A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in two tours of duty.
He called his parents from San Francisco. “Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve got a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring with me.” “Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.” “There’s something you should know the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.” “I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”
“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.” “Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live on his own.” At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.
A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.
The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.
Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.
Tonight, before you go to sleep for the night, say a prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!
There’s a miracle called -Friendship- that dwells in the heart. You don’t know how it happens or when it gets started. But you know the special lift It always brings and you realize that Friendship Is God’s most precious gift!
Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us.
Showing posts with label encouragement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label encouragement. Show all posts
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Violence is the Physical Step of Angry Rhetoric
If you live by the sword you will die from the sword.
As we look back to Tucson Arizona and the rhetoric that has been discussed, we all took a step backwards and contemplated what it all meant. Lives were taken, was there more than just one person to blame. Had it been the climate of discontent and the angry rhetoric that has been tossed about in the past few decades? Is all this a precursor to worse days ahead? We should reread Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from the Birmingham Jail. This should be required reading by everyone once a year. It is rich with ideas of non-violence and using rhetoric that lifts up and not tears down. It is full of profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life.
Broadly speaking, non-violence has meant not relying on arms and weapons of struggle. It has meant direct participation of masses in protest, rather than reliance on indirect methods which frequently do not involve masses in action at all. This letter defends positions vigorously and with conviction, but with civility. Scripture tells us to always be ready to make a defense for the hope we have in Christ, which leads to the convictions we carry and yet to “do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:15-16 ESV).
That is why our nation more than ever needs the spirit contained in Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” That is why more than ever, we should reread it. We Christians should take another cue from Dr. King: “Love even for our enemies,” he said in a sermon, “is the key to the solution of problems of our world.” To speak the truth in love may entail, as it did for Dr. King, long-suffering as well as courage on our part. But love does not retaliate. Real love follows the example of Jesus, who “when He was reviled, He did not revile in return, when He suffered, He did not threaten,” but entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father (1 Peter 2:23 ESV).
Violence as a way of achieving justice is impractical and immoral, but also mindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Our nation has frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. As Dr. King said “the ends don’t justify the means, for the means represents the seed and the ends represent the tree.”
Dr. King has been the moral guide of our time, if there was a prophet ever sent to our nation he was the man. But where did Dr. King learn this from, did he just snatch this out of thin air? Dr. King was also a Baptist Minister, he had studied, learned, and preached from the Bible. I believe it was his encounter with God that made him into what he eventually became. He felt after his release from the Birmingham jail that God had knocked on his door, which God was showing that non-violence and the direction that he was taking was a path that God wanted him to take. Dr. King describes this encounter in the book “A testament of hope: the essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.”.
Even though the Bible does not directly say to not use violence, it does so indirectly. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter five Jesus says “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Contrary to many people's understanding, the Law wasn't given so that we could keep it and earn relationship with God.
The Law was given to show us that it was impossible to have relationship with God by our good acts. The Law showed us how sinful we were so that we would quit trying to earn God's favor and call out to Him for mercy.
In these verses, Jesus was simply amplifying the impact of the Law by going beyond actions to the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Old Testament law had said not to do these things. Here, Jesus was saying that if we have embraced them in our hearts, we are guilty of the same transgression as if we had done them. God looks on the heart and not just the actions. In Matthew chapter twelve Jesus further reveals for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. That is where we are with rhetoric, it starts in the heart and will eventually work its way to our actions. Our actions will follow our heart.
In Luke chapter nine Jesus directs His disciples to go out and preach the kingdom of God, heal the sick, and bless whatever home they stay in. Jesus told them not to take a staff, bag, bread, money, or extra coat. He was trying to show the disciples how to trust and rely on God and that He would take care of all their needs. In Luke chapter ten Jesus then appoints seventy two others to go out and do the same. He directed them the same way He told the twelve disciples. When the seventy two returned they announced how powerful that God worked through them that even evil fell like lightning from heaven.
If we depend on God, He will provide all that we need. In Second Corinthians chapter ten, the apostle Paul says “Though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war in the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But mighty through God.” In Ephesians chapter six Paul iterates “the war is not against flesh and blood”, if we are coming against the flesh it is the wrong war. Non-violence fits perfectly here.
Jesus continued to show the disciples in a very real manner all that He was trying to teach them, and in this way He showed them the path to non-violence. In Luke chapter twenty two it looks like Jesus was giving the disciples a contradiction in what He told them in chapter nine and ten of Luke. “Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he replied.”
This was not a contradiction but Jesus showing the disciples in a very real manner that the consequences of following Jesus, depending upon Him, that all their needs were going to be taken care of. Using the world’s ways and using violence was going to cause more violence to come. In Matthew twenty six the guards, Judas, and a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people had come for Jesus and violence was taken up. “With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear”. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
Jesus was teaching that violence begets violence. In contrast Jesus who used no violence, showed that depending upon Him that everything was going to be taken care of. All of this starts in our hearts. The vitriolic rhetoric that has been used the last few decades has invaded every aspect of our life here in these United States. This rhetoric has laid seeds that we are experiencing today and seeing the fruit of the tree in our government, schools, churches, and in all aspects of our lives. We need to quit planting those seeds, it starts in our hearts. Non-violence does not seek to humiliate or defeat but to win friendship and understanding. The aftermath of violence is bitterness, anger and in the end death, the aftermath of non-violence is reconciliation, peace and in the end redemption.
As we look back to Tucson Arizona and the rhetoric that has been discussed, we all took a step backwards and contemplated what it all meant. Lives were taken, was there more than just one person to blame. Had it been the climate of discontent and the angry rhetoric that has been tossed about in the past few decades? Is all this a precursor to worse days ahead? We should reread Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from the Birmingham Jail. This should be required reading by everyone once a year. It is rich with ideas of non-violence and using rhetoric that lifts up and not tears down. It is full of profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every human being as a creature fashioned in the very image of God, possessing inherent rights of equal dignity and life.
Broadly speaking, non-violence has meant not relying on arms and weapons of struggle. It has meant direct participation of masses in protest, rather than reliance on indirect methods which frequently do not involve masses in action at all. This letter defends positions vigorously and with conviction, but with civility. Scripture tells us to always be ready to make a defense for the hope we have in Christ, which leads to the convictions we carry and yet to “do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:15-16 ESV).
That is why our nation more than ever needs the spirit contained in Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” That is why more than ever, we should reread it. We Christians should take another cue from Dr. King: “Love even for our enemies,” he said in a sermon, “is the key to the solution of problems of our world.” To speak the truth in love may entail, as it did for Dr. King, long-suffering as well as courage on our part. But love does not retaliate. Real love follows the example of Jesus, who “when He was reviled, He did not revile in return, when He suffered, He did not threaten,” but entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father (1 Peter 2:23 ESV).
Violence as a way of achieving justice is impractical and immoral, but also mindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Our nation has frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. As Dr. King said “the ends don’t justify the means, for the means represents the seed and the ends represent the tree.”
Dr. King has been the moral guide of our time, if there was a prophet ever sent to our nation he was the man. But where did Dr. King learn this from, did he just snatch this out of thin air? Dr. King was also a Baptist Minister, he had studied, learned, and preached from the Bible. I believe it was his encounter with God that made him into what he eventually became. He felt after his release from the Birmingham jail that God had knocked on his door, which God was showing that non-violence and the direction that he was taking was a path that God wanted him to take. Dr. King describes this encounter in the book “A testament of hope: the essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.”.
Even though the Bible does not directly say to not use violence, it does so indirectly. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter five Jesus says “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Contrary to many people's understanding, the Law wasn't given so that we could keep it and earn relationship with God.
The Law was given to show us that it was impossible to have relationship with God by our good acts. The Law showed us how sinful we were so that we would quit trying to earn God's favor and call out to Him for mercy.
In these verses, Jesus was simply amplifying the impact of the Law by going beyond actions to the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Old Testament law had said not to do these things. Here, Jesus was saying that if we have embraced them in our hearts, we are guilty of the same transgression as if we had done them. God looks on the heart and not just the actions. In Matthew chapter twelve Jesus further reveals for out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. That is where we are with rhetoric, it starts in the heart and will eventually work its way to our actions. Our actions will follow our heart.
In Luke chapter nine Jesus directs His disciples to go out and preach the kingdom of God, heal the sick, and bless whatever home they stay in. Jesus told them not to take a staff, bag, bread, money, or extra coat. He was trying to show the disciples how to trust and rely on God and that He would take care of all their needs. In Luke chapter ten Jesus then appoints seventy two others to go out and do the same. He directed them the same way He told the twelve disciples. When the seventy two returned they announced how powerful that God worked through them that even evil fell like lightning from heaven.
If we depend on God, He will provide all that we need. In Second Corinthians chapter ten, the apostle Paul says “Though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war in the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But mighty through God.” In Ephesians chapter six Paul iterates “the war is not against flesh and blood”, if we are coming against the flesh it is the wrong war. Non-violence fits perfectly here.
Jesus continued to show the disciples in a very real manner all that He was trying to teach them, and in this way He showed them the path to non-violence. In Luke chapter twenty two it looks like Jesus was giving the disciples a contradiction in what He told them in chapter nine and ten of Luke. “Then Jesus asked them, "When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?" "Nothing," they answered. He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. It is written: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he replied.”
