“So many of you are seeking after answers that have no real purpose. So many foolish hearts are turning to find reason for your lives in areas that allow you to remain in charge. If only you would listen to the truth. If only you would understand that My Word is the answer for you.
“There is a heavy price for rebellion. The time for preparation will soon be over. I will implement My Word and create hard choices, life and death kinds of choices. Pride, arrogance, and deceit will abound to stumble those who have chosen to go the route of selfishness. At that time, many can still turn from such foolishness, but that turning will soon cost you everything.”
Ja. 4:7-10 AMP
7) So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you.
8) Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].
9) [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].
10) Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].
When I was in the service, there was one guy - a member of our squad in basic training – who thought he was above the system. In his foolishness, he believed that he could fly through the process and not have to go through the rigors that were part of that training. He decided to fake a bad back, and boldly told some of his friends about his plan, even pointing to them as fools if they did not do something similar.
I remember one particularly hot day, while our squad was doing some of the countless push-ups that were our plight; he came up to the fence with a grin on his face, basically to gloat over his freedom. He had been made a courier. His job was to deliver messages all over the base. When he wasn’t doing that, he sat in an air-conditioned office waiting for his next assignment. To those of us who would have given anything to get out of the hot Texas sun, it looked like we were the fools; and even though his life was a ploy, it looked pretty plush compared to ours.
Upon graduation from basic training, while we were getting ready for the ceremony - donning our dress Blues and feeling quite complete because of the training that we had endured - we heard that the courier had been told that his basic training would start in six weeks. Obviously, he was not the first to pull that “bad back” stunt. Because of his foolishness, he now had to wait six weeks after we graduated to begin his eight-week training course. I remember standing in rank, ready to move on and seeing him walk by our squad with a message for someone. He had lost his bravado. In fact, he was down-right sullen.
Our training in Christ is very important to God. He wants each of us to be able to represent Him properly, so that the world can see the love of Jesus and embrace that love. We are to be the example of God’s standard and Christ’s freedom to everyone.
Sometimes, when we are in the throes of rigorous training, others look like they really have it made. Therein lies the deception. Satan would love for us to envy those who look like they are prospering, especially when our toil seems fruitless to us. We need to flee from those thoughts and dig in with the Lord. We know what is right to do. To do anything other than submit to our Lord is foolishness, no matter how hard the training to be like Jesus is. He submitted to the ultimate sacrifice for us. We have the privilege of sacrificing our lives for the good of others.
Time to quit faking the “bad back” in any area in which the Lord wants me to be trained,
Jim Corbett
