The Book That Bares Our Souls!

 

A "cover-up" is an attempt to prevent people from discovering the truth about a serious crime, mistake, or sin. But the truth has a way of eventually coming to light. Like a robbery suspect who couldn’t help himself in a line-up. When detectives asked each man lined up to repeat the words, "Give me all your money or I’ll shoot," the guilty man shouted, "That’s not what I said!" While it’s sometimes difficult to always know the truth about others, Rita Rudner reminds us it’s pretty hard to hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves. She said, "I work for myself, which is fun. Except for when I call in sick – I know I’m lying." Is there something you know about yourself that you don’t like? Are you attempting to keep something secret about your life that makes you miserable? Have you lied to a friend, held out on the IRS, stolen from a neighbor, cheated an employer or employee, been sexually unfaithful to a wife or husband, mate, etc.? History books are peppered with examples of people ranging from average, everyday citizens to presidents, preachers, policemen, teachers, and CEO’s of huge corporations who did something slimy and sinful and depraved and then sought to hide their actions. Of course, there are criminals who lie and cheat and rape and rob and even murder who think they "got away" with it. And sometimes they succeed in covering it up, at least for awhile. But cover-ups are hard to keep covered up forever. To borrow a 3,400 year old phrase in the Bible from Numbers 32:23, "be sure your sin will find you out." Note now, not that your sin will always be found out, but be sure it will eventually find you out, even if that moment doesn’t come until "the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (Romans 2:16).

 Cover-ups are not new. Adam and Eve attempted one in the Garden of Eden, but it didn’t work(see Genesis 3). After they did what God said don’t do, they were ashamed and afraid and did what a lot of us do when we do wrong and are afraid and ashamed – they covered their heretofore naked bodies with fig leaves and hopelessly sought to hide from God. When God called them to account, they tried to play the "blame game." But God didn’t buy that either. Other memorable attempts to hide something in the Bible are the accounts of Achan (Joshua 6-7), David (2 Samuel 11-12), Jonah (Jonah 1), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). The narratives all send the same message – God sees through our flimsy and futile attempts to hide from Him! In our modern age of medical marvels, doctors and medical professionals can send a scope through our mouths, up our noses, down our throats (and through a couple of other places) to see deep into our bodies. These scopes and imaging devices bare the inside of our throats, brains, bladders, stomachs, and intestines to health experts. But long before these devices bared human bodies to doctors, human souls have been bare before God. He "sees through us." Hebrews 4:12-13 declares that God’s word bares our souls – "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." That thought either thrills or chills, depending on the nature of our thoughts, motives, deeds, and whether or not we are in Christ. The naked truth is cover-ups never fool God. He sees past all our attempts to hide who and what we really are. The Bible is truly the book that lays our souls bare.

     by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Hanging With Jesus!

 You may want to "hang" me after your read the next sentences. I warn you ahead of time I am going to be "hung up" on the word "hang" for a few moments. Like many other words in the English language, the word "hang" can have several different meanings according to context and usage. In days gone by to "hang" somebody meant to kill them by tying a rope attached from above around the neck and removing the support from beneath. When used as a form of capital punishment people referred to it as " a hanging." But to "hang" does not necessarily refer to putting to death. We "hang" clothes in the closet, pictures on the wall, hats on a peg or even a nail. Then, some people identify where they reside as the place where "I hang my hat." To "hang up" commonly means to end a phone conversation. But wait – to be "hung up" on something is to be extremely interested in or worried about or preoccupied with it. A jury can be "hung" meaning that they are unable to agree on a verdict. Ever found yourself "hung up" in traffic on the interstate? Then there is the slang usage of "hang" as in "hanging with" or perhaps "hang out with." According to the Online Slang Dictionary this use of "hang" is a verb and means "to relax, usually with friends; to chill." The parallel to this verb is the noun "hang" which means "a place at which one relaxes, as in, "Come see our new hang?" If you are older, you might better recognize this usage as a "hangout."

 Let us shift directions. When Jesus was crucified, Luke 23:32-33 tells us, "There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left" (Matthew 27:38 calls the criminals "robbers"). Luke 23:39-43 relates an astonishing conversation between the three men as they suffered on their crosses. "One of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save yourself and us’ " (vs 39). Matthew 27:44 relates both robbers had earlier reviled the Lord. But now, one robber, clearly undergoing a change of heart, defended Jesus, rebuking the other criminal, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing we are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong" (vs 40). Both criminals were "hanging" with Jesus on their own cross. But one was "hanging" with Jesus in far more than a physical way. Even as he inches toward certain death on his cross, this desperate criminal clearly knows enough about Christ to believe there is hope beyond death. Desperately he pleads in vs 41, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." We don’t have space to consider all that he had in mind. But something mind- boggling happened that day – Jesus promised that penitent criminal in vs 43, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Whoa – who’d have thunk it?! Where would you have thought that thief would end up judging from appearances at the cross? Christ had power on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6), and He clearly forgave this thief before he died and took him to Paradise later that day! Careful now – this side of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ you and I must exercise faith and obey the gospel in order to receive forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 2:8-9 * Hebrews 5:9 * Mark 16:15-16 *Acts 2:38; 22:16). All that being said, let us "hang" our hopes on Jesus. If He could and would save a penitent thief who hung with Him in death, surely He will save you and me if we hang with Him in life! Hallelujah! Hang with Jesus!

    by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN