Deadly Secrets

Ever had the past thrown up in your face? Just when you think you past is over and forgotten, some secret comes screaming back at you  - that secret is no longer secret!

A lot of Christians can relate horror stories about past sins that have "caught up" with them.

In my past blogs (The Hauntings & Blood Stained Pages) I have attempted to answer the question of past sins and how we as Christians can have those feelings of guilt and self-condemnation forgiven AND forgotten.

All sin is a stark reality we must all deal with sooner or later in our lives - not one of us escapes! - We all have rebelled against God and His standards. Only through Jesus' death can we be forgiven.

In Jesus, even the most heinous of sins can be blotted out by His Sacrifice  - if you turn to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 there are heaps of sins mentioned there that are totally covered by His death on Calvary.

Salvation is by grace and grace forgives.

But what about those 'secret sins'? - What secret sins? I hear you ask.

Our 'secret sins' can be our jealousy, slander, innocent enough sounding gossip, conceit, pride, greed, money worshiping, drunkenness, fraud, stealing, idolatry, bad motives, lust, pornography, adultery and the list goes on and on - some seemingly quite innocent and happen day to day before we even notice.

Even our very thoughts can lead us to sin - so we are seemingly trapped in this never ending and ever widening cycle of our 'deadly secrets'.

Satan is king of strategies! - He is a master of using our secret sins, those no-one knows about, he whispers in our ears to keep them in hiding, maybe justifying them or blaming others so that God will shift that blame somehow onto them and see you as the innocent party. Either way our 'secrets' can remain just that - secrets - our own little realm - out of sight but not really out of mind.

However, on saying that, it is possible through the work of God's Spirit inside of us that we can take up the 'armor of God' He has provided and ready ourselves for battle. Or, on the other hand, we can give in to whatever our particular 'secret sin' is that plagues our lives.

The battle can often be overwhelming and we can be defeated but due to our amazing forgiving Lord we need not be demoralised.

When we sin God's Holy Spirit convicts us  and helps us recognise what we have done and encourages us to ask for forgiveness.

May I add here, that God in His infinite mercy wants desperately to have a relationship with us - He is not a Pharisee, always picking fault, and throwing past sins in our faces. His mercy and forgiveness is boundless and free.

So, when confronted by your 'secret sins' admit to them, fess up, name them out loud if you have to and ask God's forgiveness and His help in nailing them to Jesus cross. I heard someone say once that "it is not the sound of a gavel pounding out justice to our guilt but the sound of a hammer hammering our sins to the cross of Christ."

Once those sins are hammered there, no-one can ever pry them off.

So right in the early stages, admit your 'secret sins' and walk away, then we don't have to worry about them coming back to haunt us.

"Closer than a Brother" or "Sibling Rivalry?"

Proverbs 18:24 refers to a "Friend who sticks closer than a brother".

Brothers!!! WOW! Wouldn't it be great if all brothers would stick together like the Proverbs verse!

The writer here seems to assume that all brothers (and I guess I can throw in here siblings) are naturally close and it would have to be a one-in-a-million type of friend who would or could be ever closer.

Reading the account of Joseph in the old testament I re-read the incident of when the brothers had again come to Egypt to beg/buy food off the "Governor", little realising that the "Governor" in question was their very own brother Joseph whom they had sold into slavery.

Joseph had narrowly missed out on being murdered by his siblings and was only rescued at the last minute by the opportune arrival of merchants/slave traders on their way to Egypt.

Anyway back to story:-  Here is Judah, one of the elder brothers so willing to expedite his murderous plan to annihilate Joseph years before, jumping to the rescue of Benjamin, the kid brother, who was accused of stealing and faced certain death.

Throwing himself on the mercy of the Governor (Joseph) and begging to save Benjamin's life and trading it for his own.

WHOA! what a turn around - Obviously Judah had learnt a HUGE lesson that brothers are indeed family and as such worthy to be loved and respected.

In the case of Judah and Benjamin, the Bible's idea of a brother is someone who refuses to walk away, even when everyone else has split!

