Limiting God

When you emphasize just one attribute of God or try to define Him to fit your agenda or project, you are limiting God or putting Him in a box. Martin Luther told Erasmus of Rotterdam that his "thoughts of God were too human."  In J. B. Phillips' book, Your God Is Too Small, the author expounds upon this theme. We will never fully apprehend God nor understand Him enough to peg Him, say we can second-guess Him, or have Him all figured out--He is beyond our analysis and cannot be defined by any human power of reason--God cannot be rationalized either. Throughout all eternity we will ever be learning more of Him and only be scratching the surface.  Fathom this:  God is perfect!

Common ways people limit God are saying things like God cannot forgive someone taking their life; God cannot meet my needs; my problems are too big or too little; God doesn't care.  God is so big that everything is small to Him and He cares enough to meet every need. We are wrong to call God just a mean Judge,  kind Father, celestial killjoy, sentimental Grandpa, or Great Spirit. Some people have a wholly inadequate concept of God and this in itself is limiting God--we are to be aware of all His attributes and not just our favorite one (some people even think of the Trinity as comprising the Father, who is the stern one, the Son, who is the nice one, and the Holy Spirit, who is the mysterious one).

A common error is to make God in our image (Voltaire said that man created God in his image) and like presumptuously thinking He is a member of our political party or even a citizen of our country.  Some even think Jesus would drive a Harley! This is all limiting God and trying to make a definition to fit our philosophy or way of life.  God is no respecter of persons or even teams, shows no partiality, and won't even take sides on sports events--don't believe that praying for victory is going to help; both sides are doing it and the prayers cancel out!  May I say, may the best team win?

The reason we cannot define God and understand Him is made clear by an old Greek maxim:  "The finite cannot grasp the infinite."  You cannot fit something that's infinite into a limited space.  We cannot imagine an infinite amount of potatoes, for instance, but we can imagine a God who is infinitely holy, wise, powerful, and righteous.  Just like love just is and beauty just is, and beauty remains after the rose fades, and love needs an expression like faith to make it known, but God is love and beauty proves there must be someone to enjoy it, namely God its Creator.  We can be grateful that God's love for us in infinite and cannot be measured and that eternity is longer than we can imagine, though God has set eternity into our hearts (cf. Eccl. 3:11).

You must ask yourself, "How big is your God?" And stop wondering if He can meet your needs because He is up to the challenge.  The bigger God you have the more awe and fear of God you have. It energizes and expands the intellect, boggles your understanding, it humbles the minds and spirit, and quite simply put, "It blows you away," to meditate on who God is.  Einstein thought of God as a "pure mathematical mind" in his early days, and this shows that even great minds cannot fathom God, but need to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit to come to faith in the true God as He is.  Someday we will behold the beatific vision and be satisfied with seeing Him as He is and when we see Christ we shall become like Him.  The highest calling of man and deepest meditation and contemplation is to dwell on who God is and His nature--we should never grow weary of this but always be up to the challenge and rise to the occasion.

For instance, God is perfect: That means He cannot change for the worse, nor improve for the better. He just is and describes Himself as I Am without a predicate, which means He is our everything and meets our every need and is everything He desires to be.  Our existence depends on Him, but He is self-existent and needs no one or nothing to exist or to live and owes no one or no thing.  Why do we want to know God as He is?  To know Him is to love Him and gives us a great desire to be like Him.

People who know their God, says Daniel 11:32, shall be strong and do great exploits.  God's pet peeve is that people don't know Him in Hosea 4:1 and Jesus said in His intercessory prayer of John 17 that knowing God and Jesus is having eternal life.  The whole point of believing in God is to know Him.  What is God like then?  All He has to tell us is expressed in the icon of God--Jesus Himself! God is like Jesus!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Suffer The Little Children

Jesus welcomed the little ones, wanted them to come to Him, and blessed them, while the disciples had no time for them and thought Jesus was too busy to be bothered.  He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, [in NIV:  "do not hinder them"] for such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 19:14).  Jesus rebuked them and told them that to such belong the kingdom of God.  He also said that he who humbles himself like a little child shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Are children the enemies of God?  Yes and No.  James 4:4 says that he who is a friend of the world is the enemy of God.  Children are born in sin, of course. "In sin did my mother conceive me," says Psalm 51:5.  The Minnesota Crime Commission issued a report saying that little children are born to be criminals and if they are not civilized by the parents will grow up delinquent. The grace of God covers all children till the age of accountability (I don't want to get into an extensive proof of this doctrine here because most believers accept this) and children are to be welcomed into the church body and its fellowship, and not to be treated as outsiders.  There will be no children in hell, and God loves all children and wants to bless them.  If you make one of them stumble you will be better off with a millstone around your neck and cast into the sea.  They have angels that always behold the face of God and take care of them.

