I suspect that many of you are familiar with the scene in the movie, “The
Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy and her cowardly companions enter into the
ominous throne-room of “The great and powerful Oz”.
Perhaps one of my
favorite moments in the film is when the lion becomes so overcome by fear
that he runs down a long hallway and throws himself out of a window (if you
haven’t seen it, it is a comical not tragic scene….lest you think me to be
of cruel composition..).
The Bible provides us with descriptions of God’s throne-room but one
section of scripture in particular encourages us to come before God, not
cowering, but with confidence that the blood of Christ has made us
acceptable in His presence:
“16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews
4:16
Such passages conjure up imagery of what it would be like to come before
God. Such thoughts are not foreign to most people. Even non-believers will
tell you how they think things will go should they ever encounter God.
Recently I was reading in the book of Romans and a particular passage got me
thinking all over again about what I would say to God when in His presence.
The interesting thing is that the passage you are about to read gives us
some guidelines as to how we are to present ourselves to Him…while we are
still alive:
“12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should
obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of
unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For
sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under
grace.” – Romans 6: 12-14
How might we apply these verses in our daily lives? I want you to imagine
for a moment that you are faced with a temptation. You are struggling with
it…wavering….feeling like you might plunge yourself into sin. What could we
possibly say to God in such a moment?
May I suggest the following?
“Gracious Lord – I am struggling with this temptation. It has a hold on me.
It appears good to me but I know that it is not, yet I am having a hard time
turning away from it. But wait a minute Lord…I remember your Word and I
WILLNOT LET SIN REIGN IN MY BODY! I WILL NOT OBEY IT’S LUSTS! NO MY LORD,
INSTEAD I WILL PRESENT ALL THE MEMBERS OF MY BODY TO YOU AS INTRUMENTS OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS! FOR I AM ALIVE FROM THE DEAD FOR YOU HAVE MADE ME SO BY THE
BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST! SIN WILL NOT RULE OVER ME!….I AM NOT UNDER IT’S LAW
BUT UNDER THE GRACE EXTENDED TO ME BY JESUS CHRIST. So Lord, I will approach
your throne of grace with confidence that I may find help in my time of
need.”
Beloved, I am quite sure that that is a message we can bring to God over
and over again and He will never get tired of hearing it. We are not to be
passive in our fight against temptation. We are to put on the full armor God
has given us and go in swinging! One of those pieces of armor is the Word of
God. Let us wield it with passion and purpose. Let us keep it close by our
side so we are ready for battle. Let us never look past what God has done
for us at Calvary.
WE ARE ALIVE FROM THE DEAD. WE ARE ALIVE FROM THE DEAD. WE ARE ALIVE FROM
THE DEAD!
For Him,
Rob