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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sisyphus

Today is just tomorrow's yesterday reaching for a possession yet to come. In Christ we live and move and have our being now, while existing beyond the realm of time or mere historicity. My soul is steadfastly anchored and, despite the gray hair and the feeble knees, I press even more zealously toward the mark for the prize today as when I first held fast to this rock. As often as I am filled with God’s Spirit, is as often as I need another filling. As often as I reach the pinnacle of experience concerning the bliss of His merciful grace, I am just as constantly brought face to face with my need for more of Him. Whereas Sisyphus pushed the rock upwards in futility, I advance, being completely in the rock that pushes me, towards an inheritance gained by many stripes and the precious blood of the Lamb of God as He endured the Cross for my sake. So pressed upon am I by the tremendous weight of the glory my eyes have yet to see, that I can hardly contain the anticipation here and now. I can only respond with progressively more worship, obedience, submission, and adulation. Lord, please let it be done unto me according to the Word you have breathed forth from the beginning.

Spilled Milk

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:19)

What the apostle John experienced was that some people profess commitment and pledge allegiance at some point and then change their minds, abandoning all consent and choosing enmity over fidelity. How many church and denominational splits are examples of this tendancy?

There is no use crying over spilled milk. Yes, we are disappointed when relationships are lost. However satisfying they may be, not every fellowship is ordained to continue throughout our lives. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) There are perhaps places and fellowships which were profitable for a season and to which you should not return again. If there is no forthcoming fruit, i.e. love, where then is the purpose? Could it be that what we sometimes label as drama might often be progress, deliverance, and growth in development to move us out of harms way? Why should we cry over having been forgotten or cast away? When we have been discarded, dissipated, dropped, dumped, eighty-sixed, eliminated, forsaken, given up, godforsaken, jilted, left in the cold, left in the lurch, neglected, passed up, pigeon-holed, or rejected, just remember that God is perfect in all His ways and He is 100% sovereign. God says, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?” (Isaiah 51:12, 13) Seeming misfortune only becomes oppression in reality when the calamity outweighs the Word of God’s power in the forefront of our awareness. And so, in regards to spilled milk, as Dionne Warwick said, just walk on by.

Friday, January 15, 2010

“Love is not puffed up…” (1 Corinthians 13:4)

It is a dangerous temptation for a disciple to become so impressed with his or her own spirituality that they lose sight of the fact that not a single one of us is worthy even to lift our eyes towards heaven. Not a single human being has ever arrived at perfect spiritual maturity and holiness. Paul told us he had not “arrived.” (Philippians 3:14) “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10) Are we thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think; or, are we thinking soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith? (Romans 12:3) There is so much self promotion going on in the church and marketing of self rather than the gospel seems to have overtaken many today. I am examining myself to see whether I be in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5) “lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) Therefore, as my friend, if ever I seem out of line to you, spare not to whip me with the Word of God. Upset me if you must; just love me enough to tell me I am wrong. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) Help me, my brother and my sister, to do right in the sight of God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Every Idle Word

“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36)

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

If a personal criticism begins with the phrase “you always” then the speaker is clearly not in the Spirit when the criticism is spoken. Remember that accuser of the brethren is Satan’s primary job description. If the Bible is studied, then the student can come to no other conclusion than that love for our fellow man is to be sought “above all things.” So why do Christians so often dwell on the negative and the faults seen in others? It is not uncommon even for pastors and self proclaimed ministers of the gospel to focus more so on the wrong one has done instead of the infallibility of God’s word and God’s sovereign omnipotent triumph in the salvation of those whom He has chosen to conform to the image of His Son Jesus. I take my place in history among the worst sort of wicked men ever to have walked the earth. Yes, daily I fall short of perfect holiness and spiritual maturity. “But God…” I will not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto the complete turning around of my life. The fact that the process of my turn around, my sanctification, is not yet complete does not deter me from the confident hope I have of the future grace that has been promised and stored up for me by The Most High God who cannot fail to deliver. Daily I must examine myself to see whether I am in the faith, that Jesus Christ is in me, and that I am in Him. (2 Corinthians 13:5)

And so I admonish us all to be wary of criticism from our closest loved ones and even from our own minds. Let God be true… Greater is He that is in you, but be sure to let the mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

The Word of God is the meat that strengthens us against all of our enemies. Forget what man has testified against you and cling to the thing which Mary knew was most needful; the Bread of life, the Living Water, the Anointed One and His Anointing, the author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ.

Remember that God’s words are not spoken idly. In the beginning, God, by His Word, created everything out of complete nothingness. Isaiah 55:11 lets us know that God’s Word shall not return unto him void but it shall accomplish that which He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto He sent it. I can clearly see the love and faithfulness of God throughout history. Where I need to find love now is in the way I treat my fellow man and in the measure of my obedience to God’s Word. I am truly going to have to give an account in the day of judgment for every idle word I have spoken.

Prayer:
Lord, please empower and enable me to fulfill your greatest commandment and love my neighbor as myself. Please help the body of Christ which is the church of God in Christ answer the prayer of Jesus from John 17 that we be one even as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

My Salvation Has A First Name: It’s J E S U S

Salvation has a beginning, middle, and an end. All things, even our salvation, are of Jesus, through Jesus, and to Jesus. (Romans 11:36) Jesus, Alpha and Omega, the Word of God, is both the substance and the object of our faith. We are saved, as Ephesians 2:8, 9 clearly states, by grace through faith, not by works (i.e. baptism, charity, etc.). A good place to start, according to the apostle Paul, is confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Romans 10:9, 10) Remember that Peter couldn’t even testify that Jesus was the Christ until the Holy Spirit revealed this truth to him. (Mark 8:27 and Matthew 16:13) Hence, a person cannot decide out of the blue to be saved when and where they “feel” like it. When God chooses us and anoints our blind eyes to see, we then begin to seek Him and recognize that He is sovereign, omnipotent, and holy. Fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10 and Psalm 111:10) God says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3) All of my hope is in thee, oh God, and in your Word. I pray now that my faith fail not and that I continue to grow by leaps and bounds in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Unto Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

To Be Continued

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8)

Jesus, the divine Son and second personality of the triune Godhead who is one. God the Son, in total agreement with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is both the object of our faith and the contextual framework of love within which the seeds of discipleship can grow into faith that fails not. (Luke 22:31-33)

Hence, I propose that this Word or logos, this Word who was with God the Father in the beginning and who was himself God, is the primordial concept from which all subsequent reason came to be. Science, philosophy, and theology need not be at odds, although the goals of each are exclusive. The difference for the disciple of Christ is that the center, or ethos, is the Word of God and includes nothing outside of the truth that can be deduced from that Word. Jesus, this same Word of God who names himself Alpha and Omega, is the very God YHWH who said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” (Exodus 3:14)

Any truth that does not save is no truth at all and salvation is an all or nothing affair. Salvation, like time and reality as we know it, begins and ends with one whom alone claims to be the way, the truth, and the life. God alone has claimed to be The Most High God, omnipotent, omniscient, holy, and worthy of all glory, honor, and praise. This God talks! Though God, like Allah et al, has spoken through historical prophets, He alone has spoken directly to His creation. All other gods have remained silent because the dead cannot speak. Yet for those who believe and are hidden in Christ, the best is yet to come because Christ in them is the hope of a promised weight of glory to be revealed when He returns to claim His beloved bride and take them home. As I see it, it’s all about the picture that the language used is able to paint and the vehicle by which the transmogrification of nothingness into life is thereby achieved. I really cannot fathom it. My thinking on the glorious light of the world must for the moment come to an end lest in blindness I ramble aimlessly. Reason is finite.

Reflections

Remember that the purpose of your every breath, your every thought, and your every move is intended to glorify this Jehovah who saves. Make no mistake. We are talking about the Holy One of Israel who is a limitless, continuous, incredible weight of glory worthy of infinitely more praise than our feeble frames can muster. He is absolutely, one hundred percent holy and omnipotent. And yet, He knows your name and cares for you whom He has created in love. You can laugh it off, but God is still holy. You can deny that He exists, and He is still holy. You can play the harlot and worship another lover, and still, God is holy. Oh, to know what and who holiness is... Sing, child! Sing to the glory of the God who alone is the definition of splendor and light! Only in worship can you hope to contain, to hold, or accommodate the eternal weight of glory that is YHWH. He is upholding all things by the Word of his power (Hebrews 1:3). In him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given Jesus, that they may be one, as you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. Amen.