Fatal Education


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?


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.

Water and Fire


Who can explain with words, those things that come from the Living God’s Holy and Righteous Son Jesus?  Yet haven’t we been given that “perfection” of words among us to testify?  And isn’t the testimony also given, more accurately in our doings?  Thus is the language of Heavenly Things among us and forever.

Water and Fire combine to provide Life.  They are deadly alone.  But with the Holy Wisdom of God, He has prepared a place where they become one.

How can that be explained by the words of man?  How can the mind of man understand these things without God’s revelation to his soul?

He has spoken the Words of Life to Man.  But the doing of those words requires that Man should enter the Fire of war against the flesh.  Water and Fire.  Who can explain it without the “Doing”?

Stability, the Fragrance of Love


Night or day, rain or shine, storm or tranquil afternoon; I carry within me a Spring time born of eternity.  The Love of God in Christ Jesus plays out in my heart and mind without ceasing. 

This love is like a musical waterfall of exquisite emotions, thoughts, doings and experiences.  It’s no more a religion then the beautiful explosion of love between the young man and a woman, his new found lifelong best friend.

God’s love causes me to smell the colors of the world around me.  He shows me the dance of sound in the fabric of air.  Words, all words, become living creatures as the Word of Life comes near to caress with truth.

I am useless to man.   The Living promise has finally caught me in an eternal embrace.  I tried to pay attention to the things that matter most to men, but fail miserably and often .The beautiful patience of God stoked a fire in me to make him blessed with his desire.

All of this, and vastly more, gives me reason to ponder the definition of love among men.  So very much is made of the love between a man and a woman.  Books, songs, poetry, movies, and all the trinkets produced as a celebration of joy and longevity.  All this commotion for something that cannot possibly last.  The hurricane of reality sweeps down from the mountains to devastate the joy of first love between man and wife.  Most marriages disintegrate to a bond of friendship at best.  At worst, they disintegrate to nothing.

The captivating emotions of human love produce something similar to the love of God within his beloved ones.  But people are people.  They are everything but stable.  Greed, impatience, expectations, and everything associated with self begins to ruin first love’s beauty.  Eventually death takes it all away.

But how is it that so much is made of the love of man, which is so transitory, while virtually nothing is celebrated toward the love of God?  The love of God simply becomes a place to cry out for help when everything we wanted falls apart.

The Classroom


1971.

Carly Simon released her song “That’s the way I’ve always heard it should be”

1971.
I entered the Air Force at 17 years old.

I learned from the music of that decade just like all my peers.  What chance did we have to lead godly lives?

The music of the seventies was built on a foundation of quicksand.  But that was our classroom; a godless religion of self-indulgence.

That was then.  What is the state of affairs for the young people today?

How much longer, oh Holy Lord, until the quicksand swallows all hope?

Formation


With decades ahead of them, praise in their hand,

The young folks will seek the good of the land.

What could they know of what lay ahead;

How sorrows will drench their unkempt bed.

They’ll grow old soon enough when wisdom comes home,

When abandon comes knocking; leaving them all alone.

Everyone’s salted with fire, you know.

Oh, how paleness replaces that once youthful glow.

But who can advise those who simply won’t die,

To replace youthful lust with Eternity’s eye:

Tell them once, tell them twice, tell them three times, why more?

Your words can’t draw pictures of what lay in store.

Pray for them deeply.

Love them through Christ.

Pray they’ll live meekly.

Lest their hearts turn to ice