“Make room in your hearts for us.” -2 Corinthians 7:2 (ESV)

My desk is the epitome of clutter. If it is messy on normal days, it looks three times as worse on days when I have to write papers and exams. With open books scattered everywhere and pages of articles jutting out from every possible nook and corner, it is as if a tornado tore right through my desk and left devastation in its wake. Sometimes I do not realize it myself, and it is only when I come to find a place to set my plate and eat before I work again that I realize how messy my desk really is. As I sift through the sea of books and papers to make room, I find other things which I do not need and set them aside so that I may focus on what is really important; eating in order to gain the nourishment and strength to press on and do well.

We live in an age where busyness is almost a virtue. While we must all strive for diligence in whatever we do, too often we become engrossed in our work and make ourselves busy for the sake of being busy. When we do this however, our minds become terribly cluttered and stress begins to take sway; tainting our interactions with others. It can come to a point where we become so absorbed with ourselves and what we need to get done that we lose sight of God and the people around us. Relationships are strained not only by the harmful things we say, but also when we are not with the people we love both in presence and in our hearts. To have our priorities skewed by a false diligence is to deprive ourselves of joy and to submit ourselves to a slavery that will only serve to destroy us piece by piece. It is only when we have made room in our hearts for Christ and have made keeping in step with Him our top priority that we will find a lasting peace and joy which will never be taken away. As we allow Him to order our lives, He will expose what does not need to be there in our hearts and attitudes so that room will be made for His love. When this happens we will make room for others so that through His love Christ may reveal Himself and restore those who are broken and in need of His restorative work.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” Genesis 3:21 (ESV)

Adam and Eve could not have had it better. They lived in a perfect world created by the all-powerful hands of God where He lovingly provided for their every need. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God as a result of their deliberate choice to eat of the tree which God explicitly forbade them to eat from, the closeness they once shared with God was broken. Since God is holy He cannot tolerate even the slightest act of sin and as such He expelled Adam and Eve from the garden. Yet what is beautiful of this otherwise tragic episode in human history is how God shows His unfailing love. Despite Adam and Eve’s rejection of Him, God provides them with clothing to endure the harsh realities of their new lives in a fallen world. The animal skins foreshadow what Christ has done and will do for us by Him becoming the sacrificial Lamb for us so that through His death on the Cross we are forgiven and our relationship with God restored.

The love of God is unchangeable and inherent in His very nature. He has never been the God who oscillates between the angry God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament. Through a careful reading of Scripture His unconditional love and desire to restore His precious creations to Himself is made evident from the very beginning right through to the end. The difference between human love and God’s love is that our love is limited and can be overpowered by sin, while God’s love remains constant regardless of what we may do. He knows that no human being on this Earth can achieve His standards of righteousness and thus He will never withdraw His love and grace for us. Will we choose to accept his love so that we will no longer have to be slaves to sin and its consequences? When we allow Christ to enter our lives we will be able to experience His love as He breaks us free from our sinful nature and faithfully provides for us according to His perfect will. He will perfect His love in our hearts so that it will overflow and bring hope and life to those around us.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” –Deuteronomy 10:19 (NIV)

The Israelites had gone through untold suffering in Egypt. As slaves under their Egyptian overlords, the Israelites were an oppressed people; discriminated against and forced to endure miserable conditions because of their Hebrew blood. For centuries they prayed for deliverance, and in His perfect timing God rescued them out of their enslavement in Egypt and into freedom. However, God warns them not to use the freedom He is given them to become oppressors themselves.  The Israelites had been through a lot and it would have been natural for them to treat the foreigners in their midst with contempt as a way of exercising the power they were once denied. Yet God called them, and us to a higher standard; loving others regardless of who they are so that His love and righteousness may be displayed to the world.

When we have gone through suffering ourselves, we can go either two ways. We can choose to allow our suffering to taint our interactions with others and subject them to the tyranny we experienced, or to love others remembering what it was like when we were in their position. Too often we gravitate to the former because our sinful nature wants to restore our broken pride at all costs; even if that means shattering the pride and dignity of others. Instead of bringing healing however, this only serves to continue a destructive cycle of misery that no one truly benefits from. The only way we have any hope of breaking this cycle is when we have allowed ourselves to be transformed by the love of Christ. When we have allowed Him to enter our hearts, he will teach us how to love in the way which He did for us, sacrificially and unconditional. Rooting ourselves in Christ we will no longer feel bound to our past hurts for we have been restored by the work of His Spirit within us. Having found our confidence and security in Him, we will allow His love to overflow from our hearts, knowing that we live in a broken world in desperate need of the healing work of Christ.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”- 2 Peter 2:19b (ESV)

What does it mean to be addicted to something? Often we use the word to describe that we really like a particular food, hobby, or television show. But having an addiction goes beyond mere attraction and desire, having more sinister connotations. When we inwardly feel compelled to do something even though we do not want to, that is what addiction truly is. We may know that our sinful habits our destructive. We may know that no good ever comes out of them. Yet like one who has stepped into quicksand, it drags us against our will. If we give even an inch to sin, it will become a brutal taskmaster; demanding that we satisfy it with our wickedness even though we want escape.

