Tag Archives: diligence

Able to Drink the Cup

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The profitable things of God are not given to the weak and unstable.  But let them repair their habits, as they are able, and God will provide the next element.

Let them prove, by their doing, that they have a desire for God.  God is merciful.  He will not give what is Holy to he who cannot even find the will to get up out of bed. 

Were God cruel, he would give great gifts to the weak and infirm of will, and even to the young pride filled heart.  His rightful expectations would crush the man.

Be careful not to listen to the advice of man.  Do not be unwise, asking God for the great things of his Holy Kingdom that you are not willing or able to sustain.   For if you receive, you will be held accountable.  And there are many who run about thinking they have received, but have not.

And I have seen an act of “love” among us that should be considered an abomination.

In this day a man must go to college.  At least that is the common understanding.  And many parents who think themselves godly, desire to send their child to a Christian college.

But is the child prepared to receive the things that are Holy?  Take the time to look into it, the loss of faith among the young who go to Christian colleges is astounding.

It would be better to send them to a trade school.  Let them learn the discipline of hard study and work, while you maintain a tight bond with them to teach them the things of God.

It would be better to see Christian colleges populated with people in their forties, fifties and even perhaps sixties.  But what an incredibly unpopular message this is.  There is a lot of money to be made by the exploitation of foolish parents.

The vision of holiness is becoming and incredibly rare animal.  The expectations of parents toward the teachers in Christian colleges has no reasonable foundation.   The bar of Christian maturity has been lowered nearly to the ground.

Having been caught up in the things of this world and an emaciated church, the parents think their next duty is to hand their child over to those who know.  But they themselves have not looked into the things of the Holy Lord God Almighty.   So they pay good money to men who wear the appropriate title.

How foolish to put our reliance on the unstable things of man.  How foolish to think that money can buy what Godly wisdom alone provides.

Men will do what they do, until catastrophic change appears.  They will not listen to this message.  They will attend emaciated churches.  They will be emaciated Christians.  They will teach their children emaciated things of God.  And their children will rise up emaciated.  What hope is there for the future of the church, as it is left in the hands of those who desire nothing!

When will you look out your window into the street?  Have you noticed the chaos that runs about unchecked?  Have you taken a close look at the children who graduate from Christian colleges?  Are you willing to perceive their unexpected lack?  Then, are you willing to do something about it?

By His Grace

The Life of Convenience

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How very foolish we are to conveniently forget that we will die.  And how very foolish we are to love what we call freedom, so much that we will resist, even unto death, the commands that can give us life.  Truly, is this freedom?

We will all find our last moment of waking.  We will all take our last step.  We will all take our last moment of careless repose.  And then we will come face to face with a reality that we have pushed off on purpose.

What comes next?  Do you know?  Have you even taken the time to look into these things?

When your car develops signs that it is about nickel and dime you to death, you quickly traded in.  And you watch carefully for those signs. 

You look forward to retirement, and you diligently keep working so that you can have your last years in peace.  And oh how many compromises you make willingly so that you can have what you want.  But does what you want include what comes after death?

The foolish man keeps on as if he will never die.  The foolish man never looks into these things.  Yet the foolish man will receive his rightful reward.

Live your life with abandon, and you will find yourself abandoned for eternity.

The Bible will tell you everything you need to know.  But how many even have the curiosity?

By His Grace

Bruises and Stammering

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When you were a baby learning how to walk, you fell down a lot.  Did they beat you because you fell down? 

Eventually you learned how to walk.

When you went to school to learn how to read, did they pluck out your eyes because you didn’t read well?

Eventually you learned how to read.

You have learned how to do a great many things that humans are supposed to do.  Unfortunately for all of us, we were taught by imperfect people.  Still we learn.

They didn’t always love us through our troubles.  But we pushed ahead anyway.  We found the reason to make it happen.

An awful lot of Christians just tend to give up.  It seems to me that they attributed man’s form of love to God.  The expectations are steep.  But God’s patience and love are much higher.

When did you stop trying?  When did you start looking for the encouraging words?  At what number of attempts did you finally decide you can’t make it?

Look back.  I doubt you can remember, but you bruised your butt a whole lot before you took five steps.  Why didn’t you give up?  You struggled with letters until you thought you’d go blind.  Why didn’t you give up?

Christianity is only a matter of “want to”.  You had it then.  Why don’t you have it now?

By His Grace

Self Discipline and Diligence; Fear and Awareness

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If you were compelled to grow a garden instead of relaxing and watching TV, you would naturally develop the self discipline to get it done.  Hunger is a fascinating motivator.

If you had to kill deer in order to have clothing and food, you wouldn’t complain so much about the weather.  You would learn quickly how to track, kill, field dress, and manipulate the carcass.  And the more intense the fear, the less remains would be left in the field.

