Live Transfigured Not Disfigured

 

I have been working my way through the Psalms for a couple years now - looking for patterns of prayer in the life of our dear David.  The one God called, “A man after My own heart.”

Because David prayed boldly.  Honestly.  With humility.  Confidence.  Bravery.

And we have so much to learn from the way he petitioned from a repentant heart.

Psalm 26 is one of these chapters.
He prays boldly.
Verse 1, “I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.”
Verse 2, “Put me on trial, Lord, cross-examine me.  Test my motives of my heart.”

He then goes on to list all the reasons God should grant his requests, by declaring truths about his life.

Verse 3, “I am always aware of Your unfailing love.”
Verse 4, “I do not spend time with liars or go along with hypocrites.”

And I am stopped there for a moment.
The King James Version says it this way, “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.”

The world.
And yet isn’t it the world we must be in in order to bring the Gospel message?

Yes.

But you and I are to be IN the world, not of it.

You and I… the Jesus-people… the ones who spend time beholding the Son of God in order to be changed in His likeness, must not spend time with those who are, “hypocrites, liars, dissemblers.”
It’s not speaking of the unbelievers.
It’s speaking of those who claim Jesus, but live contradictory to His Word.
It’s speaking of those who are hypocrites.  The Greek word here is, “hypokritai” and means this, “dissemblers, pretenders… a stage player.”

It’s the warning found all throughout Matthew 23.
Jesus called the Pharisees…. the self-proclaimed “religious experts”… hypokriai’s.  Hypocrites.
And it’s those that we are to remain at a safe distance from.

Because you and I - we are called to be “holy” because He is “holy.”  Holy = separate.  Different.  Called out.

Charles Spurgeon says it best, “Those who would be TRANSFIGURED with Jesus (converted, transformed), must not be DISFIGURED by conformity to the world (made ugly or distorted - unable to recognize as belong to Jesus.)"  (parentheses mine)


Are you recognized as belonging to Jesus?
It’s a question we should be asking ourselves every day of our lives.