The Sun That Melts The Butter Hardens The Clay

We must never forget our Maker and that we are just clay in the Great Potter's hands to use us for His purposes--God will fulfill His purpose for you, with or without your cooperation because He is sovereign and is Lord of all, whether we accept it or not; it is just a matter of our enjoyment and glorification that matters. "...as I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isaiah 14:24).  We are always to be prepared to meet our Maker says Amos 4:12.  God doesn't have a Plan B or other emergency exit, backup strategy, or alternate route to take--it's up to us!

We must never forget that adversity, suffering, testing, tribulation, heartbreak, ordeals, tragedy, crisis,  trouble, and trials will come to all believers and Christ didn't even exempt himself from them!   Our crosses pale in comparison to His!  He is our exemplar and we need to bear the cross and follow Jesus as part of what we signed up for.  It is our crucible and God knows as Job says, "The LORD knows that way that I take when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold."  God never promised us a bed of roses and we must acknowledge that without a cross there is no crown.  If we have a "why?" to our suffering and see Jesus with us, we can bear almost anything!  There is a place for negative stress, even a psychiatrist will admit that--if we have an easy life we become soft.  Don't pray for an easy going life, but to be made strong!  "Been there, done that!"  Knowing the "why," we can bear any "how."

It is the crises of our daily grind that molds our character to become more Christlike and God does it for our own good, as a parent disciplines a child he loves.  God has good intentions: "Behold, the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope"  (Jer. 29:11, ESV).  Some of us learn only from the school of hard knocks, while the wisest ones learn from Scripture and take God at His Word.  We don't want to learn life's lessons the hard way.  It is pruning and not a punishment that God uses to develop our character. God punished Jesus for our sins, and we are not punished for them too.  (It has been said that experience is what happens in you, not to you.)  Suffering is par for the course.

We have a will to exercise according to our desires at the moment, but God is in charge of the circumstances.  God made our natures that sanguine, melancholy, impetuous, impulsive, introverted, happy-go-lucky, ad infinitum, and we act accordingly. We are not the captains of our souls nor the masters of our fate. God knows how to manipulate and orchestrate events to get His will done and can change our minds; for instance, it may have been your notion to never get married, but you discovered God had other plans!   If a man can change a ladies mind, certainly God can.  "I do not like crises, but I like the opportunities they afford"  (Lord Reith).

The flip side of butter being melted by the same sun is being hardened like clay.  We can become bitter or better as they say.  Habakkuk experienced the worst of experiences when he seemed to have lost all but made a hymn to the joy that he still had God and if we have Him we have all we really need--sometimes we have to get to the end of ourselves or lose everything to discover this:  "Behold the goodness and severity of God" (cf. Rom. 11:22).   His confession was simply:  "Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Hab. 3:18).  Note that God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and to harden [i.e., judicial hardening] whom He will harden (cf. Rom. 9:18).  Remember what God did to Pharaoh and know that God can do the same today.

God is in control of the hearts of kings to make them do His will according to Proverbs 21:1 (ESV) which says:  "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD, he turns it wherever he will."   God leaves nothing to chance--Albert Einstein noticed that "God doesn't play dice with the universe."  It is equally said that God doesn't leave one out of His control and that there is not one maverick molecule in the universe.  God doesn't just reign like the British monarch, but actually rules over all ("For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations," says Psalm 22:28 and in Isaiah 40 God says the nations are but a "drop in the bucket" to Him.)

Let me add that God works on us to the very end and doesn't give up, we are always a work in progress and won't be glorified in this life, which is only a training ground, a test station, or proving grounds for glory.  You may ask the silversmith when he is done refining the silver:  when he sees himself in it!   The sculptor takes away everything that doesn't look like his subject--his icons!   Soli Deo Gloria!

Go Ye Therefore ....

Those are words out of the Great Commission of our King in Matthew 28:19-20, and it is given to the church universal and local to be fulfilled as a body working in Christ using the various gifts of the Spirit, and each doing his or her part as God gives the opportunity. Our marching orders, as it were, are reiterated by the way in all three synoptic gospels and in Acts.   Many Christians think that when it says "Go ye therefore and make disciples..." it means that they have to go somewhere. Some don't want to become Christians because they think God will send them to Africa.  An apostle is actually a "sent one" and some of us are fighting on the home front.  Actually, in the Greek, it means "as you are going" make disciples!  

This means that we surrender our everyday life to a commitment to look for each opportunity God gives an open door that we can utilize.  Or you could say as we are going about our daily activities.  We are to be busy doing everything in the name of the Lord and to His glory in our daily tasks and routines.  We need to "practice the presence of God," as the sixteenth-century, humble, Carmelite monk in a French monastery named  Brother Lawrence, called it, and just be sensitive to His promptings and leading--seize the day and don't regret a lost opportunity.

To whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke 12:48); therefore no one is overwhelmed and in a position, he cannot bear or get a handle on or grip on.   Before we talk to someone about the Lord, it is advisable to talk to the Lord about the person.  The Great Commission, it has been said, is not an option to be considered, or The Great Suggestion, but a command to be obeyed.  God gives no suggestions in Scripture and this is not the Great Suggestion, as some are deluded to believe.  The Great Commission was important enough to be at the conclusion of each synoptic gospel  (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:47 and in Acts 1:8).  The book of Acts begins with the command to go into all the parts of the earth with the gospel as witnesses.  Jesus said that as soon as the gospel had been preached to every nation He would return.

