To All Who Lead


How very typically pompous of men to create division in religion, or even civil matters.  Yet by the very nature of things in creation, hierarchy necessary.  For there are things among us that are holy.  And to our shame, there are things among us that are debased and thoroughly wicked.

Regulation of rebellion is required for the simple sake of life.  For the sake of even a semblance of order, hierarchy among men is required. 

You leaders of people; hundreds, thousands, or millions, have you considered what has given you your authority?  Have you considered what seals life among us?  Or do you believe that you have attained your position by your own strength of strategy?

The will of man can produce nothing but continuous death.  How then can hope prosper among us if the leader’s only visions produce destruction? 

The ways of Man are nothing but death.  Do you know this?  Have you even considered this? 

You are set in place by necessity.  Have you taken the time to consider the meaning of the word “righteous”?  Have you considered that there is a storehouse from which all things righteous come?  Have you appealed, continuously, to the Holy One of God for help in the decisions you make every moment?  If not, how can you hope to produce anything good from the very place you have been given to inhabit?

Holy Father I ask you to broadcast this message.  Even as you have done with all things in creation: glorify your Holy Son, that Your will may be accomplished among men.  I place this message in your Holy hands.  My hands have strung the letters together.  But the message belongs to your Holy Son, Your Righteous One, Jesus the Christ. 

May Your mercy allow understanding according to your excellent will.  By Your Grace alone my God, and this through faith, may Your Holy will be done forever.

Amen.

By His Grace

The Singular Enemy


I have an enemy who stocks me day and night.  Nothing I do, ever escapes his notice.  He is more agile than any beast of the field, and can do more damage than any lethal weapon of man.

Though I do the very works of God, he stands ready to destroy.  With the slightest of movement from his vicious hand, he can undo years of accomplishment.  And my only hope of escape from his prying eyes is death itself.

What kind of creature is he?  And what name should I give him?  I am not speaking of the father of lies.  I am speaking of myself.

By His Grace

Success of Enticements


The world demands that Christians be demure and live in obscurity.  Look how they threaten.  Look how they isolate and murder our brothers.  Look again, and see how effective their tactics are.

As it was in the beginning, so it is to this day.  There are those who profess allegiance to God in their mind,  but their thoughts are peniless, homeless vagabonds.

Offer them a house, and they gladly receive.  For they have no house of their own.

By His Grace

“NARROW!” I Said, “Narrow!”


13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7)

What is this “narrow gate”?  And why did Jesus say, “few there are who find it”?

The narrow gate is this: “37 . . .Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22)

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” (Luke 13:24)

The reason why there are so few who find it and enter, has everything to do with greed.  Men are destroyed because they want everything for nothing.

No man will enter the hope and Holy will of God, thus eternal life, without putting Christ first among all his things.  Take note of how greedy desire restrains you.  Take note of how callously you use the name of Christ Jesus.  Take notice how carefully you avoid prayer.  Take note of how many pages in your new Bible are still uncut.

How can any man travel any distance while he has tethered himself to a heavy weight?  All the pleasures that belong to this world will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Nor will the man who holds them dear.

Look within you.  See, with honesty, what you hold dear.  Is it the will of God?  Or is it love for what you can gain here? 

You say you don’t know the will of God.  I ask you, have you looked into it?  Or have you preoccupied yourself with all the pleasures of this world you can gather?

There are two reasons why most men never enter the narrow gate.  The first is that they hate restriction.  The second is they love pleasure more than they love God.

If you want more provocation to do what is right, consider this, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go in there by.”  If you are one of those, you will certainly be destroyed.

If you don’t care if you are destroyed, what more can be said.  But if you care about whether you live or die, be wise.  The choice is entirely yours. 

Follow the crowd and you will die.  Follow after God and you will live.  Follow the crowd and you will feel safe.  Follow after God and they will abandon you.

By His Grace

The Pain We’ll Never Know


Build a house on your property.  Build it to your own dreams.  All the windows just the right size and pointing to just the view you had in mind.  You used the certain cedar you wanted, and the house smells Wonderful!  When you walk from one end to the other, there is nothing about this house that doesn’t meet your joy.  All your dreams and hopes are finally come to fruit.  It’s a beautiful place and you’re perfectly happy with what you’ve accomplished.

Now it’s time to invite your loved ones to come see it.  When they arrive they too are astounded at the beauty of the place.  There is a great joy because you finally get what you’ve dreamed about for so very long.  After a joyous celebration in the back yard, and many trips from your friends into and around the house to marvel at what your hands made, the guests filter home.  You are left alone in silence with your wonderful peaceful accomplishment.  And, finally, you’re happy.  To bed you go.  Your first night’s sleep in your dream house.  Oh it’s not possible to explain the joy you feel.

You wake up the next morning and stare at the intricate hand work of your bedroom.  “Beautiful”, you sigh.  After getting dressed and enjoying that exquisite view out your bedroom window, you skip down the stairs to make a pot of coffee.  “What’s that smell?”  It’s not cedar.  There’s an odor you can’t identify.  At first it’s so unexpected to your senses you think it’s a sweet smell.  But a second whiff and you realize it’s such a foul smell that your brain couldn’t identify it.  “Wow, that’s nasty”, you think to yourself.  But you just can’t find the source.  Something’s wrong with your dream house and you can’t find it.

Weeks have passed and your dreams have become shattered by that smell.  Now a green fungus has begone growing on the walls.  At first you thought it was just a dust.  You’ve worked at it for a while now and made no progress.  You took it on the chin at first.  Thinking to yourself, “I put a lot of sweat, blood, and sleepless nights into building this place.  I’m not gonna let a little smell and a speck of mold destroy my dreams.”  But no matter what you do you can’t get the place clean.

One day, months later, you come home and put your hand on the door knob.  It doesn’t turn.  You can’t even get into your house without breaking something.  You’re locked out of your dream.  Hours you’ve spent trying to figure out what’s wrong.  But you find no solution to the problem.  You can’t even sit on your porch swing to ponder what to do, because that mold is all over everything now.  Your legs lose their strength to walk down the steps into the yard.  Your hands drop in a great experience of depression.  And you stand under a tree, staring in disbelief at your shattered dream.  The work of your hands, the pride of your whole life, is destroyed.  How deeply sad you’re becoming as you realize it’s over.

There’s not much choice now.  And your mind begins to realize the full extent of the problem.  “There’s nothing left to do but burn it down”.  Tears begin to flow.  And soon you find yourself sobbing without shame.  Sadness has broken your heart.  “It’s over.”

How does God feel when He looks at us?  We are the work of His perfect hand.  He made this place for His joy.  And now we’ve become so very corrupt and foul.  He tries to enter our lives and we refuse Him His joy.  It is the heart of God that has been wounded.  It is perfection and eternity that is locked out of our lives.  And we did it.  It was not His desire that these things should be. 

By His Grace