Similar But Not the Same

Things similar are not the same. This is a dynamic statement that is essential in our spiritual warfare and personal sanctification.  I believe one of the evil one's great tricks is to convince us that things that are similar are the same.

For Example:
A situation comes up in your life, you know a person was hurt and treated very poorly and you are wrestling with it. A whisper comes into your ear and seeks to find a home in your heart, "If it happened it had to be God's will and providence, therefore it is right because God's will is always good." Wonderful, now I no longer need to repent for my part in it because, after all, since it happened it must God's will.

Be careful! To quote Steve Irwin in Veggie Tales, "Danger, Danger, Danger!"Just because something happened it does not necessarily mean that thing was pleasing to God.  In this situation we might be dealing with God's providential will in which he uses sin to execute his purposes and not His good, acceptable, and perfect will (GAP Good, accepting, and perfect).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." --Romans 12:2

How does God use sin to execute His will if He is perfect and can not sin? Let us look at Christ's crucifixion and the hours leading up to it. Every person, those who cried "crucify him" and those who said nothing, and of course Pilate (who even took the time to symbolically wash his hands of Christ's crucifixion and then went on to give the order to crucify Christ) were acting within the providence of God. I could go on and speak about Judas, the great betrayer, and Peter who denied Christ three times but let us move on.  Every person was working within the expressed will of God, but each person sinned egregiously in the part that they played in crucifying Christ. Was it right to crucify Christ? Depends. Yes it was right for God to place all of his wrath and judgment upon Christ on the cross so that he would bare all the punishment for our sin, atoning our sins that we might have admittance into heaven. No, it was wrong for men (and women) to crucify him, he was guiltless and died for crimes he did not commit, it was unjust and sinful. You see God uses sin in order to excite his will, but he does not excuse the act of sin itself. Judas died for his sin, and did not enter the kingdom of heaven, and many others who took part in murdering Christ, met the same end. Yet in God's grace and love he forgave many and continues to forgive us, wretched and depraved sinners, scooping us up from our dead state and breathing life into us. God is the master of using sin for his good providence and then justifiably punishing the sinner, or in some cases unjustifiably forgiving the sinner.

We can find ourselves in the center of God's will, but beware we might be standing in Sodom and Gomorrah about to be destroyed for our great sin. You see, being in God's will may not be a safe place. It is a deception of the evil one to say, "Since God is good, if you are in God's will it is a good place to be." Yes, God is good; however, he uses the sins of people to affect his purposes in the world. Your sin may bring about an unintended good end, but you will still be accountable for what you have done. This lie that it is all God's good will leads us to make excuses for our sin and the sin of those around us and does not lead us to repentance and a desire for righteousness.  Things similar are not the same.

We must test ourselves that we might be able to discern what is pleasing to God in any particular situation. As Romans 12:2 states we need our minds transformed by the word to learn what is "good, acceptable and perfect" in respect to his will. Do you want to be a sinful tool of God or a pleasing servant of God? Both are doing his will, but only one will be commended. So to do the "G.A.P." will of God we have to train our minds to discern what actions are consistent with God's character. Do the thoughts that run through our silly little heads come from our carnal hearts, this sinful world, culture, and society or does our mind strive for change and transformation into righteousness and holiness?

A warning for us all:
Be on guard lest we fall trap to one of the devil's lies; sin is always knocking at our door or perhaps in this case our minds.