Monthly Archives: May 2012

Expectation Overload

by

0


With a binding minimum wage of w the marginal ...

With a binding minimum wage of w the marginal cost to the firm becomes the horizontal black MC ‘ line, and the firm maximises profits at A with a higher employment L . However in this example the minimum wage is higher than the competitive one, leading to involuntary unemployment equal to the segment AB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just read a post from a man who is in a leadership position.  It seems that today’s competitive environment has caused him to consider his role in the company.  One day he prepares his resume for another place of employment.  Another day he finds the strength to continue.  I couldn’t find a place to add a comment for his post.  So I “Liked” it in the hopes that he would come to see who visited his post.

I have two things of importance to lay against this problem.

1.  When I first became a Christian I endured the obvious turmoil that the Lord brings to a sinner’s soul.  Often I considered leaving because I wasn’t fit for the positions they gave me to fill.  Then one day it came to me that, though I was severely unfit for my post at least I cared about fulfilling it.  And if I abandoned my seat I wondered who would come along to fill it.  In the end it wasn’t enough to sincerely care.  The position demanded fulfillment.  And this brings me to point two.

2.  I have found that the lie of competition and demand are far too much pressure for a man to rely on.  What I mean is that people often expect too much from us.  They see a need and, apparently, they have found a body to fill that need.  Now it is up to the individual who is being pressed to make a choice;  “Do I continue, knowing that I can’t do what they ask?  Or do I resign and accept something that I know I can accomplish with faithfulness.”

If the seat I hold is too much for me I will not fulfill the expectations.  How is that much different from having someone who lacks devotion fill that post?  We are forced to lay aside the demands of our culture of perfection and seek a place where we best fit.  The Lord will lead us there.  Bottom line, are we willing to lose so that we can become more efficient, according to the skills the Lord has given us?

I have found that losing hurt deeply.  But I wonder how much more damage I would have done to others had I stayed where I didn’t belong.  Now I am in a place where I can contribute with ease.

It is my sincere hope that this post will help someone deal with the problems associated with unreasonable expectations, whether they come from inside us or from others.

Restraint for the Sake of Christ is Better.

by

0


Saint Paul with a Scroll and a Sword.

Saint Paul with a Scroll and a Sword. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Traveling around last night I got to listen to a Christian AM station for a while.  It was a “Bible answer man” show.  They were talking about two men who had married each other and had two children in their house.  These two men attended a Methodist Church in which the caller also was a member.  And the question was, “What should we do  with these men?”  Their presence among the congregation was beginning to cause some serious divisions.  And something was about to be brought up regarding them.

The host bantered the Scriptures which dealt with the issue of homosexuality.  And settled on the remembrance that we are commanded to love without judging.  In the end, the caller was quite sure this situation wasn’t going to end well for the congregation.  It seems that these men are quite likeable.  So there was certainly going to be a split in the congregation as the problem was dealt with.  The host mentioned that “likeable” has nothing to do with salvation from sin.

I drove for the next hour talking the issue over out loud.  And fell on the following:

One sin is not any worse than another.  Though there are severities of involvement to be considered.  A man might fall into a sin once in a while (that besetting sin).  But another might be completely immersed in that same sin.  Now there is a difference in that, obviously.  The deeper we are caught in a sin the harder it will be to wrench ourselves from it.

These men are so immersed in their sin that they have chosen to make it entirely public, even to the point of raising two boys.  Now their sin is marked on absolutely everything they are.  To break with this is going to be a horrendous problem.

That said, I came to the conclusion that these men were doing something rather different from most who practise homosexuality.  They had come to present themselves to the body of Christ as if there were nothing wrong with their chosen sin.  They expected full acceptance regardless their standing with Christ.  Everyone in the congregation would surely know that they were having sexual intercourse together.  After all, isn’t that what homosexuality means?

Now I set their situation against another sin to see what people would do.  What if I were completely immersed in porn?  What if I decided that the Church had to accept me like that and not require that I lay that sin away from me?  What if I, like those men, paraded my sin before them?  Suppose I wore a t-shirt to Church which had the faces of a number of my favorite pornstars on it.  Do you think I would be asked to cover it up, or go home and change it?  Why?  If those two men can appear in person and flaunt their sin before the entire congregation, why can’t I go there and flaunt porn?  And if I were a “likeable” sort, do you think it would make a difference?

There is a distinct difference between being caught in a sin and flaunting it.  If those men really served Christ they would at least be aware of offending others with their sins.  As it is they are a division as they walk into the midst of these people.  How is that Christ like?  It would be better for them to remain separate as they worship God.  Then they would not be the cause of such a difficult choice, as the Church comes to the point where they need to make some decision regarding their presence.