This was not a contradiction but Jesus showing the disciples in a very real manner that the consequences of following Jesus, depending upon Him, that all their needs were going to be taken care of. Using the world’s ways and using violence was going to cause more violence to come. In Matthew twenty six the guards, Judas, and a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people had come for Jesus and violence was taken up. “With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear”. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
Jesus was teaching that violence begets violence. In contrast Jesus who used no violence, showed that depending upon Him that everything was going to be taken care of. All of this starts in our hearts. The vitriolic rhetoric that has been used the last few decades has invaded every aspect of our life here in these United States. This rhetoric has laid seeds that we are experiencing today and seeing the fruit of the tree in our government, schools, churches, and in all aspects of our lives. We need to quit planting those seeds, it starts in our hearts. Non-violence does not seek to humiliate or defeat but to win friendship and understanding. The aftermath of violence is bitterness, anger and in the end death, the aftermath of non-violence is reconciliation, peace and in the end redemption.
The Importance of Words
Psalm 138:2
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
(KJV)
Think of how powerful the name of the Lord is. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Php 2:10-11). Yet God has exalted His Word above His name. A man's name is only as good as his word. This gives us tremendous comfort that the Word of the Lord is sure (Psalm 19).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word "quick" means "to live." The Greek word ENERGES from which "powerful" was translated means "active, operative." The NIV translates this as, "For the word of God is living and active."
The Greek word TOMOTEROS from which "sharper" was translated means "comparative of a derivative of the primary temo (to cut; more comprehensive or decisive than 2875, as if by a single stroke; whereas that implies repeated blows, like hacking); more keen." This word is stressing the ability of God's Word to cut through the hardest heart in a single stroke.
Only the extreme sharpness of God's Word can separate between soul and spirit. Our souls and spirits comprise our hearts, and they function as one. Only under the intense scrutiny of the Word of God can we distinguish between them.
The relationship between soul and spirit is like the relationship between joints and marrow. The marrow of the bone is where blood (the life-giving force) is produced. But all the bones of the body are joined together by joints. Without joints, our bodies would not be able to function the way they do.
Likewise, our born-again spirits are the life-giving parts of us. But our spirits are connected to our bodies by our souls. The life that is in our born-again spirits cannot reach our bodies except through our souls. Therefore, the renewing of our minds is essential to release the life that is in our spirits.
John 1:1 (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the Word of God. The Greek word that was used here is "LOGOS" denoting "the expression of thought--not the mere name of an object" (W.E. Vine). Jesus totally expressed the thoughts of the Father and was manifest in a physical form so all the world could read them. Heb 1:3 says Jesus was "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."
It is also appropriate for Jesus to be called the Word of God because the physical body of Jesus was produced by God's spoken word, not the usual means of a physical relationship between man and woman (Lu 1:38).
The Greek word used here for God is "THEOS" and denotes deity as an object of worship. This word is used 1,338 times in the New Covenant. Only 13 times is the word used to express anything but eternal deity. Here, the word reveals Jesus as God in the flesh (Joh 1:14 and 1Ti 3:16). The Scripture attests to Jesus' divinity (Isa 9:6-7, Mt 1:23, and 1Jo 5:20). God the Father called Jesus God (Heb 1:8). Jesus forgave sins (Mr 2:5 and Lu 7:48), which is a power that God alone has (Mr 2:6-7). Jesus received worship (Mt 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, and 17), which is reserved for God alone (Mt 4:10 and Re 22:9). The term "Christ," which is used 569 times in the New Testament, further establishes the divinity of Jesus (Mt 16:16).
Words are important, it has made the heavens and the earth, society though says that sticks and stones may break your bones and names will never hurt you. Society is wrong, names do hurt, negative words tear down. Positive words help and build up.
Your words are important, God has made us in His image. Since God uses the word to accomplish History, so must we. It starts with your thoughts which turn into your words which turns into faith actions.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
God's Word Above His Own Name
Ps 138:2
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
(KJV)
Think of how powerful the name of the Lord is. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Php 2:10-11). Yet God has exalted His Word above His name. A man's name is only as good as his word. This gives us tremendous comfort that the Word of the Lord is sure (Ps 19).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word "quick" means "to live." The Greek word ENERGES from which "powerful" was translated means "active, operative." The NIV translates this as, "For the word of God is living and active."
The Greek word TOMOTEROS from which "sharper" was translated means "comparative of a derivative of the primary temo (to cut; more comprehensive or decisive than 2875, as if by a single stroke; whereas that implies repeated blows, like hacking); more keen." This word is stressing the ability of God's Word to cut through the hardest heart in a single stroke.
Only the extreme sharpness of God's Word can separate between soul and spirit. Our souls and spirits comprise our hearts, and they function as one. Only under the intense scrutiny of the Word of God can we distinguish between them.
The relationship between soul and spirit is like the relationship between joints and marrow. The marrow of the bone is where blood (the life-giving force) is produced. But all the bones of the body are joined together by joints. Without joints, our bodies would not be able to function the way they do.
Likewise, our born-again spirits are the life-giving parts of us. But our spirits are connected to our bodies by our souls. The life that is in our born-again spirits cannot reach our bodies except through our souls. Therefore, the renewing of our minds is essential to release the life that is in our spirits.
John 1:1 (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the Word of God. The Greek word that was used here is "LOGOS" denoting "the expression of thought--not the mere name of an object" (W.E. Vine). Jesus totally expressed the thoughts of the Father and was manifest in a physical form so all the world could read them. Heb 1:3 says Jesus was "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."
It is also appropriate for Jesus to be called the Word of God because the physical body of Jesus was produced by God's spoken word, not the usual means of a physical relationship between man and woman (Lu 1:38).
The Greek word used here for God is "THEOS" and denotes deity as an object of worship. This word is used 1,338 times in the New Covenant. Only 13 times is the word used to express anything but eternal deity. Here, the word reveals Jesus as God in the flesh (Joh 1:14 and 1Ti 3:16). The Scripture attests to Jesus' divinity (Isa 9:6-7, Mt 1:23, and 1Jo 5:20). God the Father called Jesus God (Heb 1:8). Jesus forgave sins (Mr 2:5 and Lu 7:48), which is a power that God alone has (Mr 2:6-7). Jesus received worship (Mt 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, and 17), which is reserved for God alone (Mt 4:10 and Re 22:9). The term "Christ," which is used 569 times in the New Testament, further establishes the divinity of Jesus (Mt 16:16).
Words are important, it has made the heavens and the earth, society though says that sticks and stones may break your bones and names will never hurt you. Society is wrong, names do hurt, negative words tear down. Positive words help and builds up.
Your words are important, God has made us in His image. Since God uses the word to accomplish History, so must we. It starts with your thoughts which turn into your words which turns into faith actions. It's up to you!
2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
(KJV)
Think of how powerful the name of the Lord is. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Php 2:10-11). Yet God has exalted His Word above His name. A man's name is only as good as his word. This gives us tremendous comfort that the Word of the Lord is sure (Ps 19).
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word "quick" means "to live." The Greek word ENERGES from which "powerful" was translated means "active, operative." The NIV translates this as, "For the word of God is living and active."
The Greek word TOMOTEROS from which "sharper" was translated means "comparative of a derivative of the primary temo (to cut; more comprehensive or decisive than 2875, as if by a single stroke; whereas that implies repeated blows, like hacking); more keen." This word is stressing the ability of God's Word to cut through the hardest heart in a single stroke.
Only the extreme sharpness of God's Word can separate between soul and spirit. Our souls and spirits comprise our hearts, and they function as one. Only under the intense scrutiny of the Word of God can we distinguish between them.
The relationship between soul and spirit is like the relationship between joints and marrow. The marrow of the bone is where blood (the life-giving force) is produced. But all the bones of the body are joined together by joints. Without joints, our bodies would not be able to function the way they do.
Likewise, our born-again spirits are the life-giving parts of us. But our spirits are connected to our bodies by our souls. The life that is in our born-again spirits cannot reach our bodies except through our souls. Therefore, the renewing of our minds is essential to release the life that is in our spirits.
John 1:1 (KJV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (KJV)
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus is the Word of God. The Greek word that was used here is "LOGOS" denoting "the expression of thought--not the mere name of an object" (W.E. Vine). Jesus totally expressed the thoughts of the Father and was manifest in a physical form so all the world could read them. Heb 1:3 says Jesus was "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person."
It is also appropriate for Jesus to be called the Word of God because the physical body of Jesus was produced by God's spoken word, not the usual means of a physical relationship between man and woman (Lu 1:38).
The Greek word used here for God is "THEOS" and denotes deity as an object of worship. This word is used 1,338 times in the New Covenant. Only 13 times is the word used to express anything but eternal deity. Here, the word reveals Jesus as God in the flesh (Joh 1:14 and 1Ti 3:16). The Scripture attests to Jesus' divinity (Isa 9:6-7, Mt 1:23, and 1Jo 5:20). God the Father called Jesus God (Heb 1:8). Jesus forgave sins (Mr 2:5 and Lu 7:48), which is a power that God alone has (Mr 2:6-7). Jesus received worship (Mt 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, and 17), which is reserved for God alone (Mt 4:10 and Re 22:9). The term "Christ," which is used 569 times in the New Testament, further establishes the divinity of Jesus (Mt 16:16).
Words are important, it has made the heavens and the earth, society though says that sticks and stones may break your bones and names will never hurt you. Society is wrong, names do hurt, negative words tear down. Positive words help and builds up.