But if we have grown weary to this addiction to sin, there is hope! God knows our torment when we are slaves to our depravity. He knows that this was never meant to be and He mourns the damage sin is doing to His creation and to us in particular who bear His image. That is why He wants to deliver us so that we may be restored and dwell in relationship with Him. He has given us this hope through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we have allowed Him to enter our hearts and submit every area of our lives to His redemptive work, He will break the chains that bind us to our sinful nature. By binding ourselves to Christ, He will allow His love and righteousness to consume us; overflowing from our hearts so that all may see the work which He is doing in us. To be slaves to sin is a slavery that will only bring us misery and grief. But to be a slave to Christ means that His goodness will overcome us; bringing us life, and a joy that we will be able to find in all circumstances and that will never be taken away.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” –Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)

Human tendency is to argue and fight. Our sinful nature dictates that we should always have our way no matter the cost. If for some reason we do not get what we want, we will resort to whatever means necessary to have our desires met. But this worship of the self only leads to destruction. Not only will it taint and shatter our relationships with others, it will also degrade ourselves. The obsession to satisfy our wants will make us say things we would not usually say and do things that we would not usually do; even if it is at the expense of those around us. In the end, though we may think that we are expressing our freedom through such behaviour, we have actually become slaves to our own depravity.

Pride and selfishness is what characterizes our corrupt nature. Therefore, according to this nature, acting in loving submission to others is regarded as a sign of weakness. However it is anything but. To serve does not imply a passive timidity, but a strength that comes from knowing that in Christ we find our worth and security. When we have allowed Christ to enter our hearts and carry out His redemptive work in our lives, He gives a new nature; one that is characterized by His humility and selfless love. By submitting ourselves to Christ, He will break the power that sin has over us to reveal the freedom and joy which comes by serving Him. If we seek to solely gratify ourselves, misery will be our only companion. But when we allow the love of Christ to overflow from within us, we will see how His love restores our lives and the lives of others. When we see people through the eyes of Christ, we will see them as precious individuals created in the image of God. With this in mind we will love and serve others by Christ’s enabling knowing that in doing so we respect and revere their Creator.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.” –Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)

Sin is a destructive parasite. While it may promise us fulfilment, bliss, and confidence, it does everything but. Once we have allowed it to enter our lives, it feasts on us; robbing us of our joy and dignity. We then find ourselves at the point where our sin makes us feel filthy and depraved. Knowing that we cannot live like this we seek to overcome our sin. But despite our most earnest of efforts to combat wickedness in our lives, the temptations that entice us into sin continue to plague us. One of the greatest lies that we could ever succumb to is that no one understands the temptations we face. Believing this lie we see no hope of deliverance. Thus we become paralyzed in a vicious cycle that continues to bind us to our sin.

The truth however, is that there is someone who understands! Christ knows the temptations we face. While He was on Earth, Christ became acquainted with the weaknesses that we are subject to as a result of our fallen bodies. But though He knew what we as fallible human beings must face, He was without sin; blameless and pure. He was God Incarnate, and therefore He cannot tolerate sin. Yet the whole reason for why He came down to Earth to experience what we experience was so that through His death and resurrection we may be free from sin. Christ, by what He has done for us, has provided us a way out; a single path through which we may enjoy the freedom which He has to offer. The cross of Christ bears testimony to the fact that God knows the struggles we face with our corrupt nature and in His love He has given us the hope and promise of being delivered from it. When we allow Christ to enter our hearts and submit ourselves to His redemptive work in our lives, He will break the chains which bind us to our sin; enabling us to rest in the joy of being restored through Him.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” –Judges 21:25 (NIV)

The book of Judges is certainly not for the faint of heart. Its pages account for one of the darkest times in Israel’s history. Stories of war, bloodshed, wickedness, and tragedy abound, and testify to the extent of the chaos that engulfed the land. The only factor which kept Israel from descending into total anarchy was God’s faithful and loving provision of the judges. Living in obedience to God, these judges defended the nation and upheld His righteousness for all to follow. Yet as the second chapter of the book attests, the majority of the people did not listen to them; choosing instead to live in disobedience to God’s holy standards. It is no wonder therefore that the book, after describing the destructive and horrible consequences resulting from their obedience to sin, ends with the words, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”

When we refuse to enthrone Christ as the Lord of our lives, we take the first step towards a path which will ultimately lead to our degradation and ruin. While our sinful nature wants us to believe that the ideal state of existence is to live however we choose and place ourselves as the highest authority, this is a cruel deception. Though we may claim that we are free living outside of Christ, we are actually enslaving ourselves to our innate depravity and allowing it to consume every area of our lives. If we truly want to be saved from such a fate, our only hope is Christ. When we personally accept His redemptive sacrifice for us on the Cross and enthrone Him as the King of our hearts, we will understand that life is not meant to be lived on our terms, but on His. By walking in obedience to Him, with His Spirit helping us to live in accordance with His righteousness, He will carry out His restorative work in our lives and the world around us. His purity and love will shine forth from us when we acknowledge Him as our one and only King.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.