Hosanna Restoration Church

My oh my, verse 31 certainly gives us reason to understand the necessity of verse 23 doesn’t it? In fact it would seem that the need to be made new was inserted in the middle of a lot of hard to receive instructions. Strange as it may sound, these instructions are often more acceptable to someone who is very lost than they are to a person who thinks they are already safe in the kingdom of God.

I know that it made perfect sense to me that I needed to change a lot of things if I expected to be a part of God’s family. In fact, it took me quite awhile to grasp the fact that I was in the family by virtue of what Jesus had already provided and that no changes I could make would earn me the spot that was already mine. Still, I wanted to stay very close and get to know Him more; it made me feel safe. As I have said, I have not done it all perfectly, but I still feel the same way today. I need to stay close and know Him more.

The truth is, that everyone is looking for light; we just do not know what light we are looking for until we see the True Light of Jesus Christ. Once we know Him, we realize that He is who and what we have been looking for. If this is not how we really feel, then we have not really come to know Him. When we read passages of scripture like these, they should make us hungry and challenge us. Not only that, we should be encouraged knowing that the Holy Spirit has provided us with everything we need to accomplish this and more.

Unfortunately, people will often say it is just too hard and give up or give in to the urge to declare they are good enough to get by. The enemy is quick to confirm such thinking with something like, “God does not expect everyone to be that way, only certain special people.” There is truth in that statement; we just need to understand that we are all certain, special people to God.

Why should or would we give up with less than God’s best for us? Whenever we come to a spot of giving in or giving up, we should just wait in that spot for the light. We may think we do not have time to wait, but we do. What would you do if you were driving down the road and your lights went out? You would pull over as quickly and safely as possible and do whatever you could to get the lights back on. If you could not get them back on you would call for help or you would wait until it was light. Why would a sensible person do this? The answer is obvious. It would be too dangerous to continue in the dark!

Spiritually speaking, we can go a long way down the wrong road in the dark as long as the road is smooth. We can even convince ourselves that it must be the right road because everything is going pretty well. Even then, I believe the Holy Spirit is giving us signs and little warnings or checks in our spirit that tell us we need to pull over and wait for the light. Unfortunately there is often a crash involved before we fully realize that we have been in the dark.

Always wait for the light. Be continually renewed by the Holy Spirit. Recognize when you begin to do the things you should never do. Quickly pull over and wait for the light. When we are new, this is what we do. We all need to be reminded of these things. That is why God gave us His word. That is why He speaks to us daily. Even in silence, He speaks volumes.