I won’t go into the Church leader’s failure to preach a fine enough line to have hindered this problem in the first place.  Now that it is a problem among them, they’re going to have to deal with it.  I conclude that the congregation will experience a horrible split as they deal with these men.

It would be better for all of them (provided the men really want to worship the Living and Holy God) if these men would stay home and study the Bible, pray, and seek the face of God.  As it is they are also guilty now of causing division in the Body of Christ.  I remembered that the Apostle Paul said that if eating meat offended his brother he would eat meat no more.  If that is how crucial Paul saw an individual’s responsibility toward unity in Christ, what of these men?

I don’t condemn them for their sins.  I simply point out that flaunting our sins in the Body of Christ is the worst thing we can do.  Obviously, these men don’t consider their “brothers” in Christ to be more important than their flaunting of sin in their faces.  Along with the aboration of homosexuality, they now count to themselves the destruction of unity in the Body of Christ.  And all this for the sake of selfish gain.

The Great Cloud of Witnesses

by

0


Glory

Glory (Photo credit: mr lynch)

I do not worship you.  For I stand where you stood.  You work is done.  And I will soon join you to witness the work of our God.  You are the great cloud of witness which surround us in true light.  For now you sleep a “waiting”, even as now we endure a light which is the greyness of dawning.

We will meet together in a place designed by the One who called us all.  And there we will announce with one voice all the Glories that belong to our Lord Jesus.  Without eyes I see you.  Without knowing your face, I know you.  For the same Spirit of God will bring us to the same place of worship, praise, and honor to the One who causes our dry bones to live eternally.

Glory to the One who has spoken all promises of hope!  Even Glory to Jesus, The Worthy One of the Living God.  Amen

Our Personal Altar

by

0


Jesus, my God and King.  I stop here to lay a white stone on the top of my altar of life.  As a child I started this altar with little balls of mud I rolled in my hands as I encountered the truth of Your Holy ways.  Each little ball  represented a firm truth that was only perceived, not yet learned to live out in my ways.  But each one gave you Glory for Your perfect teachings.

Next came the smooth little pebbles I found on the edge of the River of Life which you took me to go see from time to time.  You let me drink from the edge as was wise according to Your endless wisdom.  Then you drove me back to where You found me to have advanced.  In this You watched to see what I would do with what You had given.

Then You drove me to the edges of that vast desert of life among men.  Walking out a half day’s journey, I received what you offered to prove my heart.  Dryness, loneliness, stark reality appeared before me as a living image of the relationships between man and man, and God and man.  Jagged rocks began to be placed on this altar of Glory to You.

You gave me strength I did have.  You gave the strength of Sampson from time to time.  And I placed immense boulders on the altar as You brought me to them in “The Way”.  You did not let me go around them.  Rather You bid me pick them up and stack them for Your Glory.  Amazement and worship filled me as each bolder of trouble was removed and placed on this Holy testimony to Your eternal love.

And now I reach in my pocket and pull out a smooth white stone.  With loving fingers I place it atop the great and growing pile of worship to You.  Through prayer I let it go to see where it will rest.  Little noises come to my ears as it finds its way to rest amid this pile of testimony.  And I watch it disappear into the pile.  As it became Yours, it now is hidden from sight.  Only You know where it now lay.  And all the more is Your Glory.  For You will testify that it has been laid within the altar which can never be torn down.

Glory is Yours!  For You see what we cannot.  Even the understanding You give us finds its place in our heart.  We perceive where You placed it.  Yet, even as we perceive it the understand disappears into the man You are causing us to become.  Only You know where it lay.  And on the day You cause us to appear before You, You will expose each response to what You have done.  All Glory is Yours.  And this will be so forever.

These words are Yours.  They come from a servant You have blessed with life.  I testify to man.  But You see the testimony that even Your servant cannot perceive.  Thus all Glory is Yours Forever; and that to the Glory of Your Father who Lives in unapproachable light!  You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God, are worthy of every possible good word.  May all who call on Your Holy Name do so with a trembling soul.  For You are given Immense Beauty from the God of all things.  You are worthy!  And Your worth is stamped with the approval of the Father of Life.  Amen!

The Alarm (Don’t push snooze)

by

0


The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland.

The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I look around at the people I see.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at those who have a clue about Jesus.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at the remaining few.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the extreme calling to holiness from the Lord.

I look one more time and what does my mind perceive?  I see a tiny few who have entered into the full scale war against the flesh by the power of the Spirit of God within them.

How can I say this?

Let’s take a look at what I have just said by considering a number.  Let’s give it the value of 100.  I’ll be generous because I don’t know the state of people like the Lord does.  I’m only making these statements by what my mind can perceive.  The Lord sees the heart of every man.  I can only look on the outward appearance.

