Money Where Your Mouth Is

     Hello again, let me first apologize for the lack of a post last week. My fiance and I were busy moving our things into our new apartment and I simply didn't have the time. I did mean to post something in between but again, time escaped me. Never the less here we are again and off we go!

James 2:17-18 “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”

     One of the central tenants of the Christian faith is salvation by grace alone. That unholy man has the chance to be free through the unmerited and free gift of holy God. It is a doctrine that smacks in the face of every other world system as it allows no way for us to 'earn' our way into heaven. We cannot accrue karma over several lives, we cannot follow a strict legal system and thus prove ourselves righteous, we cannot find balance and become one with God or the universe. We are given no other option but to admit the obvious fact of our own sinfulness and depend on the grace of God!

     This is essentially the core of our belief; man is incapable of saving himself. Our fall is historic and our guilt is seen every day in virtually every aspect of our lives. We all lie, we all cheat, we all seek ourselves, our sin cannot be denied! Yet still, the loving God who created us all chose not to simply wipe the slate clean but came down to our level. God the Son took on human flesh becoming equally man and equally God so that He may live the life we struggle through, teach us His ways, and ultimately to die so that we would have a way of escape from a punishment richly deserved. Through His death God can legally absolve us of all charges!

Hebrews 9:22 “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We could never pay the price required for the remission of sin, ie. blood. Once we pay the price of our lives it's too late! Christ died so that His life may be credited to our account and so that we may live through Him!

     Ultimately this brings us to an interesting little argument that some people like to have regarding grace. Paul is often seen as teaching that salvation comes through faith alone, faith in Christ Jesus, faith in His redeeming work. But, some will say, what about James? You see, James wrote that “faith without works is dead” so doesn't that mean we have to work for our salvation? Those on the Paul side argue that our faith inspires our works, that we are incapable of doing good apart from it. The James camp calls that a cop-out from people who don't wish to work for God, only to claim an “easy salvation.” The classic argument against both camps -which I agree with- is that both writers are correct! Paul is explaining things from one side of the rope, and James from the other. Paul teaches us that we could not, did not save ourselves. That God saved us and that faith alone ties us to God, our works do not earn our salvation! When we get to James we're not seeing an argument, we're seeing a someone explain the rest of the story. James tells us that our works don't save us, but they do show that we've been saved!

     It's here that I'd like to add my own thoughts. I don't JUST see this as the same argument from different perspectives. It seems to me that we have two teachers talking to two different groups of people with the wrong idea. First we have Paul who emphasizes faith and unmerited salvation. Clearly he's doing his best to convince people against the idea that they must earn God's favor. We see this in many groups today and especially in ancient Judaism. The Pharisees and others taught that righteousness came from a strict adherence to the law, but the law was never meant to save anyone!

Hebrews 10:1 “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”

Paul wanted to make sure that people understood that salvation cannot be earned and that “not of yourselves; it is the gift from God.”

     After hearing such a definitive message from Paul it's safe to assume that some people would think, “Hey great free grace! Guess I can just sit around till heaven now!” This is where James comes in. He counters that belief by showing us how our works provide a visible representation of our faith. I'm not sure how these verses read to you but to me they seem actually sarcastic.

James 2:18 “But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

I can imagine James sitting back, putting his feet on a table and saying, “So you have faith, fantastic....prove it.” How else can you prove your faith then by working it out in your life? Don't forget what God promised elsewhere in the Bible:

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

It stands to reason that if God prepared good works for us to do that we should get about doing them at some point!

     God has shown us His great love by providing salvation, we cannot earn what He has given freely. That being said we cannot sit idly by and do nothing, how ungrateful to sit still and unproductive after so great a gift has been given! Remember brothers and sisters that our gifts and abilities were given to us that we would use them for God's kingdom, love those around you, teach the truth, stand firm in the face of sin,

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

God Bless.

Why I Write

     So I have this blog, cool. I've given myself a schedule and I've stuck to it so far, great. I'm looking into ways to produce more content and generate more page views and hopefully make a bit of income with it, nice...but what am I saying? It occurred to me the other day that I have to be careful not to loose the message amidst the business.

