More than Obedient

I want to be more than obedient, God

I want to do more than get by

I want to desire to honor You Lord

I want not to walk but to fly.

It isn't enough to just serve You

It isn't enough to repent

It isn't enough to just do what I'm told

I need to do more than relent.

Though it's faith that I need more than anything

Though it isn't my works that redeem

Though eternity's not mine to earn from You

A desire to serve should seen.

I want to be more than obedient

I want to love You more and more

I want to give all that I have to You

That's what I was created for.

by. Me

Real Life

Not a terribly deep thought today but an important one.  I often wonder about those of us who call ourselves “Christians,” how many of us really believe?  I don't even really mean that in the sense of how many of us are truly saved (although that's connected to it); I mean do you treat your faith as a real thing.  When I say that I'm a Christian what I 'mean' is that I believe in a God who really exists and with whom I have a relationship.  I believe in God who exists in one essence but in three persons whom we know as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.  I believe in angels and demons and the souls of men.  I believe that beyond this physical reality is a whole spiritual realm that goes unseen by us but is in reality far more important than what we do see.  I believe that reality as we know it was created in a specific moment not too long ago and will cease to be, replaced by something far better, at a predetermined time in the near (according to God's reckoning) future.  I believe all of this and more.

This is important to point out because there are quite a few people who also claim to be Christians and by extension claim to believe all these things but who don't live as though they do.  You say that you believe in God but you don't work toward aligning your life with Him.  You say that you believe in His moral law but continue to fudge the rules and step close to and over the line.  We all do so much that is really quite contradictory to our “belief.”  What I'm really asking is do you just say that you believe, or do you believe but don't think about it much, or do you not really believe but you find your life more fulfilled when it has a lovely spiritual wrapping on it?  In the words of the The Truth Project (which I highly recommend), “Do you believe that what you believe is really real?”

If you do, then that has consequences.  You cannot live as the world would say, with a private spiritual life that doesn't effect your public actions.  God is real and He is watching!  I cannot pray at home but not in the square, I cannot make decisions in a moral vacuum, I cannot go against the Word that He has given to me, I CANNOT!  These are not fairy tales we were told as children, nor stories we use to comfort us in our older days; we carry in our hearts and in our heads and in the pages of sacred Scripture the very words of God!  We must not place them to the side and deal with them as a trivial thing.  We must be affected by them, we must be wholly transformed by them!

I have heard it said that it is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that Christianity has been found difficult and left untried.  God does not propose to us an easy life, He requires of us a hard life of struggle followed by an eternity of reward!  Some will have a harder time of it than others but we will all face problems.  In the light of eternity however, all our troubles will seem like such a minor thing.  Don't be fooled or mislead into an “easy believe-ism” mentality.  Let God's Word guide you and change you.  What can we do but listen, when we hear the truth?

To Want to Want What You Ought to Want to Want

     We know that as Christians, there is a lot that is required of us. We know that we are to love God, love others, give generously, be caring, be kind, and on and on and on. There is a long and beautiful list of character traits and behavioral markers that are supposed to accompany the Christian life. Maybe you know one of those great older men and women of God, the ones who you see in church every Sunday and who just seem to ooze godliness? How do those people get that way? Were they just born perfect? Obviously not. We know that no human has ever been born perfect (aside from Christ) but it can be hard to imagine one of these older saints as ever having been like, well, the rest of us.

     I know in my own life I'm burdened by a few things that are hard for me to get past. I did not have many friends growing up and some of the few that I had left me in rather unkind ways. I've developed a very insular personality that tends to exclude others and not rely on people. This extends to the level of not caring much for other people and finding it difficult to care much at all for people who aren't in my immediate circles. I'm sure many of you have similar issues. Maybe you have a rough manner of speech or are overly cynical or perhaps you're naturally lazy; all of these and more are things that we know we should work on, but how do we do that?

     Let's go even farther. We are commanded to love God and love others, right? How does that work? Does God expect us to just summon up some lovin' and spread it around? I've known people who have a hard time loving their family members let alone total strangers! And loving God? Now that's a hard concept! I mean sure, it's easy to be grateful to God or even to fear God, but how do you 'love' someone who is so different than you and is in fact the all powerful creator and sustainer of all existence?

     The answer lies in understanding that God is not just the prescriber of our laws but their fulfillment as well. He not only gives us commands but empowers us to obey those commands. If we know that we are not naturally loving or careful or kind, then we have to ask God for that change. You will find -I promise- that as you pray and seek God in His word and ask for His help, you will notice change in your life! Oddly enough the same goes for loving God. The Bible tells us that we are all naturally “God-haters”, lovers of self, and rebellious. If we want to truly love God and others, we need to ask God for that love that we can then give away. It may seem weird or even insulting to ask God for help in loving Him but how else do we get anything that we need if not by His providence? God wants us to ask for His help in the things He has commanded us to do; He loves to show us that He is who He says He is!

     We can get pretty upset when we don't measure up to the Bible (which, may I remind you, is always.) It can seem self defeating and hopeless, an impossible pursuit. As long as we live it will be difficult and I will be the first to say that there will be hard times, but how could we expect to fulfill His commands on our own when we can't even breathe without God's intervention? Go to God in prayer and ask for Him to give you love for Himself. Ask for a love for others or for a cleaner mouth or a softer heart or a more dedicated spirit. Ask Him for the things that you need for you will find them no where else.

“And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.”

(1 John 3:22-23)

'The' Original Sin

     Sin. The thing that separates us from God. We were created as perfect beings, way back when.  In the days of Adam and Eve they were without fault and in perfect communion with God and each other. They had no reason to be ashamed of who and what they were and all was right and at peace, until sin. Until the day that Eve was deceived by the serpent and Adam chose what he knew was wrong, all was as it should be. No longer. Now we live separated from God by sin, in this world tainted by sin, in bodies ravaged by sin, and doomed to death caused by sin. We cannot escape it.

     What would you say is the worst of sin? If asked by a stranger which of the many instances and examples of sin was the supreme example of its evil, what would you say? Perhaps murder, with so many lives having been ended by it; millions of people removed from this life and cut down far before their term in life 'should be' complete. How about theft? Every day and in a million different places people take what is not theirs and leave others without. In many instances this leaves the robbed desolate, as what was taken was precious and the one from whom it was taken had little to begin with. Maybe lying, since it's a destruction or a distortion of the truth? How many lives have been hurt or destroyed by a lie believed? You might even think blasphemy, after all what could be worse than spitting in the face of God?

     While all of these are good suggestions, and I am sure you could think of a hundred more, I would personally suggest pride as the true origin of sin. How is pride so awful? How often are we told in scripture to think of others and how often are the selfless held up as examples? How often are we commanded to show deference to God and be thankful for what we have? Pride is what tells us that others matter less than ourselves or that they don't even matter at all. Pride puts self first and others, a distant second. Pride screams ME, when God says others. Pride is the heart of every sin. The murderer puts his desire to kill over the the right of another to live, the thief puts her desire to have over the rightful ownership of another, and the blasphemer puts his own authority in place of God's.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”

(Isaiah 14:12-15)

     When we stop putting others first and especially when we push God out of His proper place, we open ourselves to a whole world of trouble. How difficult is it to love someone when they aren't fulfilling your conditions? How hard is it to forgive someone when all you care about is your own hurt? Pride is relentless. When you think you've beaten it, when you think you've really gotten it licked, that is the moment you'll find that it has appeared again. In my own life I find it so easy for pride to get a foothold. When you scoff at someone for not knowing something, when you're angry at someone for inconveniencing you, don't you see how that's all pride?

“Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.”

(Proverbs 3:34)

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

(Proverbs 11:2)

     God wants us to love others, even our enemies, and to think of them first. Like the good Samaritan we are to seek the good of those around us even when no one else is willing to help. Let us all pray for a selfless spirit and a heart that fights against destructive pride. If you work on being happy with what you have and remembering that you are just another sinner saved by God's grace alone, you'll find that the faults in others don't bother you as they used to and that your time is worth less to you. Pride is the opposite of humility and the enemy of a righteous soul.

“A man's pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.”

(Proverbs 29:23)

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.'"

(James 4:6)

Reflections On Waiting

     I have now been married for more than one year. It almost feels odd to say that, almost like it's not the reality I wake to. I've always wanted to get married, since my earliest memories. I remember feeling so depressed and lost as an even younger man because I saw no hope for this future. I would beg God to let me meet my one and only, to show me the way to the love I longed for. He always seemed so silent at those times. Looking back I see that God wasn't silent, He was quietly telling me “wait, wait, wait.” I can see now that it wasn't time yet, I wasn't ready and His plans hadn't come to fruition; but He did have a plan. I'm glad He made me wait. He had someone that He was preparing for me just as He was preparing me for her. Had my desire been answered I would have been with less than His best for me.

     I see this all the time in my life and in the lives of others. We want what we want and we want it now. It's not even just about greed or a lack of patience, I think we simply lack the ability to see or perhaps just ignore the possibility that getting something later can be better. We are convinced that we should have what we want or need at this moment and that any delay is damaging to us. Further, we tend to think of delays as punitive. I would have such and such thing or relationship if only I were a better Christian or read my Bible more or if I were more in line with His will for my life. So often we fail to see that maybe, just maybe, it is simply just not the time or the place for us to have something we desire.

     God often asks us to wait. In fact I think that through waiting we learn most of life's lessons. We learn patience and trust and contentedness and humility through waiting; and we often find other seemingly unrelated lessons being taught while we are waiting for something else to come about. Ultimately we all need to learn to just trust God. He will by no means turn us aside nor neglect our needs. God desires our ultimate good and He will achieve that by the best means and in the best time. Furthermore, as our heavenly Father He desires to give us good gifts. Just as our earthly fathers -if they are good- delight in giving things to their children so God has joy in bringing us joy in the things He gives.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

(Luke 11:9-13)

     We need to get away from the now mentality. Everything will come in God's time and if in His wisdom it does not come to us then we need to trust His choice. That new job or that girl or that guy may be the worst thing for us or the worst thing for us now, though we may find joy in them. Trust and obey for theirs no other way to be happy in Jesus. His will will bring all good things in time.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

(Matthew 6:33)

What is Choice?

     What is the nature of free will? Are we all on this earth to simply dance to the beat of another's drum or do we make real choices? People have been pondering this question for probably as long as they've pondered at all and I can see why. We don't like to think that our lives our controlled by someone else and if we see that none of our choices matter than it leads to a depressing fatalism. So can we come to any meaningful understanding of this problem? I think we can.

     First off let's look at things from the naturalistic perspective, frankly because it's much simpler. If we are all just animals, meat machines, and more specifically if we are the end result of automatic process working as they have to ultimately culminating in the formation of man, then there is no choice. As Hawking pointed out we cannot avoid determinism if we come at life from this angle. There can be no transcendence in a world that evolved. If we are born of nothing but chemical reactions and the laws of physics and if nothing else exists to interact with this matter than nothing can ever happen but what is programmed into that material (so to speak). Every “choice” that you make is really just what your particular set of chemicals and structures has to do when encountering that situation. In this view all of existence is one big calculation, a series of equations where A + B will always equal C. Your personality, your beliefs, your choice of a job or a spouse, these things are all just illusions of sentience and the reality is that we are all just robots; DNA machines that run on a very complicated set of rules. Depressing isn't it?

You cannot cut the strings

     The problem with this ideology is that we do see glimpses of the transcendent in our lives. We are aware of what we are in a metaphysical, existential sense. This is where Christianity comes in. You see, in the Bible, we are shown to be more than just matter. Made from the dust of the earth God breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7) and made us a living thing. This is important because we see here two huge differences from how He made animals. First we were made 'from' something, unlike animals and the earth which were simply popped into existence by God's own power, we were formed from the “dust of the earth.” I'm sure there are ramifications and reasons for that but it's beyond my abilities to find them. The second and really more important bit is that our life was “breathed” into us by God directly. To me this connects us to God's Word which is described as “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), and which is also described as being “alive” (Hebrews 4:12). Also we were made in the “image of God,” (Genesis 1:26) which obviously doesn't mean that we look like Him since God is spirit and has no set physical form (other than the humanity taken unto the Son, ie. Jesus). All of this points to a creation that is more than just the stuff it's made of, we are both physical and spiritual beings and this allows us the ability to look outside ourselves and to rise -just a bit- above our material.

We are more than the sum of our parts.

     It gets a bit more complicated from this point. You see, all of the previous stuff is quite clearly shown in the Bible but we also see that God has total control over His creation (1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Psalm 115:3, Isaiah 46:9-10, etc.). Many people have a hard time reconciling true free will with a being that can simply make you do whatever He pleases. Now I'm not going to get super deep here simply because there isn't time but I've done a lot of thinking on this over the years and I'll simply run you through my current conclusions. The short answer is that no you don't have free will. You do however have free choice, let me define that. Free will is the ability to do whatever you want, to make decisions and plan your life as you see fit. Honestly I don't see that as an option Biblicaly, we do seem to make choices and decisions but the ultimate outcome of those choices is far beyond our control. We can choose to obey or rebel against God but in the end we get heaven or hell and there is nothing we can do at that point to change our destination. I think what we have is what I call “Free Choice.” By that I mean that God has laid out His world and has given us options and we have the freedom to choose from those options. Obey or rebel, love this person or this other person or no one, this job or that job, school or no school, and on and on and on. These choices come to us and some are better than others and some are obviously where God would have us go but He doesn't necessarily force us down these more proper roads. Look at Jonah, God actually TOLD him what to do but he chose instead to run away. This is one way in which our choices can matter and how we can still be responsible for our sins. We chose, in a very real sense, to do that evil. We are always presented with options and we may not like them but they are there.

     When we speak of the big questions of salvation and sanctification, God is just doing what He wants to ultimately, and we can either choose to obey or to rebel. I think that when we move beyond the ultimate questions we have a lot of give and quite a bit of 'wiggle room.' God has plans and purposes but He made them with our personalities and preferences in mind, using us to tell His story so that we are truly involved in the telling; actors not puppets. We may say the wrong line or miss a cue every once and a while but we are right there on the stage. We have to be more than matter for anything we do to matter and our soul gives us that bit of transcendence.   

What We Fight For

     You might hear it if you listen, the battle cry of the faith. Rise up Christian soldiers and stand against the tide! The world we're told, is falling, and we cannot stand aside! And yet some people do. There are a good many people who simply do not educate themselves on true doctrine or who do not stand up for the gospel. Some are just lazy of course, still others simply aren't saved to begin with, there are some however that will question why we need to 'defend' the gospel at all. Isn't God, God, they'll say. Doesn't He not need our help? Why bother?

     First off, and you'll find this is often the first answer regardless of the question, because we've been commanded to! We stand for God's word and proclaim it to those around us because we have been expressly ordered to by our God and King and by the example set forth in scripture.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear...”

(1 Peter 3:15)

“...just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.”

(Philippians 1:7)

(emphasis mine)

It seems kind of heavy handed to say and it may sound like I'm skirting the real issue but frankly many of the questions we might have as Christians come down to a sort of “because I said so” from God. We have lost some of that prophet, priest, and KING teaching about Jesus these days and we don't always hear about how he is to be obeyed. Not just listened to or taken under advisement but obeyed!

     Let me further say that God -is- God. He really doesn't need our help in any sense. If no one spoke the gospel He could make the rocks beneath our feet sing hymns to His glory! If He desires to preserve His Word it will endure; as it has through all these centuries. That being said, one important reason we 'defend' the gospel is because we aren't defending the gospel at all. What we are defending is the gospel's opportunity to impact, we are defending people! There are people out there -men, women, and children- who might only hear a little bit of the truth over there whole lives. Will you sit back and let that little bit of truth be mired in an ocean of lies? These people we see around us are dieing! The are headed to eternal fire and the world we live in is throwing up a smokescreen of falsehood to blind them off the edge of the cliff! We quiet the noise of evil so that the sweet sound of the gospel can make it to the ears of the unsaved! These people need God, and they need the truth about God; so we fight for that truth to be heard and we strike down falsehood without mercy.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

(Romans 10:14)

     Remember that our lives are for eternity, our actions here will echo in forever. In defending the gospel we defend those who will be saved by it. In fighting for truth we help to free those enslaved by lies. When we do the work that God has laid out for us, His name is glorified among the people. Don't neglect your work, don't leave these fallen desperate people undefended. Fight, protect, defend, and stand firm.

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

(2 Thessalonians 2:15)

Is It Worth It?

     I'm coming very close now to the end of my first full year of marriage. We have our plans and are suitably excited and I thank God for this tremendous blessing. As I believe I've mentioned before, I've always wanted to get married.  Now that I'm here I can say that it is indeed better than I thought it would be but also different than I thought. In my previous post “The Amazing and Wonderful Normal”  I talked about the surprising 'normal-ness' of marriage. How everything becomes just another day, and yet more than that.

     Here is where we get to today's point. Some time ago while talking about marriage, I had a friend ask me “Is it worth it?” I nodded and said yes at the time but as I thought about that seemingly simple question I could not help but think of the meaning it might have possessed. Was it meant as more than a trite question that everyone asks but doesn't really think about, sort of like “how ya doin'?” I've had some time to ponder and here are my thoughts.

     On the surface of that question it has to be said that yes, yes it is worth it. Whatever “it” is, marriage's worth surpasses. Whether time spent waiting, the resources used, the effort involved, all of it is worth the result. There are times when, during dating, it may seem like a whole lot of trouble and it would make sense to question the worth of all this hard slogging work. Believe me, if you're doing your dating right there will be times when it is work indeed. The interesting thing is that you can never understand just how worth it it is until you've been married for a while, like how we cannot understand the Word of God as we do until we are saved.

     Beyond that though, I couldn't shake the feeling that behind that question was another question, “Is it worth waiting physically?” This question presents a problems for me as I want to simply answer yes, it is worth it! That however, is hardly the point is it? Our bodies desire that physical closeness and they desire the culmination of that relationship; but we are commanded to be masters of our desires, to lay them at the feet of Christ as our Lord! So whether or not it's 'worth it' to wait, we are to be obedient to God and reserve ourselves to the one to whom we become 'one flesh.' This is what is truly worth it, obedience and submission to God. Not merely God as Savior but God as King of our lives. As David was king in Jerusalem so should Jesus be King in our Hearts, the master of His domain with the final say in all things. We as Christians do not have the right to weigh the odds and compare lists of pros and cons. We listen, we read, we learn, and we obey. That may seem harsh or rigid or even insipid but that is where we will find real meaning. Our worth was only ever to be in our relationship with God and it is only there we will find meaning today! Besides the pragmatic benefit or emotional worth of being able to give all of yourself to your spouse with no one else to lay any claim to you, it is simply of far greater benefit to obey the one who is Lord over all.

