A Little Christmas Spirit

Every Christian should be filled with the Spirit during the holiday season as a witness to our goodwill, charity, and good cheer during the happiest time of year even for the unbeliever who shares in the common grace of God given to all to change hearts.  Yes, God softens the hardest heart and can make it like His own by a work of grace.  Christmas is a bonanza of opportunity to be a Christian witness to the unsaved and to show what our faith really stands for--peace, goodwill toward all.  For we alone know the true meaning of Christmas.   At no other time of year do we hear Christmas carols on the radio and in the stores as a matter of course.  Even infidels would agree that it's the most wonderful and wonder-filled time of the year.  Not to mention:  This season has a way of changing people and making them realize that Christianity does have some substance--it's not all pie-in-the-sky or even religiosity.  And no one wants to be a Scrooge or a Grinch!

Some Christians may even not feel like celebrating the season and believe that since the early church didn't and it's not Scriptural that something about it may be un-Christian.  By the same token, Christians celebrate Thanksgiving not because it's biblical, but because Christians of all people should be examples of owing a debt of gratitude to God and we cannot thank Him enough.  This also is a time to share our Spirit with the unbeliever.  I believe that Thanksgiving had Puritan roots and it had the intention of giving thanks to God.  If there were no God, we would have no reason for the celebration and no one to thank!  It is a time of national recognition of God whether people admit it and realize it or not.  It is one of the days some go to church that otherwise never go and do get the opportunity to hear the real meaning of the season.

Do you have the Christmas spirit? Everyone has their own way of getting into the mood from listening to music to fellowship.  The spirit of Christmas manifests itself in manifold ways.  That's why believers of all people should be examples of good cheer and have the spirit of giving (as Jesus said that it's more blessed to give than to receive).  For we realize that it is in giving that we receive and everyone has something to give--even sacrifice of time and labor if one is destitute.  I wish the season would not just be for the weeks of Advent but the Christian spirit would endure the whole year round--what an open door that would be!  It is not carnal to enjoy or sing secular Christmas songs like enjoying the myth of it as well (e.g., Santa, a white Christmas, the decor of Christmas trees and lights, mistletoe, winter wonderland, stockings, and whatever tradition has wrought).  It's not a sin to be sentimental and enjoy giving and receiving presents as long as one realizes that's not the focus and purpose of the holiday season.

Many families have traditions for the season and even make it quality family time.  There's nothing wrong with tradition as long as it doesn't controvert Scripture, but it must bow to conviction and not take precedence over the spiritual or scriptural--keeping things in perspective! But when we become the slave of tradition or it dictates our choices, there's something amiss.  Every family has a right to have private gatherings and traditions of its own.  As a family affair, it's a miracle to see Christmas through the eyes of a child filled with wonder.

We have to realize that everyone is at a different level spiritually and some people need to just have their hearts softened and to realize that Christianity has something to offer the world.   As long as we do not lose focus on the true meaning of Christmas--that Jesus is the reason for the season!  NB:  Santa, or Saint Nicklaus, was a Christian and cannot help it that such a legend has been concocted about him throughout the centuries.  Would he turn in his grave?

And therefore we should all agree that Christians of all people should have the Christmas spirit and manifest it in whatever way they can.  We need not fear to get sentimental and letting our feelings show, for Christmas is different strokes to different folks.  THEREFORE, SPREAD A LITTLE CHEER, YOU'LL BE ALL THE BETTER WITNESS FOR CHRIST DOING IT AND SOMEONE MAY SEE A GLIMPSE OF CHRIST IN YOU.   In sum, don't be afraid that it's unbiblical to spread a little Christmas cheer to the world as a witness during the time of the open door.     Soli Deo Gloria!  

    

Christian Hedonism

"My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10, HCSB).   "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21, NIV).  "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."  --Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions   "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ." --Blaise Pascal  "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried." --Chesterton

Usually, the term hedonist refers to Epicurean philosophy or the naked pursuit of pleasure for its own sake (e.g., "eat, drink and be merry...").   I am following John Piper's lead in applying this to our walk with Christ.  Christ did promise a "more abundant life" (cf. John 10:10)!  Some believers may miss the boat chasing pipedreams or fantasies, even what the world has to offer with all the devil's enticements, not to mention crutches such as supernaturalism, escapism, cynicism, and humanism.  However, the more room for Satan entails that we open the door to our enemy the less room there is for God to fill this void  (e.g., 1 John 2:15, NIV: "Do not love the world or anything in the world...").  There is joy in living for Christ and joy doesn't depend on happenings like happiness does, but cannot be taken away just like our attitude.  Paul commanded in Philippians 4:4 to "rejoice always."  The point is that we will not always get everything we want, but what we need (not so-called "felt-needs").  He knows our needs!

