…Who builds better a better foundation? You, or the Lord? Easy answer. Easy to answer on a multiple-choice test at least. More difficult to answer on a Tuesday when everything has fallen apart and you are tempted to despair or trust in your own efforts. More difficult to answer on a Friday when all seems to be going well and your confidence is in your flesh. But the Lord can be trusted to rebuild his people.
And then finally, the deceitfulness of sin. Israel was a thoroughly Canaan-ized people, a people more closely aligned to pagan culture than to the covenant culture of the Lord. And they were too hardened in sin to recognize it. They still thought of themselves as God’s people.
That’s a dangerous situation. And entirely possible in the church. How would you know if you were deceived by sin and more aligned to the culture of the world than the kingdom of God? Not by your feelings, that’s for sure. Not by comparing yourself to another person who certainly has it wrong. *But are you sure you’re not influenced by the greed of the culture? You’re a certified generous person according to the Kingdom of God? Or you’re not influenced by the pragmatism of enlightenment cultures? All your practices are based on God’s covenant in Christ? Only by the Spirit of God and the Word can you discern these things. Only the Word, illuminated by the Spirit, held up as a mirror can truly reveal your state, your condition.
Does your life conform to Christ, to the Word of God? Do you know the Word well enough to know?