"Go ye therefore and make disciples" means evangelism, and we must all have a mission and vision for the future ("For without a vision, the people perish," says Proverbs 29:18).  "Baptizing them" means to bring them into the fellowship of the body and accept them--giving them the "right hand of fellowship." Baptism is the initiation whereby we proclaim publicly our faith.  "Teaching them" entails discipleship; this never ends either.  Follow-up is too often forgotten in today's church--getting them saved is only the beginning.   I have heard it said that a great Christian has a great commitment to the Great Commission.

The message we preach (per 1 Cor. 2:2 is "Christ, and Christ crucified") is to be the gospel message about Jesus--that God settled the sin nature and personal sins question once and for all by the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. The sin question's remedy is justification by the blood and the fact that we have sin natures is delivered by the cross of Christ. Saved from the penalty of sin and delivered from the power of sin!  The way of salvation should be simple and straightforward:  We are saved by grace alone (no merit involved); through faith alone (faith as a gift and no works involved); and in Christ alone (not in the leadership or church dogma or even yourself).

Christianity is more than dogma or creed to be believed; it is a lifestyle and relationship with the living Christ and we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (get a spiritual workout). We cannot work for our salvation--we show works as proof of it (we are not saved by works, and not without them either--dead faith--without works--doesn't save).  We are not saved by works, but unto (i.e., foreordained) works ("For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto [for the purpose of] good works...").  (James 2:17 says:  "Faith without works is dead".)  The Reformed formula was:  "Saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone [without works]."

The gospel is profound, yet not too difficult for the child to understand.  It put to shame the wisdom of this world.  Paul said he got his gospel from Jesus Himself and Romans is the most complete dissertation on salvation in the Bible--a compendium on the subject.  When we get a handle on the gospel message we can share it and leave the results to God. We all need to pray for doors to open and for the right words to use; even Paul did!  Don't be a bystander or stand on the sidelines;  do your part because no gift is insignificant, even waiting on tables like Philip and Stephen did.  What is most effective is when we make our message our own and give a testimony that cannot be refuted:  "I was blind, but now I see." Let us proclaim with Paul in Romans 1:14-16:  I am a debtor, I am ready, and I am not ashamed! We cannot always choose our place of service but must learn to bloom where we are planted and be a sower of the Word.  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Pursuit Of God

"If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them"  (John 13:17).
"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain..." (John 15:16). "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing"  (John 15:5).

Of course, I realize that my title was also the title of a famous book by A. W. Tozer, but I must borrow it to make my point right off the bat.  Is knowledge about God a requisite for knowing Him? Can we afford to be ignorant but good people?  What good does it do to know a lot "about God?" You must turn this knowledge about God into a personal knowledge of God.  Because to know Him is to love Him!  If you really study Psalm 119 (probably written by the Bible scholar Ezra), you will come to the realization that the psalmist loved the Scriptures and they were his meditation all the day long.  But loving the Bible does no good if we are not applying our knowledge. When God opens our eyes and enlightens us we are responsible to share our insights or pass them on if we want more, and thus be good stewards and faithful witnesses to His light.

This is not an attack on learning or the thirst for knowledge per se, which has its own reward and we should thank God for our enjoyment of it.  If one studies law, he should pray God turns it into His glory in some ministry so that all that study is not wasted.  The pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of God are two separate goals unless the knowledge is to the glory of God. We are not just to be philosophers or lovers of knowledge, but lovers of God.  "Whether you eat or whether you drink, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31).  This is being purpose-oriented.   We may enjoy history, for example, but unless it is to the glory of God and put into practice it is bunk as far as the kingdom of God is concerned.

The reward of knowledge is in the putting it into practice ("...knowledge puffs up, but love edifies" and "to whom much is given, much is required"), like the ultimate reward of studying medicine is in the healing of people not getting educated.  We enjoy a lot of things in life, and we should thank God for them, but we are not rewarded just because we enjoy them (e.g., eating, drinking, reading, sports, politics, and even sex). God blesses us all with common grace to enjoy and have a capacity for life--"...who gives us richly all things to enjoy"  (1 Tim. 6:17). The subject of this post is the pursuit of God and being rewarded at the Bema by Christ, not how much we enjoy the blessings of life.

To delineate the problem with many believers, what they are guilty of is balking at the deeper things of God while leaving the so-called doctrine or dogma to the theologians or clergy. Erasmus said that doctrine is the bugbear of the Church and many believers today have followed suit--thinking it is just philosophy.  Actually, theology is the Queen of the Sciences!  They have come full circle from the Reformation, in that they blindly follow the clerics and don't become like Bereans, who search out matters for themselves and study their Bibles.  An understanding of sound doctrine is necessary for a sound life; one cannot live a sound life apart from sound doctrine.  On the other hand, you can know all the doctrine and get a degree in it, or great kudos, and not have a sound life to be practicing what you preach or know.  You could say that doctrine is necessary, but not sufficient (you have to use it as a means to an end, not as an end per se) because there is more than just knowing or being familiar with doctrine.

We are all theologians in that we come to our own basic understanding, interpretation, or viewpoint of Scripture.  The question is, is how good of a theologian are we and do we subscribe to false doctrine.  What we believe has a definite impact on our behavior (orthodoxy or right doctrine influences orthopraxy or right ethics).  We cannot ignore basic and sound doctrine because that is not an option for the believer who wants to walk close to Christ.  We make so many mistakes simply because of our ignorance and Paul repeatedly says he would rather not have us ignorant.  Now it does say in 1 Timothy 2:9 that an elder must hold to the deep things of God with a clear conscience--he is obliged to have the lowdown on doctrine and be able to correct those who contradict it.

