The Limits Of Our Freedom

"So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy"  (Rom. 9:16, ESV).
"So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed"  (John 8:36, ESV).
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, ESV).
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  ["who can know it?" KJV]"  (Jer. 17:9, ESV).


We don't need free will to be saved--we need our wills made or set free!   Actually, our freedom is a curse because we are only capable of sinning apart from being saved (as Augustine phrase puts it, "Non posse non peccare," or, in English, the double negative, "unable not to sin"), whereby we gain the power not to sin by grace--but when we do sin, it's because we choose to do so without compulsion or impulsion--all lost people can do is sin and cannot please God and they sin because they want to sin!  We are not automatons though, nor dumb beasts who have no understanding!  Job 18:3, NLT, says, "Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?"

Our freedom of the will is very limited and actually has very little to do with our salvation (genes, lineage, parentage, upbringing, experience, national origin, not to mention friends, all influence and affect our wills to make them limited in total freedom and not unmoved or uncaused like God's will, which is what makes Him totally free and the one and only Great I AM).  Actually, Martin Luther wrote an entire book on this subject, The Bondage of the Will, or, De Servo Arbitrio, as written in Latin.   Remember Paul's words to the Philippians in verse 2:13, ESV, italics added, saying, "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Our wills are part of our heart and soul and are depraved just like our minds and emotions--totally, though not utterly as much as possible. However, after the Fall, man has not lost the faculty of choice completely, just the ability to choose God and please God--his motives are wrong and basically selfish and for the applause of others. To be specific:  Have you ever convinced a girl to go out with you or convinced your wife to do something that she was ill-disposed to do?  God can likewise work on our minds, wills, and emotions to change us and give us a new heart after His will.  She maintained her freedom of choice and didn't do anything she didn't want to, but just had a change of heart caused by you. Note that God is the initiator and sole primary cause of our salvation: "Salvation is of the LORD," per Jonah 2:9; Heb. 10:38; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11.  That's what repentance is:  a totally and radicalized change of heart from the inside out.  We make a complete turnaround after God works repentance in our hearts by grace and transforms us (repentance is granted according to Acts 5:31; 11:18; and 2 Tim. 2:25).

Only man has been given a choice to obey or disobey God, animals do not have this liberty of will.  Augustine said in a maxim that we are "free, but not freed"; meaning we have an independent will, but no liberty to exercise it-we do have a will of our own.  Why then is our will in bondage and the slave of sin and must be set free just like the rest of our soul?  We are not born free, but slaves to sin, and our whole heart is desperately wicked and deceitful according to Jer. 17:9!  God is the only Being that is totally free and can do His will without intervention or interference.  He is the unmoved mover and uncaused cause, meaning no one or nothing can influence Him or change Him and He alone is the sole primary cause of the cosmos and is the initiator of all events per Eph. 1:11---all things that perspire are orchestrated by Him through Providence.

We cannot come to the Father unless we are called and drawn or wooed by the Holy Spirit (cf. John 6:44, 65).  Matt. 22:14, ESV, says, "For many are called, but few are chosen." This doesn't mean permission to come, but ability--in a state of sin and rebellion and even stubbornness of heart we don't want to come on our own, but must be enticed; what it does mean is that don't have the ability to come to the Father in our state of sin!  We are not unmoved movers (even if we are movers and shakers!), nor uncaused causes, like our God and our faith must be quickened within us by an act of grace (cf. Acts 18:27).

Since our freedom can be changed and is changeable, in a state of flux, it is limited and influenced by God, therefore, not totally free--we don't negotiate our salvation from a point of neutrality but are biased and all our inclinations to good and to love God have left us in the Fall of Adam, with whom we are in solidarity with at birth. God desires all the glory for our salvation and doesn't' want us to have reason to boast as if we willed ourselves into the kingdom (cf. Rom. 9:16).

We must realize that our complete heart (intellect, volition, emotion) is depraved and in need of salvation.  God transforms each of them and gives us the heart to love God (will to obey and mind to know) at salvation.  The Bible speaks quite often about the stubbornness of man's heart and that he is in a state of rebellion--and condemns it in 1 Sam. 15:23, NLT:  "Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols...." Those who claim to have come to God of their own free will probably leave Him of their own free will and all alone too.

