Hold Fast In Confusion

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Confusion has saturated our culture, and biblical compromise is at the root of it.

I hear it in media reports, and in the disjointed lyrics and chaotic rhythms of modern “music.”

I see it in educational materials, and in political and social agendas that make no sense.

I smell death and decay as people are subject to a medical industry that cares more about money than people.

I taste it in the processed fake food being falsely marketed as both “healthy” and “nutritious.”

I feel it as I engage with people whose twisted psychology has caused great harm to themselves and others.

If this confusion sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The God who created us, with our five senses to aid in bearing His image, is hated by the “author of confusion.” It has always been Satan’s goal to destroy everything God established and called “good.” His modus operandi hasn't changed since the garden, but his destiny will.

TODAY’S CONSENSUS

Every couple of years Ligonier Ministries conducts a survey; in it, they ask Americans what they think about Jesus Christ, the Bible, truth, and ethics. Their 2020, pre-Covid19 findings are telling, but what I find most interesting is the trends that have emerged since they began compiling their data in 2014. (https://thestateoftheology.com)

“The most consistent and concerning trend is the increasing rejection of the literal truth of Scripture among the U.S. population.” (48%)

“Evangelicals, while exhibiting some hopeful movement in the direction of biblical fidelity, also seem to be influenced by the culture’s uncertainty about what truth is, who Jesus is, and how sinners are saved. These results reveal an urgent need for clear biblical teaching on the person of Christ, the gospel of grace, and the way that the truth of God informs our ethical decisions in everyday life. There is much work to be done in this age of confusion…”

Notice the correlation between our cultural confusion and the growing denial that God’s word is the standard for everything “good.”

HOLD FAST

A standard is a form of measurement. It’s “a repeatable, harmonised, agreed and documented way of doing something.” (IRENA)

When any culture compromises their standards, things become subjective… “I’ll do what seems right to me, and you do the same.” Without a standard to validate “good,” there is no objective measurement. How confusing is that?

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he encourages him to hold fast to the standard of God’s word amidst the obstacles he faces in a world where the persecution of Christians continues to escalate.

“Hold fast the pattern of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” (2Tim.1:13-14)

The only way for Timothy (and us) to “hold fast” to the “pattern” (aka, standard), is with the help of the Holy Spirit. His indwelling presence acts as a Conservator of God’s word, both protecting and proclaiming its integrity. Through Him we are enabled to endure as we live out our faith - no matter what our condition.

In holding fast to God’s standard, I can use my five senses to glorify Him as an image-bearer. I can make sense of a crazy and confused culture by pointing others to the God who is sovereign over all (even this mess), and who promises that His kingdom to come will be void of all confusion because He has conquered its author.

GloryUsGate.blogspot.com

The Prison of Freedom

(by Lorie Codispoti)

A prison is a place of involuntary confinement.

I’ve often referred to the lift chair I sit in all day as a prison. It’s where I’ve spent the majority of my waking hours for the past two and a half years. Throughout the course of my sentence, I’ve tried everything within my power to escape, as well as exhausting every appeal process you can imagine. I’ve ridden the roller coaster of emotions and have prayers to match every unending series of twists and turns.

It's a love/hate relationship. There are days I’m grateful and days I curse the confinement. But, even on the worst days I end with a grateful heart for the God who is teaching me that the bars that confine me have been assigned the task of revealing true freedom.

EVERYONE IS A PRISONER

As much as we’d like to convince ourselves that we are free agents, with the ability to escape the limitations we don’t like, we aren’t.

Think about it. We don’t get to choose our birth day, gender, or age of death. Each of us lives in a temporary body (subject to all manner of pain and suffering), on a dying planet. We are bound by certain things we have no control over. Two examples: 1) I enjoy a good time travel movie, but the reality is that I can’t harness time. I have no power to stop, reverse, or push fast-forward on the universal clock. 2) I might have fanciful dreams of flying or breathing underwater, but I’m neither a bird or a mermaid, and it would be suicidal for me to test the laws of nature. We are not free agents with the power to will away our boundaries.

Adam’s sin exiled us from the freedom of God’s created confinement and His holy presence. On this side of Eden, we are all prisoners serving out a sentence of death.

But, that’s not the end of the story!

God became a man who willingly entered our exile. He incarcerated Himself in order to “set the captives free” (Luke 4:18). His finished work unlocked the prison doors and provided a way for us to re-enter into God’s presence.

YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME

When you are imprisoned by an inescapable circumstance, it can feel incredibly hopeless. Of all the biblical and post-biblical accounts I’ve read, the thing that determines whether a prisoner suffers with or without hope is completely dependent on who’s in charge. In this world we all serve time in circumstances we didn’t sign up for (financial, relational, health, persecution, etc.). We may not get to choose our prison, but we have the option of choosing between a warden who aims to destroy us and the One who uses our suffering to strengthen our hope and build our faith.

Did you hear that? If you feel hopelessly bound by your circumstance, YOU, Christian, have the power to change who’s in charge. You get to tell the devil, “You’re not the boss of me!”

HOPE RESTORES

In his great affliction, Job said, “My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me.” (Job 17:1) In his despair he asks, “Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?” (Job17:15)

I’m not sure you can be any more hopeless and broken than Job was. However, something happened in the prison of his suffering that changed everything. By the end of his story Job testifies, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.” (42:5) (FYI, this was before God healed and restored him.)

What was it? What broke into the prison of his pain and changed everything?

Hope!

“Hope is a revolution, a powerful Presence that breaks in from the future and transforms today. Jesus’ arrival has brought God’s destiny for humanity crashing into now—an explosion of life into a world marked by death. It changes everything.” (InTouchMinistries)

PRISONER OF HOPE

Zechariah was a Babylonian captive who returned to Jerusalem when the exiles were released. God’s people had started rebuilding the temple, but for over 12 years they were on a self-imposed hiatus, leaving the temple in a half finished state. They needed to be motivated to get off their buns and get back to work. God commissioned Zechariah to encourage them. He reminded them of the importance of finishing the temple - the Messiah is coming and will inhabit and reign in this temple - and they needed to be prepared to receive Him. It was imperative that they heed his instructions, as their future blessing depended on their present obedience.

“Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope….” (Zech.9:12)

To be a “prisoner of hope” means the same thing for us as it did in Zechariah’s day.

The return of Christ is imminent. No matter how difficult our situation is, now is not the time to retreat and cower in the corner of our cell. It’s not the time to justify a self-imposed hiatus. Our greatest need during our most intense times of suffering, is to RETURN to the fortified place of Hope. Christ is our fortress of hope. It’s in Him, not outside of Him, that we “live and move and have our being.”

Do you want to survive? If so, “return.” Daily!

HOLD ON

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.” (Heb.10:23)

I have the ability to “hold” on to Christ... to “return to the stronghold” in my daily affliction... not because I have a strong grip. (I can't even hold a cup without using both hands.) I can "hold" onto Him because Christ is holding on to me. And, because His “righteous right hand”(Isa.41:10) is very strong, I have no need to fear. I am safe and secure in the fortress of His presence.

I continue to lament the physical freedom I’ve lost as I serve time in this chair. There are days when it feels as if the bars are closing in on me, like a python slowly asphyxiating its prey. But, then I hear the Voice of Hope, calling me to return to the fortification of Christ. He reminds me that this is the place where His temple is being built. And if I surrender to His loving Oversight, He will crush the head of the snake, and the bars of confinement will give way to the greatest freedom I’ve ever known.

Rejoice

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Scripture reveals the way for us to rejoice, regardless of our circumstance.

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” (Psalm 16:8-9)

The way to rejoice under any circumstance? “I have set the Lord always before me.”

The psalmist isn’t communicating a desire or a request. This is an absolute declaration, coming from a nonnegotiable position. “I have” (past tense) “set the Lord always” (not sometimes) “before me” (not beside or behind me). And because Christ is holding my “right hand,” and guiding me, “I will not be moved.” Do you hear the resolve in this proclamation?

The Hebrew word for “rejoice” in this passage means, “to spin round,” and carries with it the idea of making an abrupt, forceful turn - as if going against what you feel emotionally in favor of what you know to be true. This isn’t a sweet ballerina twirl while you’re doing a happy dance in your living room. This is a willful, militant, about-face in the middle of a dark and bloody battle, when everything in you wants to do anything but “rejoice.”

Our English word for “rejoice” means, "To make joyful; to gladden; to animate with lively pleasurable sensations; to exhilarate." (Webster's 1828 Dictionary) And, the Latin prefix, "re," means “to go back.”

I am not a person who is easily angered, but we all have our triggers and I would be a fool to think that I am slow to anger if the right buttons are pushed. The fact that there have been times when I was caught off-guard, and reacted to anger in the wrong way, is enough of a reminder for me, that without “setting the Lord always before me” I will default to the kind of ungodly behavior that requires a supernatural intervention.

Because Jesus is the source of every believer’s joy, we have been given the opportunity to reset our hearts - to “spin around” and “go back” to the Source of our joy when we fall into a hard place.

Both the Hebrew and English words for “rejoice” point to the same thing… We must “set the Lord before us” and purpose to rejoice in every circumstance. It may mean spinning our hearts around and going back to remind ourselves of the truth of God's word, but it will always result in us testifying … “my heart is glad, my glory rejoices, and my flesh rests in hope.” (Vs.9)