Tag Archives: Bible

Nail it Down Now. Don’t Add to Regrets.

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Screw the deck boards in

Image by mathowie via Flickr

The deck out back wasn’t built very well.  The uprights aren’t spaced evenly.  And there aren’t enough of them to steady the weight from wiggling laterally.  It’s old.  And the nails they used are beginning to loosen.  I’ve hammered them back in a few times.   But they come loose again each year.   The frost, rain, and heat do their work to loosen what was done.  So I’m putting deck screws into the joints to help the deck last a few years longer.

While I’m doing this, I’m looking for similarities between my Christian walk and the deck I’m working on.  (No. It never stops with me.)  Then it dawned on me.  I consider the shoddy work done at the beginning of building.  And I’m here doing work to make that bad work last longer.  It will either come down on its own some day, or it will need to be torn down and rebuilt.  Either way, it won’t last as long as it might have done if the work in the beginning had been done well.

Consider your Christian life.  If you have had a rather shaky start, or allowed the world to mingle with your Christianity while you were forming the foundations of your faith, you’ll be fixing it till your last day on earth.  If you’ve begun a strong foundation to your Christianity, you’re likely going to be able to support more weighty problems.  And you’re less likely to be swayed by the winds of wickedness that the world will throw at you.

If you’ve had a shaky start, get in there and strengthen what remains.  Isn’t that what the Lord told us to do?  Keep what you have.  There’s no sense in tearing down what remains.  Refine your faith in the Lord.  Nail down those weak questionable choices you keep making.  Solidify your understanding in the Lord and learn what the Lord’s will is for you.  

Why am I out there sweating like a water faucet today?  I’m out there working on the deck because it needs to be done if I expect it to endure another winter or two.  What about you?   How long do you expect to have to endure this world’s assaults?  1 year?  30 years?  You’d do well to start strengthening yourself now.  The Christian walk either gets harder or easier come the end of your life.  Either you’ve planned and learned well to obey the Lord, or you’ve begun to forget the foundational teachings because you’re letting the world influence your choices.

By His Grace.

At a Loss, For Now.

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Various Federal Reserve Notes, c.1995. Only th...

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I don’t know what to do.

I don’t know what to say.

The truth I speak of man’s demise,

Is causing you to delay.

You think that life is gained by toil.

And conquered by our strength.

And so you battle earnestly.

To gain what you can’t keep.

What stops our growth is plain to see.

It’s the proclamation sure.

That God demands a willing heart.

Not, all the world endure.

A Testimony Given.

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In this 1768 parchment, Jekuthiel Sofer emulat...

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The following is from a conversation with someone else.   The Lord allows His people to speak according to His wisdom.  And His wisdom should not be bottled up.  So I post this here that more people might have a chance to encounter the Gospel.

I am not a wise man.  But God is Fully Wise.  It is God who will be glorified.  And it is simply man’s duty before Him to serve in whatever arena God allows. 

The person had made the statement that the first command Jesus gave was that we love our brothers as we love ourselves.

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Actually, the first commandment Jesus gave us all was to Love the Lord with all . . .

Now let me go a bit afield, then I’ll try to narrow it down a bit. I hope this isn’t one of those stupid moments.

I have to go to the dentist soon. OH MAN I HATE GOING THERE! I’ll sit in that chair and she’ll do a number on me. The smell of burning bone is hideous. But I gotta go if I want avoid looking like Mater in the movie cars.

How do I know I have to go to the dentist? It’s because I have a mirror. I notice that I chew kind of awkward. Sometimes there’s a whistle attached to my “S”. And my Lady has kind of let me know a few times that wedding pictures would look better if I went.

Ok… that was as far afield as I planned to go. Let me try to bring it back home.

If the first commandment is to love the Lord, then everything after that is going to have God in it, solid and foundational.

I know the things that suck within me because I have looked long and hard into the words of the Bible and saw as much of my real self as I could stomach. I listened to the preaching and teaching of hundreds of men who knew the intimate details of that Word. I noticed how much of a fool I was compared to the Glorious nature of the God of the Bible. And as for a comparison to my Lady’s comments: We who have accepted the gift of forgiveness of God in Jesus, and allow ourselves to be taught by the Holy Spirit He gave as a seal are refered to as the Bride of Christ. There is a wedding to attend. And it won’t be good to attend full of evil, foolishness, unholiness, and rebellion. So as much as it can be a hard task, pride must go by the wayside, and humility must take it’s place.

The second commandment, which you mentioned is to “love your neighbor as yourself. So if I love my neighbor as myself, what’s that mean? I hate who I am. So am I allowed to hate my neighbor also. Not likely. I find I don’t hate everything about me. What I hate is the stuff that doesn’t align with God’s Holy ways. I don’t hate being alive or free to choose. I hate being a rebellious fool. So when I see others acting like the things I hate about me, I’m allowed to speak up, given that I’ve begun a rapport with the person. And allowing that I’ve at least begun to address the same behavioral problems with in myself.

I know it’s a long answer. But I thought the clarification might be useful.

“Not to mention the Christian God simply cannot exist because it defies every understanding of every fundamental law of physics.”
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The Bible teaches that God is completely “other”. He is absolutely not like us. Nor does He live in a world restricted by the same physics we endure. So I’m not sure judging the validity of Christianity based on the known science of the day is a really sound refute to the claims of the Bible.
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On top of that, something that is supposed to be perfect cannot create imperfection. If God is perfect and created humans, because humans are imperfect that makes God imperfect which would make God LESS than God.”
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What God made is a creature who is able to function with free will. (I have a personal theory why the creation happened in the first place. But maybe that will come up at a later date.) He didn’t create sin. He created a place removed from His Holy Throne where free will could play out among a people who had never seen the face of the Most High God. In the end, God reserves the right to harvest from this place of testing. But there is absolutely no indication that God created anything imperfect. He did warn Adam and Eve that if they chose wrong there would be a deadly horrible price to pay.

And please don’t forget that the Bible mentions another character who has no regard for anything pure or Holy. He plays a rather central role in what I’ve come to refer to as “This Place of Testing”.

By His Grace.

From Not to IS.

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GLORIOUS COLORS

Image by whologwhy via Flickr

Ah, the wild imagination of man without God.  That he calls what IS as though it were not. 

Ah, the Glorious strength of God.  That He calls what is not as though it IS.

Bend the knee and worship He who redeems the wicked!

By His Grace.

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Testimony Born of Trials.

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John Bunyan's Tomb

Image by Noodlefish via Flickr

In a cell Pilgrim’s Progress was born.  And long after the penman’s body had turned to dust, the “scholars” of this world began to recognize the value of this chain birthed word of the Lord.  Since then, the work of God has found its home in the hearts of millions.

Has God placed you in a certain place of personalized suffering?  Do you own words of understanding born of stripes?  Speak with the wisdom of God.  Testify to His Glory.

By His Grace.

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Are you?

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A Solar Flare, image taken by the TRACE satell...

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Are you ready?

Are you watching?

Are you actively working through the Holy Spirit in the Work of the Lord?

The universe will see the Glory of God descend to earth.  The sky will rip open with the Holy Fire of God to reveal the Lord of Glory as He comes to gather His people.

Are you ready?

Are you watching?

Are you actively working through the Holy Spirit in the Work of the Lord?

By His Grace.