Yes, children sin but they have not learned to discern good and evil and are innocent to a certain extent.  Technically all unbelievers are children of Satan but children can be converted to Christ--the way of salvation is so simple even they can comprehend it. God can and sometimes does speak to us through the children, just like St. Augustine claimed happened to him.  We were all enemies of God before salvation and the miracle is that God loved us in that while we were His enemies He sent Son to die for us.  It is true that infants are completely self-centered and their world revolves around them, and it is the job of the parent to civilize them and bring them up in the training and nurture of the Lord ("Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it," says Proverbs 22:6, ESV). Responsible parents stand in loco Dei or in the place of God to teach concepts of authority, respect, and obedience.

Though children may have not accepted Christ yet, God is working on them and it is the job of the parents to teach them the truth and way of salvation.  We should never treat them as if they are enemies of God--that is the logical outcome of believing they are.  Only God knows and sees who His elect are and we are not to judge people prematurely or before the time.  The wheat and chaff look similar when growing together and it is not the task of believers to separate them because they could be wrong.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Cheap Grace

Easy-believism or cheap grace (first popularized by Dietrich Bonhoeffer) has been a constant misconception of our faith.  Salvation is indeed free, but not cheap!  It will cost something and you will be tested.  The most obvious one that some won't be willing to pay is to turn from a life of sin, like living in sin and not being willing to change that lifestyle.  If we want to live godly in Christ, we will suffer persecution, according to Jesus.  We must be willing to seek first the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 6:33) above all other priorities, dreams, ambitions, and whatever is ours--because all ultimately belongs to Him, because Jesus doesn't want these things--He wants us as living sacrifices (cf. Rom. 12:1)!

That's what He meant when He said we must deny ourselves and follow Him.  We don't know where He will lead us or know God's laid out a plan for our whole life at salvation but must be willing to do His will, whatever it is in the complete surrender of our wills to His.  Jesus also said that we must love Him preeminently above family, friends, children, spouse, and even self.  In the last days, men will be lovers of themselves (cf. 2 Tim. 3:2), or "looking out for number one!"

Jesus did everything He could to discourage insincere followers and make salvation "well-nigh impossible."   But it is worth the cost to follow Jesus through thick and thin and the reward is eternal. The more abundant life we experience begins in the here and now, as we live in light of eternity with God's blessing in all we do in His name.  True prosperity isn't necessarily higher income, not even fame, or power.  What being prosperous entails is God's blessings on our ventures and helping us to find what He will bless us in.  The disciples were inquisitive about what their reward would be since they gave up everything to follow Him, and Jesus said that it would multiply not add (like ten times, instead of ten more).

Jesus had no trouble attracting admirers or people who wanted to be buddies or sidekicks, but He was looking for disciples who would devote their lives to the learning of Him and be following Him--this is what He meant by those who worship God in Spirit and in truth.  Jesus said that if we abide in His Word we are disciples indeed (cf. John 8:31).  Don't be someone to whom Jesus might say, "You have sacrificed nothing!"  This is an awful rebuke of a disobedient life, and some believers may be saved as if by fire and by the skin of the teeth, so to speak.

The reward that we strive for is everlasting and we should be inspired by athletes who make great sacrifices and strive for a temporal prize that fades away.  One of the metaphors that Christ uses for the believer is one of an athlete--we are to exercise discipline in our life and set our eyes on Jesus and finish the race He has set before us.  If athletes can endure the discipline and think it will be worth a temporal prize, so much the more should we be inspired to make sacrifices for eternal prizes in Christ's kingdom, and even the ultimate sacrifice, because we are considered worthy to suffer for His kingdom (cf. Philippians 1:29).  

The prize we seek is worth more than anything on earth and we should be willing to sacrifice anything on earth to gain it--God doesn't ask everyone to make great sacrifices, but He does expect them to be willing to do so.  Nothing on earth (fame, fortune, power) is worth losing our soul for and Jesus said succinctly (cf. Mark 8:36), "What shall it gain a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"  One soul is worth more to God than the entire world! You cannot put a price on salvation nor on the joy that a believer has in Christ.

