Monthly Archives: July 2012

More Integrity Less Stress

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Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity (Proverbs 11:3).

David prayed for integrity in Psalm 25. He understood that a person of integrity is not plagued by fears haunting him and giving him sleepless nights. Integrity becomes a guide to a person who is upright in heart. His conscience is clear in the sight of God and man, and he can rest securely. A clear conscience brings peace to our minds. Living a life of integrity decreases our levels of stress.

But, the person who lives by double-standards and deceives people, has ample reason to miss a good night’s rest. His restless heart will haunt him and his fear of being caught out will have him constantly looking over his shoulder. He may sometimes react rather drastically to a perceived threat that never was real. Many of his decisions may be irrational since they are based on the haunting fear of being found out and exposed as a dishonest and double-dealing person. There is no peace for the wicked.

The word translated as unfaithful is the Hebrew word bâgad which means to act or deal treacherously, faithlessly, deceitfully,  and to offend. People who live their lives in treacherous ways, not keeping their promises, deceiving others and offending them in order to achieve their selfish purposes will self-destruct. “The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.“
If we tell the truth we can rest easy, even if the truth appears not to be immediately beneficial to us. We can be assured that, since the truth always wins out, we will be the winners for sticking to the truth and live our lives with integrity. However, if we bow our knees to the father of lies (John 8:44) and find our refuge there,  we will be robbed of peace and with a lack of peace comes an increase in our levels of stress.

Although we develop stress for various reasons (physiological and psychological for example), we can at least get rid of the added stress that comes from a guilty conscience if we make up our minds to live in integrity. We may not be able to control everything that life throws at us, but we do have control over this: How we choose to live. Do we choose to live in integrity or do we choose to slither our way to the top through lies and deceit? Will we trust God to work out an issue for us, or will be take matters into our own hands and tell a few lies to get out of trouble? The decision is ours to make.

That being said, it makes so much more sense to live our lives with integrity,  for then we are free from the unnecessary stress that comes with deceit and lies. So, instead of taking our refuge in falsehoods and deceit, let us put our hope in God to protect and rescue us from those difficult situations in life.

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord,  is in you. (Psalm 25:21)

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God Creates with His Word and God Destroys with His Word

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English: The Bible

The Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In that day,
The LORD will punish with his sword— 
his fierce, great and powerful sword— 
Leviathan the gliding serpent, 
Leviathan the coiling serpent; 
he will slay the monster of the sea. (Isaiah 27:1) 

God’s sword is fierce, great and powerful. And just before we think, “Oh no. Another verse about violence,” let us just clarify what precisely is the sword of God.

” Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) 

” He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.” Revelation 19:13

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ” 2 Corinthians 3:17

The Bible says the Lord is the Spirit. And the sword of the Spirit, as we see above, is the Word of God. Then the Bible says Jesus is the Word who was God and through whom all things were created. And speaking of Jesus, the author of Revelation also calls Him the Word of God. The three are one, three times holy. They cannot be separated and work in unison.

So, when the Bible says that the Lord will punish with His sword, it is saying that God will punish with His Word. God creates with His Word and God destroys with His Word. And who is it that He will punish? Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent. No, this is not an act of animal cruelty. Let’s now look at Leviathan in more detail.

Literally, Leviathan means “twisted animal.” But Leviathan in this context refers to no animal. Rather it is used to describe the twisted characteristics of God’s enemy. The “coiling serpent” alludes to his craftiness. But crafty though he may be, He is powerless against the Word of God. When he tempted Jesus, he was defeated by the words, “It is written…it is also written…away from me Satan for it is written.” 

The best news of all is that God has set aside a day (“In that day…“) when the coiling serpent will be ultimately and finally defeated with the Word of God. When he tempted Jesus, it says that he left Jesus when he couldn’t conquer Him, and waited to return at a more opportune time. However, the day is soon coming when there will be no more opportunities for return. It will be over once and for all.

In the mean time, let us continue to follow in the footsteps of our Saviour and diligently study the word and treasure it in our hearts and stand against the onslaughts of this twisted animal who shamelessly twisted the Scriptures even when addressing the Son of God –the Word Himself. Imagine what he will accomplish with us if we are ignorant of the Scriptures! But if we put on the full armour of God, which includes taking up the Sword of the Spirit, we will stand though the enemy has fallen.

“How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15

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Jesus Puts our Focus on the Right Things

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Sea of Galilee near Tabgha

Sea of Galilee near Tabgha (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scripture Reference: Matthew 15:29-39

Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee where many people came to Him. They brought the sick and disabled to Him, putting them at His feet. He healed those brought to Him.

The people were in awe as they saw with their own eyes how the mute started speaking, the crippled limbs made well, the paralyzed walking and the blind people receiving their sight. They had enough insight to recognize these things as a gift from God and praised Him accordingly.

After 3 days of this, Jesus called His disciples closer and told them that He is concerned about the people who have been there with Him for 3 days. By this time they had no more food left to eat. He didn’t want to send them back as hungry as they were because He didn’t want them to collapse from hunger along the way.

The disciples didn’t know how they were going to solve this dilemma. They didn’t have nearly enough to feed all the people before they left. They were in a remote place and there were no shops nearby from where they could buy food.

Jesus shifted their focus from what they did not have (no shops, not enough food) to what they did have. “How many loaves do you have?” They only had 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. With that, He told the crowd to sit down. He gave thanks for what they did have. He broke the bread, gave them to the disciples who in turn served the people and everyone ate and was satisfied.

Amazing things can happen when we take our eyes off what we don’t have and focus on what we do have, thank God for it and share it with others in need. Not only were everyone satisfied, but there were seven basketfuls of leftovers. The number of people counted there were 4000 men excluding women and children.

It is natural for us to want to focus on what we don’t have. We look around us and see how far we fall short. But Jesus takes our eyes away from what we don’t have and puts our focus on the right things. Instead of looking around and measuring our shortcomings, He teaches us to look up for it is in God that we will find no limits –no limits in resources, no limits in strength and power and no limits to His great love and mercy.

“Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1b-2a NLT

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