Your words are important, God has made us in His image. Since God uses the word to accomplish History, so must we. It starts with your thoughts which turn into your words which turns into faith actions. It's up to you!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
But the Lord Looks at the Heart
1 Sam 16:7
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
This is a tremendous piece of information about how the Lord deals with us. It's our heart's attitudes that are important to God. Most people see only the outward appearance, how skinny, or fat, how tall or how small, what kind of clothes, or even what color your skin is. Maybe because of how much education one has or not, or what kind of jobs that you have had, those are all outward appearances.
When most hear this, it strikes fear into some people. They feel they are better in their actions than they are in their hearts. But for the true believers in Jesus, we have been given new hearts that are perfect. Our born-again spirit is as righteous and holy as Jesus is (1Jo 4:17).
Therefore, this is a tremendous comfort to those who are true Christians. God sees us in Christ, in our born-again spirit, and what He sees is perfect, even though our actions aren't.
2Co 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Our spirits are the only part of us that is exactly like Jesus IN THIS WORLD. What a powerful truth. Since God is a Spirit (Joh 4:24), and we have to approach Him in spirit and in truth, then God can freely fellowship with us because our born-again spirits are just like Him. What a deal!
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
This is a tremendous piece of information about how the Lord deals with us. It's our heart's attitudes that are important to God. Most people see only the outward appearance, how skinny, or fat, how tall or how small, what kind of clothes, or even what color your skin is. Maybe because of how much education one has or not, or what kind of jobs that you have had, those are all outward appearances.
When most hear this, it strikes fear into some people. They feel they are better in their actions than they are in their hearts. But for the true believers in Jesus, we have been given new hearts that are perfect. Our born-again spirit is as righteous and holy as Jesus is (1Jo 4:17).
Therefore, this is a tremendous comfort to those who are true Christians. God sees us in Christ, in our born-again spirit, and what He sees is perfect, even though our actions aren't.
2Co 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Our spirits are the only part of us that is exactly like Jesus IN THIS WORLD. What a powerful truth. Since God is a Spirit (Joh 4:24), and we have to approach Him in spirit and in truth, then God can freely fellowship with us because our born-again spirits are just like Him. What a deal!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Don’t Let Your Heart be Troubled
John 14:1-4
Jesus made this statement to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. Even in circumstances like they would experience, Jesus was telling them not to let their hearts be troubled. That's amazing. And that reveals the authority we have over our emotions. The Lord would have been unjust to command His disciples to do something they were powerless to do. Therefore, we can control our emotions regardless of how things are going.
It's up to us to control our heart. It's God's power that makes that possible, but we have to make the choice and draw on God's ability. How do we do that? This verse goes on to say, "believe in God..." Faith is how we conquer our emotions.
The fact that Jesus mentions controlling our emotions first in this list of all the things we should do is also significant. If we let our emotions run away with us, then it's nearly impossible to reign them in. It's easier to hold them at bay than it is to stop them once we have let them go. Harnessing our emotions is the first thing to do in a crisis situation. Most battles are won or lost in the first few moments according to the way we allow our emotions to go.
Now Jesus begins to speak about heaven. What does heaven have to do with us keeping our hearts at peace? Well, even if everything in this life looks terrible, the Christian always has the promises of total victory in heaven. If every time we think we see light at the end of the tunnel but it turns out to be another train, then we can know that our great reward is heaven. That will keep our hearts from being troubled.
It only took the Lord seven days to create the heavens and the earth. He has been working on our mansions for 2,000 years. These mansions must be something great.
Jesus was saying these things about heaven to keep the disciples' hearts from being troubled as they were about to enter the darkest periods of their lives. Jesus was also revealing how He kept from being discouraged during the darkest period of His life. It all centered on thinking about eternity. He had His attention focused on the joy that was set before Him (Heb 12:2-3). It can only be done when we put things into their proper perspective in light of eternity.
This world is not all there is. There is eternity and the time we spend in eternity; the benefits we receive there will far outweigh all concerns that happen here on earth. If we only have hope in this world, then we would be the most miserable of all men (1Co 15:19) To have the positive faith that Jesus exhibited and which He is commanding us to have here, we have to be heavenly minded.
Jesus made this statement to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. Even in circumstances like they would experience, Jesus was telling them not to let their hearts be troubled. That's amazing. And that reveals the authority we have over our emotions. The Lord would have been unjust to command His disciples to do something they were powerless to do. Therefore, we can control our emotions regardless of how things are going.
It's up to us to control our heart. It's God's power that makes that possible, but we have to make the choice and draw on God's ability. How do we do that? This verse goes on to say, "believe in God..." Faith is how we conquer our emotions.
The fact that Jesus mentions controlling our emotions first in this list of all the things we should do is also significant. If we let our emotions run away with us, then it's nearly impossible to reign them in. It's easier to hold them at bay than it is to stop them once we have let them go. Harnessing our emotions is the first thing to do in a crisis situation. Most battles are won or lost in the first few moments according to the way we allow our emotions to go.
Now Jesus begins to speak about heaven. What does heaven have to do with us keeping our hearts at peace? Well, even if everything in this life looks terrible, the Christian always has the promises of total victory in heaven. If every time we think we see light at the end of the tunnel but it turns out to be another train, then we can know that our great reward is heaven. That will keep our hearts from being troubled.
It only took the Lord seven days to create the heavens and the earth. He has been working on our mansions for 2,000 years. These mansions must be something great.
Jesus was saying these things about heaven to keep the disciples' hearts from being troubled as they were about to enter the darkest periods of their lives. Jesus was also revealing how He kept from being discouraged during the darkest period of His life. It all centered on thinking about eternity. He had His attention focused on the joy that was set before Him (Heb 12:2-3). It can only be done when we put things into their proper perspective in light of eternity.
This world is not all there is. There is eternity and the time we spend in eternity; the benefits we receive there will far outweigh all concerns that happen here on earth. If we only have hope in this world, then we would be the most miserable of all men (1Co 15:19) To have the positive faith that Jesus exhibited and which He is commanding us to have here, we have to be heavenly minded.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Grace Abounding
“God is able to make all grace abound to you.” 2 Corinthians 9:8
Maybe there has been times when things have been difficult. When there seemed to be no solution. Possibly you may be in one of those times now. You may of been surprised then by the peace and comfort that was yours in Christ? When people around you were going under, by some miracle God held you together.
I know where your strength came from: Grace—God’s favor for His own. Grace is what God gives to get us through. Doctors give prescriptions so we can get well, employers give paychecks so we can get current, teachers give lessons so we can get smart, and God gives grace so we can get through. If you don’t have the grace, you’re just not making it.
The New Testament has much to say about grace. Ephesians 2:8 says that we’re saved by grace. Titus 2:11 says that saving grace has appeared to all. God’s grace is enough for us, says 2 Corinthians 12:9. Second Corinthians 6:1 says that we shouldn’t even try to live apart from the grace He’s given us. Hebrews 12:15 warns that if we fall short of the grace of God—if, as we go through a hard time, we don’t draw down upon the grace of God—then bitterness will surface and defile us. First Corinthians 16:23, as well as many other New Testament closing passages, gives a final blast of encouragement by reminding us about “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that is with us all.”
No doubt about it, there is a sustaining, nourishing, feeding, get-you-through-the-thing-you’re-going-through grace that God would give to every person reading this.
You flat out can’t get through life without it. If you’re trying to get along on your own, you’ve got a big problem on your hands. Without God’s grace, we can’t be saved. Without His grace, we can’t grow. Without His grace, we won’t be sustained through the trials in life. Do you have the grace?
The grace of God is the source and storehouse of all that we need, not only to get through life, but to prosper in an ever-increasing fruitful, faithful walk with Christ. God’s supply is unlimited and available upon request. All you have to do is ask.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Christ and our Dying
Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul is preaching a death to self, but it is very important to notice how this death took place. Paul was dead through what Jesus did. Paul experienced this death by simply reckoning what had already happened through Christ to be so (Ro 6:11).
There are people today who have taken the "dying to self" doctrine to an extreme, and instead of being free of self, they are totally self-centered. They constantly think of self. It may be in all negative terms, but it is still self-centered. A truly humble person is one who is Christ-centered. Dying to self is not a hatred for self but rather a love of Christ more than self.
There are false religions that preach a denial of self. The legalistic Jews Paul was preaching against did that. Paul was not just dead to self, he was alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Christ leads to legalism.
Paul's "old man" was dead through Christ (Ro 6:2-11). Now he was truly free to live, but it wasn't actually Paul who was living. It was Christ living through him. Paul had learned the secret of victorious Christian living. It is not us living for Jesus, but Jesus living through us.
Failure to understand this simple truth is at the root of all legalism and performance mentality. The law focuses on the outer man and tells it what it must do. Grace focuses on the inner man and tells it what is already done through Christ. Those who are focused on what they must do are under law. Those who are focused on what Christ has done for them are walking under grace.
Notice that Paul didn't say he was living by faith in the Son of God. He said, "I live by the faith OF the Son of God." He used this same terminology twice in verse 16. We were so spiritually bankrupt that we couldn't even believe for salvation with our own faith. We had to use God's supernatural faith (Eph 2:8) that came to us as a gift through hearing God's Word (Ro 10:17).
I don't believe it is wrong to say we put faith in the Son of God, but Paul was clearly stating that he was living by the faith OF Jesus. Paul said this same thing twice just a few verses earlier (Ga 2:16).
Paul was using the faith OF Jesus. Where did he get it? The same place every born-again believer receives it. He got it from God's Word (Ro 10:17), and it thereafter resides in the spirit of every believer (Ga 5:22-23). Ro 12:3 says every believer has been given THE measure of faith. There aren't different measures but only ONE. Since the Apostle Paul said the faith he was living by was "THE faith of the Son of God," then that must be THE measure given to every believer.
