Love Letter

Lately, I have been hearing more and more that Christians are not reading their Bible, or don’t see it as a priority in their life.  They don’t see it as something important to do, which is sad because it is the way we get to know our Savior.  It seems today that more and more Christians are becoming Biblically illiterate, and it is heart breaking because they are missing so much blessing from the love letter written to us.  The book that tells us of the love of Christ and how we walk in that love, and how we understand our faith in a deep way, has to be read, as we will not learn all there is just from going to service on Sunday.  It has to be a relationship and that is done through reading the Scriptures, because this is how you get to know The Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Think about your closest relationship right now.  In order to grow in that relationship you had to spend time with that person talking and getting to know them.  If they wrote you a letter then I bet you read it and maybe even more than once because it came from someone that means something to you.  My wife and I have been married for 13 years now and I still have letters she wrote to me while we were dating.  Every once in a while I will pull those letters out and read them because they came from her and they are still important to me almost as much as the day when I first received them.  I have read them many times and they don’t get old because they come from someone I deeply love.

If that is the case with my wife then how much more should I be drinking in the Word of God, because Jesus showed me more love and still does then my wife ever could.  So, why wouldn’t I want to read the letters God has written to me.  It is my way to get to know my Savior, the One who gave His life for me.  If I read my wife’s letters without getting old then how much more should the living Bible be read over and over without getting old.

Christ is our Creator, our Redeemer, the living God who wants a relationship and has given a book for us to be nourished and to grow in our relationship with Him.  Yes, prayer is a way to communicate with God, but He typically answers us through the Word.  How much would my prayer life change if I knew Him deeper?

The Bible should be the most worn out book in our houses, but the truth is that it is the biggest dust collector in many of our homes.  Sad to say, this is true in my home many times and my relationship tends to be hurt because of it.  I start to feel distant, my thoughts begin to change and all of a sudden my relationship with God has changed.  Once I start to read again I start to think more about my Savior and talking to Him more.  I start to see things change in my daily walk because I feed on the Word of God.  This is not some simple book, but a living book that changes our lives just from reading it.  This book will not allow us to be the same; you will either be drawn closer to Christ or you will grow more distant.  This book does not allow us to stay the same.

The Bible is the most important book in the Christian faith, because it comes from God Himself.  It is our way to grow in our relationship with God that will change us forever.  I am so thankful for the Bible, that God thought us special enough to write us and talk to us in such a special and meaningful way.  What a Savior we have that loves us enough to give us a book so we can get to know Him so deeply.  Open the Book and get to know the Savior.

Overtly Concieled

I was listening to the news last week and a statement made caught my attention. They were reporting that Campus Crusade for Christ was taking Christ out of their name because they thought it was too offensive. Being skeptical I decided to look up the truth of this claim myself and found that they are changing their name to Cru and were in fact taking Christ as well as Crusade out of their name, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/20/campus-crusade-for-christ_n_905121.html.

If you read some of the comments you see that some think this is a way to conciel who the group is in order to talk to people that normally would not want to talk to them if they knew who they were. I think this may be a good argument, in particular because they already had Christ in their name. Should we hide who we are in order to reach more people, as this seems to be overtly concealing.

In business we don’t hide what our product is in order to sell more of them. We brag about the product and tell everyone how it will be to their advantage in purchasing it from us. Companies spend thousands if not millions to tell people what their product is. This seems to be the opposite, because they are taking the word “Christ” out so people will not know up front. They believe this will allow them to reach more people, but will it. And what will it do their image in the long term?

This seems a lot like the Porn outreach, but on a larger scale. At one point on the campus I live by there were all these signs that had “Porn” written on them, and then a place, date and time of the event. No other information was given. People showed up to this event, many thinking they were going to see Porn, or at least hear about it and found themselves at an outreach event against pornography. Businesses in the community were upset because they did not know what was going on, as their sidewalks were covered with the world “Porn” plus the location and time, but nothing stating anything else. Had they told the owners or put more info then the owners I talked with would have kept it out there instead of washing it off because it was offensive.

