“No Better Place, No Better Thing"

    Sin originated when a created being, Lucifer, sought to be other and more than God made him to be.  He deluded himself into desiring a better place, a better thing.

    "Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so… thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Ezekiel 28:14; Isaiah 14:13-14).

    Sin perpetuated when Satan infected Adam and Eve with the lie that they could be other than and more than they were.  "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5).  Inculcated into our original forbears (and into us) was the deception of a better place, a better thing.

    The darkness continues to this day as the devil seeks to foment unrest in human hearts regarding God's way in our lives.  We exist to fulfill our Heavenly Father's will regarding our being and doings, reflecting the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the hours of extreme temptation, affirmed, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve… Not My will, but Thine be done" (Luke 4:8; Luke 22:42).  True life thus begins when the indwelling Holy Spirit given to in the new birth begins His work of redemption from the delusion of Satan's other than and more than - "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

    "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).  All other ways are imperfect at best, and utterly disastrous at worst.  The Psalmist, foreshadowing in Messianic prophecy the heart of the Lord Jesus, confessed, "I delight to do Thy will, o God, yea, Thy law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8; Hebrews 10:7).  True delight accompanies true life in the innermost being of those who build the heart altar whereupon "a better place and a better thing" burns in the fires of sacrificial devotion to the glory and will of God.  Indeed, the most menial, mundane, and even difficult action becomes joyous when accomplished in the awareness of doing the Lord's will, and in the affirmation of "Thy way is perfect."  As the Psalmist confessed, "A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10).

    Few more life changing truths exist in Scripture.  Indeed, accepting the reality of who God made us to be, and doing that which He places before us offers the purest joy us as we realize that we could be in no better place, doing no better thing.  "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).  Our spiritual enemies tempt us to long for castles in the sky that actually serve as prisons for those who fail to see the perfection of God's way, and the delighted contentment of knowing that His will, whatever its place and nature, offers in this moment the best possible opportunity for a contented heart.  The only such opportunity, actually, as the Lord Jesus infuses within us the same delight for His Father's will that now and forevermore serves us as no better place, no better thing.

"Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness."

(Psalm 143:10)

Weekly Memory Verse

   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

(Proverbs 1:7)