Jesus never made it seem easy to be a bed of roses to be a believer and admonished us to count the cost, but "all these things shall be added" unto us if we follow Christ. The problem with most seekers is that they want the benefits without the Benefactor.  We are not to get a martyr's complex either, thinking that the more we suffer, the more spiritual we are, or that we gain salvation through suffering or martyrdom--Jesus isn't calling us to die for him, but to take up our cross and follow Him regardless of the results and through thick and thin.  We are called to deny ourselves and this is the unique sacrifice of Christianity, and the one that makes it unattractive to some, because they are unwilling to heed Christ's "hard sayings." When we suffer for His sake, we shall in His glory--no cross--no glory!
Soli Deo Gloria!

A Different Drum

"And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd"  (John 10:16, ESV).
"If a man doesn't keep pace with his companions, perhaps he hears a different drummer." --Henry David Thoreau 

On the last day Jesus will finally separate the sheep from the goats--we cannot do this ourselves--and their eternal destiny will finally be determined, though they grew together while in this world.

It has been said that rebels just march to the beat of a different drum.  Quakers believe in listening to the "inner light" and New Age believers listen to the "God within."  Jesus, however, said that there are two types of people:  Sheep and goats.  Sheep recognize their shepherd and are followers and easily get lost without him.  Goats are independently minded and recognize no leader or a particular owner as a rule.  Jesus said that His sheep know Him and hear His voice (cf. John 10:27).

Today we have the phenomenon of revolution, politically wise people who feel they have a leader for their social gospel, and yet they refuse to take his advice and be followers along with him.  Paul said to follow him as he follows Christ.  We are to imitate the faith of our spiritual leaders and not be spiritual Lone Rangers or lone wolves-there is no such thing!  The wise listen to advice and learn from other believers and the fool trusts in himself and his own wisdom.

We should never feel or think we know it all and don't have some lessons to learn from each other, no matter how mature we are.  The great danger in people not under authority is that they have a tendency to fall into heresy and even apostasy.  We all need to be under authority and no one is an island to himself.  Being subordinate is not inferiority (Christ became subordinate for our sake),  and we are meant to submit to one another in the Lord--there's no ruling class or elite per se in the church by and large.

The church itself is an organism and not an organization and everything is to be done decently and in an orderly manner and according to the leadership (not dictatorship) of the church elders, deacons, pastors, et cetera, who are not to lord it over the flock.  We all function best under the authority and don't have the right to exercise authority unless we have learned to submit to it and are under authority ourselves--there is no, Head of the church besides Christ Himself.  No one of us should speak ex-cathedra or pontificate.  Christ is our leader and He rules through the authority of the church body that we are to submit to.

We witness today that many believers are doing that which is right in their own eyes, just as Israel did in the book of Judges and people are beginning to question authority rather than submit to it.  The Bible is the highest authority (sola Scriptura) and we are to test the spirits and search the Scriptures to see if the teachings are kosher just like Bereans (cf. Acts 17:11).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Reciprocity

Confucius summarized his system of ethics with the so-called Silver Rule ("What you don't want others to do to you, don't do to them"). The prevalent ethic of America now is the Brazen Rule, that we do unto others as they do unto us.  To be specific, when someone does you evil, return the favor or do the deed in kind (insult for insult, etc.). The worse ethic is the Iron Rule, which is like the law of the jungle and believes in the survival of the fittest, saying that you should do unto others before they do unto you--mind your own business and take care of number one!   It is worse to return evil for good, which is contemptible, and some only return good for good and don't go the extra mile and put in any extra effort or turn the other cheek.

We believe in the Golden Rule that says we should treat others the way we prefer to be treated.  This is the most challenging ethic, the one Jesus proposed and revealed man's depraved heart is to return good for evil and overcome evil with good (cf. Rom. 12:21), much less to pray for those who persecute us and love our enemies.  This can only be done when the love of God has shed abroad in our hearts (cf. Rom. 5:5).  It always pays to take the high road of nobility:  "When they go low, you should go high!"

We don't want to lower ourselves by stooping to the level that our enemy does and not to raise the bar, as Jesus did, and realize sin is not just outward behavior, but in the attitude of the heart.  Love trumps hate and it never pays to engage in hate-speech or any type of bias, because we are to reach out to all in the name of Jesus and not judge "those outside" (Christians are only authorized to judge those inside the church per 1 Cor. 5:12, and will eventually judge angels). We are to realize that we should judge nothing before the time and to realize that God is on the throne and is only using us for His purposes by Providence. When I say that Jesus raised the bar, I mean that no one can meet His standards--the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible,  The standard is perfection, but the direction is the test!  The Bible makes it clear that you cannot say you love God and hate your brother, and, if you see a brother in need, and don't help, how can the love of God dwell in you (cf. 1 John 3:17).

Islam denies that God is love and uses hate to spread its message of submission, and that man is a mere slave of God and subject to blind kismet or fate, and will ultimately face a whimsical and capricious God that will decide their final fate at the judgment.  Philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell said that what the world needs is more Christian love.  Love is what Christianity has going for it and makes it unique, and the karma of Eastern religions keeps them from loving their neighbors and helping them in times of need because that's their karma and they are to be islands to themselves. We believe that God will reward us for all the goodwill He accomplishes through us as His vessels of honor.  We shall receive a reward for our good works if we do not faint or give up and continue faithfully in them as they are ordained for us (cf. Gal 6:9; Eph. 2:10).   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Everyday Do-Gooder

But as it is written: WHAT NO EYE HAS SEEN AND NO EAR HAS HEARD, AND WHAT HAS NEVER COME INTO A MAN'S HEART, IS WHAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM."  (1 Cor. 2:9, HCSB, boldface mine).

"[Who] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began"  (2 Tim. 1:9, HCSB, italics mine).

You might have heard someone say that his religion is the Golden Rule or the Sermon on the Mount. When you reduce Christianity to a formula, creed (you aren't saved by creeds, but by trusting in the person and work of Christ), or list of dos and don'ts (legalism), you make it a philosophy or religion (they all deny grace and are based on good works for merit), but Christianity is essentially a living, growing, vital relationship with the Savior Himself--knowing Him and making Him known! Two persons of different faiths can feel unity in that they have the same creed:  Do all the good you can! (borrowed from John Wesley).  But this is not salvation!

Many people actually believe that living a righteous life is living the good life, achieving the American dream--that blessing is a sign of God's approbation. However, some people's reward is in this life (cf. Psalm 17:15).  We are not saved by service but unto service.  Good deeds is a sign we are saved and have faith, not the substitute for it. We cannot merit or earn our way to heaven by self-reformation. The new life in Christ is not an improvement, but a transformation!   We are new creatures in Christ, behold, all things become new (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).

Religion says, "Do!" Christianity says, "Done!"  We don't do good works because we "have to" but because we "want to."  There's a world of difference:  We don't say, "In order to..." but "therefore!" The believer's works are a byproduct of his faith and not the way to gain approval with God, however, he wants to please God and wonders, "What would Jesus do?" in the situations of life.   There's a big difference because we cannot reach out to God, He has to reach down and condescend to us and make the first move.  James and Paul said complimentary comments about their works: James would say, "I'll show you my works by my faith!"  

Paul would counter, "I'll show you my faith by my works."  James was dealing with people who were do-nothings and needed to realize that that kind of faith doesn't save ("Faith without works is dead," per James 2:17).  Paul dealt with the other end of the spectrum:  Those trying to earn their way in by obeying the law of Moses and legalism--they were doing too much and had no faith either--begun in the Spirit, but finishing in the flesh (cf. Gal. 3:3)! They were nullifying grace or as Paul says to the Galatians 5:4 (HCSB), "... [You] have fallen from grace."

The point is that if you have no good works, your faith is suspect and no fruit means no faith, because we are known by our fruits.  We will be judged by our deeds, not our faith (cf. Romans 2:6)!  We are not saved by works, however, but not without them either--they go hand-in-hand and can be distinguished, but not separated.   The Reformed formula of salvation was: "Saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone." Works are the natural result of true faith just like apples from an apple tree. They prove the faith is genuine and not bogus.  There is a difference between a profession of faith and the reality of faith.

Faith is not something you have, but something you see and do, and it is abstract and must be demonstrated: "By faith Abraham obeyed...." We must put it into action, according to the measure of faith God has granted us (cf. Rom. 12:3).  The book of James, not the epistle of straw that Martin Luther thought it was before he saw the reconciliation, shows us that the faith you have is the faith you show!  We must not just talk the talk, but walk the talk and put it into action--faith is a verb and has feet!   It is well put that "only he who is obedient believes, and only he who believes is obedient," by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, et al.  We must bring forth the fruits of salvation and we can distinguish them but not separate them:  There's no such thing as faith without works, but there are works without faith (the kind that doesn't please God, for all our "righteousness, is as filthy rags," per Isaiah 64:6).