I think the same can be said when we hide Christ from what we are doing and not making it known why we do what we do. The Bible seems to have the exact opposite approach in letting people know they were Christians. They told everyone why they were doing what they were doing and did not try to hide it in order to talk to more people. They were bold with the name of Christ in a time that it was dangerous to be a Christian. It is not dangerous to be a Christian in America, and hiding the name because it might offend seems a little bit of a stretch.

Maybe I am wrong, and the name change is not any big deal, though my issue is not the name change, but the reason given for taking the name of Christ out of it.

IMPLAUSIBLE

Imagine that I tell you a story about a young woman, 5’3” and weighing in at 115lbs, who just was released from a psychiatric ward, was able to lift a picnic table with connecting benches a few feet in the air and throw it off a porch. I explain that she believed her baby was in a house and that the belief was so strong that it gave her strength to lift this picnic table as she was trying to free her child. Would you believe this story? I am not sure that I would. But what if I said there were eye witnesses that you could go and ask about it; that the couple whose porch she threw the picnic table off of were at home at the time and had to call the police. Would you believe the story then? Most people would be more apt to believe this implausible story because there is corraborating evidence. You can go and ask the people whom it happened to.


Can you imagine how many times they had to tell that story? I bet they would be asked at parties, by neighbors and they would also just willingly tell the story time and again because they would not believe it happened. They would remember it for the rest of their days and most likely tell the story so many times that close friends may get tired of hearing it. But what if they made up the whole thing to gain attention or just to pull a prank? How long do you think it would last?

First, one could check the police records in the paper or the local police station to see if the incident actually happened. They could look at newspapers, because if this did happen it is probably going to catch the attention of some local newspaper and maybe a newstation. But, if it is made up, do you think they would enjoy telling the story like they would if it were true? Probably not, and they would probably start to get frustrated by people asking them all the time and regret ever telling the story, especially once it was found out as a fraud. I am betting that once they were interrogated and threatened with a fine, or prison for telling a false story to the police, that they would confess in a hurry. They would not go to prison, or pay a fine for such a story. At least most people would not.

What about a more implausible story, like the resurrection of Christ? Can you imagine someone telling you that this Jesus was on the cross, the most horrific way to die, and three days later was alive? The cross was so bad they made a new word to describe it, which is our English word excrutiating. We are to believe after this that Jesus came back to life and defeated death. Yes, we are, because of all the evidence and transformation of lives. One of the most important is who they referenced as proof. They used Mary, a woman. A woman was not considered a witness in Jesus’ time. They could not even be a witness in court, so to use them was to show they truly believed, because if it was a made up story they would have surely used a man as the first person testimony account.

Secondly, the transformation of people was extraordinary. All the disciples left in dismay when Jesus was buried in the tomb, because they believed he was dead and was not going to rise again. But after Mary reported and the disciples saw with their own eyes they were transformed. They went from being afraid to being out in public to speaking bodly to everyone because they believed the implausible. They believed based on testimony and eyewitness account. They checked the facts. It would have been easy to prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Just bring out the body, but instead they tried to fabricate a story that the disciples stole the body.

Why the stolen body theory does not work is because of how the apostles died. Some may try to convince people of a lie when there is no real threat of punishment, but when the punishment threatened is death most will not continue in a lie. The apostles were killed in horrific ways because they believed Jesus raised from the dead. They were crucified, stoned, skinned alive, cooked in an oven, head cut off, and speared. I don’t know about you, but there is no way I am going through anything like that for a lie, and I don’t think anyone who knew they were lying would.

This is one implausible story that checks out. Just look at the facts and testimonies of those involved and it is becomes very apparent that Jesus raised from the dead on the third day. If He did then it changes everything.

Buy Me

There is a virus out there that will infect your computer and then try to get you to purchase your way out of it. You won’t be able to do anything else without purchasing from them. They do this by faking that you have a virus on your computer and they are there to save you from them, but in reality they are the virus. They figure fear will drive you to give them your financial information. Once you do that they will start charging your card on a regular basis. I have labeled this the “buy me” virus.