None of our freedoms are unlimited; no government allows absolute free speech or right to bear arms--only in restrictions of liberty is their freedom for all protected from the tyranny of the majority. Even God is not free to sin and we won't be either in glory!  In the final analysis, you must decide if you want your will to be saved (which is part of your heart), or you want to remain independent of God (for sin is merely man's declaration of independence from God) and be a spiritual lone ranger or lone wolf.

Salvation is a miracle of transformation of the heart to a new person, and the will is included; God metaphorically takes our "heat of stone" or stubbornness and gives us a "heart of flesh" (cf. Ezek. 36:26) or one inclined to do His will--a litmus test for believers is that we yearn for God's will, for we have denied, relinquished, surrendered, and substituted themselves for Christ, as He lives through us (cf. Gal. 2:20)!   We become "new creations" in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17)!

We are empowered to live life by the Spirit as our enabler.  God indeed makes the unwilling willing and has the omnipotence to change us from the inside out, not by force though, which would be coercion or determinism or the use of outside forces as though we're puppets on a string or programmed to respond a certain way by an impersonal fate--we never do anything we don't want to do, but God makes us willing--what a concept!

A few words to the wise concerning God's providence over all should suffice:  Our destiny is ultimately in God's hands (Psalm 31:15, HCSB, says, "The course of my life ["of my future" or "of my times" in other versions] is in your power...").  Note that the only will that is free is one that is uncaused and unmoved like God's!  We cannot thwart God's will! As it is written in Job 42:2, ESV, "'I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

God's sovereignty is not limited by man's freedom either; it's absolute and total, including every spin of the dice (cf. Prov. 16:33), every ruler (cf. Prov. 21:1), and every molecule being micromanaged and ruled with no room for, and nothing to, chance or happenstance ("... [W]ho works all things according to the counsel of his will" Eph. 1:11, ESV, italics mine).

I do like to ascribe full and complete, absolute sovereignty to God, for what kind of God isn't in control of everything?  This is God's prerogative and right; he's no ruler like the "do-nothing" sovereign of GB--he rules and doesn't just reign (cf. Psalm 22:28)!  Let me close with this caveat from Paul in Romans 9:16, ESV,  "You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault?  For who can resist his will?'"  Soli Deo Gloria!

Deferring To Tradition

"... So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God"  (Matt. 15:6, ESV). 
"So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths"  (Col. 2:16, NLT).

The Pharisees were bound by traditions which were merely the rules of men and they manipulated them to avoid doing God's will and obeying His commands.  Even today Catholics defer to tradition and break with Protestants on this issue.  Ever since the Counter-Reformation, at the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Romanists have deemed and valued tradition of equal status and authority with Scripture as the rule of faith--Protestants take issue with this and "dissent, disagree, protest," as they would say.  Traditions are not wrong or evil per se, but only when they controvert or invalidate Scripture.  There's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas as a tradition, for instance!  We only defer to tradition when it's concordant with Scripture and/or not against sound doctrine.  We need to beware of adding to the Word or subtracting from it!

People basically have four reasons why they act when they don't have faith:  culture (everyone's doing it!); tradition (we've always done it!); reason (it sounds logical and right!); and emotion (it feels right and appropriate!).  Old traditions die hard and it's difficult to even start new ones.  But remember this lesson:  traditions must bow to conviction!  Protestants adhere to the conviction that Scripture alone is the rule of faith, and have made this their rallying cry since the Reformation (sola Scriptura).

We don't give any man authority if it isn't in harmony with the Word--we're all subject to God's Word:  ".... [For] you have exalted above all things your name and your word" (Psalm 138:2, ESV).  It is wrong to base far-fetched teaching on some obscure passage with some private interpretation though, for "no Scripture is of any private interpretation" (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20).  Hebrews 13:9, ESV, says, "Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings...." We must interpret Scripture with Scripture and with the whole analogy of the Word.  The Bible is its own Supreme Court!  We also must observe all inferential and sound reading interpretation rules:  narratives in light of didactive or teaching passages; obscure in light of the clear.  We must interpret it as written:  poetry as poetry; proverbs as proverbs; and narrative or history as such.

