according to the Gospel of Christ. Satan is using them to deceive and mislead and if we don’t know the voice of Jesus, we can drift and be led astray.
You have to know the voice of Jesus, by listening to His word constantly, or you won’t recognize the voice of the thief.
I have read that in Bedouin culture, if the shepherd has a sheep that continues to stray and wander off from the flock, the shepherd will take that recalcitrant sheep, hold it firmly, and intentionally break one of its front legs. The shepherd will then splint the leg, wrap it, and return it to the flock, carrying the lamb on his shoulders. The shepherd will be tender and gentle with the lamb until the healing is complete. When the sheep is now able to support its own weight, a transformation has taken place. The sheep will then stay much closer to the shepherd who healed and nurtured the sheep.
God corrects us in our behavior and our thinking because He wants to protect us from the onslaughts of Satan (Heb. 12:11). If we have the idea that God’s sole job is to save us from the negative consequences of our choices, we are worshipping an idol. We might have been doing that all along, creating a God in our own image. But we need God’s correction if we want to enjoy God’s rewards!
Now, do you have plans and goals – a vision – in place to accomplish what is most important in life?
The apostle Peter had drifted far away from where he had intended to be. He had bragged that he would die with Jesus, but he would never deny Jesus. But then Satan lured Peter away from the other apostles – where there is strength in fellowship – and then Satan tempted Peter – and he gave in – to deny that he knew Jesus and asked God to curse him if he wasn’t telling the truth! Three times!
Jesus met Peter and looked into his eyes and Peter wept uncontrollably. Here in John 21, Jesus calls Peter back to renewal. The Shepherd has once again found a lost sheep and called him home. But Jesus also gave Peter work to do: Feed My sheep.
Jesus promised us that if we’ll embrace Him and trust His teachings and obey Him from the heart, the whole inheritance that is heaven will be ours. Jesus: Pure and Simple.
Paul Holland
