Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt
Have you ever been to LimboLand? It’s a place where no one has any hair. Everyone that lives there has pulled it out. If you drove down its main boulevard, you would see only partly finished homes, buildings, and building projects. You’d see that every street had forks that go in different directions. You’d see people walking around that looked somewhat dazed, frustrated, and quite unhappy. You wouldn’t see many married people there, nor would you see many children. People in Limboland can’t decide whom the person is they are supposed to marry and whether or not they should have children. You’d find many, many people there that call themselves Christians but you would see few churches because they wouldn’t stay in one long enough for there to be the commitment and support to build one. The churches that are there are like the rest of the buildings in Limboland – only partially built because of abandoned commitments. They thought they’d find the perfect church and Pastor elsewhere.
LimboLand of course doesn’t really exist but the dictionary does have a definition for limbo saying “A region or condition of oblivion or neglect, a place of confinement. An intermediate place or state, a place of indecision.” That alone is contrary to the nature of God because God is not indecisive nor does He want us indecisive. He calls it unbelief or doubleminded. Jesus chastised His disciples because of their unbelief. Mark 16:14 says, ”Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”
LimboLand is a state or place of confinement. It’s a place where one is locked up or imprisoned within their mind because of unbelief, indecision, and double mindedness. Anyone who feels caged in for whatever reason is manifesting unbelief, indecision, and double mindedness. James 1:5-8 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
One of the reasons people end up in Limboland and struggle is because they practice sin – something contrary to God’s Word. It strips them of any confidence of approaching God whether it is just to draw closer to Him to have an intimate relationship, or for help. If you practice what the Bible declares sin, you will remain in a spiritual LimboLand of conflict and indecision that will carry over and affect every other part of your life. This is one reason, there is so much physiological conflict in the life of a homosexual. They are at conflict within themselves. Though they get approval and validation from others, they will never get that internal validation from God that they desire. They can’t. God never condones sin. He loves them and will validate that. Jesus died for them and validates that. He will forgive anyone who is truly repentant and the word of God validates that. But God will not condone the ongoing practice of anyone’s sin.
Suppressing the guilt of something that God says is wrong and living in denial does not deliver you from guilt and indecision; it creates it. Repentance and forgiveness from God for sin are available and can bring a person back to peace with God and out of this state of Limbo. 1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
The other primary reason for LimboLand is because people are unsure of what to do, and struggle in making a decision. That is what James is speaking to here. In Romans 1 God instructs us to renew our minds to His perfect will. There is no shortcut to learning that. It takes time but is time well spent. As you meditate upon God’s Word prayerfully, requesting that He give you understanding concerning it, He does. As God shows you things through the scriptures and you put faith in what you believe God is showing you, He upholds you and helps you. He promises to give wisdom liberally if you will receive it by faith. Knowing God’s will help you make decisions and become more decisive. Trusting that God will give you wisdom and then taking steps of faith according to His will, will further help you become decisive.
God knows our human fragility. He is there to help us. Don’t make the mistake of judging the outcome of decisions prematurely or simply by circumstances. Sometimes it takes years of hindsight to see the good outcome of your decision. Judge them by whether you believe and know that it’s what God wanted you to do. Have faith, trust, and rest in that! Then you won’t end up double minded, locked in mind battles, in Limboland, Instead you will learn you have a loving Heavenly Father that does what He promises. He will show you His will through His word and give you the wisdom to make one solid decision after another. That’s a slice of Heaven, not Limboland.
In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
Published by Pastor Tim Burt
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