This is the same thing that many fakes within Christianity will have you believe. Take the recent ‘end of the world’ campaign that just happened a couple of weeks ago. They call themselves a Christian organization, but when you truly look at what they believe they are far from it. They are more like a virus, because they act like they are when in fact they are not.

They try to get you to buy what they are selling, and this particular movement they had some invest their life savings to publicize that the end of the world is near, and these people were from all walks of life (the very successful to the average joe). A virus has no prejudice of who it will attack, just as false religious movements will have no prejudice. They will latch on and suck you dry and make you physically and spiritually sick.

The goal is to not fall for it. Just as I can take my computer to a technician to get rid of a virus, I can go to the Bible and see if what they are teaching is correct. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Learning to take precautions and to be skeptical will protect us from falling for false ideas.

Faith is not blind, but built upon the evidence of things unseen. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Test everything and make sure what you are hearing, reading and following is true. 1 Thesselonians 5:21, “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” Don’t get caught by a virus in your faith walk, strive to be prepared through study of Scripture and learning how to discern the truth from error before it makes you sick.

2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

We All Fall Down

As children it is easy to figure out what is right and wrong, because our parents tell us. Of course we did not listen, and end up suffering the consequences. You end up in time out or losing the toy you stole from your younger sibling. You see the consequence of your actions fairly quickly, and we hopefully learn what is right and wrong as we go through the consequence.


But all this changes as we get older, because we learn how to manipulate the system. As we became teenagers we started to lie better not to get caught, or we did not say anything at all. We also learn to just keep some of our thoughts to ourselves, especially ones that are not particularly productive. When we are finally caught, we will try to make it a much less sin then what it was. Or we will try the, “at least I did not kill anyone,” statement, to try to down play the sin.

Later as we get older there is no consequence for some sins we commit, because no one will know about them. You can commit them in private and not tell a soul. Plus, we are not punished by our parents for not following their rules. We have societal laws and rules for the work place, but for the most part there is no one watching like when we lived at home. Or is there?

We tend to forget that there is an almighty, omniscient God who sees and hears everything. Nothing is kept from His site. When we think we are hiding and no one is looking, we have to remember that there is more then just earthly accountability; there is an eternal accounatability as well.

This leads to another question. Do you think things happen to us here when we sin in private and no one else knows? Does discipline happen that we may not even realize? When we sin in private does it affect our public life? I think the answer to all those is yes much of the time, but we have to have the eyes to see it. It is a form of discipline for sinning. Just like when we had our favorite toy taken away for behaving badly, there could be the same type of discipline as adults for sinning in private. I say private, because we tend to see the effects of public sin and the consequences of that sin. But when we sin in private and think no one is watching or is hurt by it, we tend not to pay attention to see if there was a ripple effect.

The challenge is to pay attention and see if God is trying to get our attention when we sin in private and do nothing about it. I think there is an effect and not always in the way we think. Some times the discipline will be tough to see lining up with the private sin, but I bet it is there. There tends to be temporal actions for sin, even though through Christ we are eternally forgiven.

Then again maybe there is nothing and as long as you keep it quiet and private no harm done. The challenge is to pay attention and see if there is. The worst thing that can happen is you will pay more attention to potential sin in your life and look for God working in other areas of your life.

Not As Bad As. . .

Have you ever done something wrong and then to make yourself feel better, you rationalize it by saying, “at least I am not as bad as. . . .(you fill in the blank).” It is easy to do for most in some instances, as I am not as bad as the serial killer sitting on death row, or I am not as bad as the guy who abuses his family.


The problem may come when someone uses your name to fill in the blank. At least I am not as bad as Alan. How would you feel if you heard that? But in reality it is feasbible isn’t it? We can all think of someone who is better then us, or at least seems outwardly to be nicer, more polite and has more friends. Whether you believe it or not it has probably happened, or will happen at some point in your life.

I have been performing marriage counseling now for over 10 years, and I have counseled long enough to see that play out in reality. Friends, spouses and relatives will use each others names to fill in the blank. At least I am not as bad as the Joneses, or I am not as bad as my sister/brother. Someone will use your name to fill in the blank, because not one of us is good enough all the time, and many times none of the time.

