A man was traveling on a dinner flight when he opened his prepackaged meal,
right on top of the salad he saw an enormous cock roach. When he got home, he wrote an indignant letter to the
president of that airline. A few
days later, a special delivery letter came from the president. He was all apologies. 'This was very unusual, but don't
worry. I want to assure you the
particular airplane has been fumigated.
In fact, all the seats and upholstery have been stripped out. We have taken disciplinary action
against the stewardess who served you that meal, and she may even be
fired. It is highly probable that
this particular aircraft will be taken out of service. I can assure you that it will never
happen again. And I trust that you
will continue to fly with us.' Well, the man was terrifically impressed by such
a letter until he noticed something.
Quite by accident, the letter he had written had stuck to the back of
the president's letter. When he
looked at his own letter he saw a note at the bottom that said, 'Reply with the
regular roach letter.'
Talk is CHEAP! God knows that and by His actions proves He means what He says!
Judges 16:13-18 Then
Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell
me how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of
my hair with the web and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be
like any other man.” So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his
hair and wove them into the web. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you,
Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the
web. Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is
not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where
your great strength is.” It came
about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul
was annoyed to death. So he told her all that
was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head,
for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then
my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and
called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has
told me all that is in his
heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money
in their hands.
The story of Samson is so rich with lessons, it is sad that
most individuals only see the story of the “strong man that gets tricked, blinded and
in the end dies.” Even the time we have spent looking at his life does not touch
the myriad of lessons we could discover from his life! This section again is
full of such lessons; I will focus on three.
“Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’
when your heart is not with me?”
Delilah’s motives were from greed and selfishness, yet the truth of her
words confront anyone that is trying to be honest before God.
“Saying” I love you is far different than “Showing” your love! Love is an action word and
when that commitment is stated it must be followed by actions that demonstrate
that.
When we say God loves us, how do we know that is true? It is
not by His words alone we know that. Consider:
Romans 5:8 But
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were
still sinners.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
God never “only” talks love…He shows it. His actions declare it
clearly to anyone that is honest. What is even more important is that the Lord
Himself challenges us with the principle!
John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments."
When Jesus was restoring Peter after his terrible failure,
notice how He describes what love is…it is an action!
John 21:15–17 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter,
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter
replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son
of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then
take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A
third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt
that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know
everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
Far too many times I find that my love is only “Verbally deep”
when it should be “Action deep!”
Delilah also gives us an example of how the flesh will work
against us and expose where we are not really firm in our stand.
“It came about when she pressed him daily with her words
and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death.”
If we are truly firm in our conviction, the constant “nagging” of
sin will not break through, in fact I have found that when you really decide that
where you stand, is WHERE you stand, the Spirit of God helps you to deafen
yourself to that voice. I have found that true with pornography. When I finally
decided I could not tolerate it in my life anymore, over time the Spirit gave
me the strength to just ignore it, and now it seems only to have the power to
whisper to me. I still need to be on guard, but I do not hear a nagging voice
to “come
and see”
like I used to! Samson clearly had never settled in his heart that his
commitment to the Lord was solely between he and the Lord. He was open to
sharing that kind of commitment with someone else, and when he did he paid the
supreme price.
We must learn to allow the Spirit to firm our conviction so we
do not give in to the nagging voice of sin. Consider Lot…just a side note…notice
you do not have to be perfect to be acknowledged as an individual that God used
and counted faithful. God uses us, warts and all! Lot’s faith was accounted
as righteousness, again reaffirming grace, not works. Look how Lot was
described:
2 Peter 2:7–8 and if
He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
(for by what he saw and heard that
righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)
He was tortured, and like Samson it got to him. Instead of
standing against those sinful men in Sodom, he tried to compromise and offer
his daughters to be raped! What a terrible moment in the life of an individual
that is following God. Having said that, we should take it as a warning, if
Lot, who is called righteous can fall to such a low level of carnality, any of
us could!
Lastly, we learn the lesson of our need to discern who we open
our hearts to!
“So he told her all that
was in his heart”
I am not saying that we should distrust everybody, but we need
to learn to be discerning when we open our hearts to someone. Have you
established a track record with them and seen they can be trusted? Do they show
the character of Christ? It would be wise to remember our Lord’s
discernment:
John 2:24 But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting
Himself to them, for He knew all men
I have found this principle: * Everyone should know I belong to
Jesus. * All believers should know where I stand on the Word. * All my disciples
should know my struggles and weaknesses. * My wife and kids should know even my
fears and dreams. * My wife should know everything about me that would affect our
relationship. ** Only the Lord should know my complete heart, for some parts are
so dark, that no one else could continue to love me in spite of that
reality!
Meditation: If you asked those closest to you how they know you love them, would they say your words, or your actions? Do you struggle when being tempted to disobey God, because you know it shows a lack of conscious love? How loud is temptation's voice in your ears? What are you doing about that? Have you tried to hide your heart from God? When was the last time you got totally alone with God and had a heart to heart talk?
No comments:
Post a Comment