Character and Authority

Everyone has made mistakes. Everyone has sinned. There was and is no human being, except Jesus, who is without sin. John emphasized this in 1 John 1:8, when he said: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” That is heavy language, but it is what it is. I'd rather spend my life believing the Truth, than wasting it believing a lie. Since we don't want to have sin in our lives, we need to know what it is that is producing these sins.

Basically Jesus is teaching us two important lessons here. First of all, it is our heart that produces sins in our lives. It is our heart that is the opposite of everything God stands for. That needs to change. We all know that. If the heart remains unchanged, it will remain producing sins in our lives. Since Jesus was very aware of this problem, He did not leave us alone when He left the earth. He has sent us the Helper, the Comforter: the Holy Spirit.

God makes sons, not slaves

It is the Holy Spirit Who will help you the change your heart. But at the same time He will only go as far as we let Him. We have to realize that it is satan who makes slaves. God makes sons. That means that He will always give us a free choice and that He will never force Himself into our lives. We must continuously choose to let Him proceed and to follow His lead. Only then the process of change will continue in our hearts.

How can we know the condition of the heart? That is the second lesson Jesus taught in Matthew 15: “those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart”. So we can test the condition of the heart by listening to what proceeds from the mouth. That is not something we say once or twice, but the sayings that keep returning. Everyone now and then says stuff they regret. It is not only about what we say or do wrong, it is also about how we respond to that. Do we let it be, or do we allow the Holy Spirit to convince us of sin and do we act accordingly?

The Truth sets us free

We are all born into a world of lies. I really don't have any other way to describe it. The longer I live, which at this moment is only 35 years, the more I realize the lies we all believe in. Lies about God, about Who He is, lies about ourselves and about who we are, lies about our actions etc. Those lies are keeping us at the place where we are. It is only the Truth that can set us free. And that brings us back to the knowledge of the Word of God.

It takes character to admit that we're wrong. It takes character to humble ourselves and to lay aside all of our feelings of pride. It takes character to admit that we know nothing of our own and that we are depended on God. It takes character not to judge until the Truth is revealed by God. I'm not saying these are easy things. That's why it takes character. And character is built by following the lead of the Master. By allowing Him to change us, even when it hurts and feels very uncomfortable. That is a price we have to pay in order to grow in character.

By allowing Him to work in us and through us, the process of change will continue. It also means that we learn to abide in His Word. That is more than just knowledge. It is asking, searching and knocking until we know exactly what He means, until He opens our eyes for what He says and why He said it. A huge part of understanding comes forth from knowing the motivation and intentions behind it. People can tell you, but you will only be able to truly understand when He reveals it to you.

From revelation to authority

The secret things that are revealed are no longer a secret for us. It also can't be made a secret again. Once we know it, it is ours forever. From that moment we have gained authority. From that moment satan can no longer deceive us on that area, because from that moment we know to recognize the lie and to expose it with the revealed Truth. That is power.