Out with the Old...

April 18, 2009

Danielle Joyner Kelley

“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” Proverbs 13:20.

Part of the struggle with accepting your new walk as a Christian is accepting God’s answer to things. We want His answer, we seek His answer, and we turn on Him if we think He is not answering quick enough.

Then when He does answer, we complain that we do not like what He says. But the success in staying on your walk with Him comes from accepting His answer and knowing that He has your best interests at heart.

When we start our walk with God, we want Him to change the things we do not like, but leave in place the things we feel comfortable with. We forget He can see the bigger picture, and what is good for us, even if it comes from removing what is comfortable in our lives. So while we expect everything to remain the same on the things we want to keep, God is planning big changes. Until you walk truly in Him chances are you have been doing everything wrong and building a house on sand.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27.

When you start to walk in a Godly way, not just accepting Him but walking that way and showing Him obedience, He will show you the same in return. And that includes not allowing you to build a house on sand. You asked Him to protect you, and He is, whether you like the answer or not. In the scripture above Jesus tells us that those who hear His words and “puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock”. That means you are walking in Him and not just running around and saying you have accepted Him. You are actually doing what He has said to do. And you are not one of those people that just, as the scripture said “hears” the words and says you are a Christian, but you are “putting them into practice”.

What does that mean? First, you know His word. You cannot put words into practice that you have not read. No matter how many times you have been to Church it does not mean you have read anything. Charles Stanley, for example, when he covers a scripture, makes people open their Bibles and read it. He does not just want to read it to them because then they have not read it. If you go out and quote a scripture that “you read” that means you actually read it and no one read it to you. My Pastor, even though the scriptures are up on a projection screen, wants us to bring our Bibles and read them with him.

Second, you are actually practicing what you read. If you have not even read it this won’t apply, but those who read it need to put it into practice. When you are practicing what you read, then guess what? You are walking in His word. You read it, and you are practicing (walking) it.

Easy way to remember? The famous phrase, “God helps those who help themselves.”

So what happens as a result of that you may not like but in the end you are being protected and He can see what is good for you. And you have to accept it. That is practicing what you preach right? That God loves you enough to know what is good for you? If you are not walking with Him but have accepted Him chances are you have told everyone else who has come to you for advice that He has their best interests at heart. If you treat yourself any different then you are being a hypocrite, and if you have read His word whatsoever, you will know that is not something He likes.

No matter if you were raised in the best environment to grow as a Christian or one that made you fear God and turn from Him, if you are coming to Him now it is not your past He will work on, it is your future.

And as soon as you start that walk, you will see Him pruning your tree. He will start to remove the branches that He knows will hurt your growth as a Christian. You are actually walking in Him with the plan on growing more and more. And He will make sure that happens even if He has to cut back to do it.

Another way to remember this? The famous phrase, “Out with the old and in with the new.”

God knows the hearts and motives of everyone. And even those you love the most in your life, He can see through, and knows how they will affect you in your growth as a Christian. “…serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” 1 Chronicles 28:9.

So expect your branches to get pruned when you start your walk. And He will move in extremely early in your walk to do so. If it did not happen that way you could not grow. If you want to walk truly in Him, and grow, then it would do no good for Him to keep watching the negative prevent your growth. He is a God of action. And He is a God of Truth. He follows His commandments.

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.” 2 Thessalonians 3:6.

If you start walking in Him, guess what that scripture means? You will be kept away from those who will in some way take you away from practicing His words. You read that and think, “Good, I don’t want to be around anyone who does not.” But you do not know man’s motives, He does. And if the closest person in the world to you who you would never expect to fit the scripture above, will harm you in that walk, then guess what? You are coming out from them whether you like it or not.

We spend so much time reaffirming each other even when we sin. For example, if you know a friend steals from his work do you tell him it was wrong? Or do you tell him that he had a right to do it because they don’t pay him enough for his work? Chances are we would say he had the right to do it. Even if someone else is wrong though, like his employer for not paying his worth, that does not give us the right to take the law into our own hands. The better thing to say is that your friend should not steal and pray that God helps him with the issue of his employer taking him for granted. The “Thou shall not steal” in the Ten Commandments does not have a phrase after it that says “unless you think they stole from you”. It is His law remember. You don’t get to write your own. His word is His word whether you like it or not and whether you want to twist it to cater it others it does not change.

