Guard Your Gates - Fraud or Freedom?
For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord - who is the Spirit - makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. -- 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NLT)
Sometimes I get my deepest insights from God while I'm doing mundane things, like cleaning the bathroom, washing dishes, or unloading the dryer. Truly. And just this past week, I heard a phrase in my heart: "There is holiness in the mundane." I felt that God was reminding me of His love for me, that He is always with me, not just on the mountain peaks of a spectacular conference but also in the valleys of heartache or even the simplicity of laundry day. And more than that, how He treasures my relationship with Him!
I sensed that this Scripture, 2 Corinthians 3, illustrates how God alerts us to the veil of darkness that we experience living in this fallen world. God desires that we learn to guard our gates - our eyes, our ears, and our mind. As we stumble around in the darkness of unbelief or unrepentance, there are great temptations to sin. We may be tempted through looking at sinful images, through hearing gossip, or through our own angry thoughts or ideas of bitterness and resentment. All these gates, if left unchecked, can result in a lifestyle of fraud that we create for our own sinful comfort, far away from living in freedom through God's truth.
And the dark veil, or fraud, sneaking into your life can be from subtle things. Maybe it's a TV show that contains an unholy message, or a social media post that grabs your attention, and you laugh, but the message hurts someone. Or maybe a family member starts to gossip about someone at church, and you chime in only to realize during the conversation that God is listening too. Uh oh. You are not alone in this challenge. "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 (ESV)
Hope through Alignment with Christ
But there is Hope! Our Heavenly Father gave us a choice when He sent Jesus to save us. We can always choose to turn from sin and follow Christ. When we deliberately choose to repent and turn away from our sins, we move closer to a lifestyle of freedom in Christ. We learn to guard our gates as we keep our eyes and ears on Him. Then, we can choose to walk out our lifestyle to be more like Him. Our job as followers of Christ here on earth requires that we choose daily and even hourly alignment with Him!
What kind of alignment, you ask? It is easier than you think. Maintaining alignment with our Heavenly Father requires that you take action to intentionally connect with Him, to hear from Him. Reading the Bible, praying, solitude and quiet time with God, journaling His Word, worship with other believers, individual and group Bible study, learning from godly leaders in church: these are ways that we learn to identify with God and closely align our relationship with Him.
Then, as we grow in our relationship with Him, we learn to quickly recognize the evil veil. We remove the veil of darkness by staying close to Christ and to His Word. This beautiful alignment becomes the foundation of our new lifestyle in Christ. On the flip side, just as a misaligned gate will fail to work properly, we risk missing the blessings of a believer in Christ when we fail to stay aligned with Him.
What are Some Challenges for Us?
We live in a time of such incredible abundance. Our culture saturates our eyes with the desire for more stuff, more wealth, or more of the next best thing. Our culture whispers to our ears that we must compete, perform, and finish at the top, regardless of the consequences. Our culture bombards our minds with comparison, rebellion, and so many idols that we now see young people lost, severely depressed, suicidal, and transformed in unholy ways. We see painful consequences in so many lives not aligned with our Heavenly Father.
Remember King Solomon?
Let's look at similar consequences from the Old Testament. Maybe you remember the story of King Solomon from the Bible? He was God's handpicked King for Israel. King Solomon prayed and asked God for wisdom, and God gave him wisdom, so much that he was the wisest man on earth. But what happened to him?
We see in the Bible, in 1 Kings 11, King Solomon's greatest failure was his disobedience to God. In his old age, Solomon was actually living as a fraud. Solomon, the wisest man on earth, after years of living a blessed and fruitful life, turned away from the Spirit of the Lord. He let Satan pull the dark veil over his eyes.
What Happened to King Solomon?
After being warned twice by the Lord, Solomon allowed pagan women to cause him to sin as he followed their pagan gods. In 1 Kings 11:9-10 (ESV), "The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded."
What utter destruction for Israel! Their mighty wise King Solomon not only put his eyes on pagan women and followed their temptation, but he also allowed his thoughts to turn him away from the Spirit of the Lord. He failed to guard his gates! How many others in his kingdom followed his evil example? Who else was caught up in fraud and sin because Solomon failed to lead his people and reflect the glory of God to them!
Instead of using his wisdom to become even more aligned with God, Solomon allowed his eyes, ears and mind gates to open wide to the dark veil of fraud. This faulty alignment with pagan gods caused him to sin and forfeit his amazing blessings. In the end, the Lord punished Solomon and his family and tore his kingdom from Solomon, tearing it out of the hand of his son, in the Old Testament of 1 Kings 11:12, ESV. So, we see that failure to align our gates with Christ can even have significant impact on future generations.
What about Next Steps?
Maybe you're thinking that was way back then, and I'm not a king or queen. What does this story have to do with me? I get it. Here's the pivot point: I believe that God expects us to keep our eyes on Him. I also believe that God expects us to tune out all the other noise from our ear gates and listen to His Word through Holy Spirit, not just once in a while, but every day. And I believe that God wants us to guard our minds, to hold our thoughts captive. As Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5, (NLT): We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ." Fraud or Freedom - your choice.
Questions for Reflection:
1. What gates are you facing now that may lead you to fraud instead of freedom in Christ?
2. Can you think of a time when Christ guided you into freedom?
3. Who is watching you walk out your choices as you remove the veil to walk in freedom with Christ? Are you reflecting His glorious image to those watching you?