Many believers don't realize what they have, because this faith is in their born-again spirits. It can't be perceived with just carnal methods. They just have to trust the revelation given in God's spiritual mirror (Joh 6:63 and Jas 1:25). There isn't a lack of faith, just a lack of knowledge. (2Pe 1:3).
There is a human faith which is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses, but the supernatural, God-kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God's kind of faith calls those things which be not as though they already were (Ro 4:17; Ro 12:3).
The Christian life is not just hard to live--it's impossible to live in our human strength. The only way to walk in victory is to let Christ live through us.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul is preaching a death to self, but it is very important to notice how this death took place. Paul was dead through what Jesus did. Paul experienced this death by simply reckoning what had already happened through Christ to be so (Ro 6:11).
There are people today who have taken the "dying to self" doctrine to an extreme, and instead of being free of self, they are totally self-centered. They constantly think of self. It may be in all negative terms, but it is still self-centered. A truly humble person is one who is Christ-centered. Dying to self is not a hatred for self but rather a love of Christ more than self.
There are false religions that preach a denial of self. The legalistic Jews Paul was preaching against did that. Paul was not just dead to self, he was alive to God. A focus on the denial of self without the enthronement of Christ leads to legalism.
Paul's "old man" was dead through Christ (Ro 6:2-11). Now he was truly free to live, but it wasn't actually Paul who was living. It was Christ living through him. Paul had learned the secret of victorious Christian living. It is not us living for Jesus, but Jesus living through us.
Failure to understand this simple truth is at the root of all legalism and performance mentality. The law focuses on the outer man and tells it what it must do. Grace focuses on the inner man and tells it what is already done through Christ. Those who are focused on what they must do are under law. Those who are focused on what Christ has done for them are walking under grace.
Notice that Paul didn't say he was living by faith in the Son of God. He said, "I live by the faith OF the Son of God." He used this same terminology twice in verse 16. We were so spiritually bankrupt that we couldn't even believe for salvation with our own faith. We had to use God's supernatural faith (Eph 2:8) that came to us as a gift through hearing God's Word (Ro 10:17).
I don't believe it is wrong to say we put faith in the Son of God, but Paul was clearly stating that he was living by the faith OF Jesus. Paul said this same thing twice just a few verses earlier (Ga 2:16).
Paul was using the faith OF Jesus. Where did he get it? The same place every born-again believer receives it. He got it from God's Word (Ro 10:17), and it thereafter resides in the spirit of every believer (Ga 5:22-23). Ro 12:3 says every believer has been given THE measure of faith. There aren't different measures but only ONE. Since the Apostle Paul said the faith he was living by was "THE faith of the Son of God," then that must be THE measure given to every believer.
Many believers don't realize what they have, because this faith is in their born-again spirits. It can't be perceived with just carnal methods. They just have to trust the revelation given in God's spiritual mirror (Joh 6:63 and Jas 1:25). There isn't a lack of faith, just a lack of knowledge. (2Pe 1:3).
There is a human faith which is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses, but the supernatural, God-kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God's kind of faith calls those things which be not as though they already were (Ro 4:17; Ro 12:3).
The Christian life is not just hard to live--it's impossible to live in our human strength. The only way to walk in victory is to let Christ live through us.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
May this New Year be a time of Preparation?
Romans 10:9-10
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
How many times has your heart deceived you. Your brain was saying something else, your brain knew the facts but you followed through on something your heart told you to do and it was wrong. Relatively few people are determined to do evil. They don't wake up in the morning seeking ways to transgress. Rather, they fall into sin because they have not prepared their hearts to seek the Lord.
During the time I have been in ministry, I have known many people who genuinely loved the Lord at one time and were excited about the things of God, yet they grew cold and, in many cases, completely abandoned the Lord and the things that were once so dear to them. How can this be? Why does this happen? It's because they didn't prepare their hearts to seek the Lord.
The word "prepare" means "to establish, fix, prepare, or apply." It conveys the idea of deliberate effort over a prolonged period of time. The same Hebrew word that was translated "prepare" was also translated "fixed" four times in the Old Testament.
The word "fixed" means: "1. firmly, in position; stationary 2. Not subject to change or variation; constant 3. Firmly held in the mind; a fixed notion" (American Heritage Dictionary). One of the keys to preparing our hearts is to fix our hearts on what we will and will not do before we encounter the temptation. You can settle what you would do so that there are no options left when the temptation comes. Far too often, Christians have not made strong enough commitments and, therefore, succumb to temptation.
Of course, no one can accomplish preparing their heart on their own. This is not a matter of sheer "will power." God must be involved in preparing our hearts. Psalm 10:17 says, "LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart." Only when we trust in the Lord and depend on Him can we find the strength to make our hearts not subject to change or variation. Humility is an essential ingredient in the preparation of our hearts.
Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Anytime anyone falls from their steadfast position in the Lord, you can bet that they got out of humbly depending on the Lord. Humility has to be forsaken, or at least neglected, before we fall. A humble heart makes a soft, sensitive heart.
The power of memory is a vital part of preparing our own hearts. The Lord warned the children of Israel not to forget the mighty works He had performed for them lest they turn away from following Him. He linked memory to staying true to the Lord.
No one who was dominated with thoughts of the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord would turn their back on the Lord. To turn from the Lord, Satan has to divert our attention from the Lord and block the memories of God's goodness to us. Keeping our positive memories alive will keep our hearts knit to the Lord.
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
How many times has your heart deceived you. Your brain was saying something else, your brain knew the facts but you followed through on something your heart told you to do and it was wrong. Relatively few people are determined to do evil. They don't wake up in the morning seeking ways to transgress. Rather, they fall into sin because they have not prepared their hearts to seek the Lord.
During the time I have been in ministry, I have known many people who genuinely loved the Lord at one time and were excited about the things of God, yet they grew cold and, in many cases, completely abandoned the Lord and the things that were once so dear to them. How can this be? Why does this happen? It's because they didn't prepare their hearts to seek the Lord.
The word "prepare" means "to establish, fix, prepare, or apply." It conveys the idea of deliberate effort over a prolonged period of time. The same Hebrew word that was translated "prepare" was also translated "fixed" four times in the Old Testament.
The word "fixed" means: "1. firmly, in position; stationary 2. Not subject to change or variation; constant 3. Firmly held in the mind; a fixed notion" (American Heritage Dictionary). One of the keys to preparing our hearts is to fix our hearts on what we will and will not do before we encounter the temptation. You can settle what you would do so that there are no options left when the temptation comes. Far too often, Christians have not made strong enough commitments and, therefore, succumb to temptation.
Of course, no one can accomplish preparing their heart on their own. This is not a matter of sheer "will power." God must be involved in preparing our hearts. Psalm 10:17 says, "LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart." Only when we trust in the Lord and depend on Him can we find the strength to make our hearts not subject to change or variation. Humility is an essential ingredient in the preparation of our hearts.
Proverbs 16:18 says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Anytime anyone falls from their steadfast position in the Lord, you can bet that they got out of humbly depending on the Lord. Humility has to be forsaken, or at least neglected, before we fall. A humble heart makes a soft, sensitive heart.
The power of memory is a vital part of preparing our own hearts. The Lord warned the children of Israel not to forget the mighty works He had performed for them lest they turn away from following Him. He linked memory to staying true to the Lord.
No one who was dominated with thoughts of the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord would turn their back on the Lord. To turn from the Lord, Satan has to divert our attention from the Lord and block the memories of God's goodness to us. Keeping our positive memories alive will keep our hearts knit to the Lord.
Friday, December 24, 2010
The King of kings
The King of kings
It's interesting that the Lord sent angels to announce the birth of Christ to shepherds. This was the greatest event in the history of the world, and it was proclaimed to some of the most humble of men. Why did the Lord bypass the "great" men of the day?
For one thing, God isn't impressed with the things men are impressed with. These shepherds may have been the great men of the day in God's eyes. Certainly, kings would have been afraid of a new king as Herod was. It could have been dangerous to let tyrants know of the birth.
Some scholars have thought that the time of Christ's birth was around the time of the Day of Atonement. Hence, these could have been temple shepherds that were keeping the sheep to be used as the sin sacrifice. Therefore, it would be appropriate for them to come inspect the Lamb of God to verify He was without blemish.
It could be as simple as the Lord chose the shepherds because His Son would be the great Shepherd of the sheep. Maybe they were the only ones who would listen to the announcement. At any rate, it was prophetic for these lowly shepherds to be chosen for the great announcement because Jesus would always associate with the common and the poor.
What an irony that the King of kings would be in a stable! I'm sure this was a puzzle to the shepherds. Yet, no earthly accommodations would have been adequate. Therefore, it really didn't matter where Jesus was born. Wherever it would have been would have been infinitely less than the glory He had with the Father. Jesus humbled Himself to become a man.
It's hard to imagine something like this happening and the shepherds not going to worship the Lord. Yet, today, people often hear this same proclamation and do nothing about it.
When we see the Lord for who He is, we will also make this known to everyone who will listen.
Luke 2:8-18 (NIV)
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,
18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
To Be Free from Fear
1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he that fears has not been made perfect in love."
