A God of Absolutes.

Over a number of years, I have developed the habit of weighing myself every Friday morning - just to keep a careful eye on my weight! However, I have discovered that our bathroom scales play a trick! When I first step on to them, they register a certain weight. However, if I then step off, and back on again, I amazingly lose a couple of pounds in the process! Neither dieting nor exercise required!! Regretfully, repeating the action doesn't lose me another couple of pounds! Now one of those readings must, surely, be false. However, needless to say, I judge my 'progress' by the lower reading!

We live in an age in which many people believe that there are no absolutes! Self-serving behaviour, it would appear, is the order of the day, and tramples the moral law given for the protection of society. Our contemporary culture prides itself on 'freedom' - that is actually bondage to sin. I am, allegedly, "free" to do what I want; to believe what I want; to be what I want. However, the truth is that I am going to conform to something outwith myself - in many cases, the latest fashion or fad! 

In some educational establishments, for example, the concept of a school uniform appears to be unknown. Pupils may wear what they wish, provided that it does not cause unnecessary offence! However, as one drives past such schools, one often observes that the pupils are all dressed in the same way! They may not be wearing a school-sanctioned uniform - but they tend to be dressed uniformly!

Paul writes to the early disciples of Jesus in Rome: "Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Rom 6:16-18. In other words, whether we admit it, or not, we are subject to that which effectively controls our actions!

Almighty God is the God of absolutes. His scales never give a false reading. With Him, a pound is a pound; a kilogram is a kilogram; right is right; wrong is wrong. He says "... I, YHWH, do not change;" (Mal 3:6). The writer of the Letter to Hebrew disciples of Jesus, states that "Jesus, the Christ, is the same yesterday and today and for ever." (Heb. 13:8). This means that what He has declared to be sin, is sin - regardless of what humanity may otherwise decide! His Word is true, and eternal.

For those of us who are His disciples, this assurance is a source of great strength. We gain confidence in the face of difficulty, and anticipate the fulfilment of every divine promise, and prophecy. I am nearing the end of my current reading of the Book of Daniel in my personal devotions. I am now working my way through ch.11, and am amazed at the accuracy of prophecy that any student of history can confirm as having taken place. This, of course, encourages me that those prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled, will be - in His perfect timing!

If Almighty God were easily moved by every whim or notion, our eternal destiny would be in constant jeopardy. But, because He is the Unchanging One, we may be absolutely certain that His promise is true, that He "... so loved the world that He (the Father) gave His (the Father's) only Son, that whoever believes in Him (the Son) should not perish but have (here, and now) eternal life." (John 3:16; emphases added). 

Have you taken Him at His word?!

How do you identify?

Not everyone may be aware that even a uniformed police officer, if requested, is obliged to identify him/herself by displaying his/her Warrant Card.  The uniform, itself, is insufficient.  This is quite understandable.  After all, I can go to any major Fancy Dress Outfitter and hire a 'uniform' that will deceive all but the sharpest-eyed member of the general public.  Indeed, there was a case in (I think!) Aberdeen not so very long ago in which a male dancer who wore just such a uniform was arrested for the serious offence of impersonating a police officer.  He was, eventually, acquitted, but it was because his 'uniform' was so close to the real thing that he was charged with the offence in the first place.

Of course masquerading as someone else is not confined to people wearing a particular uniform - be it a police officer, a nurse, or whatever.  There are, sadly, all too many who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ who might be said to be in a similar boat!  They regularly attend a worship service.  They have a Bible prominently displayed in their homes.  They use all of the appropriate jargon when speaking with others who make the same claim.  But it's all a false uniform; a charade; blatant hypocrisy.

Only a Warrant Card can assure me that the person in uniform who may be asking me where I am going; what I am doing; or for personal details; is the genuine article.  So what is the "Warrant Card" for the genuine disciple of Jesus? 

May I suggest that Peter sums it up nicely in his first letter to the early church?  In what we now refer to as ch.1 and vs.15-16, he writes "... as He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"(RSV).  And 'holy' does not refer to being "unusually good", but to being different.

Words, you see, are cheap.  My vocal cords work well; I have a good command of the English language; and so I am able to say anything, make any claim.  But merely saying that I am a film star doesn't make me one.  A very short time watching me would soon convince anyone that such a claim was false!

So, if I claim to be a follower of Jesus, don't just take my word for it - that's like accepting a uniform at face value!  Watch me; listen to me; see if there is anything different about me that marks me out as His.  That's my spiritual Warrant Card - and the only real proof that my claim is valid; that I'm the genuine article!