     When I started this blog it was more random than it is now but I've since decided to try and write about actual Biblical issues which puts me into an interesting situation. I've made myself a teacher and God has a warning for teachers.

James 3:1 “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.”

See that? Now that I've taken upon this mantle I am going to be held accountable for the things I write about, for the things that I've taught to others. I better take this seriously don't you think?

Fact checking...kind of important.

     I feel that God is reminding me that even this tiny unnoticed blog is a chance for His Word to make it into someone's mind, into their heart. What is important is that I write the truth and remember that I am not here to increase my own renown or even to become some famous blogger with hundreds in ad-revenue, I am here to see God's kingdom expanded, to spread God.

     Ultimately it leads me back to the verse at the top of the page..go ahead and scroll up and read it. I'll wait ... … … ok fine here:

1 Corinthians 10:31 “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Everything we do in life is to give Him glory, from our rising in the morning to our laying down at night our every action should bring Him praise! We can't let any aspect of our lives be separate from Him. It's funny but I can't even play “evil” on games with a morality system nowadays, it's just not enjoyable because I know it's wrong.

Besides, vampires are so mainstream...

     When you're at work do you behave ethically and honorably? When you're at play do you follow the rules and play fair? When you're just inside your own head what do you allow to roam your mind-scape? Our lives are His lives, our ways should be His ways. So I'll keep prayin' and keep tryin' to let God speak through me, to use this blog to tell the world (or the handful of people who currently read this blog!) what He has to say. Keep me in check won't you? If you see me stray from truth, if I start sounding like it's all about me, if stray from God on this small piece of the internet, let me know. 

I'll keep praying for you to.

Beauty in the Public Eye

     I remember an ad I saw once. I was working for a certain retail chain and on one of their cosmetics counters stood a relatively small placard with three woman displayed on it. The women display were, shall we say, devoid of apparel and between the three of them their arms did a pretty good job of covering themselves. What really struck me, besides the fact that a popular retail chain had a picture of three essentially naked women openly displayed on their counter, was that the advert was for some kind make-up. Not for underclothing or outer clothing or even for cosmetic surgery but for cosmetics! It really bothered me. Even now I wonder, was that really necessary?

     Our culture is obsessed with sex. Not a new thing to say I know. Sex has taken over so much of what we think about and how we think about things that it's difficult to think of many of those things in any other way. Take beauty for example. Can you separate 'beautiful' from 'sexy'? Is there a difference? Well, as always, lets look at the Bible and look for some clues. We'll start with a familiar passage, the later part of what's often called the “Proverbs 31 woman” conveniently found, in Proverbs chapter 31.

Proverbs 31:25-30 “Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.  She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.  She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: “Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.”

Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

Now this passage says a lot of things and much obviously no one is expected to live up perfectly to the “superwoman” depicted here. That being said there is a lot we can take from this. The woman here is described as: strong, honorable, wise, kind, not idle, and watchful. We read about this wonderful woman in a passage describing the attributes of a desirable wife, so these are things to look for in a mate! Pay special attention also to the last verse, which I'm sure many of you know; “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.” Charm will lie to you, drawing you in with what may be false promises and beauty passes with time. Ultimately the true test of a woman -and of anyone- is their dedication and obedience to God.

     You might be thinking “That's all well and good but that doesn't really have much to say about physical appearance. Isn't all physical attraction basically just degrees of sexual attraction?” Well, yes and no. Beauty is a part of sexual attraction but I don't think that attraction even when physical is necessarily sexual. Everyday physical beauty has to be seen through the filter of what we know about a person. A lovely women with no other favorable qualities won't seem very attractive for long, while a more homely women with a kind and loving heart can seem all the more wonderful. In the same way someone very alluring can blind you to seeing what really matters.

Proverbs 11:22 “As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, So is a lovely woman who lacks discretion.”

Ultimately the Bible doesn't really spend much time telling men or women how to dress or how to look, but it spends a lot of time telling us that God desires us to live a holy righteous life.

