We Are Being Watched

I grew up in an age of "science fiction". As a young boy, I was ready to believe that we humans, on planet Earth, were being watched by alien creatures from a far-distant planet. Thankfully, I did "grow up", and no longer accept that proposition!

However, I have come to realise that I am "being watched"! Not by extra-terrestial beings, but by people all around me! What are they looking for? I suspect that they are looking for what we used to refer to as "integrity"! It's a word I don't hear very often these days. So what is it?

Integrity is a high standard of living based on a personal code of morality that doesn't succumb to the whim of the moment or the dictates of the majority. Integrity is to personal character what health is to the body, or 20/20 vision is to the eyes. People of integrity are whole; their lives are put together. People with integrity have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. Their lives are open books. They say to a watching world, "Go ahead and look. My behavior will match my beliefs. My walk will match my talk. My character will match my confession."

Integrity is not reputation - what others think of us. It is not success - what we have accomplished. Integrity embodies the sum total of our being and our actions. It originates in who we are as believers in Jesus Christ - accepted, valued, capable, and forgiven - but it expresses itself in the way we live and behave, no matter whether we are in church on Sunday or at work on Monday or in a lonely hotel room on Tuesday or suffering in a hospital bed on Thursday.

Unfortunately, as I have suggested above, integrity is in short supply and seems to be diminishing everyday. All too frequently our integrity is discarded upon the altar of fame, or fortune, or political opportunism. Sadly, what we want to achieve is more important than what we are to be. Integrity is lost when we focus on expedience  more than excellence, on progress more than purity, on riches more than righteousness.

People are watching. They watch to see if our behaviour matches our belief, if our walk matches our talk, and if our character matches our confession. In a word, they watch to see if we have integrity.

Solomon wrote: "He who walks in integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out." (Proverbs 10:9).

How secure is your walk? How secure is mine? Others are watching!

The Ultimate Physician

Covid-19 notwithstanding, 21st-century medical science is amazing! Physicians are able to cure many illnesses, both mental and physical; surgeons can perform surgery that, even a few decades ago, would have been considered impossible; therapists can assist in recovery using equipment that can sometimes appear to have been developed by science fiction aficionados. However, only the Lord Jesus can bring about the healing that makes 'bad' people 'good'! 

My former Professor of New Testament at the University of Glasgow, the Rev. Dr. William Barclay, tells of a conversation he had with a noted psychiatrist - and one who recognised his own limitations! "All that a psychiatrist can do," said the doctor, "is strip a man naked until you get to the essential man; and if the essential man is bad stuff, there's nothing you can do about it. That's where you come in!" Prof. Barclay later commented: "I think that he meant that this is where Jesus comes in!"

In Luke's account of the Gospel record, he shares the situation regarding a man named Zacchaeus.  You may read the story in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was a 'bad' man who needed, not medication, or surgery, or therapy, but inner healing. He was, Luke tells us that "... he was a chief tax collector, and rich." (Luke 19:2). This latter fact is not surprising since, as a chief tax collector, he was able to 'take a cut' from what his subordinates had collected - always more than what the Roman authorities demanded! He was, indeed, a very wealthy man!

However, he appears to have heard about this wandering Teacher, Jesus of Nazareth and, for whatever reason, he wanted to see him. Unfortunately for Zacchaeus, he was a man of great wealth, but small stature. He wasn't the only person in Jericho who wished to see Jesus! Now, if he had been a butcher, a baker, or a pottery maker, people would gladly have ushered him to the front of the crowd. But a tax collector - a chief tax collector?! No way! What was Zacchaeus to do?! 

He did something that must have raised quite a few eyebrows! He climbed a conveniently-situated sycamore tree! To help us to realise what this meant, think of your local Provost, or Mayor, in full ceremonial robes, doing the same thing! To most people, it would probably be quite shocking! But, in this situation, not to Jesus!  He stopped, just under the tree; looked up, and said: "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." (Luke 19:5). Zacchaeus hurried back down to the ground - as quickly as his flowing robe allowed him! - and Jesus went to his house.

This, to the crowd, was an even bigger shock than seeing Zacchaeus climb the tree! Luke writes: "And when they saw it they all murmured, «He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.»" (Luke 19:7). Zacchaus was a very happy man - or was he? 

I suspect that he was, in fact, overwhelmed with guilt when Jesus looked up and told him that He was coming to his house. Jesus had reached into what that psychiatrist had referred to as "the essential man" - what Zacchaeus really was, stripped of his fine clothes; his luxurious (by contemporary standards) home; his great wealth. The evidence for this is that, as the day progressed, he "... stood and said to the Lord, «Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.»". (Luke 19:8).  That was a sign of true repentance, and a willingness to make full reparation. So, Luke's record ends: "And Jesus said to him, «Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.»" (Luke 19:9-10).

