Commission

Deuteronomy 27:26 ESV

’Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Going by the track early in the morning, I turn and there they are, young men dressed in shorts and helmets. Suddenly I am taken back with vivid clarity, as if suddenly taking a ride on Well’s Time Machine. Remembering the workouts and the coaches. The heavy dew waiting, waiting for the moment you were commanded to sit to stretch. One specific lesson stands out above the rest, commission. Coach would go on and on about it. He would signal men out who chose the sin of omission rather than that of commission. He was always looking and desiring men that if they were going to do something wrong let it be because they were DOING something. Yes, he would rather you always do it right but knowing sin would happen he would rather you be aggressive in committing it!

Perhaps this lesson clings to me, simply because it is a tremendous struggle. Fearing to doing of something wrong I choose to do nothing instead. It is a constant reminder of my weakness and my failures. Yet, even in this the reality of God’s law points the finger with a firmer and heavier hand. God would have the entire nation of Israel stand and recite the curses of the law. The last is pointed. ‘Cursed be ANYONE who does not confirm the law by DOING them.’ God has set the standard not at verbal accent, nor at intellectual affirmation, but rather at doing! He desires his people to be a people who are doing. He is not lessoning doctrine, nor does he belittle the preaching of his word. But this specific curse is set before us to remind us that we must, as James says, “show our faith by our works”. Call it momentum verse inertia if you will, but God recognizes that sin is in inertia as much as it is in momentum.

The Apostle Paul is an interesting example of this. God did not choose Gamaliel, his teacher, who took and indifferent approach, a wait and see strategy, but rather he called Paul. Paul who was going ninety miles an hour in the wrong direction. Paul who was chief among sinners. Christ speaks to his church in Laodicea telling them “would that you were either cold or hot!... because you are lukewarm…I will spit you out…”(Revelation 3:15,16). Christ desires those who pursue him with passion and vigor even if they make messes and need cleaned up after.

Let us not join with the sluggard, but let us join with the saints of God. Let us seek and pursue our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us rejoice in the knowledge that no matter how bad we screw up, “for those who love God all things work together for good.” Praise God, weather I succeed or fail in my  current endeavor, God is glorified! Win, win!

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO