I1Pe 1:6 …IN heaviness through MANIFOLD temptations.
Are you in heaviness through manifold temptations?
Are you constantly being tempted?
Our defects of character are constantly exposed aren't they? And it's so easy, so incredibly easy for us to say, well that's just who I am, if you don't like it, tough. We are who we are. We say it, we think it and we believe it. We are who we are character defects and all. Do you suppose we are meant to believe that? Biblically, are we meant to believe we are who we are - our temperament, our reserved-ness, our boisterousness, our cantankerousness, our meekness, our … well, you get the picture. Are we really supposed to just shrug our shoulders and agree that we are who we are?
I don't think so.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Put on- we might not have this on already if we are being told to 'put on', right? Our character right now might now possess these things and yet we are told to 'PUT ON' the following-
Mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, charity.
If we truly examine our defects of character allowing ourselves to be completely honest, then we would realize that those defects stand in opposition to the things we are to 'put on'.
Our temper is in opposition to our forbearance and longsuffering. Our selfishness in opposition to our kindness, our charity.
We give into so many temptations because we lack the character traits we are to 'put on'. We'd rather feel the weight of guilt than suffer deprivation of whatever temptation lies before us.
We don't want to be long suffering in any way, it seems to go against our very perverted natures. And yes, our natures have been terribly perverted by sin.
We are constantly being tempted and we are constantly making excuses for succumbing to temptations. We excuse away ourselves on so many levels we barely know who we really are underneath all of the sin stains soaked deep into our hearts.
We are allowed manifold temptations, and we feel the heaviness of those temptations. Our faith is allowed to be TRIED to expose it's weakness. When you 'try' something over and over to make sure of it's worthiness you are doing so for a very good reason.
The manufacturers of cars test them over and over and over and over extensively and they do that because they want to expose the defects, the weaknesses that may occur over time. They don't do that in order to just jot it down in a book somewhere, but they do it so they can CORRECT that defect before they send their products out. From time to time it's discovered that not all the defects were exposed under the trials, but the actual use revealed the defects. But a lot more defects are discovered through the trials than we can imagine. It's not just with cars either, but with a lot of products we use all the time. Would you trust a toy with your child if you hadn't been assured that it'd been tested for safety?
The point here being that we are TRIED, we face a lot of temptations and rather than DESPISE these we must allow ourselves to LEARN from them as GOD would have us learn.
We will be tempted. Fiery darts of the wicked one will mercilessly rain down upon us and do so with intent of bringing us to a place of despair where we can't imagine forgiveness being an option, where we can't imagine our Savior ever wanting to save us. We are allowed to suffer for so many reasons but NONE of those reasons involved God's pleasure at our distress, not a single bit.
The temptations we face will reveal to us our characters and we can look to our Bibles and know the character God would have us possess, have us 'Put On'. If our characters do NOT match up to the character God desire to work IN US, then we have to kneel at the feet of our Savior and seek forgiveness, repentance, a willing heart to do HIS good pleasure, not ours!
We cannot just shrug off our defected characters with a - that's just who I am, end of story- because the story does NOT end there, not if you are a child of the King, not if you have Jesus as Your Savior! He wants to perfect us, HE WILL perfect us in His own way and we have to LET Him, not hinder Him.
When our tempers are exposed, we need to thank God for the revelation and seek His mercy and grace to keep from letting our tempers get out of control, and that goes for any defect in our characters. If temptation exposes our bad character traits we need to feel blessed, NOT defeated because we know our Savior is working IN US or else we would NEVER feel the prick of conscience for our defects. We will come face to face with the worst we possess and it is ONLY our SAVIOR who can change that, we cannot, but there is NOT IMPOSSIBLE to our GOD! NOTHING!
Just imagine the rigorous trying a child's safety seat must go through before it can be deemed safe, and then the next time you are confronted with a painful trial remember we are going through a trial even MORE rigorous than anything material in our world.
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS LOVE!
The trial of our faith- so we will be found unto our SAVIOR'S praise, our SAVIOR's honor, our SAVIOR's glory- ready for Him at HIS APPEARING!
Please LORD help us put on YOU and all YOU are! All you have revealed to us that YOU ARE. Help us LORD to let YOU WORK IN US! Please LORD, by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE ALWAYS IN ALL THINGS FOREVER AND EVER!
AMEN!