Fulfillment is not in the abundance of our possessions or how many toys we end up with but in the "fewness of our wants!"  God knows us better than we do and is a primary concern is not our happiness, but using us for His glory and will. Jesus said that our "life doesn't consist in the abundance of [our] possessions."  Habakkuk 3:18, HCSB, says:  "[Y]et I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!" [though he virtually lost everything but God!].  The most satisfying life is one lived for Christ and fulfilling one's calling with one's spiritual gifts.  "For you need endurance, so that after you have done God's will, you may receive what was promised" (Heb. 10:36, HCSB).  God will reward us with a heritage:  "I am your shield; your reward will be very great" [or "I am your reward"]  (Gen. 15:1, HCSB)

Some believers see our walk as of walking around on Cloud Nine or Seventh Heaven or on some perpetual religious high, however, eventually God will test our faith, bringing us down to earth.  It's easy to have faith if one is always high, but "God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart [his motives]" (2 Chron. 32:31, NLT).   We are not called to wear our religion on our sleeves nor to parade and flaunt our faith (nor to privatize it either though--per Daniel's example!).  Character is only built through adversity and trial, not spiritual feelings. We can learn to rise above our feelings and be equal to the challenge!   God is more pleased with faith than feeling anyway (cf. Heb. 11:6).  We must learn to walk by faith (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7) than by our feelings which need not to be confused with facts.  The point of feelings is that they follow they don't lead (first comes fact, then faith, then obedience, then feelings).  Pascal pondered:  "If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?  If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?"

The devil likes to catch us on a spiritual high as well as when we are depressed or brood. He knows our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," according to Henry David Thoreau.  Carl Gustav Jung said, "The central neurosis of our time is emptiness...."  Depression or the doldrums aren't necessarily bad but a natural course when God is speaking to us and we need to heed His Word--don't go by feelings!  We note the "downcast" spirit in several psalms:  Psalms 42, 43, and 143, not to mention Nehemiah.  Often people don't know the reason or what is going on spiritually.  Anyone can experience a depressed funk and show one has feelings and it is a pity some have none!  It shows something is wrong and we need to do some soul searching--it's a warning sign or even an omen!  Note that when we are at our weakest Satan will tempt us and we should not "ignorant of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11, HCSB).  Sometimes it's good to feel not so good because we realize something is amiss or God is speaking to us.  We all experience trials, troubles, affliction, and adversity and it comes with the territory; but the Chrisitan life is not hard, it's impossible!  We can only live it by God's indwelling power, not the energy of the flesh. We have the power to live in the Spirit!

And in conclusion, Christians seek joy in the Lord and contentment (cf. Phil. 4:13) rather than satisfaction of every whim or fantasy and basic happiness.  Those who chase fantasies are fools. Christians have dignity, purpose, and meaning in life that the secular worldviews cannot offer! We don't live for the hear and now or short term like secularists but in light of eternity; however, one day at a time (cf. Psa. 118:24)!  We're not pleasure-seekers but have learned to find it in God!  We have a different outlook on crisis and adversity:  we see opportunity and possibility in them and room for growth in our walk--that's why no one can steal our attitude!   And the answer to the question, "What's your pleasure?" is to please God doing His will of service with a smile, or practicing and applying everyday, practical holiness!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Old Humanism

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."  --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Humanism isn't a newfangled idea or concept but was an idea concocted or developed by the Greeks in antiquity.  They sought to make man the measure of all things or that everything is related to man and interpreted with him in mind (known as Homo mensura in Greek).  This was promulgated chiefly by Protagoras. The actual roots stem from ancient times (post-diluvian or after the flood aka the deluge) when the people sought to make a name for themselves (cf. Gen. 11:4).  Man has always had trouble with the truth because his pride gets in the way; he tends not to accept the authority of God and seeks to be his own man.  Sin is basically that:  the declaration of independence from God. As it is written (Rom. 1:28, HCSB):  "And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God...."  In fact, Voltaire went so far as to define God thus:  "Man has created God in his image."  And Sigmund Freud went on to insult God as being a "projection."   

By definition, humanism is the deifying of man and the dethroning of God!  Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed unashamedly that "God is dead," which meant that He either doesn't exist or is totally irrelevant.  They exalt man and ignore God or make Him irrelevant, even declaring Him dead. What kind of God dies?  But our God refuses to and will not die!  What they are doing is worshiping man, because man is by nature a religious creature that is hard-wired to worship someone or something and never can claim to worship nothing even if he's a self-proclaimed nihilist or atheist.  They are parading themselves and are braggadocious of their own achievements, not God's accomplishment, and in this way are very religious.  John Dewey, who co-wrote Humanist Manifesto [I], in his book Common Faith, posited that we can be "religious" without "religion" or claiming no official or affiliated religion.

It sounds offensive to say, "Glory to man in the highest!"  This is counter-intuitive but is what they are maintaining unawares.  Man is not worthy of worship but man cannot but worship someone or something.  Humanists tend to live in the here and now and refuse to let God into the reckoning.  Without God in the equation, man is without purpose and hope and is empty.  This void or God-shaped vacuum can only be filled by God according to Blaise Pascal!  Sartre said that unless one considers God in the picture, man is a "useless passion."  Christians, on the other hand, live their lives in light of eternity, not just for the mundane and the present circumstances--they can live above them and have hope for the future that lifts the spirit. Augustine of Hippo is known for maintaining that man is restless until he finds his rest in God.

