Direct my footsteps according to Your Word: Let no sin rule over me.
When we surrender a particular thing to God we can be
certain He will test us on it. At least He does
me. I always thought of myself as an honest person but then started
examining myself to see if that was as true as I thought it was. To my
surprise, when I thought back, I realized I have told a little lie on occasion,
mostly when someone asked me something that I wished they hadn’t. For example,
because I have osteoporosis, my son told me I need to stop moving furniture
around. I like to rearrange rooms to see if I can find a new way to
arrange things that I hadn’t thought of yet. My son says this is a
disease with me. I told him I will try not to. Weeks later, he will ask
me if I have moved the furniture again? Although I did, I don’t admit it,
instead I would say, What do you think I have moved? Even though it isn’t an
outright lie, it is still not being totally honest. My reasoning was that
I didn’t want him to get upset because I changed things around again. I know
this isn’t the only little lie I have told, but they are usually for what seems
a good reason at the time. “It is these
little foxes that destroy the fruit in the vineyard.” Therefore, I
have surrendered these “little foxes” to the Lord and am relying on Him to
convict me if I should slip into this again.
Integrity
includes those gray areas we might not think about when doing something.
You
know, things we’ve always done because everyone else does them, and we just
hadn’t given much, if any, thought to them. Well, God didn’t waste any time in
revealing to me how easy it is to lie without realizing it in the moment.
I am so grateful He was gentle with me as the Holy Spirit convicted me. It was
just another proof to me, He is willing to help me in this area, and any other
area as I surrender them and allow Him to work in me.
The
Test: My son
bought me a Costco membership card. I noticed on the application it said
that it could be shared with a spouse, or other family member. The catch
was that the other family member had to be sharing the same address. Now
my son lives in another city but visits every now and then, and when he does,
it is usually on a weekend. He often stays over night before driving home.
Occasionally, he will stay for a few days or more, but this is usually when his
sister is visiting from out of country. I wanted to put him on my Costco
card because when he is down he takes me out shopping and, after all, he just
bought the card for me. So
this is what I said to the clerk:
"My
son lives out of town, but often stays at my apartment on weekends and takes me
out shopping because I do not have a car.” This is true except for the
part “often” stays on weekends. It is more like once a month and he
usually only stays over for the one night. The clerk said it should be alright
as long as he can have a couple of pieces of mail sent to him at my address.
That seemed good. I didn’t see anything wrong with it as everyone does it.
Test one: I had a hard time sleeping that night as my mind was going over the details of that transaction. I remembered committing to God integrity in everything, including the little things that we don’t usually think about. Then I realized I failed God’s test! I, by trying to get around the family member having to stay at the same address rule, caused the clerk to go against her integrity by suggesting a way to accommodate me. I caused her to sin. This was all my idea, so I was also causing my son to sin by suggesting he get a couple pieces of mail sent to him at my address. Wow! It is true that when we sin, we never sin alone. Our sin always involves others.
I called my son the next day to tell him that I was wrong in what I did, and how I had surrendered that area to God… then God tested me on it, and I failed that test. He understood and told me he doesn’t need a Costco card anyway. I felt some relief, but thought maybe I should go back to the clerk and let her know I was wrong. I was telling another person about this and how I felt it was a test and I had flunked it but wanted to make amends. Not more than five minutes later this other person, who helps me out a lot, asked if she could get a few things on my Costco card and she would give me the cash for them before we got to the till. I said, “Sure!” Then less than a minute later, it hit me, I have been tested again and flunked... for the second time! I answered without thinking. I need to get James 1:19 engraved on my mind. “Be quick to listen, slow to speak…
I confessed my
failure again and knew what I needed to do. I couldn’t go back to the
same clerk as she was not there when I went back a couple days later, and I was not
even sure if I would recognize her as there are different ones there at
different times. I could, however, keep my integrity by giving a
gift membership to the loving person who is always helping me when my son is
not here. I had wanted to give her a gift but didn’t know what to get
her. Now, I knew what to get, and was very happy to be able to give
her something that would be both useful and beneficial to her. This also
solved the problem of her putting her items in my cart even though she was
paying for them, but didn’t have a card to get the deals. Like me, she didn’t
think anything of putting a few items in my cart and giving me the cash to pay
for them before we got to the till. The difference now,
is that I committed everything to do with integrity to God so that those little
foxes do not destroy the fruit in my vineyard, but more importantly, I want to
honor Him in all my ways.
God
knows I usually learn better the hard way because I am very impulsive and don’t
always think through what I am going to say before I blurt out something.
I am grateful that He showed me and was gentle in doing it. I feel
rewarded because I was able to do something for someone who does much for me,
and am again
reminded that God is interested in helping us keep our commitments to Him.
So when you have surrendered some area of your life that you are ready to have renewed for your character refinement to be more Christ-like, remember this: You will be tested on it. If you flunk like I did, you will be tested again in another way. Why, because He works with us when we invite Him to, by surrendering any specific area. It is exciting knowing God was at work bringing these challenges to test me, except He doesn’t give you a 60 second warning that we are about to be tested. The tests are needed because they are what strengthen us in both our perseverance and our faith.
What have I learned through this test?
1. When we sin, we
never sin alone
2. Our sin can cause
others to sin by unintentionally involving them in it.
3. Our sin can hurt
other people or cause them to stumble
4. God wants to help
us deal with our sin and has provided all we need to do so.
5. I need to listen
carefully, slow down, and pause before speaking
I know God
brought these things to me in order to test me so that “I” would know what’s in
my heart, and would discover joy follows
disappointment when we want to please God and make things right…and at the
same time have opportunity to bless another.
What
are some of your “little foxes” that might ruin the fruit in your vineyard?
Hebrews 12:1-3
tells us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, so we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us. We
need to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before Him endured the cross…
It is
these little foxes that destroy the fruit in the vineyard, our sin, that
entangles us in the ways of the world. We need to remind ourselves that we are
representatives of Christ to reveal to the world what He is like, just as He
revealed to the world what His Father is like.
I have
another little fox to throw out of the vineyard but I will not be doing it
alone. The Master of the vineyard will be working along side of me at my
invitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment