Monthly Archives: April 2014

So be it!

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Countless horde, await your day.  Sleep your restless sleep.  Your time has come to an end in the midst of your desire.  Warned, you continued on, mindless of what was coming.

Now what is your complaint?  Will you complain that your dreams have been stolen?  Will you desire vengeance for the plans which never found root?   Will you complain regarding your current home; the darkness of your grave consumes you.

Those who remain in the Land of the Dead morn your passing.  But they will soon join you, it is inevitable.  These, who still strive against the Gospel of Christ, make their plans just as did you.  They live as animals waiting for the slaughter.

“More grass,
more water,
more steps to take.
More air to breathe,
more sleep to take.”

To whom do you address your complaint?  Do you despise the world because it did not give you your desire?  Do you blame death because it has brought you to his house?  Did you not know it was his intent?  So now your dark heart, in your dark home, rails against the Land of the Dead?

Perhaps your greed provokes jealousy.  For God lives in his brilliantly lit Palace of Righteousness.  All the while His Holy Law has placed you where you are.  Stripped of your gain he has said, “Enough!”  And now your hands are forced to cease their work.

Your place of residence tells something about who you are.  You did not desire the will of God.  You desired the will of your own wickedness.  You have not loved righteousness and hated wickedness.  You have desired all that is evil and hated what is Good.

In your end, even now you hate the one who made you.  So be it!  What is yours belongs to you.  What is His belongs to Him.  Yours is death, destruction and End.  What is His is Life and Praise and Eternity.

Now your complaint is mixed with tears that have no water, desiring to fall from eyes which cannot see.  For you know those you knew in the Land of the Dead.  You know they too will soon join you.

Your silent complaint will fall on deaf ears as you mingle together as one group.  You would not listen nor would you teach.  Now you have been assigned your rightful place.

So be it!  Await your destruction with forced patience.  You will work the work you are now forced to endure.  The command has arrived, “Lay still and await the Holy Fire which will consume you.  You will receive the wages due to your greed and praise of self.”

Cut short!  Cut short is he who hates the Lord.  Stopped in the midst of stride.  Errant desires obliterated.  A multitude of shining days reduced to the deepest of darkness.  You are but Fuel to flames; ashes of ethyl substance, yet to become.

Be wise and listen, you who now thrive with self-purpose in the Land of the Dead.  Hear the unspoken testimony of those whose lips are sealed.  Take note of their plight for it will soon be yours. 

For now, but then

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For now we suffer a little.  How shall our suffering compare to that of Christ?  Where is our righteousness that the nails should pierce so sharply, releasing Holy blood?

For now we live in confusion.  But how does that compare to, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  how should we say our questioning is just?

For now we look to die.  But how does our death compare to that which was foretold; Not a bone will be broken.  He will make no complaint as he is led to slaughter.  And, to rise into immortality in three days?

We worship the Son of God for he is a utterly unlike us.  His faithfulness to the Holy Father is without fault.   Our righteousness is by faith alone.  But the righteousness of the Son of Man has been from the beginning, unblemished.

For now we have nothing to offer that belongs to us.  Every good thing we have is given from above, full of Mercy and Grace.  How shall that compare to the sacrifice of our Lord?  He has given that which has belonged to him from eternity, and that for the sake of his enemy.

For now we see as through a glass darkly.  But then we will know fully and be perfected by the strength that is Jesus, the Christ of God and our Lord.

Let us free ourselves from all that is unrighteous.  For now, let us worship Him in all that is true that he may then receive what is rightfully his.  Let us renew an earnest heart, for the sake of our appearing before Him.

By His Holy promise we shall be perfected.  Even though, for now, we stumble about as blind men in a freshly plowed field.  We trust, and rightly so.  For Christ Jesus has earned the right to sit as King of Kings!

Our holy cup of offering

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“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

A man who loved the Lord took his best cup off the shelf.  He went about his kitchen gathering the best ingredients for a tasty drink.  When the mixture was perfect he set it on the table and waited for his guest.