Humanists live for themselves like animals in heat avoiding pain and seeking pleasure.  But Christians live for God and have a higher purpose in living that brings meaning and definition.  They have a destiny to live out and a reason for being.  I want to point out that even Christians can become humanists by letting their pride get in the way and becoming self-centered and selfish and losing track of the will of God, seeking short-term pleasure in life instead of a life defeating evil and the power of sin.   And when Solomon says that there's nothing new under the sun, he's right in that even Adam and Eve were humanists when they ate of the proverbial apple and sought their own wisdom, pleasure, and meaning in life independent of God's will and love.

We must realize that God has a purpose for everyone and Christians realize fulfillment in God only.  God even made the wicked for the day of evil.  When we have served our purpose God may call us home to glory, but we're all here for a purpose that we may not be aware of.   Paul said in Col. 1:16 (MSG):  "...[E]verthing got started in him and finds its purpose in him."  We are all here for a reason and must never say as the old proverb goes:  "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:32; Isa. 22:13; Luke 12:19).  Those famous words are in Scripture and man has always been guilty of this kind of thinking.

Julian Huxley wrote Religion without Revelation to point out that we can be good without God and don't need God or believe in absolutes to have ethics or morals.  That's basically what Satan has always tried to convince man since the Garden of Eden:  We can be good without God, or we can be as gods!  This is what's so deceiving of false religions because they may seem good on the outside and people are tricked into thinking that they mean well, but Satan knows how to insert just enough error to be dangerous and inoculate one from the truth and deceive with an element of truth.

In conclusion, we'll never arrive at objective truth (true regardless of whether it's believed and apart from personal input or perspective) unless we start with God in the picture, as Athanasius said, "The only system of thought into which Jesus Christ will fit is the one in which He is the starting point."  We must not begin with man and explain the universe or explain away God, but must begin with God and explain everything else: reality, man, the world with all the academic disciplines, current events, and history.  The Bible starts out with the opening words, "In the beginning God...." for a reason, and it's theological as well as rational.  Even without realizing it or becoming atheists, they are practical atheists are really maintaining:  "Down with God; up with man!"  Au contraire!  The divine viewpoint should be:  "All the world is relative to Christ," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Carl Henry said, "The Christian belief system is relevant to all of life."  Soli Deo Gloria!

God Is Here

"But no one asks, 'Where is God my Maker, who provides us with songs in the night'" (Job 35:10, HCSB).
"Yes, You are a God who hides Himself..." (Isa. 45:15, HCSB). 
"'I was sought by those who did not ask.'  I was found by those who did not seek Me.  I said:  Here I am, here I am..." (Isa. 65:1, HCSB).
"What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence of God nor his manifest presence, but rather the presence of a hidden God."  --Blaise Pascal

Jesus' name is Immanuel or "God with us" as interpreted.  Christian faith can be reduced to knowing Christ and making Him known, done by living for Christ and having a consistent testimony that isn't jeopardized.  We know God well enough to recognize His presence and the moving of the Spirit.  Francis Schaeffer said that Christianity is about the God who is there!  It's not just believing in God, but God in us!  We must believe in God as He is and not as He isn't; i.e., in truth!  There is another Jesus, another gospel, and another Spirit to beware of (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).  We don't just believe there is a God but believe God!

The point is that God resides in every believer via the presence of the Holy Spirit, and Christ in us is the hope of glory.  We are His heart to spread love, His ears to listen to those in need and troubled, His hands to do His work, His voice to speak up for Him, and His mind to think His thoughts and explain or defend God to the unbeliever.

One prof wrote GODISNOWHERE on the blackboard and asked his students what they saw:  most thought it meant that God is nowhere! It should be:  God is now here!   We see what we want to see or are conditioned to see, and if we have no faith in God we will not believe He is here!  Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place!  As Francis Schaeffer postulated:  "He is there and He is not silent."  Don't rule God out of the picture, for only He sees the big picture! God is ubiquitous or omnipresent and has no interstellar address!  He literally fills the heavens!  His immensity refers to the fact that all of His attributes are everywhere present, not limited or bound by space or time.  Think of God as dwelling in another dimension in which we are unaware.  But we know He exists because of the things He does just like we know the wind exists by its effects.  This explains William Cowper penning his hymn:  "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."

We need not wonder of God's whereabouts, for He's always as close as the mention of His name--He is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself to everyone who diligently seeks Him (seek and you will find!). When the skeptic asks, "Where is God?"  Reply, "Where isn't God?"  The believer sees God in all of creation from the sub-atomic to the interstellar with everything in its order and design according to the Designer.