Psalm 14:2-4 says, “The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” This is reiterated in Romans 3:11-13, as the Psalm is quoted again to demonstrate our true selves, that we are all bad at some level, which is being bad in general. How do I know, because as stated before, we can all think of someone who is just a little better then us, who is more “righteous.” How many have said, “I am no Mother Theresa,” or “I am no Ghandi?”

At one level this is a sad situation, or I guess it makes it some what a level playing field. If we are all bad then what hope do we have? Again, no matter what great work we think we do, there is again, another we can point to that seems better than ours. You helped give to the poor, and then find out your neighbor helped give to the poor and volunteered to feed the homeless at the local shelter. There is never the ultimate good work to make up for the bad because we can always think of one good work that is better. I fed 100 people, then feeding 101 would be better. It is humbling, because we cannot look at our good works as the “end all,” nor can we look at ourselves as the example of goodness.

This is why we need someone to set the standard and to be that ultimate, and the only way it can be ultimate is if it is God doing it, because if it is a human, we can always think of another thing to add onto it. God on the otherhand can be infinitely good and perform the infinite good work. Romans 3:25-26 tells us, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

If you want to find what true goodness is in this life and how to share in it, then you have to look at God and ultimately at Christ. Compare His deeds to anyone else alive or dead and the others will be found wanting.

It's a Good Thing!

I was emailing with a friend I had not talked to in a long time. We were catching up on our families and what we are doing with our lives. During our emails I told him about my health issues that have been going on for a while now and his response was interesting. He wrote, “Good thing you don't believe in a God who rewards us for our actions on earth while we're still here or you'd be wondering WTF did I do?” He is absolutely correct, if I did believe that, then I would certainly be wondering what in the world did I do. It doesn’t mean that we don’t wonder, though, what we did to deserve what is happening to us.

I must admit, I have asked in prayer what have I done to deserve this pain. The self-pity comes through and you ask “Why me?” But as I thought about it more and more, I thought “why not me?” If I am to think of a God that rewards us on this earth, whether good or bad, then I probably do deserve it. As a Christian, I believe Christ died for my sins on the cross, which means I believe I have sinned. If I have sinned and I believe God is going to give us rewards (good or bad) for what we have done then I should not be surprised when bad things happen to me. Luckily, I believe my sins past, present and future were forgiven at the cross. I am not negating discipline or effects of sin on this earth, but God working on a merit program for what we do good or bad. If that was the case, we all deserve to be in pain, because not one of us has lived a perfect life without sinning.

During these times my mind wanders to Job. Talk about a time to wonder what someone did to deserve pain, it was him. God allowed Satan to take away everything; his family, money, and way of earning a living. He then allowed Satan to make him physically in pain and ill. It was so bad that his wife told him to curse God and die. His friends were telling him to confess his sin, because he must have done something to deserve what he was going through. Job actually did do something, and it was live a holy life before God. His friends were not privy to the conversations in Heaven that took place, that we as readers are privy to read. Job was picked for the exact opposite reason his friends thought. He was picked for how good he was.

It changes the perspective of pain at times. I am not saying that I am going through the pain I have because I am holy or good or anything, but it does give a different perspective. Maybe God allows His chosen people to go through certain physical or mental pains because He knows they will honor Him through it. We will never know this side of Heaven if we are being used by God to show Satan that there are those down here who will follow Him know matter what. Maybe it is just consequence of a fallen world, or the result of poor living and choices made, but what if it isn’t. Would that change the way you walk within the pain or suffering you now feel?

Though I know I fail miserably at times, I strive to honor Christ in my pain, because my goal is to store treasure in Heaven, and not on a temporal earth. I long to hear Him say, “well done good and faithful servant.” Maybe, just maybe I will find out that I was chosen like Job to go through what I am because He thought me special and worthy enough to suffer for His cause. If not, I still desire to walk in my pain to honor Christ in all things.

“. . . Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phillipians 1:20-21).



Surrender Some & Sharing None

We sang a song in church today that talks about surrendering all to God and sharing in His pain. We sing those words that are certainly based on Scripture (2 Timothy 1:7-9; Gal. 2:20; 2 Tim. 2:10-12), but how well do we follow it? Do we really surrender all and strive to share in His Pain?

How often have we not shared our faith or let people know our Christianinty because of fear, embarrasement or “not the right time or place?” Is that sharing in His pain or surrendering to Him? It is a good time to reflect on this since we just finished celebrating the ultimate pain done for us – the crucifixion, and then the greatest celebration – the resurrection. We celebrate these days with great fervor, but do we live it out in our lives, our whole life, and not just parts of our lives where it is comfortable. Do you think Jesus would not talk about spiritual matters with school students, even while at school? Do you think He would avoid the conversation at work, at play, or even over a cup of coffee?

Jesus exuded spirituality in all He did. He talked about spiritual matters in all He did, by living it out or purposely discussing it, because it was so much a part of Him and He saw it as the most important matter. Do we? I go back to the song of surrending and sharing, and do we do these? Because if we did then we would do the things that Christ did, because we are surrending to His will, which will lead to sharing in His pain, whether it is emotional, physical or psychological.

One will naturally follow the other because the world hates the things of God. When we are in His will, we naturally have a reaction by the world, and Christians that hold onto worldly things. Christ was always being ridiculed, thereatened and ultimately physically abused and murdered for walking the Christian walk. The same happened to the apostles and today many people around the world are being murdered, made fun of and abused for following Jesus.

I guess we have to ask ourselves that if our lives are so cushy and everyone in the world loves us, are we actually surrendering all and sharing in His pain. I am not saying we purposely try to have people ridicule, hate or abuse us, but are there things we should be doing that we don’t because we are afraid of those very things. Do we hold onto different items, beliefs or actions because we like them, want them to be okay or purposely rebel against God instead of surrendering to His will.

It is not easy and we all need to work in this area. How are you doing? I know I need to continue to work at it. John 15:18-19 says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Love Wins Review!

I have not read the book, and probably will not as most of his books ended up causing me much frustration and concern. This is a good review in my opinion from a trusted writer. I have read enough of his book from the free pages you can attain and the many quotes from those that are both in support and against the book to get a good idea. Not much different from his other books. At least he is consistent in his universalistic thoughts, even if he will not say he is. I just don't know why he won't admit it, as I would respect him more as a writer and speaker if he did. I don't like it from any writer when they won't admit where they stand and hide in vagueness and tautology.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/files/2011/03/LoveWinsReview.pdf

END of DAYS

Have you looked at many of the shows playing on the History channel, Discovery channel and many others? It seems that there are at least two or three shows each week on the world coming to an end. There are many reasons why according to these different groups, but in the end it is destruction. It could be an asteroid, nuclear war, oil spills, or aliens returning to claim their world.

If you are a Christian, how would you answer these questions today if you were asked? How would you explain to someone watching all these shows how the world will end? Today this is a very probable question for anyone claiming Christ as Savior and Lord. They may watch and see that the Mayan calendar is ending next year and we better be ready. Bunker homes are up nearly 1000% percent over the last year, so why not buy one of those? For $25,000 I can reserve my spot in a bunker in Nebraska to prepare for Armageddon.

There really is only one way to give someone an accurate description of how the world is going to come to an end, per a Christian perspective. And that is by reading, learning and teaching the book of Revelation. Sure, many of the other books give us some information about Jesus coming back, which is awesome, but it does not give us the detail that Revelation does.

I have heard Christians say that they do not read Revelation because it is too hard, too weird, or just too difficult to understand. I was one of them for a while. This is all the more reason to understand. Within the wonderful book we see the signs to watch for the second coming of Christ, what is going on in Heaven and what the New Earth and New Heaven will be like. If there was ever a book to learn and understand, it is this one.