We are not saved by our service, but unto service, as we are vessels of honor being used by God for His glory.   Paul said in Romans 15:18 that he ventured not to speak, but of what Christ had accomplished through him!  God crowns His own work done through us by His Spirit and power.  It is a futile and vain hope to believe you can be good enough to merit salvation or do enough good deeds---God's requisite is perfection and the standard is Christ Himself.  Some people's creed is to do all the good they can, but no one does good according to Romans 3.  I'm not against good deeds and sincere works, but only those done in the energy of the flesh.  The problem with doing good deeds is that God sees the motive and most people just do them out of self-interest or to gain the applause of others or get attention or approval.

You cannot tell an unbeliever to "do good," because he is incapable (Paul declares that no one does good in Romans 3:12); only believers can do the works of God, which is to believe in Jesus (cf. John 6:29).  The best motto or creed would be to determine to be used by God and submit to His will and be obedient and willing to do it--God doesn't want works, He wants us!  Submit and see what He can accomplish through you in the power of the Spirit!

Don't ever let someone add something to grace, such as merit, because (the Reformed formula says) we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, God alone be the glory, and on the authority of Scripture alone. You are saved through Jesus alone; not Jesus plus works, which would be moralism; nor Jesus plus feeling, which is emotionalism or sentimentality; nor Jesus plus knowledge, which is intellectualism or the cult of Gnosticism.  Remember this:  A motto to do all the good you can is a good and rewarding philosophy, but it won't bring salvation.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Ready For Heaven

"So it is with the resurrection of the dead:  Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.  If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body"  (1 Cor. 15:42, HCSB).

I want to dispel the common notion that people have that they want to go to heaven, but are in no hurry to get there!  WE ARE JUST PILGRIMS WITH SPIRITUAL GREEN CARDS; DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE OR AT HOME IN THIS WORLD.  

As Matthew Henry said:  "It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day." We are to live each day as if it were our last and prepare daily to meet the Lord in the air, and we can do this with gusto if we are looking forward to heaven, which means we must have some idea what it is like--through our knowledge is really speculation based on Scripture.  "No eye has seen...."  Yet we do know some facts and can cast away some common fallacies and misconceptions.  For instance, we won't be sitting on clouds playing harps all day.  We won't have to go to church (yes and no!).  We are the church and we shall worship in all our activities, whether work, leisure, or play, but the Lord will be present to have a Spirit of worship.

There will be work in heaven, but perfectly suited for us and our talents, gifts, and desires--what we enjoy doing!  Work will have meaning and not drudgery or be menial and boring, and there will be no physical exhaustion involved because the curse will be removed which made us work by the sweat of our brow.  Since Adam worked the Garden of Eden before the curse we know that we are not made for idleness, but in God's image and He is always at work.  We express God's image in our work and find fulfillment and satisfaction and meaning in it.  If we are faithful in little, we shall be faithful in much and God gives all of us opportunity to express our faithfulness.  Many of the tedious chores like hygiene will no longer be necessary, as we know them because we will have spiritual and not physical bodies--sown physical, but reaped spiritual.

We will be recognizable and have none of our physical flaws in our appearance that make us unattractive to others or ourselves--we will appreciate beauty in others and return our identity as men or women but not be given in marriage or be involved in procreation.  The most important element of heaven will be our authority over angels and be rulers with Christ--we shall all reign, some of us just have more authority or responsibility due to temporal faithfulness.  The key is that we are really servants of the Lord in heaven and be glad we are subordinate to Him.  Our bodies are not just improved from this one, but transformed into a new fashion that defies gravity, has no weakness, such as gaining weight, or getting out of shape, and can pass through walls at will, yet eat to prove we really have bodies.

When we realize the wonders and excitement of heaven, then we want to go there and live in light of eternity!  Paul said that to die was gain, but to live was Christ (cf. Philippians 1:21)--live or die he was content!  You can only really live after you are ready to meet your Maker and have prepared for your final day--you don't want to go unprepared but ready.  "... Prepare to meet your God, O Israel," says Amos 4:12 (ESV).  Every day when we rise we should announce that we are ready to meet God and ask Jesus if this is the day we will finally see Him face-to-face and be satisfied with the beatific vision.   We shall all be changed when we see Him as He is and be fulfilled and completely sanctified or holy and glorified.