1Timothy 2:9-10 “in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.”

What this passage really means is that women -and men- are to cover themselves with good works, with righteousness. It's not against braided hair as we see it now anyway, nor against jewelry but against showing off with what we have, making a spectacle of ourselves, and distracting others from focusing on God and his desires for our lives.

     In my opinion one of the most misleading ideas in popular media and culture is the obsession (especially with how the media talks about women) with “feeling” sexy. In the popular mindset feeling attractive and feeling beautiful to a woman are linked seemingly permanently to feeling sexy. Is that supposed to be the way of things? Sex is a gift and a responsibility from God. It's a wonderful thing with wonderful meaning but it also has some specific rules and a specific context. There is a time and a place for sex in our lives and by extension for 'sexiness' as well. So what is the proper setting and context for 'sexiness'? The same place for sex itself, marriage. When a person says they want to feel 'sexy' their really saying they want to feel desirable which is another way of saying they want the people around themselves to desire them. They want to be the center of attention. Following this line of thought brings us back once again to the age old enemy of humanity, pride. When we seek to play our sexuality out in the public realm we're really looking for a way to place ourselves on a pillar, to feel good about ourselves because of ourselves and for the sake of ourselves. Ultimately there is only one person that we need to 'feel' sexy for, our spouse. Knowing that our spouse desires us is an important part a healthy relationship but it has no meaning outside of a relationship other than to fuel our pride!

     Ask someone who's been married a long time, though age has changed them both they remain attracted to each other. Age plays no favorites and all things being equal we all lose our looks as we get on in years, but to those who spend a lifetime together every wrinkle is smoothed out by a memory of the life they've shared and the relationship formed makes their partner all the sweeter to them. We don't need to flaunt our sexuality, we don't need to cheapen it by making it available to so many people. We need to remember that a beautiful person is a Godly person and that beauty doesn't have to be sexy.

Of Joy and Sorrow

Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

     Today I'm going to talk about grief and regret. This may leave you wondering, “Well, what's up with the starting verse then?” I've chosen this verse to start with because I'm not going to break down and discuss grief and regret, I'm going to discuss how they can actually be harmful to us if not kept in their proper place.

     We cannot escape the Biblical truth that we are far from perfect, we all know the famous verse.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Every one of us has failed utterly at one time or another and this should breed a strong sense of humility in us. Humility is also something that we are told to work on. The Bible commands again and again that we are to humble ourselves before the Lord. It's not an easy thing to lower ourselves or to debase ourselves before another, we like to lift ourselves up! Pride however, is a dangerous thing. Thinking too highly of ourselves sets us up for failure.

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Knowing that we are fallible and prone to sin and failure is good, we must understand that we cannot live this life by our own strength but we cannot let our remorse over our sin bind us.

     Now, back to the first verse. Though our lives are touched by the remorse over past deeds we should have joy -exceeding joy- because of what God has done for us! We are the sinners saved, the slaves set free, the lost who were found, the fallen lifted up, the broken mended, the ailing healed, the dumb given voices to sing, the blind made to see; how great is this thing God has done for us! Our sin is grievous indeed but even the horror of our failures and disobedience pales in the light of God!

Psalms 32:11 “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”

John 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Job 33:26 “He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness.”

Psalms 5:11 “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You.”

I think that although we must never forget where we came from, we dishonor God when we let our lives become ruled by the sorrow of remembrance. Our past is past and God through Christ has put that old man to death, why should we carry him around?

     Another facet of this is our pride and more specifically how sneaky sin can be. Take a look at this verse from Proverbs.

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.”

If we're walking around lost in our own shame, thinking about how horrible we are and assuming God can never use us...are we really just holding on to a perverse form of pride? Why do we feel so bad that our whole lives are shadowed, we were sinners what else would we do but sin? That knowledge should remind us of the mercy and grace of God more than it hurts our feelings. And again, yes, we should feel humbled by our pasts and by all the sins that even now conflict with our new spirit but God is not a god of sorrow and somberness! If we live without joy or without peace we'll notice something else, we're all the more susceptible to sin. You would think that being constantly aware of and lamenting our sin would keep us on the keen edge of awareness but more often than not it just keeps us from having power over it. Look at what Nehemiah says:

Nehemiah 8:10 “Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

     Do you see that? “The joy of the LORD is your strength.” If we refuse to have joy from what God has done for us, where is our strength? We must stand firm in the promises of God, knowing that when He says we are forgiven that we ARE FORGIVEN! We're free! Not yet fully, not yet finally, but we are free from the punishment of our sins and at the end of days we will rejoice as sin is put to death once and for all!

     So don't let your humility become pride turned backward, don't let your regret rule your life. Be glad, smile, praise God for the wonder of his mercy and love. Let the light of truth banish the shadows and walk boldly down the path to heaven.

(I couldn't find a link that would work on here.....so just you'll have to follow it to YouTube and watch it there haha.)

Foundations Part 1

     What are the primary foundations of our faith? Have you taken the time to think about that? There are a great many ideas and philosophies that make up Christianity, but ultimately I think it comes down to a few basics that are the heart of it all. Today is the first of what I hope to be several looks at what makes up the primary basis for our lives and faith.

So what is first? Well -cue drum roll- I'm going to start with … Love! Love more than anything else stands as an unmistakable pillar of all we believe.

1Corinthians 13:13 “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three;

but the greatest of these is love.”

Psalms 40:16 “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

Let such as love Your salvation say continually, "The LORD be magnified!"

     Of course love has many aspects as I believe I've mentioned before. Today however I'm going to focus on one very specific love, our love for God. God is our Father, our Savior, our Friend, He is so many things that we love here on earth but I don't think we take the time to truly understand what it is to love Him. This is the being who DIED for us and yet many of us (myself included) often give very little thought to how we are loving Him every day. Our days can slip right past us and we give Him only a cursory glance. However the Bible tells us to love God and to do it actively! It's important to remember that this isn't optional, it's a command.

Deuteronomy 6:5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you,

but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways

and to love Him, to serve the LORD

your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”

Mark 12:30 “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,

with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment.”

Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the LORD require of you

But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

     So faced with the knowledge that to love God is not a suggestion, how do we go about it? Well here again (as always) we have the Bible to inform us.

John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me,

he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,

and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

John 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words;

and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.”

Psalms 119:10 “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!”

Now I know some people are rather put off by this. They think it odd that to love God means doing what He says, but think about it; I love my fiance by speaking and listening to her, by giving her gifts, by spending time with her, by trying to fulfill her desires, etc. Why does this suddenly seem shocking when we hear it about God? Look at it another way, we claim to believe that God is the ultimate good. We claim that He wants only whats best for us. If that's all true than shouldn't we want to follow His commands? Shouldn't we realize that the commands given to us by our all loving Father who wants only our best and who is incapable of evil, are good? So if we believe what He has told us, if we trust Him, if we LOVE Him, we SHOULD be listening to Him right? So our obedience becomes the outward expression of our love, the physical proof that our hearts and minds are bent in His direction.

     One more thing. God is (among many things) a God of promises. We are commanded to love Him but that's not all!

Psalms 31:23 “Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD

preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.”

Psalms 145:20 “The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.”

Deuteronomy 11:13-15“And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.”

When we place God first He will take care of the rest. God blesses those who seek Him.

     Finally, like everything else in the Christian walk, loving God perfectly is difficult if not impossible to do alone. While we are here on earth and trapped in the presence of sin we will continue to fail and falter. God knows this and gives us His strength and it is through His Spirit that we can succeed. At the end of days when we again bask in His presence, all the shadows will melt away and our struggling striving love will be perfected.

Passion of the Heart

 Ephesians 5:33 “Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

     The other day I noticed a young lady at the store. She was attractive to be sure but her attire, left little to the imagination to say the least. I was rather surprised by it honestly and did my absolute best to ignore her from that point, but the whole situation got me thinking. God has blessed me with a wonderful woman, a woman to whom I will soon be joined in marriage. In her I experience such a joy and love that I am literally incapable of properly describing it. I just don't have the words! Now we enjoy our closeness as much you'd expect but we've kept ourselves from developing a 'physical' relationship. We have taken the time to develop a relationship based on our mutual understanding and love, of respect and a cherished closeness. Just sitting with her and enjoying her presence is more fulfilling than any momentary thrill I've ever experienced from the sight of an attractive woman. Having this knowledge at hand I can't help but wonder, why are we so obsessed as a culture with sex and sexuality when I real relationship is so much better?

     Part of it I think, is sheer laziness. The world today doesn't care much for waiting or working towards a goal, we want it now and if possible even earlier. The satisfaction of an actual relationship takes time, a lot of time! My fiance and I have been together for over three years and the closeness and affection we now enjoy was not come upon quickly or easily. Much like how we've deadened our pallets with fast food and pre-prepared meals, we've glutted ourselves on sex and sensuality thus ruining our appreciation for the real thing. We've found that love takes too much effort, too much time, too much sacrifice and so we've settled for the easy fix of sex and lust and called it love.

     Having left real love behind we've come to another aspect, overpowerment. Love is deep, fulfilling, lovely, and beautiful, but it's a subtle thing. Sex is right out there, full of endorphins and raring to go! No work, no mucking about with respect and understanding, and no subtlety at all. You don't need to know someone for years, and you don't need to think deeply to enjoy the pure physicality of a sexual encounter. It seems like, to most people, sex has become the pixy-stick of the emotional world. No need to bandy about with subtleties and complex cookery, I want sweet so why not just down a tube of sugar!

Romans 1:20-25 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God,they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts,

and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

     Finally we have the heart of the matter, sin. God says this so we do that. Sex was supposed to be a number of things: the culmination of the marriage relationship, the physical example of the couples melding in spirit, the means for procreation, and an enjoyable bonding between the husband and wife. Sin has taken this beautiful thing and reduced it to mere animal pleasure. All of the wonderful meanings and nuances removed for the sake of pleasure. It's as if someone took a beautiful song and reduced it to merely a baseline, a dull repetitive thump with no real meaning and no real point. God gave us this great gift and we've taken it to use as we would have it, not caring the worth we're destroying. Sex, like much of the good in this world, has been taken by sin and used as a distraction, a fleeting pleasure to blind us to the hell we live in and keep us from seeking God. Sadly for those who seek this path they will find that sex alone does not satisfy. Talk to those who have let it take hold in their lives and you'll see how they've arrived at a place they never sought out. Sin drove them on and when that pleasure dimmed, pushed them ever onward, deeper and deeper into greater depths of depravity. Every step seeming less extreme as they approached it till they no longer thought strange what they once thought unthinkable.

   So what is sex and sexuality to you? What is the sight of a woman or man to you? Is it something to be saved and savored, to be given as a prized gift to your one love? All these women and these men who parade around displaying all they have to any who looks, what will they have to give to their spouse? People wonder why relationships don't last, well, what reason do they have to stay? What more can they get from you that you haven't already given? My fiance and I have not yet been 'together', we're saving that for our marriage bed, but I can tell you now that I would no longer want to live without her. Our relationship has had the TIME it needs to form, so that when we do come together after we wed, it will be so much more than it would have been before and something to add TO the relationship, not something that forms the basis for it. When I look into her eyes and see the love she has for me, when I work out the love I have for her, why on earth would I trade that for a single moment of fleeting pleasure? Why would you?

Proverbs 5:17-18 “Let them be only your own,

And not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth.”

Whispers of a Fallen Heart

     We don't make decisions in a vacuum. As much as we'd like to be, we are not objective. The Christian understands -or should- that the spirit and the flesh are at war. In the unsaved, the unrepentant, this isn't really an issue; the flesh pulsates with desires and the mind more or less seeks to fulfill them. In the Christian though, in the life of the redeemed, there is a battle. We are free from the abject domination of sin but the old man isn't dead yet, or rather he's dead but doesn't know it. The real problem is that without practice, without prayer and much effort, it can be difficult if not impossible to distinguish our own thoughts from the whispers of fallen flesh.

     Now when I say “flesh” I don't only mean the literal body. The body has many faculties and systems that are affected by the fall but when I refer to the “flesh” I mean the whole of our sinful being. It's desires and drives are fueled not by God, but by sin and base 'need'. For example: God created marriage and in marriage gave us a wonderful gift, ie. sex. Now in purity that is a relationship that comes after marriage and provides a meaningful and important bonding to the couple, as well as being highly enjoyable. Sin has taken this gift and twisted it. Fallen man see's no need to follow the precepts of God, and even beyond that, actively wants to disobey. So we see that people don't wait till marriage, they don't see that relationship as holy or sacred, they don't give it ANY respect. We see what we see in our day; sexuality out in the open and society allowing any and all activities to be mingled into the act. Now sex doesn't have to be boring and monotonous, but I believe that anything we seek to do in our marriage bed should maintain the holiness and sanctity of the sexual relationship between man and wife. So the flesh wants to be satiated, while the spirit wants that right relationship and to serve God. In our day, though I'm certain there was plenty of tempting sources in the past, we have -especially in this area of life- nearly unlimited sources for sin. The flesh WILL whisper to you, it will lie straight to your face and make you believe that you want something that you don't -if- you let it. And this is only ONE aspect of life!

     A common tag-line for today is to “follow your heart”, heck we hear it from Disney all the time. It's believed that we can only do well by letting our hearts guide us but what does God have to say about our hearts?

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things,

And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Hmm, now that doesn't really meld with the modern thought does it? “Deceitful”, “Wicked?” But I thought that our hearts were a true guide, and the true source of who we are. Isn't that what everyone always says? Everyone is wrong. Anyone who is really honest, or anyone who's ever tried to change something in their life can tell you that our hearts do NOT listen to us. They seek only themselves and their desires, giving neither care nor thought to what may be right or wrong. How many people today struggle with “who they are”? How many people spend their whole lives trying to “find themselves?” How many people can't even begin to understand and cope with life because they simply cannot understand themselves? Let's go back to the Word:

Jeremiah 17:5-6 “Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man

And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.

For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.”

Wow, and it goes on to say:

Jeremiah 17:7-8 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river,

And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green,

And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

     Our hearts will guide us AWAY from righteousness, if we let them. Temptation is a dark companion, a shadowing hanger-on that we have to bear to our graves; but remember Christian, our God is greater! Pray, read, study, work, seek, strive, FIGHT! The world and our own fallen nature are not our allies, they seek our destruction daily. We like to think that were strong, but were not. You cannot win this war alone, nor can you trudge through the mire with only your boots to protect you. Humanity was not made to be 'free', we are servants to God or to Sin. We have a choice to make. Do we struggle daily under our own power ignoring the shadowed whispers -or worse- listening to them, or do we seek God and the salvation only He offers?

Joshua 24:15 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD,

choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … But as for me and my house,

we will serve the LORD."

Triage

      A simple thought today, but one that is hard to accept and harder to live. Those of us who call ourselves “Christians”, seem to have a hard time with separation these days. The world around us is so... shiny and wondrous and exciting, why not enjoy what's there? However, God has called us to be more. Not everything is bad but not everything is good either, where do you draw the line? Some claim that being a “mature” Christian, they're strong enough to enjoy things that may weaken or tempt or affect others. That they can enjoy and endure with no ill effects. Bull. We are not called to be so strong that we can enjoy the world without fault, we're not called to be strong at all but to be strong in Him!

1 Timothy 6:11 “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

      I'm not saying we can't enjoy hobbies or that we have to listen only to hymns and read only the Bible. What I'm saying is that like a surgeon working on a diseased limb, we have to decide if what we have before us is worth holding on to. Personally I try and take time everyone once and a while to go through my media and belongings and remove what doesn't pass my current spiritual mustard. I'm a geek and I'm part of that culture, and I love that, however there's much to that culture that is not of God. I've tried to cut out pretty much all horror movies, my games have followed suit for the most part, I've become much more particular about my music. We have to remember that the Bible informs us on every aspect, EVERY aspect, of our lives.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy; meditate on these things.”

      Can you really say, honestly before God, that everything you enjoy meets this test? That tv show where the characters speak of little more than sex? That movie where the killer is the hero and revenge is seen as noble? That song with a curse every other word? Are the people in your forum building you up towards Godliness? The grace of God that Christians live with allows us freedom from an overbearing law, we must work out ourselves between us and God what is right in our lives; but we are not devoid of standards. Be honest and true, no matter how it may hurt, and take a fresh look at what you fill yourself with today.

Matthew 5:29 "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Stories Instead of Scripture

         In this day and age we have innumerable resources for information. Between the preponderance of books and documentaries and the giant (though often questionable) library that is the internet today's Christian has really no excuse to be uninformed. Unfortunately it comes as no surprise that much of the material that exists today is at best, suspect if not outright misleading or false. It occurred to me today that there is another form of misleading material that we may not think of right away, media that takes the place of someone's legitimate interest in God.

         There are two books I've seen recently that fit this category and that I'll use as examples, but first a disclaimer. I freely admit that I have not read these books through, mostly I've spent some time leafing through them. That being the case, it's entirely possible that I've missed some redeeming value they may have, but my point isn't really dependent on the books in their entirety.

         The first book bothers me first off because it's complete lack of logic...”A Story of God and All of Us,” by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett.

          This a novelization of the Bible...based not on the Bible itself, but on the miniseries “The Bible.” Now regardless of your opinion on the series itself (meh), this book makes no sense as we HAVE the story of the miniseries....the BIBLE! This simple obvious fact bothers me more than anything. I can only see two possible purposes for it, to make as much money as humanly possible from people's interest in the Bible, and to provide a source of “information” that is not actually the Word of God. Now as in most things I don't suggest that the second reason was one considered by it's authors, publishers, distributors etc. However we all know humans aren't the only forces working in this world. It appears as if the book's authors had the audacity to try and make the Bible more...interesting, I guess? The parts I read were filled with poor paraphrasing and nearly no grasp as to the actual point of God's Word. I remember reading about Jesus' interview with Pilot. In this section the authors wrote what Pilot was thinking, and even had him restraining himself from smacking this insolent prisoner, ie. Jesus. We don't know what anyone from the past was thinking and the Bible doesn't give any indication that Pilot smacked Him or wanted to. This of course is my second problem with this book, the authors did what everyone likes to do with history in general and the Bible specifically, they added information they could not possibly know and presented it as part of the actual account. Ultimately the only source we should look to is the Bible, these other books really only serve as a net to catch people and stop them on their way to God's Word. Think of it this way, some people can easily be steered away from every caring about God. Others however, may have a strong albeit earthly interest. The devil doesn't need to outright block everyone when he can simply provide other sources of “information” that seem like the same story but are ultimately different and do not lead to a saving knowledge of God. It would be far better for everyone who bought this book to simply get a copy of the Bible itself (statistically they probably already own one) and read not only “exciting” stories, but all of God's words to us.

          The other book I'll mention here is “Killing Jesus – The Unknown Conspiracy Behind the World's Most Famous Execution,” by Stephen Mansfield. This book contains the two hallmarks of quickly done, “for profit” books namely a large typeface and double-spaced pages. The book itself is probably half as long as it appears and also uses the familiar “dramatization” of Biblical events. This book isn't so much a deterrent from scripture as it is a parasite on scripture minded people. We don't need a book exposing the conspiracy that killed Christ because the Bible already lays out what happened! The religious elite of the time were ticked off because Jesus was undermining their authority, and since “official” Judaism of the time had long since parted ways with God's intentions for them, they failed to recognize their own Messiah. As far as I can tell this book is nothing more than another attempt to capitalize on the popular idea of religious mysteries and secrets. Ultimately I must say again that people would be far better served reading the actual Bible.