     Don't fall into the trap of trying to decide as if you had any power to make a choice. We know what God wants of us and that is all we need. The Christian life is not hard because we have so many choices to make, it is hard because those choices are already made for us and those choices go against the flow of the world. The choice you do have, the only choice, is whether or not you will obey the God who made you, bought you, saved you, and adopted you. The God who loves you. 

Is it worth it?  Yes.  Yes it is.

Where We Stand

We stand upon this shifting sand

The pillars of this aging land,

Are shaking now and falling soon

The death knell of impending doom.

Though many fought and died to make

A country free and hard to break

It seems we've thrown aside the crown

We praise the walls we're smashing down.

Our firm foundation, once so strong

Has little now to stand upon.

When all beneath has given way

What chance is there to stand today?

In God we trust our battle cry

Freedom laid out from on high

We swore we'd live as He had shown

A land, a people, all His own

But soon we lost the taste for bread

Gave up our soul for what's in our head.

Will we repent, will we implore

Will we beg to have our land restored?

Will we return to grander skies?

Will we damn ourselves

and waste our lives?

Truth, it seems, is now passè.

The crowd decides what leaders say.

Will anyone have the heart to stand

To rise up in this fractured land.

Will someone choose to stand alone

To point us to the Father's throne?

Will anyone have the heart to cast

His lot in with our noble past?

We'll see what stuff the future hides.

What once united now divides.

Our souls need more than easy dreams,

Empty men and hollow schemes.

We need a new revival plan,

A reformation of modern man.

by. Jonathan E. Schaefer

09/15/2014

Those Who Persevere

     Perseverance of the Saints. I'm sure you've heard of it. It's one of the primary doctrines of Christianity and one that offers great hope to us all. Unfortunately it is also a doctrine that is widely misunderstood. The idea behind the doctrine is God's people cannot lose their salvation, sadly it has been used and abused by quite a few preachers.

“This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”

(2 Timothy 2:11-12)

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 'And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

(John 8:31-32)

     Let's look at the problem. The common saying used these days is the well known “Once saved always saved.” Now to be honest there is nothing said by that phrase that isn't true. If we are really and truly saved by God we cannot be taken from Him. The problem lies in the path that saying takes to get there. When you say “once saved always saved” the thought behind it is that nothing I do will make me go to hell. Again, nothing being said is technically wrong but it SO the wrong attitude! The attitude expressed here is that I don't have to worry, I don't have to try, and I don't have to care at all, because I'm set. I've got my fire insurance, I prayed my little prayer, I went to the front of the church and that is all I need right? Wrong! There is so much more to Christianity and so much more to perseverance than that! It may sound like nit-picking but we have to remember that the words we use have power and the meaning and attitude behind them has a ripple effect as it moves away from us. What we meant to say will probably not be what the fiftieth person to hear it hears.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. "I and My Father are one."

(John 10:27-30)

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain.”

(1 Corinthians 15:1-2)

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 8:38-39)

     Now for the truth. What is meant by perseverance of the saints is that those who are truly God's will endure until the end. We will stumble and fall, we will sin and sorrow, but we will never full leave God's side. We will outlast temptation and make it to the end of this long road, we will meet our Father at the highways end. God's power keeps us going and the only real sign of a true believer is endurance. We will see fruit from their efforts and we will see growth indeed but so much of this can be mimicked by hard work and human effort. Remember that God rules over everything and nothing surprises Him. He knew from the moment you came to Him -from the moment of creation really- every sin you have and will ever commit. When He forgives your sin He forgives ALL of it, what could you do to lose that salvation that doesn't fall under “all?” You could do nothing to save yourself. We cannot earn our salvation and thus we cannot disqualify it either. The true saints of God will continue!

     Take this to heart, Christian, if you mire in worry and doubt. Are you working to get closer to God? Does your sin burden you? Do you always come back and repent no matter how far you stray? That presence in your soul, that burden on your heart is most likely the Spirit of God dwelling in you and keeping you! Don't fear doubts, face them! Don't get lazy and don't give up, God will empower those who are His own to last to the end! Our work doesn't save us, but as James points out it acts as the evidence of a changed life. So work out your salvation as the Bible says, seek God, ask for strength and don't sit on your laurels and assume that your prayer saved you. For it is the changed life and new hunger for God and His path for you that signifies your salvation.