Preparing for that day does not mean making funeral arrangements or writing a will, but making your peace with God and being faithful in the calling He has given you.  We want to receive a full reward and not just enter by the skin of our teeth, as if by fire (cf. 1 Cor. 3:15).   It is sadly said, that man lives like he's not going to die, and dies as if he never lived--may this not be the case with us, but that we lived to bring glory to God. ("The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," as the Westminster Divines proclaimed.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

WORLDVIEW DISCIPLINES

THE TEN MAJOR ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES:

THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY:  "IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH"  GEN 1:1
ETHICS:  "KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL"  GEN 2:9
BIOLOGY:  "ACCORDING TO ITS KIND"  GEN 1:21
PSYCHOLOGY: "A LIVING BEING"  GEN  2:7
SOCIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY:  "BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY; FILL THE EARTH"  GEN  1:28
LAW:  "I COMMANDED YOU" GEN  3:11
POLITICS AND LAW:  "WHOEVER SHEDS MAN'S BLOOD"  GEN  9:6
ECONOMICS: "IT SHALL BE FOR FOOD"  GEN  1:29
HISTORY:  "ENMITY BETWEEN YOU AND THE WOMAN" GEN 3:15

CHRIST IS FULFILLMENT:

THEOLOGY:  "THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD" COL 2:9
PHILOSOPHY:  "THE LOGOS"   JOHN 1:1
ETHICS:  "THE TRUE LIGHT"  JOHN 1:9; 3:19-20
BIOLOGY:  "THE LIFE"  JOHN 1:4; COL 1:16
PSYCHOLOGY:  "SAVIOR"  LUKE 1:46-47; TITUS 2:13
SOCIOLOGY: "SON"  LUKE 1:39-31; ISA. 9:6
LAW:  "LAWGIVER"  GEN. 49:10; ISA 9:7
POLITICS:  "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS"  REV 19:16; 1 TIM 6:15
ECONOMICS:  OWNER OF ALL THINGS   PSALM 24:1; 50:10-12
HISTORY:  "THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA"  REV. 1:8


WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS BUILT AND BASED ON THESE TEN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES WITH THEIR FOUNDATION IN SCRIPTURE!  


ADAPTED FROM:  UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES, BY DR DAVID A. NOEBEL

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

Never Too Busy!

The disciples interrupted the people from taking Jesus' time when He was blessing the children because they assumed He was too busy for them (cf. Matt. 19:14, KJV: "... [Suffer] the little children to come unto me...").  Jesus doesn't see interruptions--but only opportunities. Everything is Father-filtered!  How you handle these are a test of your patience!  God's timing is always perfect and He is the Author of time and "[our] times are in [His] hands," according to Psalm 31:15. Our future, then it is in His hands and He has no Plan B, as it were. We can frustrate our plans and they may never come to fruition, but God cannot be thwarted and will not fail; however, we are on the winning side and are in solidarity with Christ or in Christ.

The greatest obstacle to God's will is our will, it has been said. When we walk in step with the Spirit things go according to the glory of God and He is glorified through us; we must learn to walk with God like Enoch and Noah did. There is ample and adequate reason for everything that happens during our day and God has a time and purpose for every occasion in God's creation and under the sun, or so it says in Ecclesiastes. NB:  It's only because man has the precious gift of time consciousness and can anticipate the future and remember the past that he has the side effects of worrying about the future and regretting the past--two notorious time thieves!

We can do many things with our time:  We can invest it to bring dividends from God-like in spiritual ventures; we can spend it on profitable enterprises and things of extrinsic value; we can gain an intrinsic reward from the saving of time (what a joy!) by prioritizing what is important to God, not us; we can also spend our time on things of intrinsic worth like those that are edifying, educational, and inspiring; we can even waste time by killing it and doing nothing notable with it worth remembering and we may even regret doing; we can do nothing with our time because of boredom or sloth, but there is always something to do if we are willing to do it;  we enjoy time the most when we learn to spend it serving others as Jesus said in Mark 10:45 (ESV):  "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life a ransom for many." 

The happiest people are too busy thinking about others that they never wonder about their own happiness (it makes them happy to see others happy!). I believe there will always be downtime as a test of our ingenuity with redeeming the time (biblically commanded), and finding out what we're made of, and this will always be a challenge of our character. Chuck Colson relates a story of a convict who refused to have a TV in his cell because he felt you could waste a lot of time watching it.


But we will be held accountable for the time allotted us at the Judgment Seat of Christ (bema), and we should be"redeeming the time," according to Paul, because "the days are evil."  Time is precious, we will never get back lost opportunities or time wasted. "An idle hand is the devil's workshop!"  As they say, carpe diem, or seize the day! The best overall use of time is to make it into something that will outlast you, or that is bigger than you! The only way to do this is to realize your potential in God's kingdom and learn to do "kingdom living." We are not wealth builders, but kingdom builders. Day by day we learn to discipline ourselves into time management and the precious use of the opportunities God grants us by grace. The worse use of time:  Regret and worry (looking back or ahead!).  They say that worry is the interest you pay on a debt you don't owe.  God can free us from regret and guilt by giving us a clean conscience and reason to go on living.  He wipes the slate clean and gives us a fresh lease on life with a new start with Christ in control as our autopilot.


