Exodus 33:21-22 English Standard Version
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
Psalm 101:1-4 English Standard Version
I Will Walk with Integrity
A Psalm of David.
1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O Lord, I will make music.
2 I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
3 I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
4 A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.
When you are the recipient of this sort of “tough love”, you really don’t want to hear the words of the individual. You believe it is a personal attack. You become defensive and start trying to defend your actions. You try to deny the accusations. You, then, become angry with the individual and tell him or her to leave you alone. All of these responses are natural, but, in time, you have a choice.
You can continue to deny or ignore what was said or you can take it to heart. By listening to the words and understanding that the person who brought these things to your attention did it out of love and a desire to help, you can take the path that leads to repentance and helps you become a better individual.
No one likes to be criticized for something he or she does especially when it is sinful. If we truly believe in the example of Jesus, we are to help one another in their daily walk with the Lord. Sometimes, we find ourselves making a detour and following another path that leads to disobedience. When we are weak, we play right into the hands of Satan. At those moments, temptation is very strong and seductive. We succumb and begin to stray from the truth and the light.
For example, Paul writes to the church in Corinth and calls them out for the sin in the church. It is a very difficult letter for Paul to write but he is called to bring these items to their attention and tell them that what is going on in the church is not acceptable to the Lord.
In chapter four of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me.”
Paul isn’t writing them to bring shame to them. His motives are pure and done out of love. As Paul points out, he has become their father in Christ Jesus. As a father, he disciplines out of love. His desire is for them to grow spiritually and become teachers to others. He urges them to remember his teachings and to imitate him in their daily walk with the Lord.
Later, Paul, in chapter five, writes, “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.”
It is so very easy for all of us to turn a blind eye to the sins that occur in our churches and continue to believe that a few little sins are fine and will not hurt the spiritual growth of the community. We believe that we have to “go along to get along”. So, we keep silent. Considering social media and how things we post live forever, we may not say anything because someone else may bring up a sin from our past. But, if we are true Christians who love one another, we should never fail in our responsibilities of helping one another especially in times of temptation. If someone has sinned, we are there to help that person back onto the straight and narrow.
Being called out for something we have done is a bitter pill to swallow, but, like medications, it is something that has to occur when taking those first steps back to the Father and a life of righteousness. We can choose to begin restoration or we can just persist in our sin and continue to drift farther and farther away from the Father.
In the case of the Corinthians, they took Paul’s words to heart and returned to the path of righteousness. I am sure that it took a while for people to give up their sinful ways. Remember, we deny, become defensive and become angry. It is part of being human, but, in time, we wake up and make the decision to stop following temptation.
In chapter seven of his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death. Just see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to clear yourselves, such indignation, such alarm, such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.”
Paul was, at first, sorry for writing a harsh letter, but he knew that it had to be done. He didn’t do it to call people out. His motive was very sincere and his desire for them to repent came out of his love for them. Paul points out the sorrow that they felt was good and that sort of sorrow leads to repentance and salvation. In the end, the church did everything to make things right.
There are a couple of lessons that we need to learn from this. First, we must be honest, not only with each other, but also with ourselves. It is so very difficult to see that what we are doing is sinful. Temptation can lead us to spiritual blindness. We may not see things correctly or have justified things in our own minds. It takes the love of our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus to have a sincere and honest talk with us and help us to see that what we are doing is being disobedient to God. If we have a talk with someone, it must be done out of love and there should not be a hint of malice towards the other.
The second lesson is that if we are the recipients of these words, we must receive them with love and understanding. The person bringing our sinful actions to our attention is already in a difficult position. It is very painful for them to talk with you. Be gracious in your actions and receptive to their words. Remember that they love you and are trying to help you.
In closing his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes, “Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”
Part of growing spiritually is being able to accept the counseling of others and learning that we can improve as Christians. As long as the counseling is done in Christian love and done respectfully and received with love and an open heart, we are able to continue our walk with the Lord and stand firm in His grace.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Proverbs 6:12-15 English Standard Version
12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.
Job 28:12-19 English Standard Version
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
Genesis 12:1-3 New Living Translation
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Ephesians 2:19-22 English Standard Version
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Psalm 100:5 English Standard Version
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Proverbs 6:6-11 English Standard Version
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Colossians 3:15-17 English Standard Version
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Luke 3:7-9 English Standard Version
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Psalm 100:4 English Standard Version
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Proverbs 6:1-5 English Standard Version
Practical Warnings
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
have given your pledge for a stranger,
2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth,
caught in the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, and save yourself,
for you have come into the hand of your neighbor:
go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor.
4 Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Jeremiah 10:23 English Standard Version
23 I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Hebrews 11:8-12 English Standard Version
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
Psalm 100:3 English Standard Version
3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Proverbs 5:15-23 English Standard Version
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
17 Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
21 For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord,
and he ponders all his paths.
22 The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 English Standard Version
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Jeremiah 20:13 English Standard Version
13 Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
Psalm 100:1-2 English Standard Version
His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
A Psalm for giving thanks.
1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