God is both transcendent and immanent!  He is"not far from each one of us" (cf. Acts 17:27), yet He dwells in the heavenly spheres (cf. Isa. 57:15). He is present through the ministry of the Spirit and works in each of us according to His will.  Since God created the time-space continuum, He is not obliged to be limited to it nor defined by it but can suspend its power and act outside its forces.  Christians are more fortunate than contemporary believers who didn't have the resident Holy Spirit and the complete canon of Scripture to be our plumbline.

In summation, we should all be like famed Bro. Lawrence, a French Carmelite monk, who practiced the presence of God even doing the mundane chores of dishwashing and wrote The Practice of the Presence of God, a good-read and classic study in the discipline of one's prayer life.  NB:  "... [A]nd the name of the city from that day on will be: Yahweh [the LORD} is There" (Ezek. 48:35, HCSB). I'll close quoting Francis Schaeffer again:  "He is there and He is not silent."     Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Fatherhood Of God

Adolf Karl Gustaf von Harnack wrote What is Christianity? downsizing the faith to the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.  This is both right and wrong depending upon the premise.  If we are saying that we are all His offspring as Paul said in Acts 17:28, then we are all fellow brothers (love our fellow man!) and members of the human race and it is true that there is one God who is God of all regardless of faith, but this is not a justification for universalism.  God is our Father as believers and this is the Christian covenant name for God though He was the Father of Israel and urged them to call Him Father as well (cf. Jer. 3:19); however, the Pharisees thought Jesus was presumptuous to call God His Father.  

God is both the Almighty God and our personal Father. NB:  When we call God Father, we are appealing to His authority and position, not His superiority over the other co-equal members of the Triune Godhead, which entails the God the Father as an eternal relationship to God the Son--He always was the eternal Father and didn't become the Father.  In short, addressing the Lord as Father shows respect for His authority, use of a protocol in prayer, a feeling of familiarity and intimacy.

We have special access to His throne room as believer-priests.  We can gain entree via the virtue of the intercession of Christ on our behalf and because we are now legitimate sons of God and members of the royal family of heaven.  Our Father is called the Heavenly Father in Matthew and Jesus taught us to pray to Him with this rubric.  The Jews felt estranged from God and not in a fellowship like we are and addressed Him mainly as LORD God or as Lord. That is still His official title and the covenant name He will be known by (the YHWH, the Tetragrammaton is known as Yahweh) but God has opened the door to us to readily enter on family terms.

Behold what manner of Father we have:  He gave up His one and only Son to suffer and die for us; He is the Author, Planner, and "Purposer" of our salvation; or that creation was from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.  He wants us to feel right at home with Him as if He were a human natural father. Because of Christ's intercessory work on our behalf we have the privilege to go right to the top and God always has an open-door policy of quick access.  The parable of the Prodigal Son shows what patience and longsuffering the Father endures for our sakes.  It is true that no matter what we've done, we are still His children and He may chastise us but we will not be disowned as His children.  No one in Scripture is unborn, unadopted, or disinherited from God's family.  Learning from the prodigal son, we find out that God is waiting for us to repent and return to His grace.

God the Father is in the business of remolding us in His image since it was tarnished by the Fall.  What He does is take away everything that doesn't look like Jesus much the way a sculptor removes pieces of marble until it forms the image he so desires--he chips away at everything that doesn't look like the subject!  Sometimes we may have to go through the school of hard knocks but the best way to learn is directly from the Word applied to oneself.  

Note that with humans there is no guarantee that their children will turn out to be regular chips off the old block or as misfits, but with God, we are all guaranteed a future and heritage that won't fade away--a permanent legacy and home with Him.  The story of the gospel could just as well be:  Criminal gets pardoned of a capital crime by the judge who pays his penalty and adopts him as his son to live with him in his house.

We know that we are progressing in our faith when we feel comfortable addressing God as Father.  Some believers have not yet learned to see God in this light, while others only see Him in that manner thus putting God in a box:  He's more than our Father--He's the Judge, the Savior, the Lord, the Author!  He's the one who had the purpose behind it all and planned everything from eternity past!  When we say, "I like to think of God simply as my Father," we are putting Him in a box or labeling Him and restricting our spiritual growth and awareness.  Also, it is erroneous to construe God as a projection of some need for a father-figure, as psychologists would have.

Some people have had a history of experiences with their earthly father and cannot picture God in this manner, in fact, many so-called enemies of the faith have come from broken homes or estranged father-son relationships.  It used to be that Father knew best, but in today's society he is the object of ridicule and satire, parodied, and ends up being the butt of jokes.  This is merely a sad commentary on our time, not a reflection of how good God the Father is.  

It is our society that is sick and sinful not the Bible for portraying God as our heavenly Father.  Parents together stand for God's authority over children in the home and it is sometimes called in loco Dei or "in the place of God."  There is a direct correlation between one's relationship with one's father and how one sees and relates to God the Father, whether there is a reconciliation and healed fellowship or not.  You cannot have an estranged relationship with one's father and claim to be at peace with God the Father.     Soli Deo Gloria! 

"To Justify The Ways Of God To Man" (quoted from John Milton)

"Expect Great Things From God; Attempt Great Things For God." --William Carey, father of modern missions in a sermon.

