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I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
[Revelation 3:18]
Imagine the following scenario:
You’re going to buy a ring for a close friend, rather it be a boy/girlfriend, your mother on Mother’s day; regardless of who it is, they’re very important to you. Very close to your heart. At the market there are two salesmen. The first one offers you a BEAUTIFUL looking ring, but after closer inspection, you suspect it’s the kind of ring that could have the gold rub off, and turn your finger green. But the price is GREAT! The second man offers you a completely GORGEOUS ring, 100% gold, but the price is seemingly outrageous. Which one do you buy?
Well, let me clue you in. The First salesman is Satan. His offer is a cheap one, it seems great at first, but it eventually leaves you wanting more. The Second salesman is Jesus Christ. His price may seem steep, but His is the greatest offer of all. What he gives is pure, inside and out, from start to finish; and it fulfills you always. Who’s Gold are you buying?
We are born into the flesh, we as Humans have a sinful nature. Satan’s offer will always look better. It will be easier, cheaper. You can do whatever you want, when you want. God’s offer seems steep. It requires a life of pure, Christ-like living. It requires us to meet a set of standards. And sometimes, we won’t like it. But we want to become more like Christ, we want his Gold.
Jesus Christ Himself counsels us to buy His Gold, tried by the fire. There is a key phrase here: “Tried by the fire.” When a ring is made, it has to be purified in the fire. Let me tell you, sometimes the fire gets hot. And sometimes it might sting, or burn a little. But these burns rid us of our impurities. II Timothy 3:12 says, ” Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” The Word of God never promised us an easy ride. I Peter 1:7 tells us that our faith will be tried by fire. ” That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ” We will be tried by the fire, and the fire will get Hot. But it’s the fire that burns out our impurities, and makes us more like Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Who’s Gold are you buying?
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. [James 4:17]
Ignorance: the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc. Doing something in ignorance is doing something without knowing what you are doing. Commonly I hear people try to switch out ignorant, and innocent. They’re not same, they have nothing to do with each other. You can commit a sin in ignorance, but you are not innocent. You are still guilty of the sin.
Stupid: lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull. If you are stupid; you’re foolish. Sin is never a smart thing. Sin is stupid. In Numbers 12:11, Aaron asks God not to hold the sin against them that they “foolishly” committed. “And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.”
Now, you may be wondering what I’m getting at. What I want to present to you is the difference between being ignorant, and stupid. These two words are often used interchangeably; but they do not mean the same thing. Sinning in ignorance is doing something you don’t know is wrong. Sinning in stupidity is knowing what you’re doing is wrong, and doing it any ways. A picture of this is found in the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve both sinned. But Eve was deceived by the serpent; she became ignorant. Adam knew full well what he was doing when he ate the fruit; he was stupid. I Timothy 4:12 says, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Adam was not deceived. He sinned in stupidity.
Now the question is, who do we want to be like? Adam, or Eve? No, that’s a trick question. Ignorance and Stupidity are both wide open gates to sin. So how do we avoid both of these problems? The answer is found in II Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
If we make the effort to sit down and spend some time with God, put aside our other task; if we truly make him our priority, and just study the word of God; we won’t be Ignorant or Stupid.
Recently, I’ve been exposed to Keith Green. I watched this live video; and it inspired this blog. So first off I wanna give credit to him. He was a great musician, and sure knew his stuff. I also highly suggest this song; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foUH4No_SVU.
I wanna go back to Egypt!
This is what the Israelites told God in the desert. They were slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt. Finally, God brought up a leader; Moses. God performed Miracles, signs and wonders. God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. He brought them out of their bondage. They were totally free. Eventually, they end up walking around the desert for 40 years. And after a series of events, they make the ultimate insult to God. “We had it better back in Egypt!”
We, as humans do this often. For example, someone who is out of touch with God may pray for a better prayer life. They begin to pray and intercede daily; in doing so they become closer to God. But Satan’s obviously not happy with this. The individual begins to face trials, and problems, bigger than before. They say, “God, this is too hard! I can’t handle this!” They say, “I wanna go back to Egypt! Life was easier there!” We take what God has blessed us with, and throw it back in his face.
