“And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity, but he who endures to the end will be saved.” Mt 24:12-13 AMP
What is it that we as the Body of Christ are to endure in? Love. Love for God. This is love that first looks to Jesus and loves Him and will keep His word as He asks (obey His teaching) Jn 14:23.
Anyone who does not really love Him will not obey His teaching (Jn 14:24).
Truly, this is the crisis that the Body of Christ faces today. We must learn to prefer obedience to Christ over our own opinion and preference. Because we continue to exercise our perception and opinion, rather than obedience, we remain in the realm of the flesh instead of operating in the spirit.
The story of Noah and his three sons gives great clarity to this need of the body…
After the flood, Noah plants a vineyard and harvests grapes to make wine. It happens that his youngest son, Ham, finds him uncovered in his tent.
It is Ham’s flesh which delights in reporting on Noah’s sin. Yes, even though Noah was God’s authority at this time, he had a failure here. He got drunk and was uncovered. Ham makes use of that to point out his father’s failure.
But Ham fails even before then to regard the dignity of God’s authority. His obedience has been half-hearted up till now, and the one who is insubordinate in heart will always expect authority to fail.
It is the flesh of man still operating that delights in finding the failure of authority. But Shem and Japheth act with love, as they go and cover their father even walking backwards so as not to look upon his failure.
What can we learn from this concerning love? Love is not just an emotional condition, it is a spiritual choice that causes me to act in concert with obedience to Jesus.
Is it that by my love I am condoning sin? No. Noah’s sin had already happened. In covering their father, the issue was not of condoning. it was continuing to give a place of dignity to the authority of God. And most importantly, it was Shem and Japheth operating according to God’s principal of love rather than rebellion.
Here is the vital point that we often miss. When we are only half-hearted ourselves in our obedience to God, another’s sin can provide a necessary catalyst to expose our own half-heartedness and even insubordinate heart, thus bringing before us our own need for forgiveness and repentance.
Sin and imperfection are apart of our lives as long as we live in tents of flesh. But we show ourselves to be God’s children when we choose His way of covering sin in love rather than our own way of declaring another’s failing.
Somehow, we fear that to cover with love allows the other party to get away with the sin. But this is the enemy’s tactic to get us to operate out of our flesh and in the principle of rebellion and insubordination.
God does not need our trumpeting of another’s failure. He desires our obedience to His word and the demonstration of our love for Him that supersedes even our own opinion and flesh.
As He has covered us so graciously and undeservedly, who are we to uncover another?
Now, the ramifications of this are most poignant for these end times…
The Lord is preparing His Body to be His Bride, but we in the Body are often finding out our brother’s sin and lifting it up to scrutiny to the world. Where is our obedience in that? Do we think the Lord doesn’t know of the spots and blemishes still on His Bride?
But recovery comes as the Body pulls together in Love and fights against the enemy’s plan! Beloved! We cannot win this battle in the enemy’s tactics or nature. We win when we walk in the spirit and nature and obedience of the One Who has redeemed us!!!
Today, the need is more dire than ever before for us to begin a strategy under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to intercede for the Body at large in love and travail – for otherwise we will devour each other as the enemy desires.
It is time to have our own hearts purified of our divided opinions and interests. It is only God’s opinion and interests that matter. We must confess our lack of confidence in His ways and plans, and fully cast our hearts on His altar of love so that we too will become fully clothed and operating as one in the spirit.
It is time to put off …
“Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion …” Eph 4:22
It is not that Jesus needs to hear our findings on other’s failures. It is that He desires to see us choosing His nature and provision over that of our own. It is this way that is obedient. It is this way that ushers in the victory and the Kingdom of God.
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