So how are you shaping up? How does your relationship with your siblings stack up to the Biblical ideal? How close do you stick to your brothers and sisters?

Can they get comfort from you when things go pear-shaped? Can they count on you to confront them when you see warning signs in their lives?

Would you go into bat for your siblings like Judah did for Benjamin?

Heaps of questions that made me think! Sibling love and respect is a fine and a beautiful thing but what about when brothers fall out?

I can hear you saying what if my brother/sister won't forgive? What if you have tried to reconcile on several occasions and he/she has refused all of your attempts?

Forgiveness is not an "if we like, airy fairy , luvvie duvvy" feeling we get that will make things all cosy and rosy again in the family. TRUE forgiveness comes from the heart and the very soul of a person and prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Forgiveness is mandatory, compulsory and obligatory if we want to have any sort of relationship with God - and forgiveness is not just lip service either. Forgiveness needs to come from a heart changed by God and a life lived and ruled by the Holy Spirit.

What if you just can't reconcile the situation and he/she won't have anything to do with you? What if you are a Christian, will the non-reconciliation of a brother or sister spoil your relationship with God? Could that possibly happen even if you have been faithful and true to the Lord?

Romans 12:18 says we are to do everything possible to live at peace with one another, as far as it depends on us. But we are not responsible for the actions of anyone else including our siblings and parents.  Their behaviour as far as their refusal to forgive cannot penalise our future with God.

Matthew 18 also talks about this subject.

We do however need to show our sibling through our behaviour, the same love and understanding that Jesus showed. We need to reflect his humility and goodness whenever we have dealings with them and always be ready to show love and forgiveness at all times.  We should never seek revenge, and always think of them as more important than our feelings of hurt.

Praying always that our siblings will come to a point in their lives where, maybe through your witness of a life changed by God, that they will be able to forgive and reconcile.

Ordinary or Extraordinary?

Think God can't use a person like you? Think again!

You may be thinking "I can never be of any use to God - I'm too old - what use has my life been" - or you may be thinking "I am just a brand new Christian - way not enough experience to be used by God"  - well I really want you to re-think your position and how God can use you.

BE EXTRAORDINARY NOT ORDINARY

I was astounded just recently when someone shared with me how I had been used by God without even knowing it!

We hadn't seen other for years nor had we communicated in any way but as soon we saw each other his first words were "I will never forget how God used you to help my ministry" - I was dumbfounded.

It all happened way way back when I was in Human Resources for a pretty big company and we were in the process of updating our computer system.  Transferring our computers from one brand to another was taking it's time and costing heaps of money no doubt.

The offer was given that the redundant computers were to be offered to charities or church affiliated bodies - so I had a quick ring around.

The first person I called was this friend who at that time was a young minister just starting out in his first church. I thought in my innocence that maybe, just maybe he could use a computer for his ministry.

Unbeknown to me, he and his Bible study group had just been praying for a computer and no sooner had they finished the prayer when my phone call arrived - I had no idea! - He was so amazed he didn't tell me until just the other day when we happened to meet after many years.

That is just one little experience of how God uses people even in the so-called 'little' things. It is these 'little' things that often astounds us as to the interest God takes in our lives - He loves us so.

When you think about it - God used a murderer to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. He surrounded his Son with a group of uneducated fisherman and workers. One of the number, Matthew, was a tax collector working for the Romans. Tax Collectors were a despised group of Jews that were looked upon as traitors and treasonists.

He used a man who tortured Christians horribly, stoning them and ripping families apart to watch them die slow and agonising deaths, to spearhead the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.

He used a one hundred year old man and his ninety nine year old wife to become parents of the chosen race of Israel, a lowly shepherd boy to become the greatest king to lead that race and the most amazing of all a young innocent girl to become the mother of Jesus.

You may also be thinking - "what a mess I have made in my life - I am such a failure - God couldn't possibly use me."

That isn't at all true! God uses our failures, trials, misfortunes and yes even our misery and guilt to glorify is kingdom. you may say you are a failure BUT because of what Jesus did on that cross over two thousand years ago, God sees you as victorious. He can turn the bad things and so-called failures into good to testify to His grace.

