GOD Morning! / January 6, The Secret

GOD Morning! / January 6

The Secret

Matthew 5:27-48

²⁷ You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.

²⁸ But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹ If your right eye serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be cast into hell.

³⁰ And if your right hand serves as a trap to ensnare you or is an occasion for you to stumble and sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better that you lose one of your members than that your entire body should be cast into hell.

³¹ It has also been said, Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.

³² But I tell you, Whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.

³³ Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord [as a religious duty].

³⁴ But I tell you, Do not bind yourselves by an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

³⁵ Or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.

³⁷ Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.

³⁸ You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the evil man [who injures you]; but if anyone strikes you on the right jaw or cheek, turn to him the other one too.

⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your undershirt (tunic), let him have your coat also.

⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two [miles].

⁴² Give to him who keeps on begging from you, and do not turn away from him who would borrow [at interest] from you.

⁴³ You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy;

⁴⁴ But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵ To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].

⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that?

⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?

⁴⁸ You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Within this chapter lies the secret. The secret to holy living. The secret to Godly living. Verse 48 sums it up. Why do I call it a secret? Because very few people know about this secret.

The secret to actually living a Godly, Holy, Christian life is truthfulness.

I’ve heard people say, “The Bible is great, but no one can actually live like that.”

Not true. I can live like that. You can live like that. The key ingredient is honesty. Truthfulness with God and others. No pretending everything’s okay when it’s not okay. Being real.

I have wrong thoughts and say wrong things and do wrong things all the time! There! I spoke the truth!

But when I look at my life, I can be at peace with God, myself, and others. Knowing I am making an honest attempt at living according to the teachings of the Bible.

Am I perfect? NO!!! But I am constantly truthful to God about my shortcomings. About my failures. And I am truthful to others.

Never letting anyone see my weaknesses would be extremely difficult. Whew! I feel tired and stressed just thinking about living like that. Going around pretending to be a spiritual giant when I’m not would be exhausting.

³⁷ Let your Yes be simply Yes, and your No be simply No; anything more than that comes from the evil one.

There you go. It can’t get any plainer than that one simple scripture. Adding to the truth comes from the evil one. Remember, all lies start with a grain of truth.

All God wants from us is total truthfulness! If we are painfully honest with Him, then and only then can He take what is ugly and shameful and make it beautiful!!!

This little blog entry could easily turn into a lengthy Bible Study.

Off the top of your head, consider people in the Bible who were truthful and also those who made excuses and tried to cover their sin.

Let’s see… King David is one example. Was he a perfect, shining example of a Godly man? NO!

2 Samuel 12 The Message (MSG)

12 ^1-3 and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, “There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ “One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest.”

^5-6 David exploded in anger. “As surely as God lives,” he said to Nathan, “the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!”

^7-12 “You’re the man!” said Nathan. “And here’s what God, the God of Israel, has to say to you: I made you king over Israel. I freed you from the fist of Saul. I gave you your master’s daughter and other wives to have and to hold. I gave you both Israel and Judah. And if that hadn’t been enough, I’d have gladly thrown in much more. So why have you treated the word of God with brazen contempt, doing this great evil? You murdered Uriah the Hittite, then took his wife as your wife. Worse, you killed him with an Ammonite sword! And now, because you treated God with such contempt and took Uriah the Hittite’s wife as your wife, killing and murder will continually plague your family. This is Godspeaking, remember! I’ll make trouble for you out of your own family. I’ll take your wives from right out in front of you. I’ll give them to some neighbor, and he’ll go to bed with them openly. You did your deed in secret; I’m doing mine with the whole country watching!”

^13-14 Then David confessed to Nathan, “I’ve sinned against God.”

Nathan pronounced, “Yes, but that’s not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won’t die for it. But because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die.”

^15-18 After Nathan went home, God afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he came down sick. David prayed desperately to God for the little boy. He fasted, wouldn’t go out, and slept on the floor. The elders in his family came in and tried to get him off the floor, but he wouldn’t budge. Nor could they get him to eat anything. On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him. They said, “What do we do now? While the child was living he wouldn’t listen to a word we said. Now, with the child dead, if we speak to him there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

¹⁹ David noticed that the servants were whispering behind his back, and realized that the boy must have died.

He asked the servants, “Is the boy dead?”

“Yes,” they answered. “He’s dead.”

²⁰ David got up from the floor, washed his face and combed his hair, put on a fresh change of clothes, then went into the sanctuary and worshiped. Then he came home and asked for something to eat. They set it before him and he ate.

²¹ His servants asked him, “What’s going on with you? While the child was alive you fasted and wept and stayed up all night. Now that he’s dead, you get up and eat.”

^22-23 “While the child was alive,” he said, “I fasted and wept, thinking God might have mercy on me and the child would live. But now that he’s dead, why fast? Can I bring him back now? I can go to him, but he can’t come to me.”

King David was a murder and an adulterer. But when he was confronted with his sin, He was truthful. He humbled himself and repented.

And his attitude after his baby died was incredible. He did not question God’s terrible punishment. He took full responsibility for his sin and accepted the consequences.

Another example is King Saul.

 

1 Samuel 13:5-23 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵ And the Philistines gathered to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and troops like sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

⁶ When the men of Israel saw that they were in a tight situation—for their troops were hard pressed—they hid in caves, holes, rocks, tombs, and pits or cisterns.

⁷ Some Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸ Saul waited seven days, according to the set time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from Saul.

⁹ So Saul said, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering [which he was forbidden to do].

¹⁰ And just as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came! Saul went out to meet and greet him.

¹¹ Samuel said, What have you done? Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were assembled at Michmash,

¹² I thought, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord. So I forced myself to offer a burnt offering.

¹³ And Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly! You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which He commanded you; for the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever;

¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue; the Lord has sought out [David] a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince and ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

In verses 11 and 12, Saul made excuses, blamed Samuel, and lied about his behavior.

Excuses make us feel so much better at the time, but in the end, we are still wrong.

But there’s good news! If we take full responsibility, repent and turn from our sin, He will forgive us and He will restore the sweet relationship we had with Him.

There are many other examples of people being real and not being real with God in the Bible.

“Dear Jesus, I want to be real and honest with You! I can’t pretend to be something I’m not. I must come humbly to Your throne every morning and lay it all out. My weaknesses, my sin, and the painful truth. Then and only then, You can heal and restore me! You are Awesome! I am nothing! But I can do ALL things through You! You give me strength in my weakness. How I love You, Jesus. AMEN”