The believer must be cognizant that he has decided to be a disciple or "learner" while being enrolled in the school of Christ and dedicated to His curriculum all his life--the search for God and truth never ends and one should never be complacent and think he knows it all, but always positive and receptive to learning more and never even getting tired with the milk of the Word, even when we crave the meat or solid food and have been weaned from our spiritual infancy. "As the newborn baby desires the pure milk of the Word" so are we to never get bored with Scripture or be blase and apathetic, which Christ calls lukewarm and is odious to Him in Revelation 3:19.

Our knowledge of God does no good remaining just "theory" or knowledge that isn't applied.  In other words, we don't pursue knowledge as an end in itself or, you could say, for its own sake.  Yes, it is a sign of spiritual health to be interested in spiritual matters, and in the 17th century it was the hobby of a gentleman to be conversant with theology or "God-talk;" however, one can get spiritual "intoxicated" with the deeper truths and become unbalanced and losing focus of the basics of our faith, especially the marching orders of Christ, the Great Commission

But knowledge about God should ultimately lead to knowledge of God and a closer relationship with Him, because "knowledge puffs up [making us feel superior and important, as it were]"  according to 1 Cor. 8:1.  I  have it said by friends that they want to take a college course on the Bible to learn it in more detail.  I have to ask them "Why?"  Do they feel led by the Spirit to do this or do they just have a desire to be "informed" or in the know about spiritual matters?  If they have been called to teach it may be necessary to prepare for a life-long study of the Scriptures, but to do do it for its own sake, as an end in itself, if vain in God's eyes and will accomplish nothing.

I'm not for ignorance, but I am against knowledge without purpose and end in mind, (knowledge is the means to an end).  You can be so preoccupied with the Word, actually doing nothing but reading it all day like a monastic monk and not apply it:  "Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only." We must not only intake but have output to be healthy.  Just like inhaling and exhaling for our bodies. The proof of the pudding is in the eating they say; what kind of believer we are depends upon our attitude toward Scripture.

You must contemplate why you are pursuing knowledge and you must also distinguish knowledge of God from mere knowledge about God.  You can literally know a lot about someone and not really know them at all on a personal level, too, as an analogy.  The goal is a relationship with Christ and a closer walk with Him.   According to Colossians 1:10 we are:  "Bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God."  See how they correlate?  Putting our knowledge into action reinforces it and cements it into our spirit and makes it good for something--not just theory or philosophy.  Two extremes to avoid are having Bible fatigue on the one hand whereas we get bored and it has lost its zing and being engrossed in the Bible in an academic approach on the other hand, like just having the desire to know all the answers.

One doesn't have to be privy to some secret, arcane, or academic knowledge to know the Lord (in fact you may know very little and know the Lord quite well), and make the same mistakes as the Gnostikoi in the Apostolic age who claimed that knowledge was the secret of salvation and they were "in the know" (gnosis means to know).  We are responsible for what we know or had the opportunity to know (no one can claim ignorance--there is no excuse for not knowing God) and God distributes gifts according to our abilities and His purposes, not ours.  Some may have the gift of knowledge, for instance, and God may entrust them with much knowledge, wisdom and understanding.  Much knowledge is a byproduct of a productive life, not the goal itself.  Just like one may acquire a knowledge of trivia unconsciously and know more than he realizes.

Knowledge per se is not the measure of a believer's productiveness, because we are rewarded according to what we sow, not what we know!  Just imagine someone saying he wants to study medicine but has no plans to practice medicine, or one who go to law school for the heck of it and doesn't want to practice law!  We must be practicing theologians putting our faith into action!  They say that if you can't do, you must teach;  that is one option and that is probably why we have preachers professors, and even scholars who are heavy on the learning and light on the application.
  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Self-improvement Craze

Prayer by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr:  "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."  Used by AA and known as the "Serenity Prayer" (AA believes you must come to an end of yourself and realize you cannot help yourself before God can help you).

"Woe unto him who strives with his Maker"  (Is. 45:9). Remember, He is the Potter, we are the clay.

God raised Jesus from the dead and is still in the resurrection business; changing lives is His domain!

William Ernest Henley, the author of Invictus, claimed to be the master of his soul and captain of his fate, and thanked whatever gods may be for his unconquerable soul--what a humanistic outlook!


The twentieth century saw the self-improvement and positive thinking takeover of Christian thought as the pop culture.   It sold and people bought it; well, it worked and some most people believe that the test of an idea is whether it works (pragmatism), not whether it is true (for example, yoga works but is a dangerous undertaking for the Christian to dabble in).  Evil can work and even be efficient.  However, Christianity works, because it is true; it isn't true because it works. The cliches "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it," and "Try it, you'll like it," and "It works for me!" are invalid to believers--don't experiment! God even makes the wicked to prosper if they go by the rules and are wise, but that's not the gospel.  Things may work as applied from the Bible, but that's not the essence of Christianity--our commission is to preach the gospel message, and this is applicable to everyone.

