The Scale

Of the Christian walk, it is rightly said that the battle is in our minds.

Last Sunday, the Lord gave me a visual picture of how our minds juggle competing interests of a spiritual nature. It was a picture of a balance scale. On the one side, God, and on the other, self. My comment last Sunday morning was that we need to have NOTHING on the side of our self, not even a grain of rice, and everything on the side of God. But later on, the Lord fleshed out that word picture with more clarity and more detail and explained why and how this is so.

My picture last Sunday morning was of a believer, myself included, who was struggling to put God in His proper place in our lives, with roughly equal measures of weight on each side of the scale, so our minds might calculate that our decision to either walk with God or to carry out our own selfish desire was about a 50/50 proposition. But in that picture, it also became clear that as soon as one attempts to follow God, that the weight of the "stuff" on the "self" side of the scale effectively blocked it. In our minds, we might assume, well it's just 50%; I can easily throw off that stuff and just go with God. But every time we go ahead and try to do that, that supposedly trivial 50% actually turns out to be like an immovable obstacle, like a massive boulder fixed with cement, and we are helpless to do anything about it.

In reality, this is the state of a backslidden Christian, who has lost His ability to hear God's voice or to obey Him or to even know the things of God.

So this is where God began to show me more detail and to fill in the picture of the scale with better clarity and explain why "just 50%" is really much worse than we tell ourselves and try to make excuses for...

You see; the scale represents what we really VALUE. Jesus said that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." And on the God side of our mental scale, in order to be an accurate measure of God's significance and importance, should be an INFINITE weight of eternal glory. God's side of the scale should always be filled to overflowing and COMPLETELY outweigh the other side if we only esteem Him correctly in our lives.

And if there is anything on the other side of the scale that counter-balances God, that means we esteem those things as highly as God, Who is infinitely valuable. So "50/50" isn't really fifty-fifty. If our scale is roughly 50/50, that means we worship our self and the things of this world as highly as we value God, which means really we are in some serious trouble.

Let's explore some of the things Jesus said that might get us to take our eyes off of God...

There is the Parable of the Sower...
Mark 4:3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

Explaining the seed that fell among the thorns, Jesus said: 19 "...but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful."

So the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things choke out God's word in our lives.
--Monkey trap--
Man's attention can only hold ONE thing at a time. Multitasking is not how we approach God. He has to be our #1 focus or else He is not our focus at all. James 1:8 "he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." When Jesus told the parable about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field (Matt 6:28), He was giving us the remedy for worry. When you worry, your focus is not on God. The solution to worry is to give all things to God. Since they are His, then they are His responsibility now. When you're at the end of your rope, the solution is to let go. If your hand is busy grasping anything, it is not open to God. If you can't trust God's loving arms to catch you, then you do not trust God. If you do not trust God, then you cannot have God. Your apprehension of God is in direct proportion to your desperation for God. If there is anything else that takes up your mind, it is pushing out God. That's why Paul said in so many different ways that He is glad to lose all things so that God will be premeninent. He said "I die daily," (1 Cor 15:31) he said "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:8). He's not talking about the loss of physical things. He's talking about ALL things. All things that his mind values, desires, clings to, worries about, tries to grasp hold of. ALL THINGS.

Man's natural state, before spiritual birth, is of slothfulness toward the things of the spirit. We are not aware that God even exists. Everything we know is of the world of the self and of the flesh. That side of the scale is all we know exists, and everything we know is on that side of the scale; we aren't even aware that the other side of the scale exists.

But when God wakes us up and gives us rebirth into the Spirit, we become aware that there is a whole new world we never considered. The other side of the scale appears to our eyes, and God is on it, propelling our spirit man into His very presence with the weight of His glory. Jesus's sacrifice is everything we need to clear out that other side of the scale, the side of sin and selfishness and powerlessness; all that stuff is all completely wiped out and cleaned off, as if it never existed. God is everything, and all is right with our spirit.

So this tells me that the picture of the scale means that the two sides of the scale, self and God, create a mirror-image effect between our spirit man and our carnal mind. So the side of the scale where God inhabits pushes down the carnal mind with its weight. And the side of the scale where self and the things of this world inhabit, that side pushes down the spirit man with its weight. So when self is brought low, we, that is our spirit-man, are paradoxically brought up high into God's presence. "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." God's presence lifts us up and humbles us at the same time; the two sides of our nature move in equal measure opposite one another.

So, before we were born again, we barely even knew of the existence of our spirit man, and our lives were completely dominated and focused on the flesh, the carnal mind, and the things of this world; we were slaves to the kingdom of darkness and had no choice but to obey. Our minds were darkened, and the only knowledge we had was the lies that the enemy fed us. The god of this world is the devil, the father of lies and the enemy of our souls. We felt we were in "good company" whenever we engaged in the false religion of this world, because everybody else believes it and agrees to it, even when it makes absolutely zero sense and is at odds with evidence. Our minds were darkened, and we were unable to see the truth or consider any evidence to the contrary.