This is the only book that comes with a warning, Revelation 22:18-20

says, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Because of this warning, we should learn it in order not to teach it inaccurately. Claiming ignorance will not work, because there are too many resources and available materials historically to help us understand.

When God uses us to lead someone to Christ and they are excited about their faith and Jesus, and they ask you about Heaven; how can you tell them without Revelation? How can you tell them about the Second Coming, true signs of the times, and what Heaven will be like without Revelation? Don’t miss the blessings of this great book because you don’t feel it is necessary to “understand,” or it is too “difficult.” Wrestle with it and you will be blessed!!

So Many Effects, But No Cause?

It seems that many Christians are afraid to tackle the issue of how creation came into being. We tend to fall back on the just having faith that what the Bible says is true. Don’t get me wrong, I think we can absolutely rely on what it says. But science gives us even more credance to what the Bible says, as usual, that creation points to what is already taught in Scripture.

The Big Bang theory, which many Christians seem to think is bad or does not help the Christian cause, are very mistaken. It is only that many don’t understand it. Now it does not prove a Christian God, but it does prove there is a cause that is outside of time, space and material. Later, we can demonstrate the fact of a Christian God, but the Big Bang does demonstrate a creator.

The Big Bang is described very well by Dr. Meyer as an effect of a cause and not a cause itself. We make the mistake of thinking it is the cause and not many scientists think of it that way. Stephen Hawking realized and said there has to be a cause outside of this material universe. Einstien used a “fudge factor” to manipulate his experiments, because he found the universe being created by God repugnant. Hoyle even prior to his death admitted there had to be a creator outside of space, time and material.

If you test the Cosmology theories, the Big Bang comes out on top. We see this from the background radiation echo, the way the universe is expanding, and many other examples. We know now that this universe started at some point and that time itself started at a beginning point. What a lot of scientists will not admit is that it was started by a First Cause (God for general terms), because that idea is also “repugnant” to them in some form or another.

Don’t be afraid of the Big Bang because it is just an effect of the First Cause (God). Then the challenge is to help people see that the Christian God is the real God over all the others out there.

Ignorance is Bliss!

“Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (Hebrews 5:13).

Have you ever sat through a sermon series, Sunday school series, or a class on the Bible and felt completely out of place, bored, or thought the material had no real use for you in your Christian walk? I know I have at times, and I know pastors who will say there are times they struggle with giving sermons from certain books in the Bible. Does this give us an excuse to disengage or ignore those parts of Scripture because we feel “stupid” or bored or not interested?

There seems to be a trend today within the church where ignorance seems to be bliss. What I mean is that some people would rather remain comfortable in just knowing the basics instead of growing deeper in their faith. We become comfortable in certain areas of our walk and where we are and don’t like it when we start to feel uncomfortable.

I am not talking about being uncomfortable over sin or conviction, because most say that is expected and part of the Christian faith. I am talking about being uncomfortable because you do not know something, or do not want to now something being taught about Scripture. I am thankful there are pastors out there that preach the entire Bible, even when they want to skip over a book because it may make the congregation feel dumb, sleepy, or ignorant, because they know it is not just about us, but about the entire Word of God being taught.

I am thankful for those times that I was stretched for my faith as it pertains to feeling inadequate at times, because it made me dig deeper into the truths of God and draw closer to Him. I was told by a professor/mentor of mine when this was brought up that you can always find a blessing at a church service, even if it is just a song, the verses read from the Bible, or being able to commune with brothers and sisters in Christ. Too many today don’t like the Series being taught so they quit coming, go to another church, or come sporadically so they don’t have to be part. Why? If you are going for God, then you will find a blessing, and if not then maybe it is to learn something, and maybe just that it is not all about you and me. Because when we start to think this way, it becomes about us and not about God.

The one I don’t get is those that get upset because they have to think or learn something deeper in church, and instead just want a nice little watered down message with some stories and comedy thrown in. Basically entertainment. Church is not meant for you and me being entertained. It is about coming together to worship our creator together as the body of Christ. We should expect to be stretched and to learn. If this is not happening, then maybe one should reconsider where they attend. We should be learning about all of Scripture, Old & New Testament, and not just hanging out in the books that are popular, or considered easier.