If you can market your dogma to the unbeliever it is not the gospel, because only His sheep will hear His voice and not that of a stranger.  There are many false prophets out there telling people what they want to hear, and whitewashing the bad news that we are sinners in need of salvation, not that we are good enough to be saved.  The gospel has bad news too--we are lost in need of a Savior and we must get them lost first before we preach the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

We must "look to the rock from which we were hewn and the quarry from which we were dug" (Isa. 51:1).  We are simply clay in God's hands and He is our Potter.  Thinking that Christianity is a philosophy and just a matter of getting a good attitude is a recipe for disaster and failure.  We are setting ourselves up for calamity when we think that we are ultimately in control of our lives and what happens is that we give ourselves the glory and credit for our success.  Our future is in God's hands (cf. Psalm 31:15).  If you think about it, you can achieve it by faith.  What we should say is with William Carey: "Expect great things from God, but attempt even great things for God!"

What we have to come to realize is that Christianity is not a system of rules and regulations, a catalog of dos and don'ts or a standard of achievement to reach.  It isn't a matter of being "in the know" or "knowing the scoop," as it were, but of knowing a person and having a relationship with Him who can change your life.  "Victory in Jesus!"  This is the lowdown:  We give God control of our lives and He transforms us into new creatures, not just improves upon the old self.  Self-improvement is no improvement because we want God-improvement.  We don't just wake up every morning and resolve to be positive but to love Jesus more and walk closer with Him as He guides us in the way. The better we know Jesus, the more we will love Him and the closer we will follow.

Christianity is not a creed or doctrine, but a relationship and it is just like knowing your kin--it doesn't satisfy just to study them and know their rules--you have to take the challenge and get to know them personally and apply your knowledge.  We turn our creed into deeds and put it into practice (as we bear fruit in every good work, we increase in the knowledge of God, according to Colossians 1:10). We are commanded to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ" in 2 Pet. 3:18.

We have the power of choice and do indeed make choices all the time and are responsible for them; the problem is that we make bad choices and cannot take control of our lives--we must let God take over and cease trying to save ourselves.  Ovid said, "I know the better ways and I approve them, but I follow the worst"  We are infected with sin as a virus and our old sin nature or old man is still much alive and active after our salvation--we must do less trying and more trusting.  God wants to approve and say, "Great is your faith," not "You sure try hard."  We can get an E for effort, and fail in God's perspective because we gave ourselves the credit.  We have the power to make choices, but that doesn't mean we have an absolute free will--we cannot be what we want to be like God who is what He is and can be what He wants to be.  We cannot say that we will henceforth never lie or never have a lustful thought if that is our easily besetting sin. "Who can say I have made my heart pure, I am pure from my sin?" (Proverbs 20:9).  We all have a sin that easily overcomes us and besets us according to Hebrews 12:1 and is exhorted to set it aside and walk in faith as we learn that God can set us free. We are not born free but must be set free in Christ.  We are no longer under sin and sin has no dominion over us as believers according to Romans 6:14.  Instead of turning over a new leaf every day and resolving to do better, learn to walk closer to Christ and let Him make you the person He wants you to be.  It is not about putting a new suit on the man, as they say, but putting a new man in the suit.

We are forgiven from the penalty of sin at salvation, but we learn to overcome the power of sin and it's influenced in our walk.  There is no overnight transformation into perfect people because we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet.  He isn't finished until He sees Himself in us like a silversmith refining silver looks for his reflection to know the silver is pure.  However we should be are of this:  God says in Philippians 1:6:  "Being confident of the very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."  God never gives up on us--it is us who give up!   God can always use us for His glory because that's what He saved us for:  (cf. Isaiah. 43:7) and we are a blessing to others:  "So will I save you and ye shall be a blessing" (Zech. 8:13).  Our trials and tribulations are not only met to teach us but to be a light to others and give us the wisdom to encourage them.  There is no one philosophy that we can ascribe to our faith because it is more than a philosophy--it is a relationship (this has become a cliche but must be stressed). We all need the attitude check and change to grace-orientation because the best attitude is gratitude.

Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.  He made us the way we are and has a purpose for doing it in His outreach.  You may develop a great personality and a wonderful disposition and still be a failure as a believer, hardly knowing your Lord. We can be a success in one domain and a failure in another--no one succeeds in everything.   Remember that Paul was choleric, Peter was impetuous but sanguine, and Jeremiah melancholic, but God used them the way they were.  John the Baptist was sure eccentric, but God never told him to go get some help! Christianity is about transformation, not an improvement! God meets us where we are and accepts us, but we will not stay that way after He works on us.

The problem is that we have an innate nature that God has to deal with and we are subject to that nature just like a dove eats seed and a vulture carrion by nature--we cannot change our nature, but God can change our character and still let us have personality and individuality.  Point in fact to heed: we act according to our nature, not contrary to it,  according to our depraved and fallen will (we all even fall short of our own ideas).  It is not about getting a balanced, well-adjusted, and respectable life, but one of touching others in their time of need. God loves us the way we are and we don't have to change to be more acceptable--and so we should accept one another too--we are not cookie-cutter Christians.  The way you are is the way God made you, believers shouldn't have a problem with that.
I've heard it well said:  "God doesn't make junk!"

In the final analysis, it is not a matter of willpower, but of faith--not trying, but trusting! "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit" (cf. Zechariah 4:6).  Religion is a do-it-yourself proposition and lifting yourself up by your own bootstraps--thank God there's hope for the weak and needy. The goal of our salvation is God-confidence, not self-confidence.  In the final audit of our lives at the Bema or Judgment Seat of Christ, we shall be asked whether we learned to love and trust Christ and apply what He taught us, not given a personality inventory checklist.  Progress is what God wants, not perfection.