         God didn't give us a hundred different kinds of revelation. He didn't breathe out films or music vidoes. He didn't weave number based secret codes into His scriptures. The God of the Bible is not a god that makes us wonder and worry and dig and sneak and think ourselves better because we found the “truth.” God gave us His word that we might know Him! We need not think that He's keeping things from us, or that His Word is insufficient. As Paul said in his letters to Timothy, “All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching...” (2 Timothy 3:16), and of course there's Revelation 22:18-19, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

Dreams and Promises

It occurred to me today that our dreams our a thing we must strive, even fight for. The odd thing is that although we usually hear about fighting against the world or our circumstances, we rarely hear about fighting against ourselves for our dreams. Sometimes it's our own deficiencies that hold us back. If we are to fulfill that which we desire we must fight tooth and nail against our own laziness, fears, and worries. Not that this is easy. In fact I think it may just be the most difficult part of the battle. We can put labels on enemies, we can cast ourselves the hero in some cosmic war against our situation or our economic shortcomings, but realizing that we ourselves are to blame often comes rather late.

Personally I don't think this is a permanent problem. I think we can muscle through even our own shortcomings. As Christian I believe this to be even more true. We are empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be changed, to be more than what we were. We know that God will finish the work He begins in us. Furthermore we know that God desires our good, whether that be freedom from recurring sins or the perfecting of our fallen natures. I see in myself a propensity for selfishness, laziness, and pride and I see in the scriptures God's promise to remove those faults. Ultimately their shadows will remain until I see His face in paradise, but I can trust Him to loosen the hold they have on me.

Every day I see more and more the need to seek His face. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God … and all these things shall be added unto you...” God knows how to give good gifts to his children, we need only ask and ask rightly.

The Shadows Around and In Us

As an American citizen, I'm thankful that we are blessed with the right to our faith.  We can (for the moment anyway) believe what we want and do not have to face much in the way of real persecution.  What we do have however, is a nearly overwhelming amount of temptation.  The culture we live in has so left the teachings of God that I think many young Christians -and some not so young ones- don't even recognize all of the tempting forces around us.  We could all do a lot of good by being more strict and more set in our ways, seeking every day to more closely mirror the Word of God.  God will bless us and guide our path in this endeavor, He wants what is good for us, including freedom from sin.

Temptation

I hear it still.

The voice inside.

That crooked sound

That whispers lies.

With every time

That I obey.

It grows in strength

Deepens decay.

It sounds like me

Same words, same feel.

But it can't be me!

It isn't real!

Lord, drown it out!

Cast it aside!

This lying voice

I hear inside.

I seek Your peace

I need Your Grace.

Help me to seek

Your glorious face.

In You I know

Lie truth and light.

Such perfect love and sacrifice.

Though shadows whisper lies to me,

I know in You, I am truly free.

by. me

Another Poem Post.

        Found this going through some of my old poetry files, I rather like it, and I wonder why I didn't post it before?  I hate to trumpet my own work but sometimes what I write hits me especially...maybe it's God using my own words to remind me of something I've forgotten, anyway, here it is.

Wanting What You Want

I want to be a quiet man,

Whose life does not cause shame,

Whose name is blessed,

When at it's best,

Is lost in Jesus name.

I want to be a holy man,

Far separate from the earth.

No longer stained nor feeling strain,

Freed by a second birth.

I want to be a righteous man,

Though it's often hard to be,

Each day corrected,

Not yet perfected,

God's love transforming me.

I fall upon my hands and knees,

My Lord, Oh God, I cry.

Why did you come?

How can you care?

Why did you have to die?

How can Your great forgiveness stretch,

Across the earth to me?

How can my sins be placed upon,

Your Son upon the tree?

I know my strength is not enough,

I've failed enough to see.

Your hand is what will hold me up,

Your strength supporting me.

I have to trust Your promises,

My own heart will deceive.

Until I die or join the sky,

Your Word I will believe.

Jonathan E. Schaefer

12/24/11