Rebel

 

Rebel –(noun) a person who dissents from some accepted moral code or convention of behavior, dress, etc.

 

It would be overwhelming to come to an understanding of all the wrong we have done in our lives in one moment with the Lord! I am so grateful that, in His special grace to those He saves, God does not show us all of our sin at once.

As Christians, God has left us His Word as His “accepted moral code.”  Because of His love for us, His Law is for our good and any who live by it will benefit from the blessings of His common grace.

We all enjoy sunshine, rain, good health for periods of time, and in the US, we have benefitted from an economy that has been a blessing on the faithful men and women who have gone before us. God’s common grace is beneficial to even those who hate him.

I have recently been in a conversation with some women who are in a church that they are discovering does not consider the Bible the inerrant word of God. They hear preaching from it. Their curriculum for Sunday School is supposedly based on it. But, as these women study the scriptures themselves, they are seeing large breaches.

Though happy to see the truth, they are having a hard time coming to understand that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ requires a commitment to the whole scripture. The example that has been set for them for many years is that they can choose what to obey and what to discard (rebel against).

Paul, in a farewell conversation with the Ephesian elders said to them, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).  It was an act of love to teach them all of what God has said.

Jesus also verified every word with this statement, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18).

Some of the things the Bible demands of us seem small, like submitting to our husbands and respecting them. Some are larger, like abortion is the “shedding of innocent blood” in the eyes of God (Proverbs 6:17).

Attitudes and actions need to change when we learn what God says.

Whether we think they are large or small in our eyes, to God obedience in all things matters. James tells us (James 4:17), “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

The title of rebel is not such a bad thing in our culture. We think of that person as independent and self-fulfilled. However, from God’s perspective, a rebel is one who refuses to obey Him. A person who dissents from His “moral code,” whether we think it is in a small way or a big way, will suffer the consequences as He disciplines us to train us.

We can be a rebel and meet God’s discipline or we can obey and meet God’s blessing.  (1 Samuel 12:14)