John Milton penned Paradise Lost to defend God's veracity and justice in His dealings with mankind.  This was an attempt to reach out to many who would not otherwise want to hear any type of apologetics from a Christian and had many audiences:  the skeptic, the cynic, the doubter, the contra-Christian, the fence sitter, the newborn believer, the adolescent believer, the mature believer, the backslider, the pagan, the nihilist, the earnest seeker or searcher of truth or the so-called answer, the sophisticated, the naive, the cultured, the Bohemian, and even the curiosity seeker.

We must realize that we don't always know who will read our Christian writings, and should be open to the idea of feeding them despite their identity or affiliation. Know the audience!   Did you know that William Shakespeare was a devoted Christian who mentioned Jesus Christ in his will?  We can recognize and verify this by his hundreds of direct quotes and allusions to the Bible in his plays, sonnets, and poems.  If you remove the Bible from his works, they seem to be empty and aimless.  He had a Christian worldview and probably felt that his mission was to reach out to the lost.  Many people have doubtless come to faith in Christ by first being softened in the heart by Shakespeare's biblical references.

Many people and students of literature don't realize that our Christian heritage in Western Civilization has been dominated or greatly influenced by Christian literature: Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy) , John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress is perhaps the most famous and popular allegory every written), Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe), Robert Browning, Victorian poet with famed wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet laureate (In Memoriam), Robert L. Stevenson (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped), Charles Dickens, Victorian author (A Christmas Carol), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German Shakespeare, (Faust), not to mention countless unsung heroes of literature.  In fact, the very first novel published in the English language, Robinson Crusoe, was most likely meant as an outreach because one can tell by his biblical references drilled into the conscious and unconscious by illustration and repetition.  I remember the one verse that stuck out in my mind that changed my way of thinking about literature with the impression only the Bible could make ( cf. Psalm 50:15, HCSB):  "Call on Me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor Me."  This verse is made real because we see it fulfilled in the storyline and one sees it so often that one is impressed. I may have already been a believer, but this verse brought conviction and God's Word doesn't come back void according to Isaiah 55:11.

There are twentieth-century authors who have greatly influenced literature and the unbelieving masses.   J. R. R. Tolkien, who wrote The Hobbit trilogy and C. S. Lewis, author of the classic children's series, The Chronicles of Narnia, have been seen as movie productions, plays, and the subject of literature courses at schools of higher learning, as well as high school English classes.  These novels use imagery and metaphoric language to portray Christ.  Did you know that it was Tolkien who converted Lewis by telling him that Christianity is the great myth that has come true?

It is a great ambition to want to reach the lost for Christ in new ways such as writing fiction/fantasy, and many analogies and metaphors can be used.  But it is vital that one knows one's audience and not forget who you are targeting and keep in mind who to reach out to and you want to resonate with and strike a chord with that will indeed vibrate for eternity. He knows where his audience is and where they should be and want to be.  It is a sad commentary on our decaying secularizing culture that it is the best-selling authors who are shaping the values, morals, and ethics and even faith of our society.

But we need not give up the world to the pagans and lose by default and concede everything away without a fight; for Christianity has always survived because it has out-thought, out-lived, and "out-died,"  the competition. Basically, we are referring to the discipline of apologetics when we defend our faith and try to make it palatable to the unbeliever and this can even be in the format of literary apologetics like that of Tolkien and Lewis.  We need more authors to compete with the secular world and welcome any effort by a writer who feels called or gifted to enter this endeavor or discipline.
Soli Deo Gloria!

Throwing The Book At Believers

"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God"  (1 Cor. 4:5, NIV).

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.  One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?  To their own master, servants stand or fall.  And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand" (Rom. 14:1,4, NIV).

"...[B]ut my people know not the rules of the LORD" (Jer. 8:7, ESV).

"[F]or they do not know the way of the LORD..." (Jer. 5:4, ESV).

Some law enforcement officials like to throw the book at hardened criminals because they never seem to learn and could be repeat offenders and need an incentive to go straight.  Some overzealous police officers like to go for the maximum penalty for criminals they are offended by and they tend to get personally involved in.  We must seek to be like God who in wrath remembers mercy!  Jesus didn't exactly throw the book at the Pharisees but condemned their hypocrisy in obeying the letter of the law and ignoring the Spirit of the law.  We must never be so obsessed with minor points or the little things that we lose track of the main focus and issue of our faith, to love God and our fellow man through the power of the Spirit.

This is everyone's problem:  we don't always see our own sin.  We all have the tendency to overlook our own faults and be offended by the sins of others when we should be offended by our own sins!  The faith had degenerated into merely an externalism and Jesus intended to make it a matter of the heart and something that starts from the inside and becomes real and sincere, not just for show. 

The Jewish faith had devolved into externalism of certain favorite practices:  circumcision, fasting, Sabbath observance, tithing, dietary laws, hand-washing, and various sacrifices.  They certainly didn't impress Jesus with their religiosity and neither do we with our legalism and of going through the motions and memorizing the Dance of the Pious.  The Pharisees were rules-obsessed and also wondered what they had to do to earn salvation as if there was some merited work involved.  Jesus answered that the work of God is to believe in His Son!

