Get Alone

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not” (Isaiah 53:3).

There is a lot out there that can bring sorrow to your heart and life. Sorrow can numb you and cause you to shut down from God and others. We can routinely go through the pain and yet become hardened at the same time. Not realizing that we can limit the Holy One of God in our daily lives, we live withdrawn and tired. We dream about places we love, we long for something to fill, and for people to understand, and we become forlorn and miserable on the inside and it shows.

Some people are lonely and it’s their own fault. They can live so self-centeredly and become so wrapped up in their own little lives and live as if the world should revolve around them. When we are wrapped about our lives we become a small, tight package that is about us and others are not in the picture except for our criticism.

The lonely wants friends but usually only has a few, if any. The selfish and lonely person can make a demigod out of himself and not even realize it. He desires a circle of admirers who will compliment and admire him but usually finds he is not surrounded by any. How sad and how lonely we become when it is about us and really no one else. We judge others by our hurt (imagined or real), and we aren’t aware of the real problem.

There is no life so empty as the self-centered life. There is no life so centered as the self-emptied life. The Lord Jesus made Himself of no reputation. He was despised, rejected, and ridiculed. The only reason we can love others is that first God loved us. When we realize His grace for us and we accept His acceptance of us then we are free to love others and then fellowship happens freely. The life of the believer is free to love unconditionally. What freedom!

Why do we try to impress others with our gifts that God has given to each of His born-again children? Why do we work so hard for a little slap on the back by someone who notices? Why are we so dissatisfied with life and with others? Could it be that we are not dependent upon the grace of God?

Our Savior was faced with misunderstandings, false accusations of His character, insults on His person, chicanery against Him, threats, trumped up charges, torture, abuse, and finally a horrendous death and yet in His loneliness He never became selfish. No one has ever been as lonely as the Lord Jesus. He was cut off from Heaven and earth and yet He still was not selfish. He continued to reach out to the thief upon the cross and to those who heard Him as He suffered. And He is reaching out to you and me today.

You and I need someone to love, someone who understands, and the need to be needed and wanted. Jesus is the One who fulfills these three needs. You say, “I need someone who is real.” That’s part of our problem. He is real. He lives in you, He walks with you, He goes with you, He is our living hope!

You may have seasons of loneliness, but that feeling does not have to master you. Because Jesus is with you, you never need to be really lonely. Recognize your problem and go to Jesus and confess your need of Him so you can love others in Jesus.

Father in Heaven I pray for each of us. We allow too much to knock us around and to keep us down. Forgive us for knowing the stories of the Bible and even teaching them to others while we ourselves forget that You love us, need us, and understands each of us. Forgive us for not allowing You to capture us so that we may capture others in this same out-flowing of Your love through us. Oh what love you give. Can’t wait for Your name to be glorified so that we may see revival. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“God–His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30).

Are we as Good as the Book?

God’s Word shields a believer with truth. To find refuge from a world of lies is of utmost importance to the believer. His Book has been proven and it is found perfect and true. When we know God’s Book we know the way home.

Who proved it? Jesus did. The Lord Jesus walked in the midst of hostility, confusion, and lethargy. But He found the written Word pure and a refuge from the sweltering heat of a world gone mad. He used it against Satan. He walked with the Book. All Jesus did brought the Book of God out in the open. He stood strong against Pilate. He went to the cross triumphantly and rose out of the dead triumphantly, proving the Book of God is Good!

When we follow the Lord Jesus we follow Him by this Book given by and from God. The Father above us, the Son beside us, and the Spirit impressing with the Book in us will guide us home. God’s Word is our arsenal against the lies of Satan. We are shielded from the attacks of untruth and led through the maze of confusion with confidence by using the time-tested Word of God.

“Woe be unto the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! Saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:1).

You remember the story of Little Red Robin Hood? She was speaking to the wolf who tried to disguise himself with her grandmother’s cap. Red Robin Hood kept mentioning body parts of the wolf until finally she said, “What big teeth you have.” Of course the reply came back from the wolf, “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

There are a lot of shepherds out there who rather eat the sheep instead of feed and teach the sheep. The True Shepherd will come one day and sue for malpractice. God’s people are to be teachers and learners at the same time. Many are hirelings who flee at the intrusion of anything. The wolves in disguise cover themselves in religious overtures but reveal themselves for what they are in the day of trouble.

May we remember that God will set up in His kingdom teachers who will lead and not drive, visit and not be self-serving, and learners instead of just talkers. One of the reasons for the mess that many local churches are in is because of many who talk Bible but who do not incarnate the Word of God.

True Shepherds will feed the sheep so that they will not fear, nor be dismayed, neither lacking in their lives. Yes, Red Robin Hood saw correctly, but she was slow to see before it was too late.

“For we do not walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh” (I Corinthians 10:3).

We have secret weapons that the world knows nothing about. God has given us truth, faith, prayer, love, and service that invites our ever-present God to be with us.

Do you long for peace? Look into God’s Word and find Him. Do you long for victory? God has given us Himself. The Word of God will give you Christ.

Let us not go around stressed when we have the answer before us. He will never fail nor be unfaithful to His character. Look to Him and abide in His Word and He will give and give and give.

“He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).

What is sin? Sin is universal and it represents the margin of difference between all that God is and what we are on our own.

Sin is anything that falls short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), so that God will evaluate sin as any behavior that falls short of what He does, what He says, and what He is.

Sin is exposed simply by relating our behavior to God’s behavior. God is perfect, and by that perfection we can recognize what sin is, because sin is anything which falls short of His perfection.

God Himself is therefore the only standard by which sin is recognizable.

Sin is also defined as faithless independence: “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). It is an attitude of “lawlessness” according to I John 3:4.

He Who is in us is holy. When we step out of dependence in Him into independence in us, the measure of our repentance will be the measure of our dependence in Him. Every area of our life which we have not learned to be truly dependent on God is an area of our life in which we have not yet truly repented.

Christ died for us, who is risen and alive, who indwells every believer, so that we may no longer be egocentric, self-oriented, living only for our own interests.

Never be sorry for your self. Just be sorry for your sin!