At the appointed hour his guest arrived.  When he walked through the door the man bowed to his face and greeted the Lord Jesus.  “I have waited for you, Oh Holy One.  Welcome to my house.  I have prepared I drink for you that you may quench your thirst and have what is rightfully yours.  Please come and sit, that we may converse.”

The Lord responded with a smile and went to the table to sit.  He reached out to the glass to receive what his servant had made.  But as it neared his lips the smell of sour and putrid struck his nose.  He gave the man a glance with his holy eyes.  Without a word he stood from the table and left.

The man had given what he thought was best.  But in his corrupted mind he had created a concoction of wicked ingredient.  He could not please the Lord for he did not know what pleased the Lord. 

If we are to love the Lord with all that we are, let us be sure we understand who the Lord is.

Occupation

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The Apostle Paul made tents.  The Apostle Peter was a fisherman.  There are not many of God’s people who inhabit glorious occupations.  And those who do are often assailed with temptation and corruption.  They are humble occupations which often provide for humble men.  For it is God’s will that his people become servants.

All day long people are irritated at big trucks.  They occupy their space with formidable threat. The trucks obscure one’s vision.  They always seem to be in the way.  You know sooner navigate around one truck and there appears another.  They are slow.  They are fearsome in their size.  When it rains they spew bath tubs of water on your windshield.  And when they blow a tire it seems all hell breaks loose.  Why would anyone not be frustrated by big trucks?

One would think that big trucks are an unholy aberration; frustration sent among men from the very bowels of hell.  In a large part men have no idea how correct that is.  In the beginning it was not God’s will that’s such things should be.

But do not judge the driver by the frustration he leaves in his wake.  And do not judge him when you see him dismount from his Stallion of Steel.  He is shabby in appearance; not at all the mountainous and evil man you presumed.  He is an emblem of surprise; that such a man should cause such havoc in your life.

All the while you are frustrated and on the verge of anger, you envision some hideous monster behind the wheel.  Surely he is full of hatred.  Surely he has no kin.  His mother was a rock in the forest.  And his father was but a needle pine.  He is a troll among men; a demon filled and pitiful excuse for a man.  No decent man would cause such pain.

I am a truck driver.  I take note of your fear and anxiety all day long.  I see that you are impatient.  I see that in your impatience you have no regard for law.  For you push with all your might just beyond what is lawful; that you may vanquish this enemy of rubber and steel.

But mercy attends my hands.  The Son of God sings beautiful things to my soul all day long. I spend my hours with no radio playing.  No one to speak wicked things to me.  And my days end as did the days of the Apostles’; in prayer of praise and thanks to the one who has delivered me from incident or injury to others.

I know you cannot help the way you feel.  Life demands a great deal.  But the next time you are navigating around a truck, consider that one of them contains the Holy Word of God.

Mount Sinai

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Every man has witnessed Mount Sinai.  It stands tall enough for everyman to see.  It is a Holy place.  The peak of which burns intensly with Holy Fire.  Many are drawn to it because of its blazing glory. Do not desire to climb it!

God has called one man to stand near its peak.  He delivered to that man the things he desired to give.  If you climb it you will die.  For the LAW of God makes no room for even a shadow of wickedness.

Read what Moses has brought back.  Consider yourself carefully; can you do the entire law?  Have you done what is perfect from birth?  Can you assail Mount Sinai without failing?  If not you will die.  Everyone who lives by the law will also die by the law.  And no one of blood alone will fulfill the entire Law.

We are of wayward desire.  But the desire at the top of Mount Sinai is perfect, unblemished, without fault, eternal and Holy.  Those who attempt to climb will be destroyed along the way.  You will be chared to fine ashes before you arrive at the Holy Fire.  And the torrent of Holy Wind will blow you away.