I don't remember where it started, but for most of my life, I lived with fear. Fear of the school bully. Fear of not being accepted. Fear of dogs. Fear of failure and fear of success. I remember one incident that illustrates the foolishness of fear. There was a time when I was a paper boy, delivered the Chicago Sun Times in the morning and the Herald in the afternoon. Lived in a small neighborhood on the south side of Chicago and I would begin my route before the sun rose. One morning, as I was beginning to approach a house, I saw a shadowy figure crouched in the corner of the front lawn. The sun was just beginning to crest above the horizon. I froze. Fear gripped my heart. I stood as still as I could, waiting for him to move. After about three minutes, the sun came over the horizon enough for me to see that this menacing figure was really the silhouette of a bush. I felt stupid.
This is exactly the strategy of Satan. The Bible says that a fearful man runs when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as lions. Satan's primary weapon is intimidation. If he can get you into fear through circumstances, then he will stand back as you sabotage yourself. The only cure for fear is love. When you become convinced that God loves you and is for you, then fear will be replaced with confidence and boldness. It is perfect love that casts out fear, and God's love is the only love that is perfect. I don't know what you are afraid of, but I do know that His love is greater than your circumstance. Today, meditate on the greatness of His love for you. Allow His love to drive out the fear and let you enjoy His peace.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry
Not long after moving back to Colorado Springs Colorado, I called on a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction. I described the pace of life in my current ministry. The church where I serve tends to move at a fast clip. I also told him about my rhythms of life: driving, baseball-league, music-lessons, bible school, counseling, ministry moving pace of life. I told him about the present condition of my heart, as best I could discern it. What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy?
Long pause.
"You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life," he said at last.
Another long pause.
"Okay, I've written that one down," I told him, a little impatiently. "That's a good one. Now what else is there?" I had many things to do, and this time together needed to move on, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible.
Another long pause.
"There is nothing else," he said. "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."
I've concluded that my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls. As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil."
For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.
One of the great illusions of our day is that hurrying will buy us more time. I pulled into a service station recently where the advertising slogan read, "We help you move faster." But what if my primary need is not moving faster?
Time magazine noted that back in the 1960s, expert testimony was given to a sub-committee of the Senate on time management. The gist was that due to advances in technology, within 20 years or so people would have to cut back radically on how many hours a week they worked (or how many weeks a year they worked), or they'd have to start retiring sooner. The great challenge, they said, would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.
Yet 50 years later, not many of us would say this is our primary time challenge. In fact, quite the reverse. Robert Banks, author of All the Business of Life, notes that while our society is rich in things, we are extremely poor in time. In fact, never before in human history has a society been so things-rich and so time-poor.
Our world has become the world of the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland: "Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."
Meyer Friedman (who with Diane Ulmer wrote Treating Type A Behavior -- and Your Heart) defines hurry sickness as "above all, a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other persons."
Though our age intensifies "hurry sickness," it's not a new problem; people in ministry have been subject to it at least since the days of Jesus. During one hectic season of ministry, Mark notes of the disciples, "For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."
Far too many people involved in ministry think of this as a life verse, as if God will reward the hectic one-day with, "What a life you had! Many were coming and going, and you had no leisure even to eat. Well done!"
Not quite. Jesus was aware of this problem, and he constantly withdrew from crowds and activities. He taught the same to his followers. In one instance, when they returned from a busy time of ministry, filled with adrenaline, he told them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
The question becomes “was Jesus ever in a hurry about anything He ever did?”
If you want to follow someone, you can't go faster than the one who is leading; following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. Jesus was often busy but he was never hurried. Being busy is an outer condition; being hurried is a sickness of the soul.
Jesus never went about the busyness of his ministry in a way that severed the life-giving connection between himself and his Father.
In Jesus' main parable about the sower and seed He shows us the principals of farming. The three main principals are seed, time, and harvest. Time is a principal that we cannot bypass or cram for. You cannot hurry the growing process along, it must be done in its time. You can't hurry God up, but you can slow Him down by not participating in the rhythms of His time. How fast did Jesus move?
Just think if God came along and said that you have only three and a half years to complete your life and then I will take you home to heaven. You would try to cram a whole life time of living and ministering in that short time. Jesus had only three and a half years to complete all of the ministry to benefit the whole world. Jesus still was not in a hurry about doing all that He needed to accomplish.
He never did anything in a way that interfered with his ability to give love when that was what was called for. Laying down laws does not take any time at all, but to love, that takes time. Laws take the place of loving, that is why we put them in place so we can speed the process up. Jesus observed a regular rhythm of withdrawal from activity, for solitude and prayer. He never was in a hurry, ever.
Jesus ruthlessly eliminated hurry from his life, and He always had time to love.
Psalms 46:10 Be Still and know that He is God.
Long pause.
"You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life," he said at last.
Another long pause.
"Okay, I've written that one down," I told him, a little impatiently. "That's a good one. Now what else is there?" I had many things to do, and this time together needed to move on, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible.
Another long pause.
"There is nothing else," he said. "You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life."
I've concluded that my life and the well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls. As Carl Jung wrote, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil."
For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them.
One of the great illusions of our day is that hurrying will buy us more time. I pulled into a service station recently where the advertising slogan read, "We help you move faster." But what if my primary need is not moving faster?
Time magazine noted that back in the 1960s, expert testimony was given to a sub-committee of the Senate on time management. The gist was that due to advances in technology, within 20 years or so people would have to cut back radically on how many hours a week they worked (or how many weeks a year they worked), or they'd have to start retiring sooner. The great challenge, they said, would be figuring out what to do with all the excess time.
Yet 50 years later, not many of us would say this is our primary time challenge. In fact, quite the reverse. Robert Banks, author of All the Business of Life, notes that while our society is rich in things, we are extremely poor in time. In fact, never before in human history has a society been so things-rich and so time-poor.
Our world has become the world of the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland: "Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."
Meyer Friedman (who with Diane Ulmer wrote Treating Type A Behavior -- and Your Heart) defines hurry sickness as "above all, a continuous struggle and unremitting attempt to accomplish or achieve more and more things or participate in more and more events in less and less time, frequently in the face of opposition, real or imagined, from other persons."
Though our age intensifies "hurry sickness," it's not a new problem; people in ministry have been subject to it at least since the days of Jesus. During one hectic season of ministry, Mark notes of the disciples, "For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."
Far too many people involved in ministry think of this as a life verse, as if God will reward the hectic one-day with, "What a life you had! Many were coming and going, and you had no leisure even to eat. Well done!"
Not quite. Jesus was aware of this problem, and he constantly withdrew from crowds and activities. He taught the same to his followers. In one instance, when they returned from a busy time of ministry, filled with adrenaline, he told them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
The question becomes “was Jesus ever in a hurry about anything He ever did?”
If you want to follow someone, you can't go faster than the one who is leading; following Jesus cannot be done at a sprint. Jesus was often busy but he was never hurried. Being busy is an outer condition; being hurried is a sickness of the soul.
Jesus never went about the busyness of his ministry in a way that severed the life-giving connection between himself and his Father.
In Jesus' main parable about the sower and seed He shows us the principals of farming. The three main principals are seed, time, and harvest. Time is a principal that we cannot bypass or cram for. You cannot hurry the growing process along, it must be done in its time. You can't hurry God up, but you can slow Him down by not participating in the rhythms of His time. How fast did Jesus move?
Just think if God came along and said that you have only three and a half years to complete your life and then I will take you home to heaven. You would try to cram a whole life time of living and ministering in that short time. Jesus had only three and a half years to complete all of the ministry to benefit the whole world. Jesus still was not in a hurry about doing all that He needed to accomplish.
He never did anything in a way that interfered with his ability to give love when that was what was called for. Laying down laws does not take any time at all, but to love, that takes time. Laws take the place of loving, that is why we put them in place so we can speed the process up. Jesus observed a regular rhythm of withdrawal from activity, for solitude and prayer. He never was in a hurry, ever.
Jesus ruthlessly eliminated hurry from his life, and He always had time to love.
Psalms 46:10 Be Still and know that He is God.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Spiritual Growth - Gods Job or Our Job
Whose job is spiritual growth? This study focuses on the doctrine of sanctification, which is related to the word holy (hagios). The gospel is not just that we’ll go to heaven when we die; the gospel is the offer of life in God’s kingdom. God’s plan is that his image in us, which was marred by the Fall, should be restored in all of its beauty and glory.
But for many Christians there is confusion about the division of labor necessary for spiritual growth or sanctification. They ask, “Is it God’s job or mine?”
Some Christians have taken the position that sanctification is solely God’s job. To support their position they cite verses like Romans 7:18, where Paul says, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Citing verses like these, they say human action is futile. Some Christians object to any call for strenuous effort or costly following by saying that human effort is opposed to grace.
On the other hand, some Christians take a Marine approach to spiritual life, evaluating spiritual growth as a product of one’s commitment level. They may cite verses like Leviticus 11:44: “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” In effect, they believe God’s job is to make sure he’s holy; their job is to make sure they are holy. For these believers the church then becomes a place of contest to see who has memorized the most Bible verses, who has witnessed to the most people, who has the most regular quiet time, who has prayed the most. People with this checklist mentality believe that as long as they’re doing these things they must be growing spiritually, even if love and joy aren’t being produced.
Sanctification is a joint project between God and us.
Philippians 2:12–13. Paul says to work out your own salvation, which means your role is important. He goes on to say, “For it is God who works in you.” You’re not doing this project on your own. Sanctification is empowered by God; it’s impossible without him.
When Paul says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” he does not mean you should work out your salvation with a sense of anxiety, not knowing whether it’s going to be good enough for God. Instead Paul uses the phrase to refer to a humble attitude of dependence. He’s suggesting we have a role to play, but we don’t control it.