How else do we disciple and feed those new Believers who are brought into the fold and ask questions, if not through study and learning the deeper truths?

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 15:14)

A Little Flirting

My wife and I have been receiving the LOST DVD’s from Netflix the past few months. We never watched it when it was on TV, but we have been enjoying it through Netflix. Plus we don’t have to wait all summer for the season opener, or watch commercials.

We are now on Season 6, and we do know the end, but we still enjoy the character development. We both have our favorites, and one we kept wishing would have been killed off a few seasons ago, but unfortunately they are still around. Is it Christian to wish the characters dead? Hhhmmmmmm! If you know me I am guessing you could potentially guess my favorites and the one’s I wish were gone. Then again, maybe not.

I was watching an episode last night and my wife made a comment about Sayid, who it looked like had gone completely bad, but after a conversation with another character, he appeared now to change back from evil to good. Sayid was promised if he did some evil acts that he would be able to spend eternity with his wife that had been murdered earlier. And Sayid believed him and did these acts. As he was about to complete another act, Desmond, the person he was to kill asked him a question, “What are you going to tell your wife?” “What are you going to tell your wife about what you have done to be with her?” At this moment you see Sayid’s eyes change and you know he is back to the Sayid who was protecting everyone earlier.

If you watch the characters you see them flirt time and again with evil. You see the internal battle they have when presented with an option that seems to be an easier or better way. How many times do we flirt with evil on a regular basis for the same rationalized reasons? We are enticed by someone or something that causes us to think and at times act in ways that are not considered very Biblical or moral for that matter. We flirt with evil because it is enticing us with something that we feel we need, want, or desire.

Of course, it might not be as bad as killing someone, as in the case of Sayid’s character, but what about cheating on taxes a little, saying something to demean someone else so you look better, or maybe even stealing something because you think you deserve it. We flirt and get in bed with evil when we give into all these things, and we need to be careful that one day we don’t wake up and find our conscience has become hard because of it.

Because one day we will all have to give account to someone more important than our loved ones. We will have to give an account for our lives to God, and what will we tell Him our reasons were for some of the actions we do.

POLITICALLY CORRECT

Let me preface this blog by saying I do not think Jesus is Democrat, Republican, Independent or Tea Partier. I think if Jesus were here He would offend them all. For any group to claim that Jesus would join their party has not read the New Testament much. As you read take this preface for what it is worth.

I hear recently that people have left churches because the church was making political statements from the pulpit. I find this interesting because how can a church actually not make political statements. I think what those who leave for this excuse are saying is they don’t agree with the moral laws that a particular church stands for, and use it for a reason to leave. Maybe they are just using it as an excuse because they believe it sounds legitimate, but in reality it isn’t as a general statement.

Just about every sermon is political at some point, because the church deals with morality a lot of the time. Whether it be how we are to love, how we are to behave, or how we should live. We are taught weekly about ho

w Jesus lived and how He wants us to live out our lives as His children. These are moral imperatives as a Christian. Christians are to live their lives according to the truths of the Scripture, and in one respect many are moral. Love your neighbor, do not commit adultery, do not murder, and be generous. These are all moral based. I am not going to get into how everyone fails at these, just the fact the Bible is pretty clear on how it feels about certain issues.

Every law a politician makes can be traced to their moral beliefs. I don’t care what a politician says, there is no way you can completely separate your beliefs from how you vote and write laws. And quite frankly, you shouldn’t. It is hard to name a law that is not moral based, whether it is about stealing, murder, speeding, or health care. It is based on how one believes these are bad or good for society; morality. Laws at a deeper level are morally based, otherwise they would not use so many personal stories to help support their claims on why their law is so good.

In the end, I guarantee your church makes political statements, no matter what church you go to, because they teach in regards to morality. The question is not whether a church is political in the sense of morality, but what morality are they teaching. Does it line up with Scripture and is truth based or is it opinion and feeling based?

Don’t leave a church because it makes political statements; leave if they make the wrong ones!