Some people ride the love doctrine
like a hobby horse; just remember that agape (love) has standards. It is not a love that is syrupy and subjective (that
doesn’t mean that it is cold and clinical) but aligned to the objective and
propositional truth of Scripture. Loving your neighbor does not compromise
truth for grace, forgive without repentance, or dismiss accountability
for wrongful behavior without a change of heart. It is not always possible to
be at peace with all men, including members of one’s family! Even under a white flag
of letting “bygones be bygones,” truth is usually compromised in keeping
the peace. There is never any real healing with this earthy truce because real repentance is absent. Without repentance, there is no reconciliation.
What about the 70 x 7 principle of Mt
18:21-22? A believer should do everything possible to be at peace in accordance
with the principles of the Scriptures (Mt 5:9; Rom 12:18), but there are times
when peace is not achievable because it depends upon both parties to be in a state of subjection to the authority of the Scriptures. As one pop singer once sang,
“Sorry seems to be the hardest word.” But an offered “sorry” should not be a
matter of convenience of politics but a changed attitude and response at the
core of the heart behind it. If the offering was merely words and accepted, the
next flare-up could be invariably worse than the first and prolonged, possibly
indefinitely.
When quoting Mt 18:22 to someone, it
is a good idea to read the parable that goes along with it (Mt 18:23-35) before
calling someone on it. The lack of thirst causes all kinds of problems for believers. It violates the first command and impacts the second negatively (Mk
12:30-31)! How is your thirst? The psalmist knew a severe drought was underway,
and he was spiritually thirsty (Psa
42:2-3). Do we see the world as a desert or a delight? You would think the
latter by the lifestyles of many professing to be followers.
There can be no growth or development
in Christ-likeness apart from a thirst that never ends, that naturally fuses the
intellectual and the experiential aspects of growing in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18), never separating the two because they
are two sides of the same coin. The driving thirst searches for any and every
nugget that produces Christ-like qualities. Listen; the pursuit of being like
Christ can only be realized by a consuming passion, not by a series of events
like thirst, drink, step away; thirst, drink, step away. Thirsting for Christ is
a stay-at-it kind of thing.
There is no stepping away for a time
from this desire of God. Stepping away but for a moment is seen as a retreat to
a hazardous and tempestuous place where worldliness dwells and thrives, and the demon
dogs lick their chops in the popular town of Quenchville with poisonous waters
for the thirsty tourists. Everyone knows the drill; what goes on in Quenchville
stays in Quenchville. Yeah, try keeping anything from an omniscient God! Even
reverse psychology doesn’t work either. The only way we can explain why there
are so many thirstless Christians (revealed by ignorance and ungodly behavior)
today is that their thirstiness is being “satisfied” somewhere else.
The worst description of physical thirst
is the rich man in Hades (Lk 16:24). This is very perplexing when you think
that he is in a disembodied state presently and was asking Abraham to allow
Lazarus to simply “dip the tip of his finger in water” and cool his tongue
because he was “in agony in this fire” (Lk 16:24, NIV). Thankfully, personal redemption
delivers us from that incredibly dreadful place. Think of the horribleness of the rich
man’s eternal plight. The opportunity to avail and access the water of life is
forever gone as with all those who die without Christ, estranged for eternity. There is no purgatory, no second chance
(Heb 9:27). The world has never sought the oases of God for they are spiritually
blind by the sin of unbelief (2 Cor 4:4). He knew he was not there because
of his wealth. His wealth, however, made him independent of God to the point he arrogantly ignored the
warning signs of the Old Testament (Lk 16:27-29; Mt 19:23-24) until it was too late. He died in unbelief...
His unbelief was in
violation of the first command (Mk 12:30). It doesn’t specifically say that in
this story of the rich man and Lazarus, but when we take into account the nexus
to loving God with the totality of our being is to love our neighbors as
ourselves, we can visibly see the spiritual reality of his heart. He had no
love for God only for himself; he could have cared less of his fellowman; only
things were important to him. His life was all about him. He loved stuff more
than God. Know anyone like that?
The participle “desiring” indicates
that Lazarus was continually desiring at the gate (Lk 16:21). But even if
Lazarus was successful in competing with the dogs for the scraps, the rich man
made no offer to help his plight. Apparently, Lazarus had mobility challenges
(Lk 16:20, “laid”). The rich man knew of Lazarus by his
sitting at his gate (Lk 16:20) but ignored him. In his opinion, Lazarus
was a parasite in society, a worthless individual person who made no
contribution to society. In the end, Lazarus was in
paradise, and we know that the rich man wound up in Hades. He was an
illustration of selling the infinite worth of his soul for the finite things of
the world. He left all his wealth behind to others (Lk 9:25; cf. Eccl 2:21).
What he valued most in life was worthless to him in the long haul of eternity.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus also
illustrates the mistaken belief that a God of love would never send anyone to
hell to suffer unmercifully for eternity. The rich man is still there in agony
right now, awaiting the Great White Throne judgment for the sentencing into the
Lake of Fire. This is an uncomfortable truth that needs to be told. If you die
without Christ, it is eternally ugly. This was a story of two men, two lives, and two
destinies. What’s got a hold of your thirst in this world?
Once we taste the sweetness of that
which is eternal, we cannot get the taste out of our mouths. The temporal
becomes insipid, and we are well on our way to a new spiritual diet of a
renewal of the mind (Rom 12:2) into a spiritual fitness routine that gets us
into spiritual shape to better serve and glorify our blessed Lord, having the
mind of Christ.