Some things we can control; others we can do nothing about. But there is a third category, such as going to sleep. You can’t make yourself go to sleep the way you can make a phone call. But you can get in a dark room, lie down on a soft mattress, turn out the lights, and sleep will come.
Think about the differences between a motorboat and a sailboat. In a motorboat, you are in control. Sailing is different. When you sail, you are not passive. You hoist the sails and steer with the rudder but are utterly dependent on the wind. There’s no room for believing you are in control, because if the wind doesn’t blow, you’re dead in the water. When the wind blows, on the other hand, amazing things can happen.
John 3:8. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The word for wind is the same as the word for spirit both in Hebrew and in Greek. Jesus says the wind blows wherever it chooses. We hear the sound, but we don’t know where it comes from, and we don’t know where it goes. It’s free and powerful, way beyond our control. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit, through whose life the winds of God are blowing.
The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is powerful and mysterious. We can’t control or manufacture it. It’s not about us coming up with a program with predictable results we control. On the other hand, we’re not passive. Our job is to discern where the wind of the Spirit is blowing and know how to catch it.
Sanctification is normative, not optional.
Paul says he may get a lot of things wrong, but he works toward sanctification. It’s difficult to be made holy, and sometimes we’re tempted to give up.
Read Romans 12:2. Paul suggests that if you’re not being transformed by God’s renewing power, then you’re being conformed by the forces opposed to God.
The question is not if you’re going to be formed spiritually; the question is by whom you will be formed. If you’re not formed by God, then you have a spiritual adversary, the Evil One, who will be happy to do the task. We live in a world that deforms people spiritually.
Hebrews 12:14. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
The offer of the gospel is the offer to be sanctified. Jesus’ message was, “Repent and believe the good news; the kingdom of heaven is drawing near, and you can now live in it.” If we do that, it is a choice to live God’s kind of life, and sanctification is simply another word for that kind of life. It’s a life of truth, love, joy, humility, and servanthood.
If you don’t want to live that kind of life now, what makes you think you’d want to live that kind of life eternally after you die? It’s God’s will that you be sanctified.
Sanctification is a painstaking process.
Sanctification is a process, not an event. We’re an instant gratification society, but sanctification does not happen that way. Paul says, Am I there yet? Not yet. Not today. Not tomorrow. But this one thing I do: I don’t give up. I just keep after it.
In the pursuit of sanctification, you will fail often. What do we do if we’re serious about pursuing sanctification and we slip into bad behavior?
Philippians 3:13.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
We tend to think of forgetting as a bad thing, as something we shouldn’t do. But forgetting is indispensable to sanctification.
Ask the Holy Spirit, “Will you help me overcome yesterday’s mistakes, sin, guilt, and disappointments?” We can’t be shackled to yesterday’s regrets, because sanctification is a journey, not an event.
It’s guaranteed you’ll slip; the danger is that when you slip you’ll get discouraged and give up. Paul urges us to keep going and to forget what is behind. Paul allows neither his failures nor his successes to keep him trapped in yesterday. Sanctification is a process, so don’t give up.
Sanctification is empowered by God, not by man.
If we are sailboats, God’s the one who supplies the wind. When talking about transformation, Paul uses an imperative, which is used when giving somebody a command. For instance, “Stop!” is an imperative.
There’s another grammatical form called the passive voice that indicates when something happens to you, such as getting hit by a truck or struck by an illness.
When talking about transformation, Paul often uses a passive imperative. Look again at Romans 12:2. It is an imperative, but he does not say, “Transform yourself.” Instead he says, “Be transformed.”
There are a few ways you can discern how the Spirit is working in your life. One is to ask the question, “God, how are you seeking to transform me in this moment?”
When you’re in line at the grocery store, behind someone who’s mathematically challenged, say, “God, how can you use this moment to train me in patience?”
When you’re on the verge of procrastinating again with a project, ask, “God, how do you want to train me in this moment to persevere?”
You can allow the winds of the Spirit to blow in your life. That’s why sanctification is never a mechanical thing. That’s why it will look different from one person to another, and it will look different in different areas of your life. You need to discern how God is at work.
Sanctification is normative, not optional. It’s a process, not an event. It’s empowered by God, not you. Titus 3:5 "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."
Apply Your Findings
Sanctification should be pursued for the sake of others, not just for our own fulfillment. There is a real danger in pursuing spiritual growth, because if it gets off track it can get individualistic and even narcissistic. The scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought of themselves as very holy, but they didn’t love anybody. They were too absorbed with themselves. The New Testament never defines spirituality or sanctification in solely individualistic or narcissistic terms. It’s defined in terms of community.
In Philippians 2:14, Paul writes, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In other words, as the community matures this is what you’ll find: no grumbling and no arguing, just grateful hearts. A community of servanthood will replace bitterness and resentment.
Paul defines sanctification within the context of community. If we don’t, the pursuit of spiritual growth can get distorted in a way that makes it all about the individual. We can get preoccupied with how we’re performing spiritually and how spiritually fulfilled we feel, and forget to live a life of servanthood and love. It is then we become spiritually narcissistic.
The goal of sanctification, in a single word, is love. There is a huge difference between being sanctified and being sanctimonious. Yet sometimes people get them mixed up. The goal of sanctification is loving persons.
God loved you when you were hardest to love. God wants to sanctify you, and that is not some spiritual project or piece of optional equipment. That is God’s destiny for you. If you miss out on that, you miss out on what you were made for. God’s intent is to sanctify you so you can love as God loves.
Sanctification is also another way of saying that we become holy, holiness is the consequence of the sanctification process. Thus Holiness (sanctification) is a fruit, not the root, of Salvation.
But for many Christians there is confusion about the division of labor necessary for spiritual growth or sanctification. They ask, “Is it God’s job or mine?”
Some Christians have taken the position that sanctification is solely God’s job. To support their position they cite verses like Romans 7:18, where Paul says, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Citing verses like these, they say human action is futile. Some Christians object to any call for strenuous effort or costly following by saying that human effort is opposed to grace.
On the other hand, some Christians take a Marine approach to spiritual life, evaluating spiritual growth as a product of one’s commitment level. They may cite verses like Leviticus 11:44: “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” In effect, they believe God’s job is to make sure he’s holy; their job is to make sure they are holy. For these believers the church then becomes a place of contest to see who has memorized the most Bible verses, who has witnessed to the most people, who has the most regular quiet time, who has prayed the most. People with this checklist mentality believe that as long as they’re doing these things they must be growing spiritually, even if love and joy aren’t being produced.
Sanctification is a joint project between God and us.
Philippians 2:12–13. Paul says to work out your own salvation, which means your role is important. He goes on to say, “For it is God who works in you.” You’re not doing this project on your own. Sanctification is empowered by God; it’s impossible without him.
When Paul says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” he does not mean you should work out your salvation with a sense of anxiety, not knowing whether it’s going to be good enough for God. Instead Paul uses the phrase to refer to a humble attitude of dependence. He’s suggesting we have a role to play, but we don’t control it.
Some things we can control; others we can do nothing about. But there is a third category, such as going to sleep. You can’t make yourself go to sleep the way you can make a phone call. But you can get in a dark room, lie down on a soft mattress, turn out the lights, and sleep will come.
Think about the differences between a motorboat and a sailboat. In a motorboat, you are in control. Sailing is different. When you sail, you are not passive. You hoist the sails and steer with the rudder but are utterly dependent on the wind. There’s no room for believing you are in control, because if the wind doesn’t blow, you’re dead in the water. When the wind blows, on the other hand, amazing things can happen.
John 3:8. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The word for wind is the same as the word for spirit both in Hebrew and in Greek. Jesus says the wind blows wherever it chooses. We hear the sound, but we don’t know where it comes from, and we don’t know where it goes. It’s free and powerful, way beyond our control. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit, through whose life the winds of God are blowing.
The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is powerful and mysterious. We can’t control or manufacture it. It’s not about us coming up with a program with predictable results we control. On the other hand, we’re not passive. Our job is to discern where the wind of the Spirit is blowing and know how to catch it.
Sanctification is normative, not optional.
Paul says he may get a lot of things wrong, but he works toward sanctification. It’s difficult to be made holy, and sometimes we’re tempted to give up.
Read Romans 12:2. Paul suggests that if you’re not being transformed by God’s renewing power, then you’re being conformed by the forces opposed to God.
The question is not if you’re going to be formed spiritually; the question is by whom you will be formed. If you’re not formed by God, then you have a spiritual adversary, the Evil One, who will be happy to do the task. We live in a world that deforms people spiritually.
Hebrews 12:14. Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
The offer of the gospel is the offer to be sanctified. Jesus’ message was, “Repent and believe the good news; the kingdom of heaven is drawing near, and you can now live in it.” If we do that, it is a choice to live God’s kind of life, and sanctification is simply another word for that kind of life. It’s a life of truth, love, joy, humility, and servanthood.
If you don’t want to live that kind of life now, what makes you think you’d want to live that kind of life eternally after you die? It’s God’s will that you be sanctified.
Sanctification is a painstaking process.
Sanctification is a process, not an event. We’re an instant gratification society, but sanctification does not happen that way. Paul says, Am I there yet? Not yet. Not today. Not tomorrow. But this one thing I do: I don’t give up. I just keep after it.
In the pursuit of sanctification, you will fail often. What do we do if we’re serious about pursuing sanctification and we slip into bad behavior?
Philippians 3:13.
13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
We tend to think of forgetting as a bad thing, as something we shouldn’t do. But forgetting is indispensable to sanctification.