And we are not bound to observe all the traditions or commands of Scripture ("We are not under the law, but under grace" according to Romans 6:14; for instance, the Sabbath day observance laws have been rescinded and not applicable for Christians, but were meant for Israel (cf. Ezek. 20:12, 20).  Don't let anyone judge you by your own tradition of a holy day:  Col. 2:16 says this quite plainly.  Each believer should be convinced in his own mind (cf. Rom. 14: 5).  Family traditions are not necessarily forbidden--all tradition doesn't have to be religious!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Faith Has Legs

"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned"  (Romans 12:3, ESV). 
"... [Measuring] yourselves by the faith God has given you..." (Rom. 12:3, NLT, italics mine). 
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him ... by faith Abraham obeyed..." (Hebrews 11:6, 8, ESV).  
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race [course], I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7, NKJV, italics mine). 
"... I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3, ESV).
"[F]or we walk by faith, and not by sight"  (2 Cor. 5:7, ESV).

You've probably heard of the cliche that you don't have a leg to stand on; faith is like that as a contrast, it has legs to stand on! We have sound reasons to believe and haven't kissed our brains goodbye or committed intellectual suicide to become Christians!   Having legs implies you intend to go somewhere and are equipped for it, and even ready.  You are either going forward, backward or standing still!  In the walk of faith, you are supposed to be going forward, and not standing or going backward.

Faith is an abstract concept and must be seen to be understood.  It's something you do--, not something you have.  By faith the heroes did this and that in the hall of faith chapter of Hebrews.  Faith is not static or inert,  but active, living, growing and involved--bearing fruit.  Everyone has some kind of faith in something because we are hard-wired that way.  Secularists have faith in science or man's ability to solve his dilemmas and issues.  But it's not the amount of faith that's the vital link, but the object. Small but sincere faith in the right thing will bring results, but even much faith misdirected will be vain and fruitless.  The Israelites had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (cf. Rom. 10:2).  People in the North know there are two kinds of ice, and you can have a lot of faith crossing thin ice and you'll still fall through, but small faith in thick ice will get you from point A to point B.

The whole point of the Christian life is that you must grow in your relationship and mature in Christ, in other words, that you are going somewhere!  A walk with Christ implies you cannot tread water or stand in one place.  Ever heard of the "Nowhere Man" song of The Beatles?  He doesn't know where he's going to and doesn't have a point of view! We are not to wander aimlessly through the Christian life without purpose and meaning, because Christ gives us a reason to live and for our existence to find fulfillment--a more abundant life--some Christians never achieve this because of the so-called rat-race they get tied up with and are never set free spiritually to live victorious Christian lives in the power of the Spirit, not the energy of the flesh.

Faith must be illustrated to be conceived:  suppose I reach into my pocket and pull out something and ask you to tell me what's in my hand.  If you can't guess, let's say for the sake of argument, that I give you a hint that I had coins in my pocket.  Now you say that you believe I have a coin in my hand--that's faith, if I tell you that you're right, you take my word for it and have greater faith, but it's still faith!  Now, let me destroy your faith!  I'll open my hand and show you the coin.  Now you don't have faith anymore, but knowledge--see the difference--faith isn't absolute but has room for doubt and cannot be perfect, but God requires sincere, unfeigned faith, not perfect faith--it's evidence of the unseen (cf. Heb. 11:1)!

Now another illustration:  we must act on, or out, our faith.  If a tightrope walker tells you he can carry you across the rope and you tell him you believe him, that 's not faith unless you are willing to be carried across--you can say you believe, but your decisions may belie your so-called profession; there's a profession of faith or bogus faith, and a reality of faith or saving faith.

We are not rewarded according to our faith (cf. Rom. 2:6)!  We are rewarded according to our deeds and the good works we accomplished through God's Spirit with the faith given by God (cf. Romans 12:3 above). Note that faith is a gift: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake" (Phil. 1:29, ESV); Peter writes:  "... [To] those who have obtained a faith of equal standing..." (2 Pet. 1:1, ESV).  We cannot boast of what God accomplishes through us (cf. Rom. 15:18; Isaiah 26:12).  God is simply using us as "vessels of honor" to accomplish His divine will and to bring glory to Him (cf. Isaiah 43:7).

