II Chronicles 25:7,8 "These troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel . . . even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."
Hell = "the absence of God"
I really didn't intend to sound profane with the title of this posting, but my heart's desire for this year is very clear: I want to get the 'hell' out of my life. My definition of hell is the absence of God - so what I'm aiming for sounds somewhat awkward, but I want to focus on the removal of an absence, if that makes any sense.
I have "God-things" in abundance: church, school, Bible studies, devotional times, Christian songs on my computer, etc. But I lack Him. I lack intimacy with Him. My life is a living absence of Him - a living 'hell,' and I'm tired. God's presence and purpose energize me, and it's that spiritual energy that is lacking right now, in me and in the church.
In II Chronicles 25, King Amaziah sets out to conquer the Edomites. In his zeal, he hires out soldiers from the Northern Kingdom of Israel to help him. He is told, however, to get rid of these men, because God is not with them. He doesn't want to - he's already paid a huge sum of money to secure their services. But he must - anything that is not of God must go. He had too much 'hell' in his camp. Even if he makes the best plans and expends all of his energy, he will lose, because it's God who determines the victory. He had an abundance of resources, but He was lacking God. This incredible void must be removed before he could move forward.
How do you remove an absence? This is an important question, because with this absence comes another presence. It is apathy and cynicism. It is hesitation and delay. It is discontent and covetousness. It is compromise and inaction. It is mediocrity and defeat. It is one enormous waste of time. It is hell on earth.
Back to II Chronicles: Amaziah argued that he had already spent too much time and money on these men. If he let them go, he would lose all of that! But the prophet had a great response, simply stating: "The Lord can give you much more than that!" (v.9) Do we really trust Him like that? Can we cast off all of our old thoughts and methods and traditions - the things that we've spent so much time and money on - and trust that the Lord will more than supply in their absence? It takes a great step of faith to do this - but it's the only way to victory.
It's time to get back to our first love - to commune with God and get rid of all the stuff that gets in the way, the stuff that sucks the life right out of you. There is too much "hell" in my life right now and it's time to get rid of it and move forward. And, as profane as this may sound, there is too much 'hell' in our church camp right now. Too many things that are not of God and are killing us, diluting the power of the church in the process. His absence is killing us. Are we brave enough to do what Amaziah did? Will we send the things that represent His absence out of the camp? Out of our own life? Out of our church?
I wish that we had someone like the prophet who came to Amaziah - someone who could pinpoint the things that don't have God, and say, "Get rid of this, and this, and this. . . . " But we really can't make excuses. We have His Word and His Holy Spirit, who as Christ told us, will have the power to convict us of sin. If we truly want to know - honestly - He will reveal these things to us.
What are some of the possibilities? Traditions. Relationships. Music collections. Mindsets. Movies. Denominations. Authors. Small compromises. These are things that we've invested a lot of time and money into - and they all must go if they are not of God. It doesn't matter how far down the road we've traveled with them, unloading them is the first step to victory. I say this of each one of us personally, and of our churches. There is an absence of God in the things that we do - there is a certain hell that exists in our lives and in our churches. It's time to get the hell out of our life and be consumed by the Consuming Fire.
Lord, please do one thing for me right now - reveal to me what is irrelevant, what does not have YOU, and give me the courage to cast it off without hesitation or regret. Give me a holy reverence for You and for Your Name - so that I may be of actual use to these people around me. Cause me to lift up Christ and nothing else, so that He may draw all men unto Himself, with me on the sideline cheering. Give me the eyesight that allows me to be willing to be the best man - not the groom - as Christ draws His bride in. May You increase as I decrease.
May Your Holy presence be so strong in our church that It consumes all the things that don't matter. Amen.
4 comments:
ok, so i gotta say that this is your best one yet man. this could not have applied more to my life right now. i want the hell out of my life and it seems like a constant battle in which i am always losing. this really hit home. thanks tom!
that was awesome. it is so much easier said than done though.there is so much hell in my life i don't even know where to start.
I agree with Dave - this was your best one yet, Tom. I have a lot of "hell" in my life as well. It's like my soul is starving - what I mean by this is that I don't know God in the proper way, and until I know God in the proper way, the appetites of my soul are not fulfilled. I want to be "fit" in my faith. The only way I can be fit is through daily devotions and time alone with God. Like going to the gym - you can't be physically fit unless you get exercise. My exercise in strengthening my faith is spending more time with God.
Good post Tom. I have to say though, I struggle with the whole concept of things - and more importantly people- not being "of God", or Got is not "with them". Maybe it is because I am drawn to these types of people, those with visible faults, in order to be comfortable with my own. But, I also like to think it is because we were all meant for something special. We are all 1st Round Draft Picks who just need some playing time to develop. You spelled it out quite well when you said, "there is an absence of God in the things that we do." This is so true. The things and actions that I do that are absent of God, in turn push me from Him. I feel, in addition to evaluating the things in my life that don't push me in the right direction, I also need to take a step back and evaluate why I am doing certain things. Because let's face it, certain things on the surface look fine and dandy, but sometimes we should look deeper, and start asking ourselves why we do what we do.
Thanks for the post.
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