"Today salvation has come to this house, ..." As Jesus spoke those words, Zacchaeus was spiritually healed. Only the Ultimate Physician can do that. And what He did for Zacchaeus, He can, and will, do for you. You may not have the same wealth that Zacchaeus had. You may not exercise the greed that he had exercised. But, like him - and like me! - you are a sinner in the sight of Almighty God. That is the essence of your being. It's in your DNA. The Psalmist-king David penned these words: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps. 51:5). That is not making a comment on the act of sexual intercourse between a husband and wife in a Biblical marital relationship! It is merely making the point that, from the moment of my conception, I have been a sinner!

Are you aware of your sinfulness? Are you experiencing guilt? That is because God the Holy Spirit is working in your life. Yield to His prompting, and allow the Ultimate Physician to perform His amazing surgery of the soul.  It will be for your eternal good; and to His eternal glory.

 

Making up!

It may surprise some folk, but not all of my reading is Biblical or theological. Indeed, I enjoy a good novel as much as anyone and, with a Kindle, I can now read almost anywhere! Last week I read a series of books from one of my favourite genres: Science Fiction. Like most such books, there was much more of the "fiction" than there was of the "science". However, as long as one takes everything with the proverbial "pinch of salt", there should be no harm done.

My reason for mentioning all of that is that the story I read last week actually started me thinking along theological lines! Without trying to provide a synopsis of a four-volume tale, there was one woman, named Deirdre, who had been responsible for a terrible catastrophe that had struck mankind. She was now experiencing great guilt, and was seeking some way by which she might make up to the survivors for what she had done. In theological terms, she was seeking atonement. Sadly, she was unable to do so. Nothing was sufficient to enable her to make up for, to atone for, her terrible deed.

The English-language word "atonement" provides its own definition: "at-one-ment"! Atonement refers to the 'coming together' of God and man. Our sin has created a barrier between us and our loving Creator. Atonement has to do with the breaking down of that barrier. It has to do with reconciliation. So Paul writes that the Father “… through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (II Cor.5:18-19).

At the beginning, of course, there was a close relationship between Father God and the humans He had created - so much so that He walked with them in the beautiful garden in which He had placed this first couple. However, as we read in Gen.3, the serpent deceived the humans, and sin entered the fresh, new world. The close relationship between the Creator and the crown of His creation, was broken - and there was nothing that man could do about it.

In his latest book (A.S.K.) David Robertson writes: "When we do something wrong against a friend or someone in our family, I guess we can make up for it – we can atone for it. I once kicked a ball through a window – and I atoned for it by paying for the glass to be replaced. But when we sin against a pure and holy God, it’s not just a small matter…and it's nothing we can atone for." (ch.17: Forgiveness)

Praise God, He could do something - and He did! He established a ritual of animal sacrifice as "... without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." (Heb.9:22). You may read all about that in the book of Leviticus. That system led, in time, to a unique sacrifice by which full restoration might be accomplished.  It was in the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, that atonement was fully realised.  It was as He gave Himself, willingly, in fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies, that reconciliation was made.

One of the old hymns that I love begins: "Not all the blood of beasts, on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace, or wash away one stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, took all our sins away; a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they." (Isaac Watts). As I type these words I am listening to a more modern song that proclaims the wonderful truth that "My sins, they are many; His mercy is more."!

Like Deirdre in the story, I can never, however hard I may try, make atonement for my sins. Praise God that He loves me enough that, in the Persona of the Son, He paid the price. It was in the unique sacrifice of the Lord Jesus that restoration was accomplished.  It is in Him that Father God is able to again have a loving relationship with you and with me.  In His humanity, He bore the punishment that we deserved; in His deity, He provided the perfection that alone could satisfy the righteous wrath of the Holy One. "He paid a debt He did not owe, because I owed a debt I could not pay."

Have you responded, positively, to that amazing grace? Have you accepted the reconciliation that was gained for you at Calvary? Are you "at one" with Father God? The offer is there and, as soon as you accept it, you will enter into that new relationship with your Creator that will last throughout eternity. 

[There is a full chapter on the word "atonement" in my first book: "Great Words of the Faith", which I recommend to you (as well as the other two currently available!). Remember that I have no hesitation in promoting these books because (a) I think that they are well worth having (or giving to a friend!) and (b) ALL royalties go directly to the bank account of Release International, in support of the persecuted church. Links available to both paperback and Kindle versions, at the top of the page.]