The Power and Purpose of Prayer

     Why do we pray? Much doubt is being cast on the importance and usefulness of prayer these days, leaving many to wonder why pray at all? It can be a hard thing to pray continually. You'll find that a million different distractions will creep up on you and you may even fall asleep as you kneel on the floor with your eyes closed tight. So why do it? Why fight against the current of popular opinion? Because to do so and reject prayer would be disastrous to our spiritual lives.

     I've heard it said that praying is pointless because God already knows everything anyway and He already has His plan and since God already knows everything about us we can't build that relationship. Of course this is all true but it's missing a crucial point. We are commanded to pray and God has told us that prayer is effective.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

(James 5:16)

Furthermore, God does know us perfectly already but we barely know Him! The relationship we are building is not based on mutual lack of understanding but on the fact that we are woefully ignorant of our creator. Prayer is not merely time spent mumbling in the dark but time spent conversing with our heavenly Father. We're talking to Dad. 

     Similarly we don't have to keep our prayers constantly wordy and fancy, we don't have to use flowing speech and grandiose words. We can simply seek Him and talk to Him, tell Him about your day and what is bothering you. He is listening. Especially helpful is the knowledge that we don't need to perfectly articulate what we need for two reasons: God does already know our needs, and the Holy Spirit speaks on our behalf.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

(Romans 8:26)

     As you pray, as you make it a habit of your life, you will see it's benefits. Prayer not only works in this world -though we may not see or understand how- it draws us closer to God and to each other. We need to keep God in our thoughts, keeping a “constant state of prayer”, carrying Him with us always and going to Him specifically whenever we can. Prayer defines a Christian in a way, unlike other religions of the world we are not simply repeating verses or chanting lines or paying homage, we are talking directly to God. After all, this faith we have is more than simply a duty or responsibility or a requirement, it is a relationship with our creator and savior. So don't give up on prayer, don't let it slip aside because you don't have time or don't know what to say. God is waiting to hear from you, don't make Him wait too long.

Poem: Sometimes, Often, Always

Sometimes

I can feel that infinite void

That separates God from man.

Sometimes

I find it hard

To understand His plan.

Often

I feel so lost

And confused by what I see.

Always

I can feel His hand

Guiding and comforting me.

Faithless

And fallen

And useless I am at heart.

But Perfect

Is the love of God

Who chose me from the start.

Never

Will I fully understand

The scope of His Grace

But someday

I'll worship in truth

And see Him face to face.

This world

Is harsh

It's breaking, broken,

Full of suffering and strife

There is every reason

To just give up

But more to search for Life

This God

I serve imperfectly

Is all I will ever need.

This world

Will fade eventually

With all it's lusts and greed.

I

Will hold to that which lasts

And kneel before the throne.

He

Will keep His every Word

And prove He is God alone.

by. me

True Good and What Matters Most -Part 2-

(This is the part two of my discussion of the article found here: http://sojo.net/blogs/2014/08/18/what-saved-my-faith

You can read part one >here< 

From the Article:

“My faith was threatened as I began to question what else had been wrong about what I had been taught. As I edged closer to the perimeters of the church, all the time being drawn and inspired by the beauty and unconditional love (which I was told only existed within Christianity) I saw outside of her, the light from beyond cast even more shadows on the church. Darkness existed in the forms of misogyny, empire-building, anti-intellectualism, and systematic marginalization of GLBT persons; they were injustices coated with spiritual language — wolves in sheep’s clothing. I suffered through severe storms of righteous rage. I wept with the pain of marginalized peoples against the church’s exclusion”

     I'm bothered by the phrase “what I had been taught.” A Christian is taught things, of course, but we come to know more as we commune with God in His Word. I can't really know, but it just doesn't feel like the author has a relationship with God. The language of the article speaks as if Christianity was simply an organization or a movement (She even calls it a movement at one point). Everything we see, every feeling we have, every idea that is presented to us or pops into our minds needs to be taken to Scripture and analyzed. The author constantly refers to “the church,” but doesn't ever mention the Word or God. The church, its membership, and its activities are not what we reference for truth and they are not what we hold up as our standard. God has revealed in Scripture and through His Son what we are to be. It is through that light that we look upon the world.

     “The light from beyond cast even more shadows on the church.” Satan was an angel of light, and he works in distractions and misinformation. He deals in lies and untruths. That light may cast shadows but it's a pale sickly light when understood. You say you see misogyny? The Bible speaks against that. You see 'empire-building' and 'anti-intellectualism'? God tells us to love Him with all of our mind, soul, and strength and think of others more than ourselves. You see the church marginalize the 'GLBT' folks? Well what do you mean by that? Do you mean that we exclude them from church? Do you mean that we refuse to allow what is clearly a sinful life, one repeatedly denounced by God in His word into the body of Christ? Then yes, that is there and it will remain for everyone who holds the Bible to be true. We must love these people, they are no different and no more fallen than any others but sin is sin and we do no one any favors by playing nice and trying to 'reinterpret' the Bible.

