Word and Deed are Reputation

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. The Hebrew language is seen as pure and honest, and being upright before the Lord means speaking the truth. The concept of word as bond is emphasized, and the importance of honesty and integrity in both word and deed is highlighted. The path of holiness and sanctification is explored, with the recognition that humans are flawed and in need of God's grace. The enemy has sought to mar the trustworthiness of the Israelites but has not succeeded. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of His word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to His perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Zephaniah 3.13 The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity nor speak lies. Neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid. When we stand alone, there is fear. We don't feel secure. We feel exposed. We feel vulnerable. It is a state outside of the blessing. It is a state outside of the Lord. When we stand with the Lord, there is peace. We are secure in Him, covered, protected. When Jesus died to pay the price for sin and resurrected to life again, He removed the penalty of sin from us. With the removal of sin came the removal of trouble. The cause of fear is removed, and so the effect of fear can cease. Happiness follows in the wake of holiness. When we abide in Jesus, John 15.4, we get to leave fear behind. But we also get to walk in holiness. Holiness sets you apart. That's not our holiness. It's the holiness of Jesus, Ephesians 1.4. We have the privilege through grace and by faith to walk in His ways. It's more than a feel-good statement or a Sunday morning glow. This is something that should impact your whole life. There is a purification of the heart and life that happens on this path. It is the sanctification process that we are all in as believers in Jesus. One of the key aspects that needs renewal and change is our language. This is not something that we do, but something that we allow Holy Spirit to do in us. What we do is work at not going back to our habits, not to pick up sin, not to disobey. What we do is walk one foot after the other. As we do, our lives are changed. In Hebrew, there are no swear words, no way to curse and swear the way the rest of us do. If a Hebrew person wanted to swear, they would need to switch to another language. English is often a first choice. We have, after all, made a great effort to cultivate swearing as a way of expression. There are even studies showing benefits to swearing, from gaining a sense of control over the chaos of life, enduring pain, creating social connections, and giving a release to our emotions. But it's funny, the Hebrew community is all about connection, family, intent, ordering life around an ideal, and supporting one another. And they have certainly endured pain, all without any swear words. There's a purity to their language that few, if any, other languages have. In English, although we swear in many, many, many, many ways, we have historically put a premium on our words. The idea that one's word is your bond goes back as far as Shakespeare's time. It's accepted in the business world that a verbal contract is a legally enforceable contract. And in modern times, the hip-hop community embraces the word-as-bond concept and has woven it into culture very effectively. At its core, the concept is about trust and honor, that we can be trusted to do what we say, and that there is honor in doing that for all parties involved. It is a foundational concept that we are starting to move away from. But there was a time not long ago that a word and handshake was good enough to all. Now, neither of these concepts is unique to our culture. They're all over the world and over very long periods of time. God has been speaking about them since the book of Genesis. God has done it in a lot of different ways because there is a foundational idea in the word that our words are seeds. There is power in our tongues, and we need to take caution in how we use them. Deuteronomy 8.3 and Proverbs 18.21. But God goes way beyond whether we are swearing or not. God approaches things by His nature, and His nature is righteousness and truth. There is purity in the Hebrew language because there is purity in the Lord. But purity goes beyond whether or not there are swear words in your language because as people prove every day, if they want to do something, then they will find a way to do it. Purity in words means truth, plain and simple. You mean what you say, and you say what you mean. Honesty and integrity in word as well as in deed. This concept is so ingrained in the word that rabbis for centuries have quoted today's verse, Zephaniah 3.13, as proof that an individual will do a thing if they say they will do a thing. Because when you are upright before the Lord and pursuing His ways, you will not lie. Why? Because God cannot lie. Now we have taken a sharp turn left from whether or not you should cuss to whether or not anything you say can be believed. Now just as the Israelites were called to be separate from the nations around them and what they ate and what they rested, here they are being called to a higher standard of behavior. To not just not speak a lie, but also not to have within them a tongue that speaks anything other than the truth. It's a hard thing, but you'll notice in this verse it comes after not doing things of iniquity or wickedness. To the Israelites this was not an abstract concept. The Hebrew language is very concrete, another reflection of God's truth. Things are what they say that they are with very little or any shading, even when the concepts behind them can be pictorial or hard to understand. Iniquity is the Hebrew word avon. It means to be crooked or twisted. It's an action. It can also mean to bend or distort. If they aren't doing these things, they will be an honest people. If they are an honest people, they won't tell lies. If they won't tell lies, then they can be a trusted people doing what they say and only saying what they will do. It was a call to resist the evil inclination to set their hearts on the Lord and walk in His ways, not in the ways of sin. Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Genesis 4.13 But Cain didn't actually talk about his punishment. He wasn't sorry for his punishment. If you look at the Hebrew, he actually said, My iniquity is greater than I can bear. His actions, his deed, the crooked and twisted way of thinking that led to embracing sin. Remember that God had told him directly in Genesis 4.7 If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it. He was not meant to give in to sin. None of us are. But mastering the twisted, bent ways of our heart is a challenge no human is up to. Oh, if we try really hard and discipline ourselves, we can keep a set of rules and regulations. But in our inner persons we have other thoughts. Look at the Pharisees. Now we have imaginings of breaking laws, violating rules, and doing whatever we want whenever we want. That's a flaw of humanity. This was the price of disobedience. This selfish nature is the root cause of all of our issues and why we fall again and again and again. God doesn't leave us there. Thank you, Father. He told Cain he was to rule over this desire. In the law, God says over and over that if we do these things, righteousness follows. That if we will be set apart and do right, we will be blessed upon our blessings. To be holy is to be sanctified, consecrated, and dedicated. In Leviticus 11.44, God declares, For I am the Lord your God. Sanctify yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. But can we truly sanctify ourselves? The believer doesn't need to worry about that. The law was about action. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Your law is truth. Psalm 119, verse 142. Not only are we free from the law, the action of doing to get righteousness, but the Lord does the heavy work. Jesus prayed to his Father that the Father sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. John 17.17 The Father sanctifies us. The Father, in and through Jesus, the Word made flesh, enables us to experience righteousness. Jesus' righteousness by grace. We can abide in Jesus. Abiding in Jesus, though, is a lot like being on a treadmill. If you don't keep your legs moving, you fall off. You can set the machine for one hour, not move your legs, slide off the back, and stand there until the hour is up. But you have accomplished nothing. We get sanctified by the Word. We are made righteous in Him. But what about moving our legs to remain in Him? We need to watch our flesh. That selfish mass of protein that bent away from God. We need to be aware of our weakness and broken before the Lord, admitting we are bent. That these bodies lean towards self to make the choice between life and death, right and wrong, truth or a lie. Our efforts are not earning us anything. Our works are not gaining us brownie points. All we are doing is what we see the Father showing us to do, saying what the Father shows us to say, repenting with truth and honesty when we get it wrong, and staying on the treadmill so that it can do the work in us that we need done. When an Israelite was identified as an Israelite, the ancient world knew that they could be trusted. It is an image the enemy has spent eons trying to mar. He's almost succeeded. They're still portrayed as shifty, oily, and all too ready to fleece the unsuspected. They're said to control many aspects of entertainment, and always seeking to be the powers behind the scenes. Now why should the enemy shout so loud about that if there wasn't some value to the Jew being seen as honest and upright? Remember the Jews are God's chosen people. They are the ones who were to lead the rest of us into relationship with Yahweh God. We were to see how good they have it, how amazing their God really is, and then enter into conversation with them about it. To be led to the truth of the God of the universe by the way the Jew was as an individual and nation, to see the differences between us and want what they have because it is so much better. Indeed, he says, it is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth. As believers, we are called to do the same. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand, and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. There should be no iniquity found in our actions. We should be pursuing a purification, our sanctification, our move to have pure hearts and minds. The word can renew us. The Lord can change our hearts. But we need to pick up our cross. We need to put on the new man and work to keep him on by never losing our focus on Jesus and submitting to His will. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you didn't learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard Him and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus, that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man who, in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. We can stand away from iniquity if we let the Lord loosen our hearts, minds, and emotions. We know that whoever is born of God doesn't sin, but he who is born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn't touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5, 18-20 Isn't that incredible? We can choose not to sin. We can be people of integrity, without iniquity, no lie in our mouths and no deceit found in us. But if these verses are true, why aren't all born-again believers living exactly like this? The next verse tells us, 1 John 5, 21 closes his letter with a simple statement and warning with deep implications. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. If we stay away from idols, we won't sin. Because if we stay away from idols, Yahweh God will never lose His place in our heart. Nothing will ever come before Him. He will always and ever remain our focus. What does Jesus say is the greatest commandment? