Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the songs of men. They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things; who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" "Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, now I will arise," says the Lord; "I will set him in the safety for which he longs." -Psalm 12:1-5
When I read these verses, it soon began to remind me of the feeling in this world today. "The godly man ceases to be" is something many of us find ourselves saying as we see the world around us falling lower and further from God. People speak false things to one another and say one thing but think another in their hearts. They try to flatter their way out of a situation to get friends or keep things smooth.
Believe me, it's not just the unsaved who do this. It's not the man who hasn't received the gift of God. I will be the first to admit my faults; I have been this person. Many times in my life people could look at the way I was living or acting and say that the godly cease to be. I fail time and time again to show true godliness and a Christ like attitude. I have often had a double heart, saying two different things; I haven't loved those who hurt me; I haven't forgiven as I should.
Psalm 13:4-5 says,
"And my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. BUT I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation."
It's like the hymn "I shall not be moved". I have the curse of sin upon me, but through my faith in the One and only Savior I have the gift of being washed clean every day. Because of my faith I will have people try to fight me, I will have people mock and dislike me, I will not have an easy life, nor will everyone I meet love me. I will fail every single day. But the promise of God is true and even when people come against me, even when I fail, my God will never leave me.
Each day when I make a mistake or fail as a Christian example, God washes the slate clean; no longer does He see my sin, but the precious, spotless blood of the Lamb. Without my faith in Jesus my sins would be the end of me and every mistake I make would haunt me.
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Those who know the law of God and not His love, the bible says, don't really know Him. His word tells us that we are to follow God's laws, that He is the righteous judge, but it also tells us that God is love. He says that if we do not love one another then we do not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8 "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.)
Wow. This one cuts deep.
You've heard people say "don't judge a book by it's cover, but by what's written on the pages." God judges the heart; when we see people who claim to be Christians but have no love, the bible says they don't know Him. This could cut the "estimated number" of professed Christians down by quite a bit.
1 John 4:16 says,
"We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us, Gos is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
(I know I've mentioned these a lot, but they're the perfect example for true love!)
When you read about Stephens stoning you see nothing but the love of God. You see all God in his heart. These men he was speaking to are told the wrong doings they and their fathers had done, but knowing it was true they couldn't bare to hear him say it aloud, so they began to murder him (Stephen). I've noticed God often uses people we don't care for to say something that hurts us deeply, only to bring out an impurity in our life that we otherwise wouldn't have noticed.
Acts 7:51-58 says,
"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it." Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul."
59-60 "They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep."
Even as he was being stoned he had faith so strong, love so powerful that it shone forth like a brilliant ray of sunshine. THIS is the example I should think of when I dare not to love or forgive.
My other favorite passages go back to the crucifixion. Some might say this part of the bible is desperately sad, and though I agree it has the blunt truth of the pain Christ endured, it is also one of the most influential passages in the bible. This was the day my sins, YOUR sins, were washed away for eternity. This was the final example of Christs life here on earth of true love and forgiveness. He didn't just preach it, He practiced it as He died. Even as He was being mocked, His muscles were being drained of oxygen and He was unable to breath...He was still able to utter the words "forgive them." He asked the Father of heaven and earth to forgive the very ones who were putting Him to death. "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34) THAT is the love we are to have. No matter what is done to us, no matter how terribly we're treated or talked about, God commands that we must love and forgive.
I can sit and tell a person about God's law until He comes back but in the end, until they know of His love, it won't do any good. If you're going to choose to follow God's law, you cannot leave out love and forgiveness. They are the glue, the binding that holds everything together. The base of all the commandments, for without love for God, we wouldn't have any desire to follow His laws.
Everything I do in my life should reflect Christ. If I can't see Jesus doing or saying something I can know for a fact it's wrong. No excuse; I am simply wrong. Believe me, I have been wrong more times in the past few years of my life than I can count. I have been the last one people need to point to for an example of Christs love. I use the law, or more I make my own sound as if they're from God, and judge people from the outside, not knowing at all what's in their heart.
If you truly have faith, are a true follower of Christ then you will follow what He says even if it means pain and discomfort in your own life. Sometimes, things just have to get worse before they can get better. God might remove His presence from our life for a time to help us check our life. To see if we are putting anything above Him. He then might take away everything we value, to help us see that we aren't putting Him first in all that we do. God will never "leave or forsake" us, ever, but He will put us through trials if He knows it can grow us stronger. The times when I was at my lowest were the best learning experiences in my life. God will see when I am drifting from Him and bring me to rock bottom to a point when I have nothing left but Him. God can and will take everything away if I put Him last. Whether it be earthly goods, relationships, family, friends, activities, hobbies or wealth. He is to be first. He is to be the example. He is to be followed and obeyed.
He loves us enough to do things, even if it causes pain, if the end result will make us stronger as a person and a believer.
Faith is real. Love is real. Both must go hand in hand.
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