The fact is, we need to make ourselves available to God and he will use us.

We need to be humble - God can't use the proud - He never has. The Pharisees of long ago were a proud lot, judging others and always pointing out bad behaviour and attitude.

Paul was one of the most educated people of his day but he was also one of the proudest. God broke him down in the most spectacular way on the road to Damascus and he was never the same again. He became a humble and contrite servant of Jesus. All of his education was then directed only to the glory of God.

God knows about your past. He knows your weaknesses and insecurities. He also knows what you are capable of. God has an amazing record of taking nobodies and making them somebodies all by His grace alone.

There are untold numbers of testimonies on the Internet describing how God uses people. Some down and out, living it rough on the streets,when God reached down and pulled them out of their misery and now praising Him with awesome stories to win others. Some are astonishingly rich living life with everything the world can offer, only to realise they had nothing at all - bound in sin and hopelessness.

No matter who you are, God can make you a vital part of His incredible plan. He used an ordinary tract in an ordinary church on a cold wet and windy night, with hardly anybody there, written by an ordinary person at least two decades before, to bring me to my knees in repentance.

God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things in extraordinary ways and all to advance His kingdom.

So how about you? are you willing to let Him?

Hard work: the key to success but sadly most would prefer to pick the lock!

Work! what a dastardly horrible word!!!

I guess if everybody LOVED their jobs it wouldn't be called work would it?

Do you have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, feeling miserable as the weekend closes just thinking about returning to the office, workroom, factory or whatever.

People, whoever they are, find themselves admiring and respecting hard work.

So whether we like it or not, the way we work and our attitude to work says heaps about you as a person; even more than that it says a whole lot more about the One we live for.

The attitude we take to work can effect our lives so much - so how do we cope with that terrible boss, that incompetent subordinate or the real nasty co-worker who makes our work life all that more impossible!

There are lots of 'things' we can do to make life on the job a little easier and to get out of the grind of eating, sleeping, working, eating, sleeping, working ad nauseam.

Take time out for yourself,  read book, listen to music, jog at lunch or find something that you like to do and do it in your break. Or, there is a better way...

Do you realise that work is part of God's plan for His people. Even in Genesis chapter 2 we are told that work is the very outcome of creation in the first place - Adam was placed in the garden to work and take care of it. The garden may not have had thorns and weeds at that time but it was work nevertheless and Adam's job was to tend to it's every need.

So where does that leave us if we 'hate' our job, nothing else on the horizon to seek after and the wage and the people are atrocious?

We can embrace that very problem by actually embracing the job.

Every work day - every assignment - every project can be treated as an opportunity to please God or... we can harbor resentment, hostility, aggression, animosity, unfriendliness and opposition in every single task given to us.

We can do 'just enough' to get by, grumbling all the way, or we can work really hard to do the very best we can in the circumstances we have found ourselves.

You know; God has to be glorified in everything we do. The question we should be asking continually to ourselves is this "Will this attitude I have bring glory to God?" "Will what I am about to do bring Glory to God?"

So how do we glorify God? - We look to Jesus - His example was flawless.

See who Jesus mixed with while here on earth. He didn't complain that his co-workers were incompetent, He didn't grumble that the weekend was over, that he had to keep going, even to the point of giving His life for us.

To be perfectly frank without Jesus to look to we wouldn't have the foggiest clue on how to even start to glorify God, but glorify God we must!

Our very existence here is to glorify God - God doesn't exist for us, we exist for Him.

We were actually made to glorify God.

So when life becomes tedious, hard, and the slog to work seems never ending look to Jesus - He is our most singular joy, our highest treasure and our greatest delight can be found in Him.

No matter what we do - no matter who we are forced to work with - no matter what the pay or conditions, do everything to His glory and to please our God. Not that we HAVE to but that we GET to.

Such a privilege to glorify and serve the very one who gave His life for us. With an attitude of Glorification to God we really can't go wrong no matter what the world throws at us.