Living faith grows and goes somewhere!  If your faith hasn't improved or accomplished something you can doubt it's being genuine and saving faith.  It must be validated by good works. We aren't saved by good works, neither are we saved without them, but saved unto them (cf. Eph. 2:10).   Paul would say, "I'll show you my good deeds by my faith!'  James would counter a complimentary statement:  "I'll show you my faith by my good deeds!"  These two can be distinguished, but not separated.  We are not saved by faith that stands alone.  We are saved by faith alone, but not be a faith that is alone, according to the Reformers' formula!


Antinomians insist that works don't have to accompany saving faith, or they believe we are saved by faith minus works!  No fruit means no faith!  Dead faith doesn't save and the only faith that saves is productive faith doing God's will!  Dead faith isn't profitable for anything and cannot go anywhere.  A person can be sincerely wrong, though sincerity matters, it's not the most vital link to salvation--it's not everything.  We are saved by grace through faith, and our faith is solely a gift of God, not something we conjure up or work up in our own efforts of the flesh. God quickens faith within us!  "So faith comes from hearing, and through hearing, of the word of Christ," (Romans 10:17, ESV), and God opens the heart (cf. Acts 16:14) to respond positively to the gospel, "who through grace had believed" (cf. Acts 18:27, ESV).

Saving faith is obedient and the only authentic test of faith is its obedience and it's always manifest through it, not by experience or emotions, feelings, or ecstasies.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  Jesus also said that if we love Him we will keep and obey His commands (cf. John 14:21). Faith, it is said, is not believing despite the evidence, but obeying in spite of the consequences!   All faith must be tested for obedience, not emotions!  Some people are just hard-wired differently and are stoical and not demonstrative, even at concerts and sports events, not just worship!

Note that faith is not an end in itself; faith doesn't save, the object of the faith is what matters--Christ saves!  We don't have faith in faith!  When you say, "To defend the faith," you must be talking about the orthodox body of dogma of the Christian religion, not just your own personal faith, we are all called to be defenders of the truth and contenders of the faith (cf. Jude 3), and to be able to have an answer for why we believe, not just know what we believe (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15).  In the end result, it matters more how big your God is than how big your faith is!

The same word is used for faith and faithfulness in the Old Testament Hebrew (e.g., Hab. 2:4, "The just shall walk by faith [faithfulness]").  We must not divorce these two but realize they are juxtaposed and together like a coin with a flip side--they are complimentary! Good works is no substitute for faith, but proof it exists!  True faith always expresses itself!  We show our faith by being faithful to whatever gifts, talents, abilities, opportunities, time, resources, money, relationships, and so forth that are bestowed on us by grace!

Remember the words of Heb. 11:6 that faith is what "pleases" God, we can become emotional, wear our religion on our sleeves, or flaunt our religion, but that doesn't please God, if there is no genuine faith and obedience--even if there is no sentiment, for they don't save, but they will come from a life of faith in the order: fact, faith, then feeling--we must not be feeling-driven or emotionally crippled and dependent!  Jesus didn't say that if you love Him, you'll be on Cloud Nine, but that you'd obey Him!  Faith is a door to eternal life, not the destination:  we "believe in order to understand," for "faith precedes reason," according to Saint Augustine.

In the final analysis, the only happy believer is the serving one and a non-serving believer is a contradiction in terms, for we are saved to serve; even Christ came not to be served, but to serve (cf. Mark 10:45).  At the final audit of our life at the Bema or tribunal (called the Judgment Seat of Christ by some), we will have to give an account of what we did with the faith God gave us, and each is given a portion of faith (cf. Rom. 12:3).

To whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke 12:48)!  With great faith, comes great responsibility and God will say that His grace is sufficient for us as He did to Paul about His thorn in the flesh (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9).  We must sow to reap, and he who sows sparingly will reap likewise!  We must sow and leave the results to God and focus on faithfulness, not success!

 As Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now canonized and recipient of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, said that God "calls us to faithfulness, not success!" It is said that if you've never made a mistake [failed], you've never made [tried] anything [challenging!]"  Failure doesn't always mean lack of faith or faithfulness.  We must remain faithful to the calling God gave us.  As Peter said, "... [Make] your calling and election sure..." in 2 Pet. 1:10, ESV.  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Forbidden Fruit

"But sin took advantage of this law and aroused all kinds of forbidden desires within me!  If there were no law, sin would not have that power"  (Rom. 8:8, NLT).

God had warned Adam of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, as being off-limits, and not to partake of its fruit--i.e., the so-called forbidden fruit.  The very fact of it's being forbidden lured Adam all the more and made it even more desirable to Eve, who was deceived by Satan's deception and lie in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden. Don't you also wonder why he never ate of the Tree of Life?   Augustine, in his Confessions, tells of eating forbidden (i.e., a stolen pear) fruit as a child and how it became all the more desirable because of that--the Law is likewise something that foments what it forbids.

We are all equally to blame for Adam's sin and cannot pin it on him alone--we would've done the same thing if we had been in his shoes. Adam's sin represented all sin and showed utter contempt for God's wisdom, sovereignty, grace, law, and justice, while Adam sought his own wisdom, goodness, and delight, he spurned God's best for getting his own way.  You cannot say that Adam knew what good and evil were, but they were completely innocent and were not choosing evil, but self over God.  That's the essence of sin--putting yourself in God's place and declaring your independence from Him.

Sin is now a virus that affects us all and is our legacy from Adam, as we are all born with solidarity with Adam, whether we want it or not.  We do have a choice to become free in Christ as we acknowledge the truth and lose sin's grip on our lives.  Sin doesn't demonstrate our freedom but shows our slavery.  And that's what sin is: it both alienates and estranges us from God, offends Him, and enslaves us.  We are not born free, but in bondage to sin, and must be set free by the Son (cf. John 8:36). Eve sought the here and now and to doubt God's Word ("Has God indeed said?" cf. Gen. 3:1), and then she doubted disbelieved it; then Satan told a lie and she believed him!  Finally, in an act of her willpower, she disobeyed God's Word and became a sinner--note that doubt is not sin per se, and may only be an element of faith, for no one's faith is perfect or it wouldn't be faith, but knowledge.

Adam got no second chance and dragged all mankind with him down the never-ending spiral of sin and rebellion.  For sin is ultimately a rebellion against God and His Word.  The biggest temptation Eve faced was that she wanted to be "as God."  She wanted to be a god, so to speak, and not godly--a sin that even Christians are guilty of to this day.  The theological axiom of Mormonism is that we can become gods, and this heresy traces itself to the garden and the original sin of Adam and Eve.

Adam's sin had to be atoned for in a multifaceted way:  He had to be redeemed from the slave market of sin with the penalty paid by the blood of Christ; the wrath of God had to be averted in God's temple by the propitiation of Christ on the cross; the righteousness of Christ had to be exchanged in God's court of justice and justice or giving sin its due had to be rendered; the relationship and fellowship with God had to be restored in Christ's act of reconciliation with His family.  Salvation can be seen as the sum total of all these events taking place in God's throne room and Jesus being the Savior of mankind securing the Father's plan and purpose and being applied by the Holy Spirit on our behalf.

As a consequence of Adam's sin, we are all born in a state of sin and inherit Adam's guilt and have lost all inclination to good, though we remain human with the ability to make choices; however, we make the wrong choices!   Our freedom is a curse since we choose evil and God must work grace in our hearts to bring us to repentance and faith (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 18:27).  We don't need free will to be saved, but wills made free!  Adam had the ability not to sin and chose sin.  As humans before salvation, we have the inability not to sin, or all we can do is sin!

Upon salvation, we are being saved from the power of sin and have the ability not to sin and the ability to sin by our own choices.  Salvation is threefold:  we are saved from the penalty of sin by the crucified Christ; from the power of sin by the living Christ; and the presence of sin by the coming Christ.  Our salvation is past, present, and pending!  We are saved, being saved, and to be saved!   Our past is forgiven, our present given meaning and our future secured by salvation began in eternity past, completed in time, and looking forward to eternity.

