Which Came First? Unbelief or Rebellion?

ALL – Psalm 84:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 25:15
OT – Jeremiah 23:21-25:38
NT – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Interesting passage for the day: He will completely fool those who are on their way to hell because they have said “no” to the Truth; they have refused to believe it and love it, and let it save them, so God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts… – 2 Thess. 2:10-11, The Living Bible

Thought: We like to think we’re pretty decent people, not rebels-at-heart. God wants to bust that myth. So here’s an issue of myth-busters for us:

Myth: We disobey God because we don’t know any better and haven’t been given a chance to believe Him.

Truth: The reason we disobey God is not that we don’t believe God; the reason we don’t believe God is that we disobey God and rebel against Him.

At least, that’s what this passage teaches. A deceiver is coming who will fool a bunch of people. But what people will he fool? He will fool people who are “on their way to hell because they have said ‘no’ to the Truth.” They heard the Truth, but they rejected it. They “refused to believe it and love it.”

Do you see? The problem people have with the Truth is not that they can’t understand it. It’s not even that they can’t believe it. It’s that they don’t want it. They rebel against it. They refuse it and reject it and hate it.

The result of this willful rebellion against the Truth? “God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts.” Deception. Deception is made complete as God permits them to believe the lies they themselves have chosen to prefer over His Truth. The rebellion comes first, and then the unbelief.

Isn’t that how it was with Eve, when you really think about it? She HAD the truth. God had made it plain to her that she was free to eat from every tree except one. When the serpent questioned her on the limitations God had set up, she made it clear that she knew exactly which tree was off limits. And then the serpent lied to her. At that point she had a choice to make between obeying God’s instructions and following the serpent’s suggestion. How did she make her choice? “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it” (Gen. 3:6, NIV). She chose to go with her desires and the serpent’s lie rather than to trust God’s words. She had believed God up to that point, but then she rejected His words and rebelled against them. Before she could believe Satan’s deception, she had to willfully reject God’s Truth. Rebellion came first in her heart, then unbelief and outward disobedience.

Every human being on earth is the same. We have all rejected God’s Truth before falling into disbelief. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20, NIV).

What came first? The disbelief or the rebellion? The answer is clear: the rebellion. In my heart and yours. The gospel is God’s power for saving those who believe—who stop rebelling and instead bow humbly before His Truth. As a former rebel, I beg everyone out there to stop choosing to be fooled by deceivers and instead to submit to God’s Truth. Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins. You know the Truth. Why reject it?

Question: If you reject the Truth, I would be interested in knowing why you want to reject it. What is it that you want to have or to do that you think you would lose if you believed and submitted to God’s Word?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Promise-Motivated Life

ALL – Psalm 47:1-9
ALL – Proverbs 22:16
OT – Ecclesiastes 4:1-6:12
NT – 2 Cor. 6:14-7:7

Interesting passage for the day: And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For you are God’s temple, the home of the living God, and God has said of you, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” – 2 Corinthians 6:16, The Living Bible

Thought: We all know that we’re supposed to do good. But what makes us want to do good? We recognize that God’s commands are right. But what makes us want to obey them?

How about God’s promises?

Take the one above, where God says that He shall live in us and walk among us, that He shall be our God, that we will be His people. He’s fulfilling that promise already! He’s already sent His Holy Spirit to live in us. He’s already become our God; we’ve already become His people. What a great God is ours! And we have more to look forward to. When Jesus comes again, this promise gets fulfilled in even more wonderful ways!

Doesn’t that make you yearn to please God? Looking forward to being with Him as fully as possible takes the concept of obeying Him and turns it from a “have to” into a “get to,” from a drudgery into a desire. I want God to be my God. He’s promised to be my God. So I want to please Him. God is so good.

Question: Which of God’s promises are especially inspiring and motivating for you? Please share them with us.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

A Heart Like a Toilet – Clean on the Outside Only

ALL – Psalm 78:1-31
ALL – Proverbs 12:19-20
OT – Deuteronomy 29:1-30:20
NT – Luke 11:37-12:7

Boy meets girl, what happens next? Usually, they’re both going to try to make a good impression. What happens from there is anyone’s guess.

Prospective worker meets potential boss, what happens next? Usually, they’re both going to try to make a good impression. What happens from there is, again, up in the air.

Pastor meets congregant, what happens next?

Good impressions are not only part of the secular world. Believers like to make a good impression on people, too. Not only do we want to make a good impression—we want people to like us! I can’t think of anyone who would prefer to be despised rather than liked.

But what happens is that we begin to make an idol out of our reputations and our relationships. We want people to like and appreciate us so much that we will sin to get their approval, or else we’ll sin if we don’t get it. And often, the way that we sin to get people’s approval is that we stop being honest. All of us already have sin in our lives; those of us who need other people’s approval and appreciation add yet another sin—we hide the sin that’s already there rather than bringing it into the light, humbly and honestly confessing our sins and repenting of them before God.

A love of men’s approval and respect that rules over all other loves, including our love for God, is deadly. Jesus talked with the Pharisees about this issue in their lives:

Woe to you Pharisees! For how you love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the respectful greetings from everyone as you walk through the markets! Yes, awesome judgment is awaiting you. For you are like hidden graves in a field. Men go by you with no knowledge of the corruption they are passing. – Luke 11:43-44, The Living Bible

Are you pretending to be someone you’re not? Are you covering over your shame in order to deceive people? Don’t get me wrong—it’s not a good idea to give people detail after detail about our sins. But we must be honest about the fact that we are sinners, and even help people know what kinds of struggles we face and ask for their help and prayer. We must deny the temptation to create a false image of ourselves, to paint a picture that says we have everything under control. The only way to keep our hearts clean is to deliberately and honestly admit who we are, how we think, what we want, the things we do. The best way to lead others to know God is not to portray ourselves as people who never sin, but as people who have learned to confess our sins in humble honesty before God, finding the grace that He has already provided for us through Jesus Christ.

Are you honestly cleaning out the corruption in your heart by confessing your sins and having them washed away by the blood of Christ? Or are you harboring your sins, refusing to confess and repent of anything for fear of what people might think?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.