From the Article:

“You see, I want all of the beauty. I want the irreverent, gritty honesty out there AND the deeply mystical sacred prayers in here. I want the pragmatic, scientific solutions for the world’s problems out there AND the earnest faith for the impossible in here. I want the big, huge tent that welcomes everyone out there AND the narrow road of life giving sacrifice in here. I want to glean the wisdom of the world AND own Jesus’ beautiful vision.”

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

(1 John 2:15)

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

(James 4:4)

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

(Proverbs 9:10)

Co 1:20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

     What honesty does the author think she'll find in a world of lies? Not that everyone is constantly telling lies but the prince of this world is the father of lies and humans speak his native language! Furthermore that 'big, huge tent that welcomes everyone' does not welcome true Christianity, it never has. Try it, go to that tent -so to speak- join in the hand holding and smiling, and then tell everyone that there is ONE way and one way ONLY that man can be saved from his sin. Tell them that the ONE true God CONDEMNS their sin and is right to PUNISH them. Tell them that despite that He sent His Son to die on their behalf and all we need to do to enjoy His grace is repent and OBEY. See how long they welcome you. This world hates us, some more than others, but all of it the same. We are not of this world and should not seek inclusion in it. We desire a oneness, we desire unity, but unity in Christ and oneness of Spirit. The kingdom of God is not one that exists on earth, at least not yet. The kingdom is not one we bring about, it is not one we help at all. God will do His work and we have the privilege of coming along for the ride. We do not seek a “better world” or a utopia, we seek Christ and Christ alone.

From the Article:

“The paradox in my spiritual journey is that beautiful people, ones who are overly kind, extravagantly generous, yet remain unassuming and humble — they threaten my faith and simultaneously save it. My faith, it teeters on again and off again, never secure, keeping me on my toes.

I will never stop being drawn outside of the faith circle, because selfish person that I am: I need to have all of the beauty. I can’t ever go back to the safe kind of faith, the one that is full of certainty and claims beauty only for itself. I want my faith to be fragile and vulnerable and dangerous, because without the risk of losing my faith, there would cease to be any need to save it.”

     The beauty she claimed to see outside, as if it only exists out there, is a facade. It's a remnant of the fact that as God's creation we can never be fully removed from the evidence of His work. I would ask why seeing people do good threatens her faith? Why does an atheist at a soup kitchen drive her to doubt? Is it because they're not a Christian? Is it because they're doing things she, for some reason, thought only Christians could do? The Bible tells us that all of our righteousnesses (apart from Him) are as filthy rags. It does not say we have no 'goodness', it only says that our 'goodness' is not ultimately good and by comparison is not very good at all. Frankly I'm concerned for her, with her faith so fragile as she says. We should not allow doubts to linger. When we doubt we need to use that doubt to drive us to deeper understanding. We need to strive for the death of doubts, not hold to them as some sort of indicator of higher truth. Our faith does not require saving. We do. I feel as if the author needs to be reminded that we hold to a faith that is sure in the storm, steady on the sea, and firm as a house built upon stone rather than sand. We cannot be led astray by the beauty of this world; a lost man can be confident but following him still gets you nowhere.

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.”

(2 Peter 2:20)

What You Say and What You Do

     It's the big thing these days, you'll hear it everywhere in Christian circles. “I don't need to talk to people about Christ, my life is my witness.” People everywhere are giving up on actually witnessing to those around them and simply trusting in the 'power of a transformed life.' Now I'm not saying that your life shouldn't reflect your faith, or that the people around you shouldn't be able to tell that there is something different about you. What needs to be said however, is that a silent choir doesn't get many listeners.

     First let's look at that life of yours. Were you once a criminal? Did you come from horrible circumstances? Do you live in a really bad part of town? No? Then I'm sorry but you're life of 'goodness' is not going to seem much different to those around you. Oh sure, they will think you're a nice guy, or that you're rather conservative, or maybe even kind of a prude but I doubt very much they will be floored by your holiness and virtue. Our lives can say a lot, they can tell people that we don't agree with what is around us or that we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our lives can tell others that we respect them or that we had good parents or that we just want everyone to get along, but our lives alone won't tell anyone about Jesus. Simple actions can only ever tell anyone about you. We need to be more expressive. We need to explain the pattern that people see in our lives.

     Don't get me wrong, that life you live is important, it's just isn't enough. Our lives should be transformed and we should be different from the world. Our every action should be feeding through the filter of God's Spirit. What we say, what we do, what we think; how will these affect the world's view of God? We cannot live as the world and expect the people around us think that our faith is anything special.

“Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.”

(1 John 2:6)

“Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

(1 Peter 4:1-2)

     As I said before, our lives -by themselves- only tell the story of us. It's when we speak to those around us that they see the whole picture. If all my co-workers see that I don't work on Sundays they can think of any number of things. They might even assume it's because I'm at church, but if I tell them why and explain that the day is set apart for God and His praise, what will they think then? I can treat others with respect and be seen as a nice guy, but if I tell people that God is no respecter of persons and holds no one in higher regard than anyone else, if I tell them that He loves us all so much that He sent His Son down to die on our behalf, what will they think of that? When we tell people what we believe, when we show them the Word, our lives will serve as the proof, as the substance to what they may see as just more words. It's all fine and good to hear that God loves everyone, but it's another thing entirely when you see His people actually out there loving people! They may see that I behave differently than those around me, but if tell them of my Redeemer they can see that I'm not just a different, better man, I'm a saved man! I'm one who has been changed!

“...'whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.' How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

(Romans 10:13-14)

     My life has to back up my words and my words have to reflect my life. I need to walk the walk, but I also need to talk the talk. If we do one to the exclusion of the other we will be weak witnesses and poor missionaries. Don't think that your life will draw others to God like flys to honey, or that your words don't matter. Don't think that you can talk people into the Kingdom or that no one is watching you. Life the life that God has prepared for you and do your best to tell people of the hope that is in you.

Respect and Honor

“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.”

(Titus 3:1-2)

“Bond-servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”

(Colossians 3:22-24)

     We don't like to obey and we do not like to listen. We modern folks think we have got it all worked out and that we are free first and foremost. It's my life and my choice, right? Well yes and no. I'm not really going to talk about the whole free will issue today, nor am I going to talk about obeying authority really; I'm talking about how we treat authority. How we deal with authority tells a lot about us, perhaps even more than our obedience.

     In the modern world and workforce there is a profound belief in the incompetence of leadership and a general lack of respect for those in higher position. When you're at work and the boss turns the corner do you and your coworkers immediately start to tear him or her down? I think this can be at least partially traced to the general sense of mistrust and even outright hatred for 'companies' and 'corporations' that exists in western culture. I think we also fail to show respect because we want to blame things that annoy us at work on somebody specific and out of a simple sense of jealousy. After all they make more than we do and have more power to boot. Who among us hasn't joked about the incompetent supervisor or the lazy manager or the overbearing executive? Should we though?

     Look at the verses above, Titus says “...to speak evil of no one...”, and in Colossians we are told to “obey in all things your masters...not with eye service...but in sincerity of heart...” In those verses we are shown a standard for dealing with authority. Note especially Colossians, sincerity of heart, we're are specifically commanded to do more than simply follow through on orders but to willingly and energetically serve! The Word reminds us that ultimately we are serving God, albeit through an intermediary. When we fill out that expense report, or send that fax, or clean that fryer, or take out the trash we have an opportunity to serve God in a practical ordinary way and be an example to the world as well. If every one of your coworkers is snarky and barely working and you have a smile and work joyfully, what does that say about you? More importantly what will that say about the God you claim to serve? An honest, sincere, and earnest life when accompanied by an outspoken and loving faith can be a powerful testimony to the world around you.

     Another thing to consider, as I said before, do you mock that boss of yours when they're not around? I don't even care if they are incompetent or lazy or not terribly intelligent, their the boss and God commands that we show the position honor! Titus tells us above not only “...to be subject to rulers and authorities,” but to “...speak evil of no man.” What kind of witness are you showing to your coworkers when you tear down that authority and do you think that the command to speak no evil extends to everyone except your annoying manager? I'm not saying that we shouldn't work to fix incompetencies or be insufferable brown-nosers, it's just that we are to live noble and peaceful lives while we walk this earth, and above that to be project the image of the invisible God to the eyes of men. Take care and think about how your behavior reflects on God and yourself. Maybe showing that frustrating boss some honor will inspire others to do the same and maybe that boss will work to be worthy of that honor you show. Ultimately though, we are commanded to show honor and to obey as to to God so to men. Remember we were all sinners and we are none of us perfect, don't look down on someone for their imperfections as if you were sparkling clean.

**Final note**

     Don't think that to obey authorities we should simply do anything and everything we are told to do. We are not slaves to men. Even those who were (or are in some places of the world) are first beholden to God. We obey up until the point those orders conflict with the express will of God.

“Peter and John, however, said to them in reply, "Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard."

(Acts 4:19-20)

"We gave you strict orders (did we not?) to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles said in reply, "We must obey God rather than men.“

(Acts 5:28-29)