Out of the 100 I see 75 who don’t care at all about the things of the Lord.  Out of the remaining 25, I see people who recognize that God is greater than any man.  They attend a service or two.  But there is very little difference between their lives and that of the first 75.  Ask them about the Bible and they can’t answer.  But they will tell you they believe in Jesus.

Out of that 25 I see, perhaps, 1 or 2 who are awestruck by the things of God in Christ Jesus.  Their lives are turned upside down by the Gospel of Christ.  You won’t see their prayer life very often.  But it is obvious that they are intense in their prayer life.  They are so distinctly different than all the others in everything they do.  These are the ones everyone else hates.  Not because they are Bible thumpers harassing everyone else, but because they make the others look bad just by being alive.

What makes the difference?  And how do we encourage any of the other 98 or 99 percent to join this tiny band of people?  I confess that I don’t know how to incite others to become absolutely sold out to the things of Jesus.  All I know is that it is impossible for any man to attain the full measure of dedication to the Lord.

I take a look at this from my own perspective (I’m not allowed to judge others in their faith.  So I am forced to look inward to explain this).  What do I see within myself that provokes me to a deeper commitment to the things of Heaven?  I see the warnings of Christ Jesus ringing from every “house” within my mind.  The warnings are not words to me.  They are a screaming call all day long and into the night.  I wake and I hear the warnings.  I work and hear them.  I sit still and they provoke me to think of Him.  Everything I encounter has that sound ringing loudly from it.

Who makes this sound I keep hearing?  Did I wake up one morning and decide to make a mental bell to sound in my mind?  That’s foolish to consider.  This state of alarm is from the Lord.  I asked for it.  And He gave it.  I will tell you that I know He can silence those bells if I prove that I’m not willing to obey His next command to me.  It is the Lord who does this to me.  And I conclude that He has done it to that 2 percent I mentioned above.

Now what of the rest?  I don’t know.  What is the threshold of entrance into the things of God through Jesus?  I don’t know.  Some point to the simple confession of lips, which mouth the name of “Jesus”.  Ok.   I can’t accept that.  The bells don’t mellow their sound when I consider going that direction.  So I conclude that perhaps it is a good beginning.  But it is obviously not the end of the road.  In short, I can’t testify that speaking the name of Jesus is good enough.  There’s more.

Is it going to church or even reading the Bible when we feel the urge?  Nope.  Still got that alarm going off.

How about if we go to church and listen to the sermon really hard?  Nope.  Bells still ringing.

Ok.  Then I’ll try be a good man.  Nope.  ALARM!

You see what I mean?  No matter how deep I go into Jesus, there is still an alarm sounding which calls me farther.  How then is it a good thing to be like any of the others?  And woe to me if I teach myself to ignore the sound of alarm.

I post this, not to brag about my Christianity.  But to open a discussion in the heart about the urgency of Jesus’ call to all men.   I care, and I can’t afford to care, where you are on that list of people.  What does it matter if I say one man is such or another?  Each of us gives complete account of ourselves alone.  I’m just trying to open a can of worms here.  Let’s see where they slither.

Bling Bling or God’s Perfection?

by

1


Bling bling armband

Bling bling armband (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the flesh, all men and women analyze their value.  Do I make enough money?  Am I popular enough?  Am I as attractive as I can be?  What do people think of what I do?  The focus of the flesh is always placed on what others think about us.

Now I ask myself, “What value has all that been to me?”  If I were to present myself as beautifully as possible to man, there would still be many who would find plenty to criticize.  And I would be forced to either hate them or go back to make a better try.  In the end, I will get old and of no value to those who set the trends of society.  So I quit trying to please man in that manner.

As is our nature, when we can’t find acceptance in one place we look for it in another.  So I turned to God.  I read that He is willing to accept us through the work of His Son.  And I embraced it well enough.  As I became clean, however, I found myself thinking I would again present myself to man.  “Surely they will accept me now that I don’t do the things that are ugly.”

A rather large surprise greeted me at the door to humanity.  I realized that they hated God and all His ways.  And if I now embraced God and His ways, they were more than willing to hate me too.  So, with perplexity in hand, I left man and all his ways.  Now I serve the Living God with vigor.  He is far more comfort than anything man has to offer.

I make this post to testify that God is better than the world in every way.  A tiny few will believe what I have written.  But the Living God has told of this from ages past.  What’s the summation?  Look to man and you will die a very slow death of competition, greed, pride, and every form of wickedness.  Look to God and He will show you every good thing.  Satisfaction belongs to those who place themselves completely in the hands of the Lord Jesus.