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. Matthew 22, 37 Which is a direct quote from the love Moses handed down to us from Yahweh God in Deuteronomy 6, 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. God has to take first place, and we have to work to keep Him there. Moses went on to tell us in verses 6-9 just how prevalent the word of God needs to be in our lives. These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. This is no joke. This is not a Sunday morning only thing. We are to focus on the Lord God Almighty and the word of God all the time. To have it in our minds, and in our atmosphere, and in our homes, and all up in our business everywhere always. That is the only way that we keep God first. Jesus warned us that it wasn't easy. His yoke is light, but the flesh is whiny. We are all born perfect, righteous, spotless on the outside. We are not born in sin. The word never says that. The word does say we are born with the weakness of Adam in our hearts. Genesis 8.21 Our flesh is of this world, and it will go with what it feels 100% of the time if it isn't directed. Feelings aren't real, and sensations are deceitful. Our hearts, minds, emotions, our soul is part of the seed of Adam. It is bent. It leans towards flesh, not spirit. If we do not take it to task, we will not subdue it, and we will sin. We can only take it to task by the strength of our spirit. When we were born, we have our spirit. That spirit is devoid of righteousness. It isn't sinful per se, but it is not righteous. Jeremiah 17.4 Without righteousness, we cannot stand before God. Without being able to stand before God, how can we worship Him in truth? We can't. So our spirit fails to master our soul. Our soul leans toward flesh, and flesh does what it feels like. Sin crouches at that door because of our spirit. And if we open that door, boom, it has us. The world is full of evil intent. The kingdom of darkness, here to offer us everything that isn't of God. So we choose to sin. Mark 7.21 We choose it before we even know what it is. And once infected, it spreads. But even one sin done is sin embraced. Romans 3.10-18 The price of sin is separation from God. It is death. Romans 6.23 Jesus came and fixed all this. All of it. He offered Himself up as the price of sin. John 8.36 and Romans 8.1-2 Sin is paid for and off the table. What about that evil inclination the world is full of? Well, we can choose not to give in if our soul is strong, if it is empty of iniquity. But that can't happen without righteousness, which we don't have in our spirit. Jesus offers us His spirit. 1 Corinthians 2.12 If we have His spirit, we get cleansed by Him. Titus 3.5 Once we're clean, we have the same choice we did at birth. We have it every waking moment, every day. Do we focus on the Lord or do we focus on not the Lord? If we love the Lord with all we have, we will succeed. If we don't, we will sin. And we do miss it. No one but Jesus is perfect. 1 John 1.8 But we can repent, turn around, focus on the Lord, and walk toward Him again. 1 John 1.9 If we take up our cross and love the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul, if we praise and worship Him in spirit and truth, if we walk from the world and its feelings and toward God and His righteousness, we will not commit iniquity. If we don't do evil, we won't speak evil. If we don't speak evil, we're not likely to do evil. They are the two sides of the yoke of Jesus, obedient in deed and obedient in word. He is there to help us. By grace, through faith, in and by Jesus, we can do it. We can't do it any other way. John 15. But in Him, we are overcomers, for He overcame for us. Don't lose sight of Him. Put Him first. Be separate and leave the seat behind. Those who do have no fear. Those who do walk in peace. Nothing can make them afraid because they know they cannot be touched by it. If calamity cannot hurt you, it won't terrify you. Psalm 91. Put the Lord your God first. He is unique. He is merciful. He is good. And He loves you. Love Him back with all you have. You'll never have a regret. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Ephesians 5, 26-27. Spotless sacrifices were the only acceptable sacrifices. We are to be sacrifices. We are to offer ourselves up to God. But how can we? We are far from spotless. From birth, we lean towards self. Our minds do not dwell on niceness. We do not succeed in word and deed in all we do. We do not walk as He asks us to. We would be lost and irredeemable, but Jesus came after us. Remember that Jesus created everything. The Father told Him what to say. He said it, and through Him all was made. They could have started again. God thought about it a couple times in our Bible alone. Start again. But Jesus came after us. Jesus recognized the love the Father had for us and offered Himself up as the only acceptable way to cleanse us, renew us, repair us, restore us, resurrect us, and cleanse us, so that we can be a gift for His Father. The Father, in turn, recognized the love Jesus had for us and let Him sacrifice Himself so the Father could raise us out of death, keep us with Him, adopt us as children, and sanctify us, so that we can be a bride for His Son and a vessel for His Spirit. Temples holy unto Him. That's love. Loving something so much that when it gets bent and twisted, you take the time to totally renew it from the inside out instead of getting a new one, especially when the new one has a lower price tag. But to take on the project of total restoration? That is love. Next time you look in the mirror and see the person God is making you to be, thank Him for the love it takes for Him to want to do it. He loves you so much. It's about time you realized it, isn't it? As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent His only-born Son into the world, that we might live through Him. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.