Even today we still have the issue of legalism in our churches which does nothing but strike a wrong impression of our faith and create a paralysis of spirituality.  It is a parody of the real thing or life in the Spirit, walking with God.  Some Christians seem to reduce the faith to just following the rules and are just converted to the program, not to Christ Himself--they haven't yet realized the fullness of the Spirit in their lives and what it means to walk with God like Enoch, Noah, and Moses did.  According to the record in Genesis, Noah was a "just man, perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."  That's would look good on anyone's resume!  We have the resident Holy Spirit and the full revelation of Scripture and have no excuse for not doing likewise.  

Yes, we can become friends with God and know Him as our Father in our faith.  This is the Christian privilege and we ought to make our faith real and demonstrate or prove it by our good deeds or works of faith. After all, the faith you have is the faith you show!  Without any works, our faith is suspect; our faith must be validated by works and works must spring from faith!  The Reformers had the simple formula for our salvation of being saved by faith alone in this rallying cry:  Salvation is "by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone!"

An example of the legalism of the Pharisees was their fetish about the Sabbath Day.  There really wasn't any hard-and-fast rule as to what constituted work, but they concocted 39 additional definitions or categories to be construed as work or forbidden activities to do on the Sabbath.  Observance became a burden rather than the joy it was meant to be.  Jesus warned them that they missed the point of the intent of the holy day: in that, it was made for man, not man for it (cf. Mark 2:27).  We must not reduce our faith to simply following the rules or enforcing a code of conduct, for it's a relationship and way of a new, fulfilling, abundant life in Christ.  

Only Christians are truly free, the unbeliever is a slave to sin.  Christians are those whom Christ has set free--not free to live as we want but as we ought.  We may be free from the law but not from God's will!  The law was given to convince us we don't keep it according to D. James Kennedy.  It was never meant as a way of salvation but as a measure of a man and to show him where he falls short of God's standards.  Those who rely on the law are under a curse (cf. Gal. 3:13).

We must not be so confused with works and do-goodery that we lose track of the ultimate goal of our faith; i.e., enjoying fellowship with Him and getting to know God, the aim of our salvation.  In fact, being saved can be seen simply as knowing Jesus and making Him known!  We must not feel we have to do good deeds to impress others or show off like wearing our religion on our sleeves and flaunt it, nor should we privatize it; however, we ought to grow in our faith and make it real by a life that is honoring to our Lord and worthy of Him--free of all hypocrisy; for we don't need perfect, doubtless faith but only sincere, unfeigned faith.  We must realize that hypocrisy is what offends God, not a person who says, "I believe, help mine unbelief!"

The only thing that interferes with our fellowship with God is sin in the camp or sin in our behavior and conduct.  We must keep short accounts of our sins and confess them as soon as we get convicted and realize them, not letting them stack up until we feel like making a confession.  Note that our fellowship isn't merely with the Father and the Son, but also with our fellow believers!  We cannot and must not become Lone Ranger Christians or go, rogue, because no man is an island and we all need each other in the body--no individual has all the spiritual gifts, but they are all given for the benefit of the body.

Now there are certainly gray areas or matters of personal conscience (and we all should be convinced in our own minds) and we are not to judge our brother nor flaunt our liberty and ruin their conscience or make them stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12). We must not judge our brother in matters of conscience and no one has the right to lord it over another.  The weaker brother needs to grow in knowledge, while the stronger one needs to improve in his love and understanding or sympathy.  We may have the right to do something but it's not always the right thing to do nor does it benefit.  

As Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:23, HCSB, "'Everything is permissible,' but not everything is helpful.  'Everything is permissible,' but not very thing builds up."  The important thing about our liberty in Christ, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (cf. 2 Cor. 3:17) is that we must not let anything control us or make us its slave.  As Romans 6:16 says, we are slaves to the power we choose to obey.

We all have a duty to obey our conscience, and to go against it is neither safe nor right according to Luther, though it can be wrong, it should be enlightened by the Word of God.    Jiminy Cricket told us to always let our conscience be our guide, but this is only valid if it's enlightened and informed by Scripture.  We must bear in mind that the old nature knows no law, while the new nature needs no law--we do what is right naturally and God convicts us when we go astray from the straight and narrow or the fellowship of God.

We must put aside the pointing of the finger and playing the blame game (cf. Isa. 58:9), for we only seem to condemn or judge in others what we are guilty of or is our weakness or area of pride.  What most offends us, we tend to look down on others for and we may have been guilty of it ourselves.  We must always give God the glory in our defeat of sin and of having a victorious Christian life--we can not walk with God in the energy of the flesh or without newness of life in Christ.  In the final analysis, I believe that man is religious by nature and tends towards legalism because he's incurably addicted to doing something for salvation as if it's a quid pro quo.