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14.

When we read this, we think either that we don’t know any unbelievers cause everyone says they are a Christian that we are friends with or that unbelievers are the ones that have denied God. Big mistake. That is not what an unbeliever is. If you are not practicing God’s word then you are telling Him it does not work for you. If you are not reading His word, then you are telling Him you don’t have the time and you don’t really need His help anyway. You are not “believing” He can help you then. Now has your perspective changed? It is not someone who just denies Christ. It is someone acting contrary to His word that will not help themselves and that will bring you down with them. “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” Romans 16:17.

Being “yoked” means you take up their burden and walk with that person. Think of two oxen plowing the field “yoked” together. So you are not to take on the burden of someone else who is not trusting God to handle it. Why? Because you are not God and only God should be the one they are coming to bear their burden. If they are walking in God then chances are you will be sent to that person to help them handle their “yoke”, and you will bear the burden with them. That is when God wants you to instruct them and guide them because you will be “yoked” together with a believer. And they should listen. But they need to listen to His instruction first.

Jesus told us all that he came to save sinners and not the righteous. And Jesus was the most forgiving, beautiful person that ever walked the Earth. But you have a Savior, you are not a Savior. You are to forgive, or He will not forgive you. That does not mean that you are to fall off of your walk with God by allowing others to lead you into sin. Sin sounds scary but remember “sin” means to “miss the mark”, and that means all you have to do is mess up. Doesn’t sound intentional does it? But Jesus would not have had to die if we had not sinned. And we have to look at scripture as a whole. We are not allowed to isolate individual parts to further our beliefs. There are not 66 books out there for us to read separately. They are combined into one book that is living and active: The Bible.

Jesus did not excuse behavior and say that it did not matter. The Pharisees behavior was not excused by Him. The term “Woe to you…” is not a term used when you are doing something right. He called them out for what they did wrong. And when a sinner came to Him and sought forgiveness He not only gave it to them, but He said, "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:11. That means “leave” sin. Don’t do it again. You know better now because you know what you did was a sin. And if God knows someone is repeatedly going to lead you into sin, then go ahead and tell them goodbye. No, you do not get to be harsh and judgmental with them either. Then you are sinning as well. You are to allow Him to do what He is doing in your life to protect you and deal with it in a Godly way. That usually means don’t say anything, just accept it. You are to forgive them, pray for them, but not sell your own soul to them either. You are also His child, just as they are, and He wants you with Him, just as He does them.

He does not want anything negative to cause you to fall. “A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.” Proverbs 16:28. He wants to preserve your Christian character. “Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 1 Corinthians 15:33.

He will be careful with whom He keeps in your new life and He will take out those who will cause you harm in the end. He wants us to be cautious in who we chose while keeping in our walk as well. “A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 12:26. His standards are so high that lust is considered adultery, and hatred is considered murder. Think about that. Your standards need to be high as well. Although we will never be like Him, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40. Start aiming higher.

He will place you with people you can grow with because they are walking, changing, and trusting in Him just as you are. And remember He knows the motives. He knows if your friend, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, or anyone else is really walking in Him or repeatedly going against what He has told them not to do. He knows if they are only in love with themselves and their own problems. He knows whether or not they really care about you or are just obsessed with their own life. Those are the exact people He will not let you turn to in your future problems because they will only talk about themselves, not Him, and definitely not you.

