We teach the child to tell the truth.  Later we will punish him for speaking too loudly about the only One who is true.  How very curious.  

We send the child to church to learn to do what is right, while we sit at home nursing a hangover.  How very curious.

Do we think the Holy One doesn’t see because we do not hear Him yell out our three names?  “Paul Stanley Horton!  If you don’t stop that I’m going to. . .!”

But isn’t that what the child learns well?  Because God is hated, ignored, silenced, and made fun of, it becomes useless to go to church.  Behold!  An adult comes of age!

God DOES see. 

By His Grace

8 “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

He thought to himself, “he is weak I will corrupt him.”  But he did not know the strength the Father.  Nor did he know the strength of the Son.  Immediately it was made plain to him.

Really, is this truly the best you can offer?  You offer the son of God the creation of his Father?  It is obvious, it was not yours to give.  But you are the father of lies.

You waited for your time.  You had thousands of years to prepare.  And this is your best?  Is this the best you will offer us? 

I am given great strength at your apparent folly.  For the Son of Man is sufficient to please the living God.  By His strength we stand and we will not falter.  He has promised to uphold his own.  He is everything that is true.  He is the very word of the living God!

Come, you who would beckon the Lord’s people to the meal you now eat.  Come and make your appeal.  By His holy strength you will see we have no interest!  We have food to eat that you know nothing of.  Instead we beckon you.  Come and taste that the Lord is good.  He is mercy and food for life!

By His Grace

By His Grace

I have seen it in others.  I have seen it in myself.  God grants success in a situation and we come to believe that the means he used is sufficient for every day.

So we contrive a framework to put his means on display.  We say,  “This is what is prescribed for every condition.”   Thus the I AM is placed in a tiny box in a tiny room for tiny people to worship.

How easily we forget the meaning of his name.  He is not I WAS, though he was there.  He is not I WILL BE, though his promises are sure and dependable.  He is I AM.

He alone knows the remedy for every moment.  It is pompous and lazy of us to ascribe to Him the remedy for a moment past. 

There is no faith needed for what is already known.  But he has called us to be a people of faith.  Let us rise up and join him in the now.

By His Grace

By His Grace

Let us gather together to build a mound.  Let us amass all our knowledge regarding God.  Summon all the men who have understood, to be gathered together and place what they know, to build this mound.  Let us reach to antiquity and to the coming of our Lord.  Gather all that is cherished.

When the mound is complete let us put on golden shining cross atop it.  Then let us retreat for 30 miles, that we may appreciate the size of our understanding. 

Would it be impressive?  Yes.  But all the knowledge of man in regard to the living God is nothing more than a bump of sand in the Sahara Desert.

By His Grace

The Lord is utterly unlike man.  There is an “other” who is the inverse of the living God.  If God is not utterly unlike man, yet has spoken that his son will be the Son of Man, what is the disparity between the living God and this “other”?

It is true that the Lord’s children have once known this “other”.  But in the way of producing the fruit of children, we know him no longer.  Now we produce the fruit of children that honors the One who has purchased.  We say, with proof in our souls, “I may know of him, but I no longer know him.”

” Flesh gives birth to flesh.  But the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

By His Grace

His desire was to be given to another.  He was not fit to retain his post.  He has walked in the holiest of places and the memory remains within him.  Now he treads in a land of sweat, with the promise of far worse to come.  Do you think he’s happy?

Once, with all of heaven in his grasp he walked where he pleased.  Praise adorned him for the beauty God has given him.  Mystery was revealed.  And love was showered.  Then he was happy.  But he was not satisfied with what was given.

Now he is darkness in a land of darkness.  His name is equal to all that is stench.  He has heard his condemnation and it weighs upon his mind.  Do you think he is happy?

He is the father of lies.  What should his children think of the name they inherit?   His house is desolate; no warmth or shiny objects.  Do you think he’s happy?

He will reach out in the severest of anger.  All who submit to His wiles will suffer intensely.  His own will be gathered together with him.  And destruction will be his crown.  Do you think he’s happy?

By His Grace