Ask the Holy Spirit, “Will you help me overcome yesterday’s mistakes, sin, guilt, and disappointments?” We can’t be shackled to yesterday’s regrets, because sanctification is a journey, not an event.
It’s guaranteed you’ll slip; the danger is that when you slip you’ll get discouraged and give up. Paul urges us to keep going and to forget what is behind. Paul allows neither his failures nor his successes to keep him trapped in yesterday. Sanctification is a process, so don’t give up.
Sanctification is empowered by God, not by man.
If we are sailboats, God’s the one who supplies the wind. When talking about transformation, Paul uses an imperative, which is used when giving somebody a command. For instance, “Stop!” is an imperative.
There’s another grammatical form called the passive voice that indicates when something happens to you, such as getting hit by a truck or struck by an illness.
When talking about transformation, Paul often uses a passive imperative. Look again at Romans 12:2. It is an imperative, but he does not say, “Transform yourself.” Instead he says, “Be transformed.”
There are a few ways you can discern how the Spirit is working in your life. One is to ask the question, “God, how are you seeking to transform me in this moment?”
When you’re in line at the grocery store, behind someone who’s mathematically challenged, say, “God, how can you use this moment to train me in patience?”
When you’re on the verge of procrastinating again with a project, ask, “God, how do you want to train me in this moment to persevere?”
You can allow the winds of the Spirit to blow in your life. That’s why sanctification is never a mechanical thing. That’s why it will look different from one person to another, and it will look different in different areas of your life. You need to discern how God is at work.
Sanctification is normative, not optional. It’s a process, not an event. It’s empowered by God, not you. Titus 3:5 "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit."
Apply Your Findings
Sanctification should be pursued for the sake of others, not just for our own fulfillment. There is a real danger in pursuing spiritual growth, because if it gets off track it can get individualistic and even narcissistic. The scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought of themselves as very holy, but they didn’t love anybody. They were too absorbed with themselves. The New Testament never defines spirituality or sanctification in solely individualistic or narcissistic terms. It’s defined in terms of community.
In Philippians 2:14, Paul writes, “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” In other words, as the community matures this is what you’ll find: no grumbling and no arguing, just grateful hearts. A community of servanthood will replace bitterness and resentment.
Paul defines sanctification within the context of community. If we don’t, the pursuit of spiritual growth can get distorted in a way that makes it all about the individual. We can get preoccupied with how we’re performing spiritually and how spiritually fulfilled we feel, and forget to live a life of servanthood and love. It is then we become spiritually narcissistic.
The goal of sanctification, in a single word, is love. There is a huge difference between being sanctified and being sanctimonious. Yet sometimes people get them mixed up. The goal of sanctification is loving persons.
God loved you when you were hardest to love. God wants to sanctify you, and that is not some spiritual project or piece of optional equipment. That is God’s destiny for you. If you miss out on that, you miss out on what you were made for. God’s intent is to sanctify you so you can love as God loves.
Sanctification is also another way of saying that we become holy, holiness is the consequence of the sanctification process. Thus Holiness (sanctification) is a fruit, not the root, of Salvation.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Monkey See Monkey Do
Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. James 1:23-24
In the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs some years ago told the story of a lady giving up smoking for a very unusual reason. This woman quit because of her pet macaw. She had this beautiful blue and gold macaw; they are worth a few thousand dollars. This bird had developed a persistent cough.
A veterinarian checked the macaw and determined that it didn’t have pneumonia or psittacosis, two of the possibilities that worried her. The final diagnosis was that the macaw was not ill at all, but just imitating the cough of its cigarette-smoking owner. The woman finally quit only when she realized, through her macaw, how bad she actually sounded herself.
It is a sad fact of human nature that we can be totally blind to our own faults, at the same time clearly seeing those same faults in others. I can be very concerned about your cough, not even knowing I myself might have pneumonia. I can clearly see the mote in your eye precisely because I have so much practice with the thing that has been floating around in mine, without my even knowing it. This is a lot like what psychologists call “projection”, in which people ‘project” their own motives and ways of looking at life on those around them. A suspicious person thinks everyone is out to get them; a manipulative person just “knows” that other people are trying to cheat and trick themselves; and so on.
The Bible just calls it “sin”. In Romans 2:1, for instance, is the warning that this kind of “projection” invites judgment: “You, therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things”. By “same things”, Paul didn’t mean that everyone who passes judgment on a murderer himself had murdered, but only was guilty of the same kind of lawlessness as his conviction. Even so, according to the Bible, the light will soon spotlight every pot calling a kettle black, and both will be in for a thorough and painful cleansing.
The macaw has a couple of lessons to teach us:
First is the tip-off that what bugs us most in others may be our own special creepiness. If someone’s bad habit gets under your skin, could it be that the “me” already under that skin has the same problem? Often, my worst gripes are reserved to what grips me most.
Secondly, the other lesson of the macaw is of course the power of a bad example. Macaws, parrots, children, even adults will copy in us in what may be concealed to us. In our blindness, we can lead many people down the primrose path to a cough, a bad habit, or worse, without our even knowing we are on the path ourselves. Our weaknesses may be multiplying in those who follow us.
Sobering thoughts and ones that should make us pay serious attention anytime someone does find a mote in our otherwise nearly-perfect, if surprisingly blind eye.
Not only monkeys see and do, but many others who follow you.
May we be sensitive to our own shortcomings today, Lord, as we seem in our fallen humanity toward those of others?
In the Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs some years ago told the story of a lady giving up smoking for a very unusual reason. This woman quit because of her pet macaw. She had this beautiful blue and gold macaw; they are worth a few thousand dollars. This bird had developed a persistent cough.
A veterinarian checked the macaw and determined that it didn’t have pneumonia or psittacosis, two of the possibilities that worried her. The final diagnosis was that the macaw was not ill at all, but just imitating the cough of its cigarette-smoking owner. The woman finally quit only when she realized, through her macaw, how bad she actually sounded herself.
It is a sad fact of human nature that we can be totally blind to our own faults, at the same time clearly seeing those same faults in others. I can be very concerned about your cough, not even knowing I myself might have pneumonia. I can clearly see the mote in your eye precisely because I have so much practice with the thing that has been floating around in mine, without my even knowing it. This is a lot like what psychologists call “projection”, in which people ‘project” their own motives and ways of looking at life on those around them. A suspicious person thinks everyone is out to get them; a manipulative person just “knows” that other people are trying to cheat and trick themselves; and so on.
The Bible just calls it “sin”. In Romans 2:1, for instance, is the warning that this kind of “projection” invites judgment: “You, therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things”. By “same things”, Paul didn’t mean that everyone who passes judgment on a murderer himself had murdered, but only was guilty of the same kind of lawlessness as his conviction. Even so, according to the Bible, the light will soon spotlight every pot calling a kettle black, and both will be in for a thorough and painful cleansing.
The macaw has a couple of lessons to teach us:
First is the tip-off that what bugs us most in others may be our own special creepiness. If someone’s bad habit gets under your skin, could it be that the “me” already under that skin has the same problem? Often, my worst gripes are reserved to what grips me most.
Secondly, the other lesson of the macaw is of course the power of a bad example. Macaws, parrots, children, even adults will copy in us in what may be concealed to us. In our blindness, we can lead many people down the primrose path to a cough, a bad habit, or worse, without our even knowing we are on the path ourselves. Our weaknesses may be multiplying in those who follow us.
Sobering thoughts and ones that should make us pay serious attention anytime someone does find a mote in our otherwise nearly-perfect, if surprisingly blind eye.
Not only monkeys see and do, but many others who follow you.
May we be sensitive to our own shortcomings today, Lord, as we seem in our fallen humanity toward those of others?
What is Jesus’ Worth to You Today?
The story of Mary and Martha is a story of priorities. It’s a story of how much worth do we put on Jesus Christ. It is not only that we love Jesus, but it is why we love Him. When Jesus came to earth He upped the ante on us. Jesus said that if you look upon a woman lustfully you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. If you are angry with your brother you are committing murder, the only difference between anger and murder is a single physical step, the thought process is the same. So it is not just about what we do, but it is about why we do it. (Matt 5:27-28; Matt 5:21-22)
Jesus wants to get at the why’s that are imbedded in our hearts, for if the why’s are corrected and pointed in the right direction then what we do will follow in suit. Mary’s story in this passage shows us a picture of Mary’s love for Jesus. It is a grand picture of the worth she put on Jesus, and the priority that she gave Him.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,
42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It was a great honor to have Jesus in Mary and Martha’s home and to be able to hear His personal words in their household. Martha should have given this the same priority that Mary did. There were physical needs that needed to be met also, but Jesus had already proven that He could even feed people miraculously (the feeding of the 5,000, Joh 6:5-13). There really wasn't anything more important than listening to Jesus.
According to Jesus’ own words is that Mary chose what was better. Mary chose to prioritize her time with Jesus, she put a worth upon this relationship over and above everything else. Many times we put a greater worth on serving as Martha was doing here and even to the extent that Martha told Jesus what to do. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” We get so caught up in serving that it is the serving that we worship rather than Jesus himself. Jesus wants to make sure that our focus and worth is on Him and not on just what we can do for Him.
Martha was not wrong in serving Jesus and His disciples. Other women ministered to Jesus in this way (Lu 8:2-3, Mt 8:15) without being corrected. Serving was a good thing, but Martha had put it in the wrong place. Her problem was priorities and why she was serving, not that she had served.