Some think it's unfair to be charged with Adam's sin (by the disobedience of one person but we are in Adam who gets a bad rap).  We would've done the very same thing if we'd been in the Garden of Eden too! The point of all this is that "we are not ignorant of his [Satan's] devices"(2 Cor. 2:11) and know his trickery and schemes:  mind games; lies; deception; propaganda; sensual pleasure; lust or inordinate desire for anything, including power, riches, or fame; psychological warfare--indeed the devil fights dirty and will resort to any means to get our attention away from God, God's work, and Word, and unto ourselves, and he knows our weaknesses!  His tactics are not original, but he's basically an imitator and can only distort and debase the truth, and mask a little truth with a lot of error--for no heresy or false religion is completely void of truth; they all have an element of truth and just enough to inoculate you to the truth.

Adam turned his back on God's light and sought his own, we second that motion as we seek our own way and refuse to see the light. Erich Fromm, the famed psychologist, wrote a book, You Shall Be As Gods," in which he denied the existence of evil (and that sin is all in your head) and that you can make yourself out to be your own god; however, we either trust in God, or we make ourselves gods--it's that plain.

Adam was tricked into thinking he'd become free by his independent act of defiance, but he became a slave without any control over sin--he lost all inclination towards good and God.  He didn't break God's law, but God's law broke him!  He didn't become more human, but less of a man, for when we lose godliness, we lose true manhood too. The measure of a man is in fulfilling his relationship with God, not in human standards and opinions.  We must be what we are meant to be and not "quarrel with [our] Maker" (cf. Isaiah 45:9).

A lot of people assume that Adam chose to do evil, but he was innocent, not cognizant of evil and his eyes were only opened after his sin when he became self-conscious.  The epitome of sin is selfishness, or putting yourself first and becoming self-centered, believing that it's all about you.  They really made the choice between self and God, and in the process loss consciousness of God and became self-conscious in return and aware of their own shame and guilt.  Guilt is cognizance of wrongdoing and is the sign that we know we've done something evil or sinful.  Only in Christ can we become free from guilt by the atoning work of Christ on the cross, shedding His blood on our behalf. Just like Eve bought into Satan's rationalization, people today buy into today's secular worldview because of their ignorance of the Bible, as Eve doubted and didn't know the Word of God.

As we are born, we are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice--we confirm ourselves in sin and the theologians say we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners (it's our very nature!).  We duplicate Adam's sin and verify that we would've done the same thing, having been there ourselves--we would've joined hands with Eve in rebellion too.

Adam was given just one simple rule to obey; and if he had been given no rules, it would not be possible to know if he was obedient to God willingly--he would be but a pawn of God.  Given the gift of choice, there had to be a test of his will to see where his loyalties would be.  Adam failed the test and we would've too, even in a perfect environment of the Garden of Eden.  Israel was given the Decalogue and promised to obey it, yet they fell short; however, the Law was not given to obey but to convict and show that they fall short of God's ideal and must be saved by grace, not obedience to the Law.  The Law was merely given to show we can't keep it and need to plead for mercy, not attempt obedience in the efforts of the flesh.

Adam committed every sin in the book by partaking of the proverbial apple in what is known as "Edengate," and it was the prototype sin extraordinaire:  "he rejected God authority; he doubted God's goodness; he disputed God's wisdom; he repudiated God's justice; he contradicted God's trustworthiness; he spurned God's grace" [source unknown, but well-known]. Adam's cover-up was also what we do when we run away from God and can't admit our sin and call a spade a spade in confession.  Our guilt can only be expiated by God's grace and sacrifice on our behalf as God clothed Adam and Eve to cover their shame.

A word to the wise is sufficient:  Eve didn't sin by doubting God's Word, nor by believing Satan, but only in disobeying God--doubt is only an element of faith, and God doesn't expect perfect faith without any doubt whatsoever, but sincere, unfeigned faith--for it isn't the amount of faith that saves or keeps, it's the object of it that saves and keeps! 

In sum, we can rejoice that we are not "under the Law, but under grace [cf. Rom. 6:14]," and that nowhere in the New Testament are believers told to obey the Law--we are under a higher law, the law of love, and we serve out of gratitude, not an obligation, as a "therefore," not an "in order to," that is we want to, we don't have to anymore!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Religious Creature...