But Jesus came and set us free! He said "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed."

So we are free, and Jesus's blood cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness. God is all in all.

But when we start to find that the other side of the scale begins to fill up again with "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things," we fall back into sloth, our eyes are darkened, we begin to believe the lies of the enemy again, and we can no longer hear the voice of God.

In our mind, we can justify this stuff we put on the scale counterbalancing God in our lives. We tell ourselves we can just move that stuff out of the way any time we want. But every time we try to do that we find ourselves powerless to do so. We have again become enslaved. Why? Because we have abandoned our first love! We have begun to worship idols! That stuff on our side of the scale isn't just "stuff." Call it what it is: it is SIN. Anything that takes God's place is sin, by definition, because it takes us away from God. Sin is defined as separation from God. So worrying about anything takes you away from God, and it is a sin. You have let that thing occupy the place where God should occupy in your heart.

Revelation 2:4 "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent."

God is saying "repent and turn to Me with your whole heart. Then you will find the things you have sought for even with tears but were unable to find."

How do we deal with sin? We REPENT! "Confess your sins one to another, that you may be healed." (James 5:16)

Only by repentance and confession do we come to the fountain of grace. We do not have the ability to deal with our own sins! This is a dangerous and fatal delusion that the devil whispers in our ear to suggest that we can simply give it up any time we want. Jesus said "he who sins is the slave to sin." We can't wash away our own sins; only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from our sins. Only by repenting of our sins and confessing Jesus as Lord can we place ourselves under the fountain of God's forgiveness and cleansing.
"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 Jn 1:7)

1 Pet 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

We come to a God by means of a LIVING, RESURRECTED SAVIOR Who welcomes us with open arms and pours His Spirit into us. We have a new and living way; we approach God through His Son, Who died and Who lives forever more and Who gives us His own purity and everlasting life.

So stop trying to clean up your mind in your own power, as if Satan can somehow cast out Satan. If you are powerless in the things of God, if you can't see His truth clearly or hear His voice, know this: it is because you have fallen from GRACE and you need to REPENT. Return to Him with your whole heart. Pray the "Our Father" prayer. The first 2 words are a stumbling block for the selfish mind. "Our" instead of "my." "Father" instead of some impersonal deity figure or spiritual tool. Now right away you have to deal with your mind being self centered and realize we are bought with a price and adopted as sons into a family and not just for ourselves alone but as members of one another for God's purpose and not our own. Jesus didn't come to be served but to give His life as a ransom for many. Likewise we don't come to know God to be served but to become members of His body and partakers of His nature, which is love. We are beneficiaries of the gift of God, the great exchange; my death for His life, my garbage for His treasure, my nothing for His everything.

Jeremiah 29:13
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 4:7
Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

Hebrews 7:25
Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Here's another good reason to get your heart to value the things that God values: When we are walking in our own self will instead of in the Spirit, our lives are out of sync with God. So the events in our lives might seem random, or they might seem like "bad luck," or we might even get the feeling that God is punishing us. God doesn't want our lives to be represented by a scale having two sides any longer. He asks that we dedicate ourselves to Him such that our lives become a singularity instead, with Him occupying the center and everything else being ordered by Him and falling into perfect alignment.

God promises us that He will order the steps of the righteous. When God is at the center of our life, then God's sovereign control over the universe will be in complete synchronicity with the order of our lives. He knows what we need before we even ask. All of our ways and every circumstance in our life will be controlled and regulated by Him at all times.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

John 15:7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Philippians 4:19
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

2 Cor 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

2 Pet 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Mat 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9–11)

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

The scripture says that when our heart is right, when God sits on the throne of our heart, when we value the things God values, that our lives will be directed by Him. That doesn't just mean He will direct our thoughts and our steps, although that is part of it; it means that our thoughts and our steps will be in perfect harmony with the rest of the universe, which God is also directing and harmonizing. It means we are bringing God's kingdom on the earth as it is in heaven. It means that our minds and our hearts get to experience the peace and the joy of heaven even while we yet live on the earth.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Notice that Romans 8:29 says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brethren. Jesus also Himself sets us as being co-heirs with Him in His kingdom, when He says, after His resurrection, in John 20:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus prayed for His disciples... John 17:16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth."

John 15:15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

John 16:23 "I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you."
...
26 "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God."

Notice how the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Father. There is only one Holy Spirit. Jesus, even though He was God from all eternity, yet when He came in the flesh, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the Father, even to death on the cross. He denied Himself and took up His cross. He asks us also to deny ourselves and take up our cross. He prayed for us that we would be one even as He and the Father are one. We become one with God and one with each other when we are filled with His Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus called "the Helper," Whom Jesus said would take all things of God and disclose to us. That same Spirit that was with the Father and in the Son, He is sending to come into our hearts and bring us into the same relationship with God. The Spirit of adoption by which we cry "Abba Father." The Spirit of the Son. The Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit.

Luke 9:23-24
Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
...
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of (or, "to") sin, but the Spirit is life because of (or, "to") righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.