me."
Can we honestly say what the Psalmist David said in this verse? When we pray a prayer
like this, we are giving the Lord free reign to do what must be done to clean our hearts and
renew that right spirit within us. This should be our daily prayer, must many of us shy away
from taking this step of complete commitment to the Master. To be renewed, refined is not
a pleasant thing. The old dross has to be taken away. The way this is done is through the
fire. We learn patience through testing, learn to be compassionate through sorrow, humbling
comes through unpleasant experiences, faith is increased through trials. When we ask God
to make us more like Him, we can expect life to take us in a new direction.
As God begins to shape us into the vessel that He can use for His glory, we will come face
to face to the wretchedness of our hearts. Our flaws will become more apparent to us and
be a constant reminder of how much we need the Lord's forgiveness and cleansing each
day.
Psalms 51:1 - 3 "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness:
according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me."
The prophet Jeremiah was known as the "Weeping Prophet." He spent years preaching
repentance to the Children of Israel. His weeping and pleading fell on deaf ears. His
heart was broken over the unrepentance that he sees in the land. He weeps over the sin
and cannot be comforted.
How does sin affect us? Do we run from it, abhor it, or do we tolerate it as something
that we have to live with? I received a call from my son today which made me very proud.
He had started a new job a couple of weeks ago. Initially it had sounded great, but once
there he was surrounded with foul language and told to lie to the customers to make sales.
He couldn't do it. He put God first, quit and God provided him his old job back. How do
we react to sin? It should affect us like it did Jeremiah, and we should take a stand against
it.
My Pastor has said many times that there are things we don't need to pray about. If it's
sin...don't; if it's right...do! It really can't get any more simple than that. Don't waste
the Lord's time asking if something is ok, if you know that the Bible takes a stand against
it. Is it ok to lie...no; is it ok to steal...no; is it ok to cheat...no; is it ok to curse...no.
Are you willing to take a stand against sin? It might cost you a job, friends, family. It is
always right to do right even if you're doing it alone.
Jeremiah 50:2 "...And set up a standard: publish, and conceal not:"
If we truly desire to be more like the Master, then we will gladly take a stand against sin,
in our lives, work place, amongst family and friends, and yes, even in the church. Satan
is deceitful, and sin can work it's way into the most unlikely places. We need to be on
guard. This doesn't mean that we spend our time in judgement of others! We have a full
time job keeping sin out of our own lives.
Matthew 7:3 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
How tender is your heart to the things of God? We have a tendency to harden our hearts
so that we don't have to deal with the things in our lives that are painful. Change is hard,
and really, who wants to look for more hard things to have to deal with in our lives. But
unconfessed sin is a poison to our souls. It spreads and will deaden our hearts even more
to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
We sit in church on Sundays and sing, "More Love To Thee O Christ," but don't mean it.
"Standing On The Promises" we sing without thinking on the words. What about other
hymns like, "Revive Us Again," "Living For Jesus," "I Would Be Like Jesus." We, our
families and churches would be completely different if we really meant the words that
so easily come out of our mouths. If people only sang what was really true in their lives
our churches would be very quiet!
How much of your life are you willing to consecrate to the Lord? He wants all of us.
It would be terribly hard to say to God, "You take this much, but I want this for me."
We are going to have to give an account to God some day of what we did for Him, of
how much we let Him control in our lives. Matthew 12: 36: 37 says, "But I say unto
you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in
the day of judgement. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned."
God wants all of us. Are you willing today to see the sin that you are holding unto for
what it is? This sin is keeping you from being wholly the Lords, it's ruining your
testimony and compromising your stand for God. Your sin breaks the Father's heart.
His Son died for the sin that you are stubbornly holding onto. Why don't you repent
of it, give it over to the Lord, forsake it and get on with living the consecrated life in
Christ that you were meant too.
Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon
him: and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
More like the Master I would ever be,
More of His meekness, more humility.
More zeal to labor, more courage to be true,
More consecration for work He bids me do.
More like the Master is my daily prayer,
More strength to carry crosses I must bear.
More earnest effort to bring His kingdom in,
More of His Spirit, the wanderer to win.
Take Thou my heart, I would be Thine alone;
Take Thou my heart, and make it all Thine own.
Purge me from sin, O Lord, I now implore;
Wash me and keep me, Thine forevermore.
Charles H. Gabriel
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