"He [the Antichrist] shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action ["will firmly resist him," NIV; "shall be strong, and do exploits," KJV]"  (Daniel 11:32, ESV). 

Man is the only religious creature; i.e., monkeys don't build chapels!  He has been called Homo religiosus (man the religious) or Homo divinus (man the divine) by scholars because of this tendency.  Only man has the will to obey God, the heart to love God, and the mind to know God--as creatures in His image.  Dostoevsky said, "Man cannot live without worshiping something."  It's our nature and what makes us uniquely human.  We are hard-wired or designed for God and can only be happy and fulfilled in God.  Bertrand Russell said, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  Without God, we have no dignity or purpose and we can only find meaning in Him.  There's a void or "God-shaped vacuum" in man's heart that "only God can fill," according to Blaise Pascal, philosopher-mathematician.  And St. Augustine said, "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You."

Conventional wisdom would tell you that the more gods you have the better off you are, and this was the assumption of ancient man, who worshiped a pantheon of gods and goddesses. The Israelites had resorted to henotheism, or that there are many so-called gods, but the LORD is the Most High.  They believed, for instance, that Baal was the fertility God, (flocks, field, and family) but the LORD was the God of their army and of victory in war (the Lord of Hosts).   But the Bible tells us that if we have God we have all we need and are complete in Him.

Man is empty without God and cannot live abundantly apart from His plan for our lives.  Jesus came to give us this complete and abundant life of fulfillment.  Man has always believed in a higher power and archeology proves this as fact, the belief in God is not mere superstition but universal--even to the point of having some sort of Creator-God or unknown God--and that man's concept of God has devolved, not evolved through the ages.  But we are to have no other gods before Him and acknowledge no other Savior (cf. Hos. 13:4).

Psychologists have tried to rationalize our faith in God as fear of the unknown, a throwback to our need for a father-figure, a method of evolutionary advantage, a mental virus, or as a system of contentment in hard times.  They think we invented God, as Voltaire said, "Man created God in his own image."  God is, by definition, the highest Being that can be (imagined or real). There can be no other so-called "necessary being," uncaused cause, or unmoved mover--someone began the chain link of cause and effect ad infinitum, since eternal regression is mathematically and philosophically inconceivable and impossible.  It has been proved now that man's earliest worship of God was of a monotheistic tradition, and not polytheistic, as first thought.  Man originally entertained the idea of the one true God, as Scripture unequivocally posits and depicts.

It should be noted that man is the only creature capable of being bored with himself and unable to entertain himself when he is down in spirits.  Boredom is meant for a reason, to show us we need God and to find purpose in life-- with purpose you seldom get bored!  This is only to show us that we need God in our lives for completion.

It is a fact that you can be religious without subscribing to a religion; Secular Humanism is a kind of religion without God, trying to be good without God's help or for the glory of God.  It is a proven fact psychologically that religious people tend to be happier than those who are not, and when we're not grounded in the truth we become highly superstitious and make up our own religion!  We all need to be set free by the truth and only the Son can do this (cf. John 8:32, 36).

It is a proven fact that society needs religion to maintain law and order and a precept of morality:  George Bernard Shaw said that no nation has survived the loss of its gods. Cicero saw religion's value in keeping public morals.  John Adams said, "... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people...."  G. K Chesterton said our nation has the "soul of a church!"  Eisenhower recognized the need of religion to maintain our way of life, and any religion would do--the point is that man needs religious and moral guidance to keep evil at bay.  The Pax Romana (200-year peace of Rome) worked for this purpose until Christianity changed its moral roots.

Real worship is the offering of ourselves to God; however, when we surrender our resources and ourselves to anything or anyone else in devotion, it's a form of idolatry, taking from God what is His due, for He alone is worthy.  True worship of our Lord is defined as being Christ-centered, God-focused, Spirit-controlled-and-led when we get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus who alone is the worthy Lamb of God, our Savior--we must draw the line at homage like Daniel!

In the final analysis, the only cure for the sin of idolatry is to have an adequate concept of God, not putting Him in a box or making Him one-dimensional, and knowing your God personally and not just second-hand.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Finishing Well

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus..." (Heb. 12:1-2, ESV). 