Just like Martha, many of us today are occupied with things that keep us from hearing the words of Jesus. It is easy to recognize and turn from things that are obviously sin, but even good things that we are involved in must be prioritized so that nothing takes the place of seeking first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33).
Mary had a heart to really know God deeply and to be a true worshiper, Jesus commended her for that. Let us be a Mary and not a Martha, what is the worth that you put on Jesus at any given time? Are you so caught up with serving and doing or are you being in Christ? You are not a human doing, you are a human being! Out of your being you then can go and do, but you must first be.
g jeremiah williamson
Jesus wants to get at the why’s that are imbedded in our hearts, for if the why’s are corrected and pointed in the right direction then what we do will follow in suit. Mary’s story in this passage shows us a picture of Mary’s love for Jesus. It is a grand picture of the worth she put on Jesus, and the priority that she gave Him.
Luke 10:38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,
42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It was a great honor to have Jesus in Mary and Martha’s home and to be able to hear His personal words in their household. Martha should have given this the same priority that Mary did. There were physical needs that needed to be met also, but Jesus had already proven that He could even feed people miraculously (the feeding of the 5,000, Joh 6:5-13). There really wasn't anything more important than listening to Jesus.
According to Jesus’ own words is that Mary chose what was better. Mary chose to prioritize her time with Jesus, she put a worth upon this relationship over and above everything else. Many times we put a greater worth on serving as Martha was doing here and even to the extent that Martha told Jesus what to do. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” We get so caught up in serving that it is the serving that we worship rather than Jesus himself. Jesus wants to make sure that our focus and worth is on Him and not on just what we can do for Him.
Martha was not wrong in serving Jesus and His disciples. Other women ministered to Jesus in this way (Lu 8:2-3, Mt 8:15) without being corrected. Serving was a good thing, but Martha had put it in the wrong place. Her problem was priorities and why she was serving, not that she had served.
Just like Martha, many of us today are occupied with things that keep us from hearing the words of Jesus. It is easy to recognize and turn from things that are obviously sin, but even good things that we are involved in must be prioritized so that nothing takes the place of seeking first the kingdom of God (Mt 6:33).
Mary had a heart to really know God deeply and to be a true worshiper, Jesus commended her for that. Let us be a Mary and not a Martha, what is the worth that you put on Jesus at any given time? Are you so caught up with serving and doing or are you being in Christ? You are not a human doing, you are a human being! Out of your being you then can go and do, but you must first be.
g jeremiah williamson
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Mosque at Ground Zero, Tolerance, and Christianity
In a recent article published by a well known author and speaker about the Mosque being built at ground zero said “But the construction of the mosque at ground zero is not about tolerance. And it isn't about religious liberty. This is about prudence: the good sense to do what is right. That's one of the four classic, cardinal virtues given to the West.”
Cardinal virtues given to the west, whoever said that following good sense was ever correct? Forgiveness does not seem correct, in the eyes of the world and even enemies, forgiveness does not make sense at all. Loving those who despitefully use you and persecute you is more than just words and is also in the same basket as forgiveness. These qualities do not make sense at all. But it is at the heart of what Jesus taught. Sowing peace in a time of turbulence is something we do not want to hear, but it is something that we should do.
Not only do I believe that the New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission and Mayor Bloomberg is doing the right thing, I believe it is the hand of God working through our Government as Romans 13:1-8, and 1 Peter 2:12-21 depict. Despite our intolerance towards loving and forgiveness God is showing us the way we should go. If we live by the sword, we will die by the sword. Let us therefore sow peace, even to the example that we should go and help them build the mosque with our time and finances and sow more than just words, sow actions that speak louder than words.
This is an opportunity, shall we just pass it by, shall we just blow it off because of some cardinal virtue given to the west, or should we be an example of Christ for the whole world to see.
~
Cardinal virtues given to the west, whoever said that following good sense was ever correct? Forgiveness does not seem correct, in the eyes of the world and even enemies, forgiveness does not make sense at all. Loving those who despitefully use you and persecute you is more than just words and is also in the same basket as forgiveness. These qualities do not make sense at all. But it is at the heart of what Jesus taught. Sowing peace in a time of turbulence is something we do not want to hear, but it is something that we should do.
Not only do I believe that the New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission and Mayor Bloomberg is doing the right thing, I believe it is the hand of God working through our Government as Romans 13:1-8, and 1 Peter 2:12-21 depict. Despite our intolerance towards loving and forgiveness God is showing us the way we should go. If we live by the sword, we will die by the sword. Let us therefore sow peace, even to the example that we should go and help them build the mosque with our time and finances and sow more than just words, sow actions that speak louder than words.
This is an opportunity, shall we just pass it by, shall we just blow it off because of some cardinal virtue given to the west, or should we be an example of Christ for the whole world to see.
~
Monday, May 17, 2010
Encouragement in a discouraging world
If you haven’t noticed that we live in a negative world, you haven’t been paying attention. I minister to people all the time who are discouraged, not over personal problems, but just because of the negative things that are going on in the world. They seldom recognize the effect their environment and other people are having on them.
Jesus certainly understood the power of a negative environment. When He raised people from the dead, He always sought seclusion. He kicked all the unbelievers out because He knew their unbelief could affect the results. In the sixth chapter of Mark, we read that even Jesus could do no mighty works in His hometown because of their unbelief. And Jesus always operated in faith.
So how do you stay positive in a negative world? Let's start by using these verses from Joshua.
“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest” (Josh. 1:5-7).
Here the Lord was speaking to Joshua, who was taking over for Moses, a hard act to follow. The Lord told him, “Moses is dead. Now you go.” Then He told Joshua to be strong and of good courage and not to be afraid or dismayed. These are opposing forces. If you are afraid and dismayed, then you are not strong and of good courage. They counteract each other. So you’ve got to do two things and resist two things.
“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.” By emphasizing this, God was promising Joshua that if he would be strong and of good courage, nothing would prevent His will from being accomplished through Joshua’s life.
The Lord doesn’t automatically do things for you—He flows through you, and if you get discouraged or dismayed, you stop the process. It says in Ephesians 3:20,
“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”
The phrase “according to” means in proportion to, or to the degree of, the power that is working in us. God flows through people. If we become discouraged, we stop the flow of God’s power.
Here’s another example: In 1 Samuel we read the story of a terrible situation that David was facing. His father-in-law, Saul, was trying to kill him. He had been persecuted and running for his life every day for thirteen years. And now, all his possessions had been burned, his wives and all of the wives and children of his men had been taken, and his own men wanted to stone him. Not a great environment! Yet 1 Samuel 30:6 says,
“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.”
Things looked bleak, David was in a situation where everything in the natural said “be discouraged and be afraid,” but David encouraged himself in the Lord. Do you know how he did it? He took the Word and began to encourage himself, and it was only a matter of hours before what God had promised him came to pass and he became king. If he would have given in at that last minute, he would have lost.
Brothers and sisters, there are a lot of people today who stand for a period of time and then quit. It’s like there are limits on how long they’re going to believe God. You might be thinking, Well, how long am I supposed to stand? The answer is simple: You stand until it works, until you’re encouraged. You just don’t ever give up.
If you say “Here’s the line. I’m only going to go this far,” I can guarantee you Satan is sharp enough to figure out where the line is and push you past that point. But when you say “I’m not quitting, ever. I’m never going to give up,” it makes a huge difference in the results you get. This is what God was telling Joshua: “Be strong and of good courage, no matter what.”
You need to recognize that Satan is using the evil and negative things of this world to discourage you, even if they are not affecting you personally. You can get discouraged watching politics, reading the newspaper, and listening to the news. If you don’t resist this, it will cause you to be discouraged and dismayed, and worst of all, your love for God will grow cold (Matt. 24:12). You have to choose to be encouraged—to encourage yourself in the Lord.
The Bible says in Isaiah 26:3 that the Lord will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed upon Him because they trust in Him. Our peace is linked directly to what we think upon. We are plugged into this world like no group of Christians has ever been—reading, listening, and watching the same ungodliness as the world and then wondering why we get the same results. It’s simple: Garbage in, garbage out.
The Scripture says to Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). The classic example of failure to do this is in Numbers 13. Moses sent his men to spy out the Promised Land. The land was so prosperous that one clump of grapes had to be put on a pole and carried between two men. The report came back that it was a land flowing with milk and honey, but also that there were giants in the land.
Caleb and Joshua had a good report:
“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30).
But the other ten spies had a negative report:
“But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we” (Num. 13:31).
Ten out of the twelve were convinced they couldn’t do it—they saw the negative side of everything. Only two of them believed God.
Look at what happened later on, in Joshua, chapter two, after Moses had died, and the children of Israel were finally ready to enter the Promised Land. They sent two spies to Jericho to check out its defenses. A harlot named Rahab took them into her home, and here’s what she said in Joshua 2:9 and 11,
“I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you…And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.”
When Joshua and Caleb said in Numbers 14 “their defence is departed from them” (Num. 14:9), they were right; that’s exactly what Rahab confirmed. If the Israelites would have encouraged themselves in the Lord and obeyed God, they never would have spent forty years in the wilderness, and the generation that came out of the land of Egypt would not have died in the wilderness.
Unless you have a deliberate plan to encourage yourself in the Lord, you aren’t going to be encouraged. It is not normal to be encouraged; it’s normal to be discouraged. It’s abnormal to be strong and of good courage, but it is certainly doable. God’s Word will tell you exactly how to do it. Keep on reading God's word, only true encouragement comes from Him.
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