07/08/2025
How loyal are we to our Lord Jesus Christ? Are we inclined to say "absolutely!” but then catch ourselves pausing the television on some terrible show filled with foul language as we are browsing through the channels. Are we really serving God faithfully when such things as this happen, or are we walking a fine line between righteousness and the basic human desires and instincts of the old fallen person we once were?
“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."”
Joshua 24:15 ESV
In those few moments when our finger hovers above the remote control and we watch something that takes us astray, there is a scripture that I hope shouts out to us...
“Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.”
Malachi 3:18 ESV
We can find ourselves having failed him... even in an instant. Can you relate to what I am saying? Have you been in some situation that for a moment, an hour, a day, or longer, you have been taken away from worshiping God and returned to the feet of a worldly god you thought that you had abandoned entirely?
We justify our indiscretions by saying "it is human nature", and most certainly it is, but there is another nature that resides within us too, and it should be the stronger... this behavior is our faith, spirituality, and longing for Yahweh, the one true God. So, in those moment when we drop our spiritual guard, humanity hits us squarely in the face and bloodies our nose.
When I was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute we were required to take a boxing class. At the end of the semester, we would fight several matches to show we had mastered the skills being taught and were graded on our performance. I was doing very well in my matches and had won them all, but during my final fight I had to box a cadet who was quite a bit shorter than me. The fight was going along well until my mind wandered away as I thought about his height. In that brief instant he stepped forward and bloodied my nose. I would wipe the blood from my face with my glove and hit him but in the end both of our faces were covered in my blood. The coach called the match a draw, and I was very disappointed.
In a moment of inattention, I had dropped my guard, and it cost me the victory. This happens to us in faith as well. Our guard against sin drops, ever so briefly, and the old sin filled person we used to be steps forward and tags us right in the nose. The difference lies in the fact that during my VMI boxing match it didn't matter to the coach how many punches I connected with... all he remembered was the one that bloodied me... but to God our Father, He doesn't see, nor remember our blood, He sees our heart and the cleansing blood of Jesus, then hearing our voice of contrition as He forgives us completely... His forgiveness returns our righteousness and enables us to fight on without the marks and wounds of sin.
So regardless of those moments when we find ourselves taking our eyes from the throne of God, we can rest in His forgiveness and be thankful for His grace. In such moments Jesus will say "go and sin no more"... expecting us to remain pure, and unstained by our own tainted blood, or the blood of the world we are facing. His sacrifice is sufficient, and our Heavenly Father chooses to forgive and forget our transgressions.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
James 1:27 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the grace that abounds in you. I thank you for the blood of Jesus, and your forgiveness when I slip away from you into the humanity that longs to control me. Lord, help my righteousness to win out over the tempting lure of the fallen humanity that stalks me and that I seek so desperately to defeat. Give me strength of character and an abundance of faith. Send me help like you did Moses when you sent Aaron and Hur to hold his arms so that his guard would not drop and your victory was sealed. Most Gracious Father, in those moments when my nose is bloodied, and my strength is waning, hear my plea for forgiveness, and witness the sincerity of my contrition as I humble myself before you. In such moments I claim victory in Jesus alone, and wear his blood, not mine, as a badge of honor. In coming before you, covered by His righteousness, I give you all the glory for this victory, and the honor and praise that comes with having won the day. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who strengthens my belief and faith. Holy are you who raises me up in victory like a champion would a silver cup of triumph. You are my God who gives me strength enough to fight against every temptation of the dark one and provides me an escape from the clutches of evil. I praise your name Father and pray that I am pronounced worthy of spending eternity in your presence on my day of judgement. On that day I hope to hear you call me your son, and to say that in me, through Christ, you are well pleased.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
“But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”
Exodus 17:12 ESV
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John 1:7 ESV
“and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
Matthew 3:17 ESV
Rich Forbes