There is rhyme and reason behind the madness:  All things work together for good for them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).  The catch-22 is that we must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are until we've tried to be good!   We must come to Christ on the lowest possible credentials crying for mercy to us as sinners who cannot save ourselves and need Jesus--this means dying to self not becoming self-confident that we can be all we can be and do anything we put our mind to; the people furthest from God are those who are self-sufficient and don't see their need, loving their own sin too much to recognize it.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You Too Busy For God?

Everyone sooner or later faces challenges in time management and setting priorities if you have an agenda, bucket list, or a to-do list; here's some pertinent teaching:

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might..."  (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
We always find time to do the things we want to do as a rule, but we must learn to be flexible and adjust to God's timetable and plan--things don't always go according to agenda because life is unpredictable and our autopilot may be beckoning us.  God's providence has a reason and time for every purpose under the sun.

In today's rat-race and the dog-eat-dog world, we seem to attribute business as a virtue per se, regardless of the purpose.  If you don't know why you're so busy, your life may be unmanageable and you need to make priorities.  They say that time is of the essence.  Tempis fugit, (time flies) the Latin expression goes, and when we're having fun we don't know where the time goes.  The funny thing about our life is that it is like a vapor that vanishes and is soon over.  Ernest Hemingway said, "Time is the thing we have least of;" that is true because we are just stewards of the time God gives us (all things belong ultimately to God).  The abler we are, the more God assigns to be a steward of.

The point is to be faithful in what God gives you and not to compare yourself with others--their lifestyle is none of your business and not for you to judge--he is accountable to his God.  What's the point in being busy when you don't have a purpose in living--that is just being a workaholic and being busy for its own sake.  Sometimes God wants us to slow down and just enjoy life and Him in meditation.  Life can get hectic, but if we don't watch it the devil will make us so busy we crowd God out of our lives.  We should never be too busy for the Lord's work, just as Jesus never considered an interruption an inconvenience.  Some people do have time on their hands and God is trying to teach them to redeem the time and live one day at a time:  "This is the day that the LORD has made, let us be glad and live today"  (Psalm 118:24).  There are many things we can do to the time allotted to each of us, and we all have 168 hours per week to invest in God.

Work can be done to the glory of God--there is no special status to spiritual matters that qualify them to be of more inherent worthiness to invest in.  Praying is no more "spiritual" than washing dishes to the glory of God!  Work makes us realize the image of God in us and we see God at work through us--we have many given opportunities to work as unto the Lord.  There are several things we can do to time:  invest it, as in prayer because prayer saves time and the busier we are the more we need prayer;  we can just spend time or be doing something to keep busy; we can waste time by doing nonproductive activities that don't glorify God; sometimes we can even be known to kill time because we have downtime and don't know what to do with the extra time available.

But remember, the most important pertinent admonition from Scripture is to "redeem the time because the days are evil." Find ways to bring glory to God in what you do.   Being busy is not a virtue in itself unless it is to the glory of God; however, we should distinguish between being busy and staying busy. Workaholics are not virtuous because they are busier than most people, in the sense that they always have an excuse not to do the Lord's work.   I can always find something to do and never get bored, but I am not ever too busy to drop everything and answer God's call.  Stay busy, but don't get too busy your priorities are wrong--like crowding out family matters because work becomes your identity or number one priority.

When God's work is Job One, then everything falls into place.  Our work doesn't define us, but how we do it and our attitude does.  The thing we have to beware of is being slothful, lazy, or lethargic  (one of the "seven deadly sins").  Christ promises us a more "abundant life" and as a blessing, we are given more opportunity to serve Him.  In accountability, God doesn't want the leftovers of our time, but the prominent place and everything revolving around Him and to His glory. Lost opportunities can never be retrieved, like a spoken word or spent arrow, and we are accountable for them likewise as sins of omission.  The book of Haggai shows us that as soon as the Jews put God first in building the temple, God blessed them for getting their priorities straightened out.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Should We Be Proud?

Notable and applicable verses on being proud:

"Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place"  (Job 40:12, KJV).
"He is proud, knowing nothing..." (1 Tim. 6:4).
"Let the proud be ashamed, for they treated me wrongfully with falsehood..." (Psalm 119:78).
"God stands against the proud, but favors the humble"  (James 4:6b, CEB).
"The LORD detests all the proud of heart..." (Proverbs 16:5).
"Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!"  (Prov. 21:4).
"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall"  (Prov. 16:18).
I shouldn't have to remind you that pride is one of the so-called Seven Deadly Sins of Roman Catholicism.

Paul said that he'd speak of nothing but of which Christ has accomplished through him in Romans 15:8.  The whole point of our achievements is that they amount to zilch in God's eyes:  "All our righteousness is as filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6).  Salvation in Christ is about God's accomplishment, not our achievement(s).  "To obey is better than sacrifice" as King Saul found out, who had manifold achievements, but only half-heartedly followed the LORD and disobeyed.  The point must be clear that God wants our OBEDIENCE (according to our opportunities and gifts),  not our achievements!

