Monthly Archives: January 2015

“Happy Birthday”

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My birthday approaches.  But no man will help me celebrate.  No one will notice, for I am not one day older.  They will not perceive my age by white hair or wrinkles.  And few will perceive my age by the words I speak.  Yet the years of man have produced a different soul.

I am 61 years old in the flesh.  But I am about to become only 29 years old in the Lord.  The birthday of my flesh is the twentieth day of a summer month.  I was wise enough to write down the day of my baptism years ago.  The ink says January fifth of 1986.

Now a curious question comes to the front.  Are these years and dates really correct?  There is proof that my flesh came to breathe air on a certain day.  But what about my soul?

Shall I say I made a choice to become a Christian?  The word duress comes to mind.  For if I refused, death remained my only eternal belonging.  I can make absolutely no claim to righteousness before the Living God.  I am His because of His Holy Purposes.

And what of the tiny baby I became?  Who gave that babe a soul?  Who purposed His own desires?  Who provoked me to think like I have become to think?  Doesn’t the Bible tell us we are destined to appear because He determined our days?

What of this thought:  I purposed to become sin.  But He determined my day of eternal birth.  And there is yet a day of completion!  At that moment, I will not have a third birthday.  I will be ushered into an age of dayless eternity.  Who will remember his entry?  By what moment in dispelled time will such beings mark passing years?

For now, nights and days have marked the place I am.  But the day comes when there is no differing shadow.  To this I look forward with a peaceful anxiety.  Then, when the Age to Come appears, “happy birthday” will be a forgotten phrase.

Perception

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My past has brought me to a place where I should not have arrived.  Yet what shall be said?

From birth, the desire of God was not the sin I embraced so tightly.  He had plans for this soul which did not include the wickedness that covered me.  Yet today, I find myself where I stand.

Now I seek to know Him with diligence; that I might receive His Holy wisdom, that I might understand His Holy will to the doing of it.  Before His Holy Throne, He knows these things to be true.  Yet my doing is clouded with two things.

First it is clouded with the teachings of man I have embraced in the past.  Though I seek to be released from them, they obscure purity of understanding.  Thus my doings are diminished to some degree.  So be it.  What can be done with the mind a man brings to the Gospel?

Secondly is the testimony this past brings to the people who have known me while my sinful ways appeared before them.  It is not enough for me to say, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his home town and among his own people”.  This puts the blame on others.  I will not allow that before His Holy Throne.

Should we resist His teachings: “. . . do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”?  And what shall we do with the following scripture: 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5)

I search these things this morning.  I search to own His Wisdom for these things.  I find certain truths waiting for me, as I appear before Him.

I was not obedient before He taught me His ways.  I balked at those who taught the truth.  How then am I different now, than those who oppose my testimony?  Yet, how can I settle for their balking?  (The specific problems that provoke this introspection are not worthy of public display.  Suffice it to apply to the things which accompany your own testimony)

What is the answer?  How can it be anything other than continuance of the things that provoke the Holy Chasm between men?  The Gospel divides by its very essence.  There is the Holy, and there is the way of man.  They collide at the very presentation of God’s Holy covenant in the Blood of His Holy Son.  It will not be dispelled.  Jesus remains a rock of offence.  And all who embrace His Lovely ways, will become some measure of that offence.  To myself I must yell, “DEAL WITH IT!”

I have resolved, by the demands of our Lovely God’s commands, to obey.  Not because I have agreed with His Holy ways in the past, but because He provokes me to adore Him.  I will continue to display love.  I will continue to serve.  I will put on patience.  I will learn!

If they do not perceive, what is that to me?  If I make it my dedication to notice their refusal, I will fall into a certain judgment of their rejection.  That will bring this difficulty directly before the Holy God’s Holy Throne.  He will be forced to judge between us.  How can I count that as “good”?

Without trying to be self-righteous, let me expose a portion of my prayer in regard to these things.  “Lord, Holy God of all good things, do not judge between my brother and I.  Let the fault rest heavily on my shoulders.  Do not hold anything against any man in regard to me, but free them all from accusation.  No one can sin against me.