As Paul's swan song (2 Timothy) expressed: to get back his manuscripts while he was under house arrest;  his cry of exultation was, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race [course], I have kept the faith," (2 Tim. 4:7, ESV). We are all to run so as to win (following the rules) and not be encumbered with the worries of the mundane in our race, just like a soldier is unconcerned of civilian affairs.  Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, and our citizenship is in heaven (cf. John 18:36; Phil. 3:20, ESV).  Don't get too comfortable in this world, for we are mere pilgrims passing through to the heavenly city.

It doesn't matter how well you start if you don't finish well.  Our reward is not according to our faith, but our works, what we did with it (cf. Rom. 2:6; Psa. 62:12; Prov. 24:12); how we apply it.  The race set before us is not a sprint but a marathon, and endurance matters; however, there is the danger of spiritual burnout if we don't know how to balance our life and keep the main thing the main thing, keeping our eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 3:1: 12:2). Walking with Christ gives us the power to do anything in the will of God (cf. Phil. 4:13).

Col. 2:6 tells us that just as we "have received Christ as Lord, so walk in Him" as Lord.  Lordship decisions are not a one-time matter at salvation, but progressive as we are being constantly filled with the Spirit (cf, Eph. 5;18) and keeping on the straight and narrow.  Mother Teresa, now canonized, who also received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, said that God doesn't "call us to success, but to faithfulness!"  The key is that we are faithful in the little God gives us, not to compare our ministry or mission to others. We all are unique in our calling and gifts.

Jesus did say that he who is faithful in little shall be faithful in much!  And to whom much is given, much is required.  An example is the widow who gave two lepta (copper coins) and Jesus commended her as having given more than anyone in the worship meeting.  Saint Theresa announced she was building a convent and was asked how much she had; when she told them only twelve pence, they said, "Not even Saint Theresa can do much with twelve pence!"  The reply:  "But Theresa and God can do anything with twelve pence!"

The important idea to bear in mind, is not to be conformed to the image of the world (i.e., the rat race, the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, etc.) and not to be achievement-oriented, for God doesn't want our achievements, but our obedience, and us!  What matters is not how much of the Spirit we seem to have but our obedience--how much the Spirit has of us!  Bear in mind:  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that "only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  Christianity is not about man's achievements then, but God's accomplishment on our behalf--we are to let God work through us (Hos. 14:8; Isaiah 26:12; Rom. 15:18) as "vessels of honor."

Jesus warned of the builder who didn't count the cost and had to abandon his building, and so earnest believers must be aware of what they are getting into--a life of self-denial, devotion, a discipline.  Jesus never encouraged lackadaisical, lukewarm, halfhearted, or insincere followers.  The reason other religions are so popular, namely Buddhism, is that you don't die to yourself.   In our race we are not in competition with each other, in the sense so as to compare ourselves with one another: who is the best Bible pastor/teacher in town are (or best exegete, biblicist, even Bible expositor, etc.)  God will level the playing field--who is faithful matters--results are up to God!

We all have our own calling and gift to present unto the Lord in a life of obedience, following Him wherever He may lead.  Maturity is never measured by emotion or feeling, though they are present even if one is stoical, not demonstrative, nor is it measured by ecstasies or experiences (according to Oswald Chambers), including dreams, visions, including audible or visual encounters, but solely by a life of obedience and faithfulness, which will be tested by fire to see if we grow bitter or better.  It is vital to know that the Christian life is not a contest to see who dies with the most toys, publishes the most books, preaches the most sermons, gives the most to missions or charity, and so forth, but "obedience to the heavenly vision," doing God's work and will, as it were, like Paul delineated our walk.

The song by ABBA, "Winner Takes It All," is a fallacious worldview since Jesus owns it all and shares the victory with us, we shall all have the opportunity to win an imperishable wreath that won't fade away, and a crown, if you will, for rewards of faithfulness. Remember one's last words are very telling of one's life work!   Famous last words:  Good intentions; poor follow-through!  Corrie ten Boom said, "Jesus is victor!" for us!  The Preacher of Ecclesiastes renders some timely, germane words of divine wisdom to conclude with:  "Finishing is better than starting..." (7:8, NLT);  "Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all"  (9:11, ESV).  Soli Deo Gloria!