There is no place for boasting in God's presence nor in man's, because "apart from [Christ] we can do nothing" and all that we have accomplished, He has done through us (Isaiah 26:12). Bragging is a work of the flesh and has no place in the godly behavior.  That is another way of glorying in something, and all the glory goes to God unless He is sharing His glory.  Satan's sin was his pride (he lifted up his soul) and that was because he was proud in his estate, and he got booted out of heaven because of it.  God lists the sins that are an abomination to Him and that He hates in Proverbs 6:17:  "A proud look..." is mentioned first

Don't ever let God find pride in you because you will fall into the condemnation of the devil (he will probably say, "There you go, you're just like me!") and you will be severely disciplined by God if you are a believer, and punished in hell if you are not.  We do not deserve anything we have got or have achieved because if we only did it in our own strength, it is nothing:  "...' Not by power, nor by might, but by My Spirit,'  says the LORD Almighty" (Zech. 4:6).

There is a difference between taking pride in one's work and being proud or having pride.  We must do our work as unto the Lord, and our work doesn't define us, but how well we do it does.  This is the work ethic, that all work is to God's glory and work is not a curse but helps us become more like the image of Christ.  Galatians 6:4 says:  "Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others." When we are proud or boast we are comparing ourselves with others and setting up an artificial standard other than Christ.  The KJV says:  "Let every man prove his own work, then he shall have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another."  Being braggadocio is always sin but I'm not saying we think less of ourselves; we are to have good self-esteem and God-confidence too.

George Whitefield was asked what he thought of a man going to the gallows:  "There but for the grace of God, go I."  We are to think more highly of others not less of them and realize that we are all one in Christ.  He has leveled the playing field and we cannot boast, but we are blessed and should be thankful that God has made us a vessel of honor.  There is no place for an elite in Christianity, but we are one family and no one can say he has no need of another member.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Should We Accept Criticism?

 "Wilt thou also disannul my judgment?  wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?" (Job 40:8).

We should accept each other because Christ has accepted us.  "Make allowance for one another person's faults" (Eph. 4:2).  Accepting a person doesn't mean that we think they are perfect, for a friend sees your faults and still accepts you the way you are, not the way you think you are.  "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity [time of trial or adversity]"  (Proverbs 17:17).  It is good to have equals as friends because Prov. 27:17 says that "iron sharpens iron."  We shouldn't expect our feelings never to get hurt nor wear them on our sleeve because the truth often hurts and Proverbs also says that "faithful are the wounds of a friend."

We all have four faces:  the one we see; the one our friends see; the one our enemies see; and the one God sees.  God sees through the veneer and there is no fooling him;  we all have feet of clay and have weaknesses not readily apparent to the observer--sometimes only those closest to us really know us and we are putting up a facade to others, which is really hypocrisy.

Friendship involves give and take and is not co-dependent where both parties can't get along without each other so much that they idolize each other to the point of near perfection--no one is perfect as married couples find out when the honeymoon is over.  If you are looking for someone to see you as perfect you can give up because you aren't even if you think so.

Everyone is a hypocrite to a degree, it's just a matter of degree and transparency.  We need to learn to be frank with others and not be afraid to let the real person be revealed in all its reality--some people don't face reality and don't even reckon themselves as sinners and this is the delusion some have, even to the point of grandeur and we are superior to others.  Criticism is helpful and is the only creatures that have the ability to be self-critical as well.  Constructive criticism is needed whether we like it or not.  If you are too timid to criticize when you do have discernment, you may lose what discernment you have.

You just can't say someone is getting ad hominem  [arguing to the man rather than to the argument] with you just because they get personal--when they know you and are able to make; there is a place for honest criticism. Note that the Bible says nothing about this, it is strictly man's wisdom of arguing--there is always a place for discernment.   It is not ad hominem unless you are trying to win an argument with the insult. Above all else, a word to the wise:  Don't retaliate and return insult for insult or criticism for criticism (it may escalate out of control and do irreparable damage); the Bible says it is gracious to overlook an insult.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Exposition Of Operation Fig Leaf...

Satan hasn't changed his tactics since tempting Eve with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She ultimately didn't choose good vs. evil (she had no idea what they were!), but self vs. God.  This initial sin was only indicative of all that would follow in many ways.  Rejecting the wisdom of God, the trust in His providence and provision,  and the fellowship of Him vs. Satan, et cetera.  All sin was represented in some capacity in that prototype sin.  

We would've done the same thing and ditto Adam and Eve--they were our representatives and we are in effect in solidarity with them or in Adam as the official head of the race.  Satan didn't have anything against being good, it was only in an ungodly way apart from God's plan. What is evil, but deprivation or negation of good--it cannot exist without there being good in the first place. Being good without God, that's all. That's what religion tries to do: make you decent, respectable, honorable people without God--or ultimately knowing Him.

Christianity is simply Christ and taking Him out of the equation leaves nothing to live for--it is nothing.  You can have Buddhism without Buddha, but not Christianity without Christ you disembowel it as someone has said. The kind of people the world looks up to and admires are the ones who have made good for themselves and achieved the "American dream" et al.  Those living the good life or becoming a success in the eyes of man. 

People judge a splinter group by their character and say, "They are such fine people."  Newsflash:  Christ didn't come to make bad people good, but dead people alive!  "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." (Eph. 2:1).  Christianity is not a system of dos and don'ts or a system of ethics, though orthopraxy (right behavior) is the application of orthodoxy (right beliefs).

He wants us to have an "abundant life" and "all these things shall be added unto us" as we seek His kingdom and righteousness.   He gives us "richly all things to enjoy" so God is not a killjoy trying to keep us from having fun.  Evil is just this:  leaving God out of the picture and trying to do it alone without Him.  It's a do-it-yourself proposition.  Sin can be seen as rejecting God's plan and declaring your independence to do it your way.