How much time you think you have depends on how big your God is, or if your world is too big for your God? and how much time you believe He gives you.  God will never overwhelm you, but only gives you a yoke and burden you can manage.  Jesus said:  "My yoke is easy, My burden is light" (cf. Matt. 11:30).  "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you," according to Isaiah 43:2 (ESV). We can handle whatever God can throw at us if we are willing and obedient through the power of the Holy Spirit ( Philippians 4:13; 2:13; Heb. 13:21; Col. 1:29; Isa. 26:12; Romans 15:18).  We can also handle whatever the world can dish out with the aid of God being with us through the rivers of life.

Busyness in itself is not a virtue! (This is no excuse!)   It is good to be busy, but this is not synonymous!  If you have priorities you always have time for God and the Lord's work--this is what we're living for.  When you have a purpose you have the motivation to work hard ("Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might," says Eccl. 10:11, ESV).  Work is meant to be a blessing and we demonstrate the image of God when we work; even God is at work!  Adam worked and it is not a curse; we can all find inner meaning in it:  Bro. Lawrence, a monk, wrote a book, The Practice of the Presence of God, in which he prayed all day as he washed dishes for the Lord in a 16th-century monastery.

There is a difference between being too busy and keeping busy:  Jesus was never too busy, though he kept busy and productive with His time, except when He needed R & R because He was human and got tired and exhausted, too:  He never wasted time, though!  There's a difference between being lazy and tired and needing a break from the routine with some downtime.


Rick Warren says:  The number one enemy of kindness is busyness.  How often we say, 'I am just too busy.  I don't have time to get involved.  It might mess up my schedule or agenda.  I have my priorities and pressures to think about.  I am too busy to fix a meal for my sick neighbor ... I am too busy...." Christ's opportunities may come when we are busy to see if we have time for Him and He knocks on our door.  That opportunity may never come again!  Interruptions are just reminders that we are not in control of the situation, but God is sovereign over our time and has the best intention in mind for us.

If you realize you are called to do something you want to do, you are motivated to do your best and not be slack.  A new mother soon realizes that her time is not her own!  We are all realizing our potential and no one has arrived yet, we are all "works in progress!"  But being a "work-a-holic" is not necessarily good because we are meant to enjoy our lives too and not be all work and no play. What you enjoy may be your calling in life and work can be a calling but there is more to life than work. You can work yourself sick or to a mental or emotional disorder, and even end up in a mental hospital or lose sanity--God has decreed us to get our rest as a principle in the Sabbath. We all need R & R on occasion and need to have our "fun" or whatever is fun to us. It is a blessing to know what you enjoy doing and to enjoy doing it, no matter how much time it consumes.

If the devil can't make you bad, he'll make you busy, I've read somewhere, and I affirm this adage. It's too easy to get into the habit of putting off spiritual things (even on Sunday, of all days--the Lord's day), and thinking only of our own advantage and pleasure or interests. We don't want to become sluggards or slothful but to be hardworking believers who demonstrate the Christian work ethic and become productive citizens who give back to society--not just receiving its benefits pro bono.  God gives us the power to be productive in His kingdom, not necessarily in the world, though--which may despise us.

It is not true that you be so heavenly minded you are no earthly good unless you mean being irresponsible and slothful, but this depends upon your definitions of the terminology. We can make things happen and do God's work, which is more important than our work and should always have preeminent importance. The more dedicated you are to putting God first and prioritizing Him, the more time you will be able to redeem for Him and His work and you don't find the time, you make time.

We will be accountable for all the opportunities, time, resources, money, skills, talents, and blessings God has bestowed on us because nothing belongs to us--we are just stewards of God.  In short, we should proclaim boldly:  "I'm never too busy for the Lord or the Lord's work!" Caveat:  There is a curse on him who does the Lord's work with slackness in Jeremiah 48:10.

These verses are relevant: Whatever we do, we find to do we should do with all our might and as unto the Lord and to His glory per Scripture admonition. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men" (Col. 3:23, ESV). "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus...." (Col. 3:17, ESV). "..."Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, ESV). "Making the best use [redeeming] of the time, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16, ESV).   Soli Deo Gloria!

It's A Miracle!