It's the job description of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin and we should never attempt to try this ourselves because He does it good enough without our help using the Word of God.  It is said that if we live in a glasshouse, we should not throw bricks and Jesus also said that he who is without sin cast the first stone.  We need to stop being so offended by the sins of others and look within at our own hypocrisy and how repugnant our sins are to God and should be offending us.  We must always make allowance for each others' faults and realize that we are all works in progress and God isn't finished with us yet (cf. Phil. 1:6)!

NB:  Christians are not under the law as the Old Testament saints, but we have a higher law to submit to--the law of love! The law of love can never be satisfied or fulfilled, for we will always be in God's debt.  Grace does mean this:  we cannot pay it back, don't deserve it, and cannot earn it!   We have the privilege as believer-priests to go directly to God and seek restoration and continued ongoing fellowship.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Liking Someone On One's Spiritual Book

"And I pray this:  that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment" (Eph. 1:9, HCSB).
"... People without discernment are doomed [ruined]" (Hosea 4:14, HCSB).

We don't just "like" someone on Facebook, but also in everyday life as we choose for ourselves who we want to look up to and emulate or even just feel a natural affection for.  We don't have to "like" anyone, not even on Facebook!  Of course, this doesn't mean we don't have to love our enemies, our neighbors, and brethren in Christ, but this is agape love from God and is a choice of the will, not a matter of feelings.  Loving and liking are not synonymous! 

It has been pointed out that we must love our enemies (I believe this means personal ones, not enemies of the state, for example) as well as our neighbors (those in our orbit or association and those who need us) and even friends because often we cannot tell the difference; they may be the same person!  We cannot always control our feelings and have the God-given right to exercise affection to whom we will. There is usually a natural affection for our family and kin and this isn't something demanded or commanded either.  We must love with all discernment and insight and not without discrimination.

Note that the Bible doesn't command us to like our parents nor for wives to like their husbands, but to respect and honor them which is different.  The point is that you can love someone without liking them and you may not feel much affection toward a baby who needs changing, but your love doesn't waver. Love is basically a choice and an attitude, not a warm, touchy-feely, fuzzy feeling.   Love takes many forms and I do not mean to over-generalize and make it seem like it's natural or okay to dislike everyone like we're everyone's judge and critic.

But practically speaking, one may not like one's political leaders though one believes in rendering respect and honor to whom it is due; but when a politician is evil and corrupt that entitlement may be precarious and lost because of our higher allegiances to principles and God.  That doesn't mean we don't obey our leaders when giving a law or legitimate order or command, but even in the military one may dislike one's commanding officer and yet show due respect by obeying, saluting, and even saying "Yes, sir!" when necessary.

There is redeeming social value in everyone due to the image of God in them, though this image is tarnished but being renewed after salvation. The point is that no one is totally evil nor utterly corrupt, but they are radically corrupt before salvation (we are as bad off as can be but not as bad as we can be due to God's restraints) and every aspect of their character and person is affected by the fall.   But overall, we have a right to like whom we choose to like! We all must have standards and not "like" indiscriminately without discernment. 

However, even if my enemy needed me, I would respond in a loving manner no matter what I thought of his personality or character.  I think that there is more danger in saying one really likes a perceived evil ruler rather than saying he doesn't--I would wonder if he's taken leave of his senses and lacks any discernment.  Likewise, we don't have to show respect or deference to everyone either, besides not violating their person or as being fellow human beings in the image of God with personal rights and dignity--we show respect to whom it's due!

In summation, we may feel we like certain people especially and befriend them--this is an honor, not a demand--we have a right to choose our friends but not our relatives whom we must accept and tolerate, not necessarily even like.  We aren't everyone's friend either!

NB:  The terminology of liking and loving someone is overused and misused in the English language and often we need to define terms or elaborate on what exactly we intend to say like Voltaire said, "If you want to discourse with me, define your terms."   Soli Deo Gloria!

Our "Aha!" Moment

"Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions" (Psalm 119:18, NIV).

Some believers experience "Bible fatigue" (the verses lose their pazzazz or zing) i.e. when they're over-familiar with passages and need a fresh perspective or cup of discernment.  A good panacea for this is to explore various translations because there is more than one good translation no matter what methodology they use.  However, we all need a spiritual wake-up call to our calling and Christian purpose and gifts in our walk.  

Many Christians experience God in the Scriptures on a regular basis with an existential encounter with God known as an "Aha!" moment in the Word--which may be a sudden awakening or enlightenment due to the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes.  When we feel God is speaking to our hearts and we are hearing specifically from God in the Word, this may be seen as an "Aha!" moment also.  There should always be something in the Word that we want to "Amen!" as it opens our eyes to the spiritual.