We're incurably addicted to doing something for our salvation according to Charles Swindoll and are naturally religious (we have been called Homo religiosus or a religious man).  What sin is that Adam and Eve chose was to put self into the center of our existence and live for self--there's no more sure way to personal disaster--the happiest people have learned to serve [live for others], says Albert Schweitzer. True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less according to Rick Warren.  

The aftermath of the fall was a cover-up and hiding from God and man is still up to this old escape mechanism.  We won't take responsibility and own up to our sins. We have to come clean and renounce all sin in our lives and be willing to let Christ transform our souls from the inside out--not turning over a new leaf or making a resolution, but surrendering the will to God's will.
Soli Deo Gloria!

Is There A Case For Pre-Trib Rapture?

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Rom.5:9).

Pre-tribers refer to Rev. 3:10 promising that the church of Philadelphia will be saved from the hour of testing that is to come upon the whole earth. The reason is that this means the tribulation or even the great tribulation after the first 3 1/2 years. Revelation specifically names the wrath of God as being poured out in chapter 16.  There is a definite distinction between the coming wrath of God and the wrath expressed in the damnation of the wicked in the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment.  John the Baptist preached: "Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" (Matt. 3:7b).   1 Thess. 1:10 says that Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come.  In John 3:36 we read that the "wrath of God abideth on [the unbeliever] him."  They are vessels of wrath (fit for punishment) and God doesn't pour out His wrath on His children. J. I. Packer says that we are delivered from His wrath both in time and in eternity.  There might be an apostate church that is left behind at the rapture, but all those who are ready and saved will be taken.  Why do you think Jesus told us to be ready?  Because we know not the hour and He will come as a "thief in the night."

"The day of the Lord" is referred to in 2 Thess. 1:2 is talking about the Lord's wrath and not the rapture, and we are not to fear that we are in the tribulation or that the rapture has already taken place.  The day of the Lord will begin when He (cf. 2 Thess. 2:7) who restrains will be taken out of the way and the wicked one is revealed--the man of lawlessness, doomed to destruction--proclaiming himself to be God.

Is there Scriptural support to describe this wrath?  Defining the word: God's wrath simply means the righteous indignation and retribution of the Lord  "The great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6:17).  It is self-evident that this refers to the tribulation and testing come upon the whole world.  Paul refers to it: in Romans 2:5 as follows:  "...wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."   Revelation 11:18 says, "And the nations were angry, and [God's] wrath is come."  (This is describing the great tribulation and final judgment of God on mankind.)  Finally, let's quote the prophet of the day of the Lord, Zephaniah,  in Zeph. 1:15ff:  "That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers, I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung ... shall be able to deliver them from in the day of the LORD'S wrath."

One must acknowledge the fact that the rapture is a "mystery" (while we cannot understand contradictions, we do not understand mysteries) according to Paul in 1 Cor. 15:51 and that God told Daniel to "seal up the words of his prophecy until the time of the end"--no wonder scholars didn't believe in it until modern times into the 20th century by most--Spurgeon knew very little of the doctrine, which was typical of his era.  However,  Paul said that he would rather have us not be "ignorant" and to be "encouraged" by this doctrine--it is not to be ignored as irrelevant.  "We who are alive shall be caught up [raptured in secret] to meet the Lord in the air [not the second coming when an earthquake takes place in Jerusalem, and Israel shall mourn and every eye shall see Him when He sets foot on Zion coming with the clouds and His saints as King and shall ever be with the Lord [it doesn't say when the marriage supper of the Lamb] but we shall return with the Lord [coming with His saints] at the second coming to rule in the Millennial Kingdom for 1,000 years.  The coming of the Son of Man refers to both coming in one grand narrative that is combined and indistinct or phased into one scheme.  But we see more clearly now that the Jews of the time of Jesus had limited knowledge and revelation.  None of the wicked will understand according to Daniel 12.

Daniel's 70th week, yet to be finished by Israel, in which God gives Israel [Jacob's trouble] another chance to be His mouth peace on earth and to evangelize like they should've done before but failed, and the job was given to the Gentiles [the church age].  The gist of Revelation is about God's dealing with  Jacob once more, and no mention is made of the church, except being in heaven, after chapter 3. Note that Revelation is not strictly chronological.  The primary witnesses are the 144,000 Jews and the 2 witnesses, who are taken out of the way midway through the tribulation.   The Book of Revelation has the promise to claim to the church of Philadephia (Rev. 3:10) that they will be "delivered from the hour of testing [trial] that is to come upon the whole earth [the tribulation].

The "wrath of God" is not the same as hell or the lake of fire, which are punishment for the lost, in which they will not be punished beyond which strict justice demands--but the wrath of God is the pouring out of His anger on all the earth and none would survive, except for the sake of the elect [there is elect even in the tribulation and a great multitude who come out of the tribulation as a result of the gospel preaching of the sealed Jews and 2 witnesses these are not members of the church age that we are in].  Note that it doesn't say that if it wasn't for the sake of "all the elect" but for the elect that are in the tribulation.   "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation ..." (1 Thess. 5:9).  God never leaves the world without His witness--there's always election to remain.