Are you in heaviness through manifold temptations?
Are you constantly being tempted?
Our defects of character are constantly exposed aren't they? And it's so easy, so incredibly easy for us to say, well that's just who I am, if you don't like it, tough. We are who we are. We say it, we think it and we believe it. We are who we are character defects and all. Do you suppose we are meant to believe that? Biblically, are we meant to believe we are who we are - our temperament, our reserved-ness, our boisterousness, our cantankerousness, our meekness, our … well, you get the picture. Are we really supposed to just shrug our shoulders and agree that we are who we are?
I don't think so.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Put on- we might not have this on already if we are being told to 'put on', right? Our character right now might now possess these things and yet we are told to 'PUT ON' the following-
Mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, forgiveness, charity.
If we truly examine our defects of character allowing ourselves to be completely honest, then we would realize that those defects stand in opposition to the things we are to 'put on'.
Our temper is in opposition to our forbearance and longsuffering. Our selfishness in opposition to our kindness, our charity.
We give into so many temptations because we lack the character traits we are to 'put on'. We'd rather feel the weight of guilt than suffer deprivation of whatever temptation lies before us.
We don't want to be long suffering in any way, it seems to go against our very perverted natures. And yes, our natures have been terribly perverted by sin.
We are constantly being tempted and we are constantly making excuses for succumbing to temptations. We excuse away ourselves on so many levels we barely know who we really are underneath all of the sin stains soaked deep into our hearts.
We are allowed manifold temptations, and we feel the heaviness of those temptations. Our faith is allowed to be TRIED to expose it's weakness. When you 'try' something over and over to make sure of it's worthiness you are doing so for a very good reason.
The manufacturers of cars test them over and over and over and over extensively and they do that because they want to expose the defects, the weaknesses that may occur over time. They don't do that in order to just jot it down in a book somewhere, but they do it so they can CORRECT that defect before they send their products out. From time to time it's discovered that not all the defects were exposed under the trials, but the actual use revealed the defects. But a lot more defects are discovered through the trials than we can imagine. It's not just with cars either, but with a lot of products we use all the time. Would you trust a toy with your child if you hadn't been assured that it'd been tested for safety?
The point here being that we are TRIED, we face a lot of temptations and rather than DESPISE these we must allow ourselves to LEARN from them as GOD would have us learn.
We will be tempted. Fiery darts of the wicked one will mercilessly rain down upon us and do so with intent of bringing us to a place of despair where we can't imagine forgiveness being an option, where we can't imagine our Savior ever wanting to save us. We are allowed to suffer for so many reasons but NONE of those reasons involved God's pleasure at our distress, not a single bit.
The temptations we face will reveal to us our characters and we can look to our Bibles and know the character God would have us possess, have us 'Put On'. If our characters do NOT match up to the character God desire to work IN US, then we have to kneel at the feet of our Savior and seek forgiveness, repentance, a willing heart to do HIS good pleasure, not ours!
We cannot just shrug off our defected characters with a - that's just who I am, end of story- because the story does NOT end there, not if you are a child of the King, not if you have Jesus as Your Savior! He wants to perfect us, HE WILL perfect us in His own way and we have to LET Him, not hinder Him.
When our tempers are exposed, we need to thank God for the revelation and seek His mercy and grace to keep from letting our tempers get out of control, and that goes for any defect in our characters. If temptation exposes our bad character traits we need to feel blessed, NOT defeated because we know our Savior is working IN US or else we would NEVER feel the prick of conscience for our defects. We will come face to face with the worst we possess and it is ONLY our SAVIOR who can change that, we cannot, but there is NOT IMPOSSIBLE to our GOD! NOTHING!
Just imagine the rigorous trying a child's safety seat must go through before it can be deemed safe, and then the next time you are confronted with a painful trial remember we are going through a trial even MORE rigorous than anything material in our world.
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
PRAISE GOD FOR HIS LOVE!
The trial of our faith- so we will be found unto our SAVIOR'S praise, our SAVIOR's honor, our SAVIOR's glory- ready for Him at HIS APPEARING!
Please LORD help us put on YOU and all YOU are! All you have revealed to us that YOU ARE. Help us LORD to let YOU WORK IN US! Please LORD, by YOUR GRACE, YOUR MERCY, YOUR LOVE ALWAYS IN ALL THINGS FOREVER AND EVER!
AMEN!
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