Author Archives: hiwaychristian

Value-Driven Truth

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I have not yet parsed the following truth into an edible format.  So please forgive me if it isn’t a cute little saying.  I’ll try to keep this very short, but it’s packed with volumes of understanding.

Pride and education are firmly bound together.

If I try to give free advice to someone, they are not likely to consider it very valuable.  It doesn’t matter how priceless the advice may be.  If it cost them nothing they equate free advice with trivia.  Or perhaps worse, that I’m meddling in their affairs.

On the other hand.  If I make someone pay tuition to sit in a classroom and receive that same advice, they are likely to consider it priceless.  Having said that, I could make someone pay tuition and feed them nothing but lies and they would think it is priceless truth.  Oh wait, that’s what most modern colleges are doing.

If I speak the truth to a stranger, he thinks I am proudly wielding wisdom.  He considers me to full of myself.  If I put that same information in a fortune cookie, the receiver thinks he has found gold.

I’ll say it again and let the reader stew over this.  Pride and education are firmly bound together.

Consider:
The message of Jesus is free to any man who will listen.  He has come to us from heaven and given us heavenly words.  What he gave us is beyond any possible price.  But the world treats his words as if they are useless.  Or at best, they are useful for children only.

If he had charged admission, I suspect the world would treat his words greatly different.  And if the church would charge admission on Sunday mornings, I would guess the pews would be packed full.

You think that’s too much to say?   I don’t.

Fatal Education

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I saw the M & M’s display in a store.  The little M & M’s dude was dressed up like a rabbit.  What am I supposed to think?

I talked to the clerk.  I mentioned that the celebration of Easter is about someone special who was raised from the grave.  She happily agreed, and the conversation began.

My summation to her was a question.  “If this is the state of affairs today, what will it be in 30 years?”  And in retrospect, I remember the Lord saying, when the Son of man returns will he even find faith on the earth.

Driving down the road, I thought about the complexities of religions.  I came to that train of thought because most people will tell you there are too many opinions and not enough facts.  They refuse to investigate because they think there is no hope of conquest.

Well let me answer.

In the field of religions someone has to be wrong.  Someone has to be lying whether they know it or not.  And in all the field of Religious Studies someone has to be right.  Whether they KNOW it or not.

But using the excuse regarding opinions, people decide there is no use in chasing down the facts.  There’s too much confusion, they will say.  That’s an education that will turn out to be fatal.

A man says he doesn’t go to college because he has no need for the things they teach.  But he is educated enough to make that choice.  He has attended some sort of education that made him believe college is worthless.  His rejection of college is not necessarily fatal.  But in everything we decide, there is an inevitable outcome.

But let a man use that same premise to disregard the Living God’s Holy Son, and he commits a fatal education to himself.

Teach your children what you want.  Remain blind and ignorant all your days.  Excuse yourself from of education because there are so many variations.  Yet the Living God owns all things and will call every man to account.

He is willing to guide anyone who will humble themselves to receive.  And of all the things men strive to learn, there is nothing more important than the shape and texture of eternity.

An education of excuses.  Is this what you want for your children?  So be it.

Harmful Kindness?

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Man’s righteousness is without knowledge.  Even though we often hear him boast of how many good things he can do.  In this he wrongfully thinks he is self sufficient

The Lord Jesus told us that without him we can do nothing.  May we open our ears to hear what the world calls righteousness.  May the Lord open our eyes to see our own pathetic state of affairs.

We are encouraged to do random acts of kindness.  Personally, I’m caused to ask why.  Without the Lord, all the good we do may well be harm. 

Here’s a song by Craig Morgan that showcases our inept attempts.

Clear Minded

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The decal on the back of an old white van:

“Catch and release
I don’t think so.
Nobody released me
When I got caught”.

A cute saying.  But it lacks the fullness of clarity.  A simple question gives it a thoughtful purpose.  “But don’t you wish they had.”

I don’t care what he does in his life.  But whoever purchased the decal for that saying was not thinking with the clarity of the gospel of Christ.  How fragile is the righteousness of man, that he should speak words that are not eternally strong.

Spring Eternal

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Spring will soon come to the Northern Hemisphere.  And if the Beautiful Lord tarries we will see all the grandeur that is new life here.  In this I speak of new leaves, flowers, babies a plenty, and a comforting season.

And if the Lord moves to close the window of opportunity in this place, His people will see a Spring that never ceases.  Everything dressed in eternal splendor, that is the place of his promise.  The joy of lambs leaping, and all beautiful things.  Hearts that never cease to be glad.

Having said that, I consider what His moving means.  How glorious things will be Life (Eternal reality) for so many; the sure promise of God unveiled to his people.

But I consider the meaning of his moving for those who have despised His rule.  A winter of fire forever.  A place where Spring is no longer spoken.  A place where the warm rain is tears falling down.  A place where hope is never realized.  A place where impossibility is king.  A place where ownership means shame.  A place of horror and oppressive fear.  As surely as they have chosen, alienation from the Living God’s beauty, is theirs forever.  If they have suffered in this place, rejecting God’s offer of Help in Christ, how much more will they suffer for having despised the Grace of God?  I have no right to speak of God’s promised Eternal Spring, without exposing his promise of destruction.

In my mind I meant to write this article exposing the beauty of God’s glorious Spring, as opposed to the glory of Man’s work.  But I got caught up in his promise, for good and for shame.

What is of God is obvious.  What is a Man is likewise.  For I know that he has said that we are without excuse.  So perhaps it is perfectly reasonable that my mind was turned to the glory of God’s wise and righteous judgement with pure justice.

I wish I had the words that would turn every soul for the love of God in his good will to save us all.  Then I would have no need to speak of the promise regarding destruction.  Then I would be full of joy that could be shared to the prosperity of all who could hear.  But the word wish is proper.

God will grant eyes and ears to those who will humble themselves and seek His Holy Face.  He has promised to lead all such people to his Holy Christ .There is a righteousness that is given.  That is the righteousness that belongs to the Christian.

Let this be enough for this place of writing.  By what I have written, I am not full of joy.  For a vast number  will see destruction.  This is not my opinion or speculation, it is the word of the Living God’s Holy Son. 

The Living God has promised to give strength to those who begin and continue to call out for mercy.   Please do so, that you too may taste the joy that is Spring Eternal.

Righteous Cadence

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Doesn’t language have a lilt?  The damsel in her joy shows it best.

Each according to the place he was born, bears the music of his words.

Every language of Man has a place of musical beauty; the place where his voice like a song.

Each according to the place he was born, bears the music of his words.

Janis Joplin, it was said, had a voice that sounded like many.  But I heard her noise, it was more a noise born of chaos to destruction.  That musical lilt I could do well without.

“His voice was like that of many waters.”  Like the place from which he was born, pure and full of beautiful music.

Undertones of peace and joy are the foundation of every sound.  Truth and purity radiate from his tongue.  The lilt of heaven embracing his commands.

The noise of Man is all we’ve heard.  But wait for the sound of the Lord!  Even if we fail to understand the meaning of his words, we would soon faint and swoon at the sound of his voice.

Glory, Glory, Glory is the Holy Son of the Living God!