It is wicked to deny the imminence of the coming of the Lord because no one knows the hour, nor even when the hour isn't.  We can read the signs and be all the more convinced, but even John proclaimed that it was the "last hour" over 17 million hours ago.  His coming will be like "a thief in the night" and we are to be ready and have this hope in our lives that He may come today and doesn't "tarry." "Therefore encourage one another with these words"  (1 Thess. 4:18). This is the kind of mindset the early believers had and should be our model.  What encouragement is there in looking forward to the wrath of God [the wrath of God is mentioned in Revelation 16 and takes place during the last part of the tribulation, known as the great tribulation].


The disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of the "end of the age."  The Jews saw two ages, the one they were living in and the day of the Lord, or of the wrath of God to judge the world. They wondered about the end of the world. When we see signs happening, such as the fulfillment of prophecy, we should realize that these are the beginning of birth pangs [not the coming wrath though] and should assemble together all the more as we see the day approaching (cf. Hebrews 10:25).  In Matthew 24 Jesus is combining the rapture with the Second Coming and lumping the whole end of the age together; He didn't know the day or hour Himself--He only told what the Father told Him to say.   Jesus didn't preach plainly because these things were not for everyone to understand and indeed still aren't.   Indeed, the gospel shall be preached to the whole world before the end of the world and this is not only happening but will certainly take place before the Second Coming and not necessarily before the rapture itself.

It is my impression that we are to anticipate the coming of our Lord:  ("You should look forward to that day and hurry it along" according to 2 Pet. 3:12) i.e.,  to prepare for, pray about, and proclaim His coming for us. You're not going to find a proof text to show that you must believe in one doctrinal understanding of this because it is meant to be a mystery to be unraveled in its time [our age] and that means we must investigate Scripture and draw conclusions  One generation will witness all the events and will not pass away according to my view of Jesus' words and He shall gather the elect from the four winds and these are those saints out of the tribulation, not the church, who have already been raptured.  It is meant to be good news; how could it be good news if we were anticipating a tribulation to go through?  Remember the words of Paul in 1 Thess. 4:18 says: "Therefore encourage one another with these words."

Are you looking for the Antichrist, or for the coming of our Lord?  Can you honestly wake up in the morning hoping it will be the day and be ready?  "Even so, come Lord Jesus.  Amen."  Test the spirit of the doctrine and see if there are hope and encouragement, rather than despair and angst on the doctrine you hold. How can this be if you fear the tribulation--I sure don't want the mark of the beast, and I'm glad not to fret about it.

One must prove his doctrine based upon the whole analogy of  Scripture, not just a favorite passage like the Mount Olivet discourse--the prophets of the Old Testament, including Zechariah and Zephaniah, had plenty to say too, and Daniel is the apocalypse of the Old Testament that has only recently been opened to us. We are delivered from the wrath of God per Romans 5:9 and Satan wants to take away the hope of our deliverance.  Case closed!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Truth In The Midst Of Uncertainty...

It was the skeptics of antiquity in Greece that doubted you could know anything for certain (cf. the Sophists).  Romans thought that "might makes right" and didn't believe in universal truth that applied to the whole world. David Hume was known as the great skeptic in philosophy and Rene Descartes with his Cartesian principle that cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). He came about to a proof of his own existence!  Actually, Augustine thought that if you err you exist because you have to exist to err!

Modern-day skepticism says that all truth is relative to the person, time, circumstance, and event and isn't absolute:  "You can know nothing for certain," according to Alan Bloom in The Closing Of The American Mind showing that modern man believes all truth is relative (which is a meaningless statement because the assertion would also be relative). Actually, the truths they want to hold as relative are those pertaining to Christianity.

John Dewey poisoned our classrooms with his pragmatism, saying that the test of an idea was whether it worked or not, not whether it was true.  If it works it must be true.  People are convinced many things work that aren't true:  hypnotism, yoga, TM, hypnotism, astrology, Buddhist philosophy, et al.  Christianity is not true because it works, but works because it is true (there is a subtle but valid difference here).  Real truth is timeless and is relative to everyone, everywhere, all the time--it is universal and appropriate in its application.

The hot topic dated back to Pontius Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?"  Jesus said that He came to bear witness of the truth--actually, He is the personification of truth itself. John said, "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The Bible is not just true, it is truth (no other book can claim to be "truth"), but you must take it all in context in and observe the whole analogy of Scripture and remember that "the sum [entirety] of [God's] Word is truth" (Psalm 119:160a). What is ambiguous in one place will be explained or is unambiguous in another--Scripture interprets Scripture.

Satan liked to misquote Scripture and take it out of context (a text taken out of context is a pretext!); he knows enough to be dangerous. His main strategy is saying:  "Hath God said?"  He gets us to doubt the Word and putting our faith in God's promises.  Even when he tempted Jesus he used Scripture to try and trap Jesus and use it against Him. Still, the best way to combat the enemy is to know Scripture and say, "It is written" in response.  In a world of uncertainty, we can count on God's Word to be reliable and certain and it will never let us down or fail us.

To sum up, Harvard University has the Bible quote, The Truth Shall Set You Free, as its slogan. They are mistaken to think that academic subjects can liberate the soul from guilt, despair, sin, and death--we just become educated neurotics.  It has been said, "The womb forms you, sin deforms you, schools, inform you, prison can reform you, but only Christ's truth can transform you!"  Truth has an impact on the soul; we don't get changed lives by being inspired by Shakespeare.   We can know the truth and it is absolute because Jesus bore witness of it and knowing Him is equated with knowing the truth.  Soli Deo Gloria!