There is One who has assailed the height.  There will not be another.  He is the Holy Son of God.  He was with God from the beginning and has known his Father’s ways forever.  Though he is a son of man, he was not so by the will of man.  He alone has performed the law of God perfectly.  And now he sits enthroned at the right hand of God forever.

Without him we are but animals.  With him we become immeasurably more.  And we remember that it is written, “If even an animal touches the mountain it must be stoned or shot with arrows.”  The rock of God’s salvation will crush him.  Or he will die for the piercing guilt he wears. 

Therefore do not attempt to climb Mount Sinai.  Rather approach the mount at its base and plead with he lives above.  He is full of mercy, but he will test every heart.  Leave what is Holy to he who is Holy forever.  Do not presume that you can grasp what is far beyond your reach.  Do not insult the Most High God.

In time, if you persist in service to him, he will grant you the holiness his wisdom dictates for you.  Revere the Lord Jesus!  Humble yourself before him in his Holy Place.   In due time he may lift you up.

Climb the mountain of humility.  Its base has roots in the grave.  Pride is of the grave.  Therefore this mount suits us perfectly.  It is sufficient for a man to climb this mountain. 

This mountain of humility is often unperceived by man.  Pride and desire cloak the eyes.  And there is no blazing glory visible at its peak.  It is not desirable to the eyes and pride of man.  It’s base begins in darkness.  And its peak is in but shadows.  Though it is not perceived by many, it remains the will of God for man.

This mountain is the Mount of Olives.  Here a man comes to prepare himself for death.  Here a man comes that he may be stripped of all that he owns.  It is here that pride is beaten, humiliated, scourged and murdered.  Here a man comes to proclaim the glory of God in Christ Jesus.  Here a man comes to say, “May your Holy you will be done.”  Here a man comes to learn that God alone is good.

Mount Sinai will kill you; soul and body.  The Mount of Olives will burn away your sinful nature, while setting fire to your soul.  It is here that faith finds blazing life.  It is here that man has no glory.  It is here that we find the will of God for all men.

May God grant wisdom to those who read, according to his excellent purpose.

Patience and passion

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Below is a section from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.  I have read this book a few times.  But something new strikes me every time.

I have been writing lately about how the world will suffer due to their lack of generosity toward the Lord.  I dare say brother Bunyan has done a much better job than I.
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I saw moreover in my dream, that the Interpreter took him by the hand, and had him into a little room, where sat two little children, each one in his chair. The name of the eldest was Passion, and the name of the other Patience. Passion seemed to be much disconted, but Patience was very quiet.

Then Christian asked, “What is the reason of the discontent of Passion?”

The Interpreter answered, “The governor of them would have him stay for his best things till the beginning of the next year, but he will have all now; but Patience is willing to wait.”

Then I saw that one came to Passion, and brought him a bag of treasure, and poured it down at his feet: the which he took up, and rejoiced therein, and withal laughed Patience to scorn. But I beheld but a while, and he had lavished all away, and had nothing left him but rags.

CHRISTIAN: Then said Christian to the Interpreter, Expound this matter more fully to me.

INTERPRETER: So he said, These two lads are figures; Passion of the men of this world, and Patience of the men of that which is to come; for, as here thou seest, passion will have all now, this year, that is to say, in this world; so are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come. But as thou sawest that he had quickly lavished all away, and had presently left him nothing but rags, so will it be with all such men at the end of this world.

CHRISTIAN: Then said Christian, Now I see that Patience has the best wisdom, and that upon many accounts. 1. Because he stays for the best things. 2. And also because he will have the glory of his, when the other has nothing but rags.
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Dance to the tune of possessions, if so much pleasure is the sum of your life.  But the day will come when all that glitters will be Holy, thereby untouchable bike unholy hands.

All who chase after the things of this world, as if their true love, will abhor what is God’s.  The things of this world will rot your soul as you stand before the Most High God for the sake of judgement.  Beware, be warned and be wise.