Jesus Knew What Was In The Heart Of Man
Part Two
Picking up where we left off in Part One…
Everyone has their own agenda, often times not fully disclosed to others, even in the closest of relationships. To what extent this hidden agenda is influenced by the fallen nature within us, compared with how much it is influenced by the indwelling Spirit of God, is a choice that born-again believers make every day of their post salvation spiritual life.
Our hidden agenda may be kept from other people, but not from God.
Everything that individuals do (or don’t do) has got something to do with their hidden agenda.
Just how you fit (or no longer fit) into the hidden agenda of others has a lot to do with where you, and your relationship with them, stands.
As long as people are getting or hope to get what they want out of the relationship, there usually no major discord. But when they no longer do, their hidden agenda is revealed and their restrained hostility becomes overt.
It’s easy to be nice to the people who are nice to you, or who have something that you want to receive.
The challenge for the advancing disciple is to follow Jesus’ example by doing good for the people who have used you, or would use you, are ungrateful, thankless, inconsiderate, selfish, and even hostile towards you.
One might say, that such persons don’t deserve the good things that we do for them. But consider where any one of us would be if God looked upon us that way, and only gave us what we deserved.
If it had not been for the undeserved, unearned, grace of God, we would ALL be getting what we deserve, headed for the, “…everlasting fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25: 41 NASB2020).”
Jesus, knew all along that Judas would eventually betray Him (1), but continued His relationship with him, even going as far as addressing him as, “Friend… (Matt. 26: 50)…”, right up to and including their last personal interaction.
People who sacrificially put the concerns and interests of others ahead of their own will become more and more of a rare find, as the hearts of many will run cold as we enter into the end time environment, spoken of in Matt. 24: 12.
Making a hero out of any human being can end in great disappointment should their areas of weakness be exposed. Failing to acknowledge that everyone has this fallen nature sets the stage for a major disappointment when it inevitably manifests itself from time to time.
Every one of us have our own areas of strengths and weaknesses.
Our areas of strength consist of areas of our life that have been surrendered to the control and purposes that God has in mind.
Our areas of weaknesses consist of areas of our life that we have not so-surrendered, over which we want to retain and or control. Obviously, these areas of weakness involve anything that the Bible labels as sin, but this can include otherwise good things, if these good things are not a part of the plan that God has in mind for you, as an individual.
The rule of thumb for determining what good things are for you, is to ask yourself, “Will pursuing or embracing these activities advance or diminish the individual plan that God has in mind for me?”.
These areas of strength and weakness manifest themselves every day, evidenced by all that we think, do, and say, as we struggle with the fallen nature that is inside of us and inside of the people with whom we interact.
Some born again believers are more spiritually mature than others, but even the best among us, if there is such a thing (2), can and will cave in to the fallen nature within us, from time to time.
Intimate relationships can only be maintained if ALL parties involved can forgive and forget when such failures inevitably take place.
“Forgetting” will not erase the events from your memory, but you will have no desire to bring them up again, when you have forgiven yourself and the offenders, in the same way that God has forgiven you.
“Christians, citing the Lord’s Prayer (aka the Our Father), frequently pray for the forgiveness of their sin, as they (supposedly) forgive others who have trespassed against them. But, evidenced by the fact that they continue to hold the grudge, seek vengeance, suggests that divine and interpersonal forgiveness has NOT taken place.
When God forgives, and when we forgive others as God has forgiven us, the relationship moves forward, as if the sin never took place.
Continuing on with a personal relationship is NOT required, but not forgiving the offender is not an option for an advancing disciple. The devil promotes the sin of refusing to forgive others, knowing that such sin takes the REFUSER out of fellowship with God, as will any other SIN.
You might say, that under some circumstances, it is not the natural response for humans to forgive others. But the post salvation spiritual life is not about doing what comes naturally, but doing what is supernatural, with the enabling John 15: 5 power that God supplies.
The advancing disciple will conclude that no matter what others have done to them, it’s not worth the consequences for his or her own sin of refusing to forgive others.
The 1John 1: 9 forgiveness of God is inexhaustible. It is inexhaustible because the forgiveness for the sin being confessed is not based on one being sorry, doing penance, making restitution, or on promises not to do it again, but rather on the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that ALREADY paid the debt in full.
Q. Is this a license to sin?
A. Of course not. Although the gift of the eternal life that a born-again believer has already received is irrevocable (3), there still are other consequences (4) for the negative choices we make.
Being born-again permanently settles the issue of being eternally secure (Romans), but by no means does this end dealing with the fallen nature in ourselves, or in others with whom we interact with on a daily basis.
(1) John 6: 64 (2) James 2: 10 (3) Romans 11: 29 (4) Hebrews 12: 6 / Revelation 2 / Revelation 3 /1Corinthians 3: 15
End of Part Two
End of Series