I can remember as a youth fleeing from my girlfriend because she was trying to seduce me--that was the first time I made a moral choice to obey my conscience.  My revelation from God in the Word came when I realized that we cannot lose our salvation, known as eternal security, but, when we sin, Jesus intercedes for us and the Father disciplines us to bring us back into the fold.  That's when the Bible was opened to me and everything seems to fall into place, I practically went through the complete New Testament to see what would happen if there was no eternal security--there could be no assurance of salvation either, for they go hand in hand and can only be distinguished but not separated.  This doctrine of the perseverance of the saints was the one I cut my spiritual teeth on and now I read the Bible through the lens of sound doctrine, opening up a new dimension.  The next "Aha!" moment I had was when I realized my spiritual gift and where I was to fit in the body of Christ.

Other believers such as Peter had his personal "Aha!" moment when he realized that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Paul had one on the road to Damascus when he realized he was kicking against the goads or fighting God's will.  Even pagan Socrates had his "Aha!" moment when he awoke from his dogmatic slumber and began to teach with effectiveness to such a degree of success that he got in trouble with the authorities for his strange lessons that seemed to ridicule the Greek pantheon and had to take hemlock for his punishment in corrupting the youth and speaking against the gods.

We all need to confess our faith and to share it to make it ours--the only way to keep it is to give it away!   The point is that if we relate things God has taught and shown us, He'll give us more insights, but if we ignore the light He gives, it may be withdrawn.  Some people need to learn in the school of hard knocks before they get their "Aha!" moment, but those who are able to learn via the Bible are the blessed ones in God's estimation.

The point is that everyone is entitled to an "Aha!" moment and God will try to reach everyone, even if they reject Him.  It is true that we reject Christ an average of 7.6 times before accepting His lordship over our lives and trusting Him as our Savior.   The whole world is blinded by the devil and walks in darkness according to the prince of this world and is under the power of the devil until they are set free in Christ.  If we make a positive choice, one that leans in God's direction or comes to the light, God will show us more light (give us more "insight for living")--He is no man's debtor. If we refuse light, it's withdrawn.      Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Joy Of Possessing Nothing...

"Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!"  (Hab. 3:17-18, NIV).  
"...[A]nd the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions" (Obadiah v. 17, ESV). 
"... Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich" (2 Cor. 8:9, NIV).   
"... Freely give as you have freely received" (cf. Matt. 10:8).  

We possess nothing, yet we make many rich!  Sometimes a person has to come to the end of himself financially (e.g., bankruptcy, devasting illness, traumatic event, crisis, or natural disaster) before he realizes that he doesn't need a lot of his "stuff." The Bible states life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions!  Contrary to modern thought, he who dies with the most toys doesn't win!  Actually, riches are in the abundance of our possessions but in the fewness of our wants!  

For example, when we move many realize when taking inventory that we find out we don't need or want a lot of our "stuff" anymore and toss it or give it away.  There is a certain liberation getting rid of unneeded or unwanted belongings and paraphernalia or junk.  We find out what is really important and of value.  You hear of people in fires who say they lost everything, but money can replace much of what they are talking about.  It is the things money can't buy that are really valuable.

Friends are few and hard to find, and if you have too many you don't know who your real friends are.  You cannot put a price on friendship because friends come with benefits and there are always certain perks to knowing people--sometimes it's who you know that makes a difference in your life, not what you know.  The Bible says we cannot buy love!  Habakkuk mourned that his fields didn't bear fruit, but thanked God that he could still rejoice in the Lord despite it.  When we lose everything it may be a time to reflect on the fact that all we really need in life is God and he will take care of us and supply all our needs.

Lacking no good thing is not the same as having everything:  God blesses everyone in some ways, but some in many ways--for God is good to all.  God never promises to meet all our wants or felt-needs but has vowed to meet our needs according to His will.  Actually, the less we possess the more freedom we have (I'm talking about material goods that seem to accumulate over the years and some are even called packrats!).  It is wonderful to know that you've got God and that's what really matters!

When Jesus said that it's more blessed to give than receive, He's not just talking about monetary gifts of alms to the poor or offerings to the church, but all our material possessions (and all blessings and provision) and of giving away our "stuff" to someone who will enjoy it and make better use of it than us--and they don't have to wait till they die to will things away.  To him who would borrow, give!  That's the Spirit! 

 For instance, there is a joy in not just giving randomly, but to someone who will make good use of it and invest it for God's kingdom.  We must realize that we are mere stewards of what God has blessed us with and everything actually belongs to God and is on loan!  It has been wisely said that nothing really belongs to you till you are ready to let go of it!  The more liberal our giving of all God's provision and blessings, the more thankful we prove ourselves in our receiving.  For we are only blessed in order to be a blessing as God's conduits.

In the final analysis, we don't really possess our possessions till they are seen as belonging to God and us as stewards.  To quote Saint Patrick:  "...For it is in giving that we receive."  Corrie ten Boom, after the Holocaust, said:  "Hold all t[h]ings loosely."   In sum, sometimes we all need is to be tested to see what's of real value to us and where we place our personal worth and what kind of appraisal we give of our lives, being asked to give of what we hold dear and affectionately (e.g., time, energy, money, property, etc.) and we find out the real reason for living outside the world of materialism--we will not be happier by merely possessing more "stuff."       Soli Deo Gloria!