In this ongoing renewal, something wonderful begins to happen. We are being transformed (Gk, metamorphóō, Eng., metamorphosis) into Christ-likeness. It’s a more beautiful sight in the life of a believer than the most beautiful butterflies on the planet, prettier than the Blue Morpho, Alpine Black Swallowtail, Emerald Swallowtail, or Purple Spotted Swallowtail! Nothing in the world can compare to the beauty of being like Christ. I have known some people who are so physically unattractive, they could sue their mama and daddy for damages, but they are some of the most beautiful people I have ever seen because of their desire to be like our Lord.
Recall our discussion on the Grand
Canyon back in part 1? Well, if we are avoiding the oases of God, we are risking
spiritual dehydration and having a heart problem. We cannot make it in a
spiritually dry environment without the water of life. Even with the warnings the
National Park Service puts out on the danger of dehydration in the Grand Canyon,
people still fail to heed the warnings.
So many believers are acting just like the visitors to the GC and fail to take the warnings seriously; with spiritual hubris, they think that they can muscle through life without the Lord. They are on a fool’s errand. The world can never satisfy spiritually, only the Word satisfies the soul like nothing other on earth because they are the living Words of a living Savior (Jer 15:16). We need to feed that thirst for God!
So many believers are acting just like the visitors to the GC and fail to take the warnings seriously; with spiritual hubris, they think that they can muscle through life without the Lord. They are on a fool’s errand. The world can never satisfy spiritually, only the Word satisfies the soul like nothing other on earth because they are the living Words of a living Savior (Jer 15:16). We need to feed that thirst for God!
When we are physically thirsty, our
body has already begun to fatigue. In the spiritual realm being thirsty is not
unhealthy. Spiritual fatigue sets in when we are not thirsting after the Word of God. If we
are not thirsting for the water of life for our spiritual health and growth, we
are spiritually lacking a vitality that only promotes ungodliness. Staying
hydrated and keeping from getting thirsty promotes physical health, but being
spiritually hydrated is maintaining a thirst for righteousness and avoiding the spiritual
duress of ungodliness.
We, who claim that Jesus is our Lord
and Savior, are in need of a lifestyle of hanging out at the oasis, noting
God’s handiwork in creation, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ
in His Word and in the Way, worshipping and fellowshipping with God
individually, and worshipping and fellowshipping God with others. It is
spiritual arrogance on our part to even remotely think that we can walk through
this life avoiding the oases that God has provided for every believer. We
simply cannot live life and avoid the sources of spiritual nutrition to
satisfy the healthiness of our souls.
It is in the thirsting, searching, and
finding that feed the desire for a greater pursuit of God. Though He is
infinite doesn’t discourage the thirsty soul. To explore the depths both of the
wisdom, knowledge, judgments, and ways of God (Rom 11:33; Psa 104:24; 147:5;
36:6; Job 5:9) enraptures the soul (Psa 1:2; 37:4; 40:8; 119:47; Rom 7:22).
Ever hear people ask explorers, “Why did you do it?” And the answer was
“Because it was there.” This exploration is not about “conquering” the highest
mountain or the deepest parts of the oceans or doing something no one has ever done
before or better than the other guy or gal.
There is no conquering the infinite
God! Why do we thirst after righteousness? Well, in some sense, because God is
there! Why do we sacrifice? Why take all the risks? Why spend our short lifespan
in the pursuit of God rather than pleasure? It has to be a love that drives us,
not a natural love, but a supernatural love (Rom 5:5) for Jesus who loved us (
Jn 3:16; Rom 5:8; 1 Jn 4:10) and gave
Himself for us (Gal 1:4; Titus 2:14). How does all of this apply to the first
command? The answer is found in Gal 2:20; how does that apply to the second?
The answer is found in 1 Jn 4:11.
This should be our desire and our
delight as pilgrims in a spiritual wasteland to seek the Lord with all of our
being (Jer 29:13; Psa 63:1-2) even under adverse weather conditions or fair
weather. Have you ever been thirsty and hungry for that very thing? Consider
these other passages: Psa 84:2; 143:6-7; Isa 26:8, 9.
It’s a good thing to seek the
understanding and the knowledge of the Lord all our days (cf. Jer 9:24). There
is coming a time, barring a rapture intervention, when being thirsty like a
deer seeking a water brook in a barren land will find us in trouble with the
antichrist crowd. It’s coming; we can feel it in our “bones.” This coming storm
is heavily concentrated with demons, and like a hornet’s nest once disturbed
they will lash out with intense hatred and maniacal hunger orchestrated by the
iron fist of the antichrist in an attempt to end all things Christ in the world
once the Church is raptured.
Praise the Lord we will dodge the
trib-bullet but may not be so fortunate in missing any possible chastening of
the Church as a whole prior to the rapture given her spiritual state of affairs
today. So, we must be rapture ready and spiritually ready, with plenty of truth
in the heart tank to do what is pleasing to Him and praise Him for considering
us worthy to suffer for His name should it come to that. May we possess a
thirst that will never quit for His benefit and our blessing. “Stay thirsty, my
friends,” for God, that is, until the moment of “a twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor
15:52; 1 Thes 4:16, 17)! Just stay thirsty for God! <><
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