Satan will never be happy with us pressing into God, or doing his will. Too often we, as new believers, come to the very false conclusion that life will get better once we have Christ’s salvation. Or life will get better once we’ve been set free. WRONG. I Timothy 4:10 reads: “For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.” If you’re addicted to drugs, you’re right in Satan’s plan. Or if you’re religious, you don’t scare Satan. It’s only once that you’ve been set free that you pose any threat to Satan. He’s scared of you then. He will do anything and everything he can to stop you. And when you say, “Life was easier when I was on drugs.” “Being religious was easier.” “Life got harder when I got closer to you God, I liked it better before.” You are insulting God in the ultimate way. Rather, look at it as being promoted. In a work place, things don’t get easier when you are promoted. You are handed the bigger tasks, bigger problems; but also the bigger payday. Life gets harder, but the reward is worth it. Be thankful for what you are given, and praise God always.
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;
[Matthew 9:37]
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
[Psalms 107:1]
When world’s are crashing; when our love is falling through
Redemption is waiting, he’s waiting there for you
When things seem broken; when dirty seems life’s air;
Redemption is waiting, he’s waiting right there
Nothing is too strong for love, for no one knows it’s limits
It cannot be broken, twisted, or devastated
For true love’s strength was proven that day
When nails were driven through one man’s hands
When Love became mortal, redemption was made true
Becuase Redemption is waiting right there
For me, and for you
It seems too many times a careless word can break someone’s heart. Something you do, that you think nothing of, can tear someone to pieces. They we live our lives, the way we speak our words and think our thoughts, it should all be done in the likeness of Christ. He is the one true role model, the perfect example of a friend. His words spoke truth, but were kind. They were strong, but not harsh. The tonque is a weapon, more powerful than any gun or sword out there. Our words are like bullets, darts if you will, and too many times our hurtful words make a bulls-eye to the center of our hearts. People will be people. Heart ache will be heartache, and hurt shall be hurt. But to be responsible for that heartache, that deep hurt, the feeling is unexplainable. Guilt is a deep wound to the soul, caused by our own selves.
Be careful little eyes what you see.
Be careful little ears what you hear.
Be careful little mouths what you speak.
Sometimes I look at my life, and seem to see the glass half empty. But if life’s the glass, then what’s the liquid that fills it? What are we putting into our lives? In my personal expericence I’ve come to realized I don’t always put what’s best. God has so much for me, and everyone else. He’s got the lock and key; all he asks us to do is turn it! But we want to see the lock as old and rusty, and we can choose to ignore it. But sometimes it takes a big event in our life, a little perspective, really, to see what all we really have. We are truly blessed, we have friends, family, people who really care; and so many other things. In this past week I experienced a power outage, for just couple of days and became extremely frustrated. But then I was reminded of how millions of people never have electricity, many don’t even have food, or clean water, at that! But God has blessed me with these things, he’s blessed me with wonderful friend’s, and family, knowledge, a personal relationship with him, and so much more! He’s moving in the lives of my friends, I can see it! And nothing comes to my blame. The blame for everything in my life falls on Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
Thank God for wake up calls.
People who tell you this don’t really believe it. Because this in it self is a belief, and by telling someone that, you are “pushing” your “belief” on them.
It’s basically the same thing with “Open mindedness.” For example: An “Open minded” person might tell someone who’s condemning homosexuals to be more open minded. But these “Open Minded” people close there mind to ever thinking Homosexuality could be wrong. There fore they’re not truly open minded.
Then there’s people who tell you that everyone has there own idea of “right and wrong.” Well obviously people will have different views of right and wrong. So this causes conflict. A lack of un-arguable rules creates problems. The real rule book is the Bible. But over the years people have started to reject it. It’s in plenty of houses, but in most it only collects dust.
So anyways, my main point was just about “open mindedness.” So I suppose I’m done. Just something to think about.
