(…continued) It is not for me to judge Harvey or Walter. But I tell their stories to help you understand this for your own life. First of all, you must not take for granted God’s grace like Harvey. Secondly, you need not be filled with anxiety like Walter. As always, the Bible will be our guide through this.
I read this simple idea in a book a long time ago, and it has often come to mind as I think through these things. As I said before, I still don’t have this completely figured out, and it all can still be as confusing to me as it was at that birthday party in the 5th grade. But here is something that helps me, and perhaps it can help you.
Imagine a shirt with two pockets—or a blouse, or pants, or an apron—anyway, two pockets. In each pocket there are many Bible verses, Bible verses for you to take out and read as needed; and you will often be needing verses from both pockets.
In one pocket there will be verses of commandment, punishment, judgment, and the wrath of God. These are the kinds of verses Mickey Cohen and Harvey needed to hear, and we all need to hear if we are ever tempted to take for granted the grace of God, or decide to take advantage of God’s gift of forgiveness. Here are the verses in the first pocket:
Hebrews 2:1–4: “Therefore, we must give the most earnest attention to the things we have heard, lest we drift away, for… how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” You see, there is the danger. Casual obedience, becomes casual faith, and that can drift into no faith at all—and then you are lost.
Mark 8:36: Jesus said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet lose their soul?”
Galatians 6:7–8: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
1 Corinthians 10:12: Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Ezekiel 7:9: God says, “I will not have pity. I will not spare you. I will punish you according to your ways. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8–9: God will punish those who do not obey. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.
Hebrews 10:30-31: The Lord will judge, and it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
You get the idea. These are verses to keep us from ignoring our Lord, from getting complacent and lukewarm in our faith, and to keep us serious about our Christian life and obedience. Those verses are for one pocket.
In the other pocket there will be verses that emphasize God’s eternal promises; His love, patience, and forgiveness. You need these verses when you are feeling like Walter, when you are worried about your place with God, when you have failed yet again in your faith and obedience, and you despair of your ability to ever measure up to what God expects of you. At those times, you can take out of your other pocket verses like:
Ephesians 2:8-9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 3:23- 24: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
John 3:16: (Jesus said), “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 10:9: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Hebrews 4:16: Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Psalm 103:8: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
1 John 5:13: I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
There are enough verses in one pocket to keep us a bit uneasy and on our toes, and to remind us to be diligent when we begin to drift away or take grace for granted. There are enough verses in the other pocket to give us comfort and hope when we look to Jesus. Always be looking to Jesus.
So back and forth we go in our Christian faith. God does not go back and forth. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, says the Bible. But we go back and forth, between obedience and disobedience, between faith and doubt, between hope and despair, between courage and fear, and between confidence and uncertainty… Life is big. And it is a struggle all the way through to believe and to obey and to keep the faith. Our emotions and experiences will go all over the place. God has spoken to us, and we need to remember his word. That is why we need two pockets of Bible verses. Sometimes we need to be warned, sometimes we need to be comforted. Just like small children; sometimes we need to be disciplined, sometimes we need to be held by our heavenly Father. We must not trifle with this God who will not be mocked, but neither do we need to doubt God’s love, nor do we need to despair when he seems absent. Do not take it for granted; do not despair of it. Just keep on looking to Jesus. Always, remember Jesus.
I close with a passage that, all by itself, covers the message of both pockets: Philippians 2:12-13: “Therefore, my dear friends… continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Amen.
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O Lord, in Whom is our hope, remove far from us, we pray Thee, presumptuous confidence and unnecessary anxiety. Make our hearts so right with Thy most holy and loving heart, that hoping in Thee we may do what is good; until that day when faith and hope shall be replaced by sight and possession, and love shall be all in all. Amen.
–Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)
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