But let me embrace your Holy wisdom.  Cause me to understand what must be done.  Show me how to make things right.  Be strong with me, I beg you for mercy in Your Holy and Righteous Son, teach me your perfect way.

Let them be a fire against me.  But do not count that fire as sin.  Release them.  But ignite me.”

Can we rightly respond any other way?  We are the ones who receive eternity, at the hands of His Holy Promise of Mercy.  How should we ask for retribution for some perceived “wrong” done to us?  (Even if that “wrong” is a rejection of the Gospel we have come to adore.)

And how should I shake off the dust that comes from the lives of those I am put in place to love?  How shall I leave them?  How shall I put up a wall against them, and between us set a chasm?  The answer rings like a mighty bell on a hillside, NEVER!”

May the Holy Lord of Life grant wisdom to the doing of these things.  May His eternal freedom clothe all His people.  May we, indeed, become that brilliant light He has given His perfect Blood to secure.  May we strive to be godly and holy in all our dealings of this sort.

Glory for all Good things belongs to He alone who is Good.  We are but a shadow of His Righteousness, even as we “accomplish” His Rightful Demands.

Amen.

Holy Becoming

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Two teams of men accomplished the securing of position yesterday.  The glory of man has become theirs.  Oregon and Ohio, have established the sum of their training.  Accolades are given.  Hopes of many rise to tumult.  And a place of decision waits to see the victor appear.

But there is an accomplishing that transcends any glory of man.  There is a “sum of training” that waits to be revealed.  Accolades for such as worship the Holy Son of God await.  But it is not a tumult of pride for those who endure into “The Faith”.  It is a Holy Noise of praise for the One who bought them.  It is a life of Holy power to become His.

The victory has been secured.  The world knows nothing of it.  They worship the accomplishments of their own hands.  But we wait for the New and Holy Song to appear from within our secured souls.

Let us train now!  Let us believe, listen, obey and become today!  Why can’t we overcome and glorify the Living God with the sum of our training?  Isn’t it because we have balked at the expectations and willingness of His Holy giving?

The victory has been secured.  What is this victory?  That the Living God cannot lie.  If He has proclaimed us as belonging to His Holy Son, then we can rightly receive His proclamation.

Rise up today!  Become, for the sake of His Glorious and Holy Name!  Then the testimony of His Righteous Son will shine within us.  Then we have no shame.  Then we have no fear.  Then we witness profusely and without ceasing.  Then we do not struggle for words.  Rather, we become His Holy Word.

Encourage yourself.  We only fail to stand because we have not believed.

Prove Yourself

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We all assess by what we perceive.  What people do and say means a great deal.   Such things tell everyone who they belong to.

I assess the world by the people who belong to its constructs.  Are you a good representative of the world’s expectations?  Do you believe all the hype about what “righteousness” and mercy are?  Do you perform the appropriate hypocrisy demanded by the life you choose to lead?

There are only two camps in all creation and heaven.  One is of satan.  The other belongs to Jesus, the Christ of God.  If you belong to the world, then do the things of satan.  Show your allegiance diligently.

Why should I not expect this from you?  You readily expect holiness, pure righteousness, uncompromising mercy, and godly love from Christians.  Why do you think expectations are only one-sided?

Teach me what the world believes.  Show your true colors.  But you don’t.  You hide behind all kinds of shifting beliefs.  Who can nail down what the world believes?  Who can point at satan’s kingdom and say, “That’s what he believes forever”?

But what the Lord Jesus is, remains plainly seen.  You chide us because we don’t perform according to your expectations.  What is that to us?  You don’t even know what’s expected from you.

I challenge the entire world to prove what’s true among all men.  Remove the Holy Law of God, and prove what’s true to me.  You won’t be able to do it.  You’ll find yourself full of doubt before you begin to speak.

Why don’t you stop pointing your wagging finger at Christians, and consider your own beliefs?  You’ll find hopelessness, but isn’t that why you currently despise those who seek after the Holiness of God?  Your ways are hopeless.

The only thing you can rely on is chaos.  And you’ve been taught to thrive within that construct.

The Gospel remains among you.  Seek it out.  Take a long and hard look into it.  Expose your very soul to its teachings.  There you’ll find the truth you are currently missing.