When He pulls you out of their life, watch how much it hurts you and how little it hurts them. That is because when you are walking in Him, you have given your mind, spirit and heart over to someone else, and they have not. They are walking around with the only person that truly has all their time and attention: them. So when you hurt and think of them and they don’t care about you, don’t say, “We were so close, I don’t get it” or “I devoted so much time why did this happen”. Saying this does not mean you are condemning them or judging them, but it means that you were both walking out of step with God, and He has pulled one of you away for that reason. Although that may hurt you, pat yourself on the back. You did what God would want you to do. You were loving, selfless, and caring. And HE is the only one you are worried about in your new walk. Not anyone else. The one that is worried about Him is the one walking in Him. And know that you are hurting because the Holy Spirit is telling you that what you are feeling is hurtful and not right. Do not expect God not to step in then and remove those that are hurting you. Although the other person may feel hurt because they are feeling judged, remember that them feeling judged by you is still about “them” not you and not God. They should be worried about God judging them, not what you think. And you can act self-righteous all you want and tell everyone how you cannot believe you are being judged, but God knows who you are worried about pleasing and making happy, long before you do. Who are you worried about judging you? The person you are upset with or God?

And go to Him with those feelings. Don’t depend on everyone else to tell you how right you are and how wrong they are. People will let you down, and unless they are walking in Him too, they will give you a misinterpretation of the truth because they don’t know what is true unless they are walking in Him. So they have no other choice. They only know what they have allowed themselves to know and limited themselves in the meantime. Remember He needs to be the first One you come to because He is the One you have given your life to and agreed to walk in. It is not just an agreement of when it benefits you and what is convenient for you. Walking in Him means you accept that He knows what He is doing. And He knows the truth, He is the truth you cannot fool or conceal anything from God. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

Yes, God will set new boundaries, and even though they may hurt, they are for your protection. He sees your eternal destiny, and wants you with Him. He will do everything He can to keep you on that walk.

And He will replace the old with the new. He will take away those likely to hurt your walk, but if He does do you think He will not replace them with those likely to support you and keep you on it? Of course He would. His goal is to keep you with Him. He wants you with those who will lift you up and that is why He took away the old, and that is why He will bring the new. If He did not, He knows you are likely to turn back and backslide from everything positive you are doing. So your new life will include new people as well.

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17. That is His word remember, and He holds to it. So your new relationships will be “in him”, and that way the future won’t hurt because they will hold together. If the old comes back to you then it needs to be “in him” this time. Your outlook needs to be, “I am not to trust man and that includes you because you do not hold my future in your hands, He does.” Remember He is your number one focus, and you will find yourself setting new boundaries in your future. You will not settle for a relationship that is not “in him” because you know He has your best interest at heart and anything less can cause you a lot of pain.

Your new advice giver? Him. Your new friend maker? Him. Your new success? Him. Your new plans? With Him, and everlasting. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Proverbs 15:22.

You will be surrounded by those who help you grow as a Christian. And you will look at those relationships and walk away loving Him for helping you to become wiser through them, and helping you to love Him even more and see His will even more because of them. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17.

Understanding His word is not always easy, but it is not to condemn someone else, it is to change yourself. And stating His word is not always pleasant in public, but His word is living and true, and you cannot change it. Just remember if you feel defensive over what is being said to you regarding His word, then the Holy Spirit is at work within you, and instead of bashing others, acknowledge that and let Him work to change you for the better. And His word is His word, and I have to live through it too. I have learned never to get mad at the shining light aiming towards me even if it makes me face things I do not want to because it is a light. At least it is not darkness. Let me face it here so I don’t have to face it after my death. Saying “I should have listened…” then isn’t going to do you much good. You will see every past experience put in front of you and told, “See here, I showed you there not to hurt this person.” For those of us who have felt the Holy Spirit here on Earth, which is only a fraction of His total presence in the afterlife, we cannot imagine having to face that in His total presence. You will be overwhelmed to the point of fainting at His glory and wonder, and you will have to face what you have done. Therefore your amount of shame in that situation will be just as overwhelming.

You will fall in your walk at times, but you are getting back up and trying and you need to expect God to remove the obstacles that are causing those falls.

No matter what or whom you lose, it is absolutely worth it. In whatever you lose, you will gain with God behind the driver’s seat. He will see to it.

And whether I liked the ride there or not, I am still glad I am not driving because my driver does not drive ignoring me or forgetting I am sitting there. He is holding me and not just expecting me to sit there. He reaches over to hug me and explain to me the map.

After that compassion, no one else will drive my car again, and especially not me.