Jesus never did miracles on demand, as Herod had hoped to have a personal show of the supernatural. There was also never a biggie miracle or grandstanding that the Pharisees had demanded if they were to believe because of their cynicism.  Jesus would not accommodate the Pharisees' demand for a "sign." Case in point: The bystanders told Jesus to come down from the cross and they would then believe in Him.  The miracle was that He stayed on the cross--it was love them kept Him there and the temptation was to come down and use His powers independently of the Father's will.  But Jesus did thirty-five recorded miracles and numerous ones not mentioned, but if they were, "the world could not contain the books that would be written!"  The thing about miracles is that they only make the appetite for more miracles and don't make a skeptic become a believer--it takes a work of God in the heart to make a person a believer, which is also a miracle in its own right.

What Jesus did were called "signs" by John because they were not helter-skelter, to attract attention, or even for personal promotion, but to meet a need and teach something about Himself:  He is the Bread of Life; the Light of the World; the Resurrection and the Life, etc. Each of the seven recorded signs of John's gospel (actually there are seven miracles in John if you count the one after His resurrection), are for a reason to bear witness of the Deity of Christ in a different aspect and light. Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness to turn stones into bread and use His powers for personal advantage--but He never did take advantage of His powers!  Christ didn't want to be known simply as a miracle worker or healer or even teacher or martyr, but He would've been a mere footnote in history had He performed none!  Miracles are essential to prove the Deity of Christ and the ultimate proof is His resurrection.  If you remove the miracles from other religion's Scriptures, the religion remains intact, but not so with Christianity--they are essential.

People believe that all they need to believe is a miracle. They say:  Miracles do not produce faith; faith produces miracles!   The Jews in John 12:37 "would not believe" despite Christ's miracles.  If you are cynical and have a hardened heart, no miracle will make a believer out of you.  The heart of the matter, then, is that it's a matter of the heart.  There is plenty of evidence of the miraculous to those who are seeking it and are willing--just look in the mirror and you will see a miracle!  Sunrise is a miracle, yet because it happens every day we don't give it a second thought; life itself is not some fluke of nature, but a miracle--if these things happened all the time we'd call them regulars.

Science cannot forbid miracles, it can only say that they don't normally or regularly occur.  When you say they are against the laws of science, nature, or what they term natural law, you are personifying science and nature as if they are persons making up rules, and are not subject to rules.  In our case we can make laws and break them; the penalty is inherent.  God is a Lawmaker, Judge, and Executor of his will and laws.  God is the Author of the laws of nature and its Lawgiver and can suspend, cancel, or revoke them at will, just like people commonly say rules are made to be broken.  Jesus did miracles out of need and not to promote Himself: likewise, we should meet people's needs with the miracles of modern-day science and technology.

What then are miracles?  All events are caused by God as He is the causa prima or First Cause; miracles are just unusual events caused by God. If you remember the "Miracle on Ice" back in 1980 you would attribute that to being a miracle, and the 1969 World Series when the New York Mets won, they may have been unusual, but they don't meet the definition of miracle: Which must defy the natural in such a way as to make a person come to a decision as to whether he believes in miracles (events unusually caused by God) or not.  The purpose of miracles in Scripture is to confirm faith and authenticate the messenger by demonstrating God's power.


Miracles in the Bible are different:  They are not performed for no rhyme or reason, for prestige, for money, or for power, but in sympathy for the suffering of man and to increase his faith.  No!  People were not gullible, ignorant, superstitious, or unsophisticated in His day and knew what was a miracle and what wasn't.  There are false miracles and ones that could have a natural explanation.  The presence of the counterfeit does not preclude the reality of the real thing and prove they are spurious.

But the timing is what makes them miraculous (like the drying up of the Red Sea).  Laws describe what happens, and don't control what happens, so whether miracles occur is ultimately a historical and philosophical question, not scientific (which only describes repeatable, observable, and measurable events producible under laboratory conditions with controlled variables and constants). The question and issue is this:  Are the documents accurate and the veracity of the sources reliable? If one believes in God, it follows by definition that God can do what He wants, and that would include miracles. However, modern-day Secular Humanism and Postmodernism deny the supernatural as a presupposition and won't even go there or admit a divine foot in the door.

Sometimes we trivialize them like when we find a parking space or hit a hole in one in golf we attribute the events to something miraculous, but we mustn't downplay them and realize that we live in the presence of miracles--we just don't see them because they are all around us and happen without our awareness.  Miracles are for the reason to elicit or evoke faith where a seed has been planted and a person is ready to believe with an open mind, needy heart, and willing spirit:  "Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me"  (John 10:25, NKJV).  Jesus implored them to believe for His works' sake.  Soli Deo Gloria!