Instead of being spoiled by central heating, and a fat paycheck, you would have gathered enough firewood for the entire winter.  Your fear of freezing to death would cause you massive sweat in the summer.

The more basic the life, the more likelihood of strong self discipline.  Hunger and survival are powerful motivators.  Fear of starvation and death can make weak people extremely strong.

If freedom was not given to you by legislation, you would have fought tooth and nail to gain it.  The desire for freedom is often stronger than the will to live.  Especially when ruthless men subject your children to violence.

But a consistent freedom requires consistent self-discipline.  The lazy and spoiled simply can’t hang on to it.  All the goodies are given to them for minimal labor and self discipline.  They will surely lose their rights over time.

All these things are true in the world.  They are far more true in the kingdom of heaven and application of the Gospel.  Didn’t Jesus tell us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled?

The Hungering and thirsting presupposes recognition of lack.  He didn’t tell us that all we had to do was ask and, “whaamo bammo”, we’d be righteous. 

The more stark the reality of a man’s trouble, the more likely he will be to pursue stability with all he has.  And when he perceives his need as greater than anything on this earth can cure, he will chase after God with a feverish pitch.

But how should a person diligently pursue what he thinks he already has?  And isn’t this a problem that has surfaced because the Gospel has become watered down?  Distill all the “flaky fluff” out of today’s Gospel, and you would see an entirely different people worshiping God.

By His Grace

Fasting and Sabbath

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What has this world taught me about rest?  What a curious mix of instruction.

“Be diligent and do everything that’s expected of you!  If there is time at the end of the day you may rest.  If you do this consistently for a year, we may speak of a vacation.  If that vacation appears, then you can do what pleases you.”

This is what men call rest.  They do and do and do, so that they can do what they please.  They strike themselves hard for the sake of prosperity.  Then take what they have earned, and go and do as they please.  Is this really a prosperous rest?

In the doing of this kind of rest,  America turned away from the Sabbath when I was a boy.  The stores no longer closed and we ceased to go to church.  Is this what you call rest, America?  Yes it is.   And you live out your Sabbath every day of the week without fail.

There’s no need to throw that at you as if it is a condemnation.  That condemnation will do you no good.  For you will not turn because someone rightly accuses you.  It’s simply a truth.

And isn’t it just as well that you have tossed away the Sabbath of God, that day when you restrain yourself for an hour or two from doing the things you desire to do.  For when you kept that day you did not keep His way.  Perhaps it is good that someone finally rose up and closed the door.

The Sabbath is not Sunday.  The Sabbath is not Saturday.  The Sabbath of God is a way of life.

I will not bother to interpret it to you.  Rather, I will give you the words of God Himself.

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58)

Perhaps a person may read this who has No desire to serve the living God.  Perhaps they will laugh and say to themselves, “This doesn’t apply to me”.  Aren’t you created also?  Doesn’t the one who created you desire you to come to him?

Now I know the gospel of the world, which is no gospel at all.  You say I will be kind to my brother and that will be enough.  But in this you are kind to your brother for no reason at all.  For you do not do these things that the Most High God may dwell in your heart.  You do these things that you may be considered a righteous man.

The pendulum of Man swings far to the left and far to the right.  From complete disobedience to a presumption of glory, the will of Man is not dependable.

Between rebellion and false humility is the Holy Lord God Almighty.  This is the place his Holy Son walked as he was among us.  The entirety of his life was for the Glory of his Father.  He did nothing to glorify Himself.

I don’t want to write a book about it.  If any man will look into these things he will learn far more than I can say.  The question is are you willing to look into these things?

By His Grace

Habitual Behavior

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People fall because they think too highly of their feet.  While we should be considering our feet’s limitations, we place our trust in their agility.  But are feet are not sentient beings. Why do we treat them as if they are trustworthy slaves?  If you don’t watch over them, they will do the very thing you don’t want them to do. The one who rarely stumbles or falls is the one who makes it a habit to remember limitations.

Likewise, if every driver considered the limitations of his car more often than he considers its agility, there would be far fewer accidents.  If every driver made it a habit to drive as if he is driving on slick roads, he would never end up in the ditch.  He would never “swap paint” with another.  Would never donate his bumper to public disgrace.

If every Christian made it a habit to remember that he can fail, and that the source of his strength is God alone, he would never stumble.

Agility in Christ demands habitual use of Bible reading, prayer and practice.  Lack the habitual use of any of these three, and the Christian is bound to suffer loss.

To our shame, when a person falls, or crashes his car, or suffers loss in Christ, some variation of the following phrase can be heard: “I am only human”.  It is to our shame because diligent and habitual behavior could have transformed us into something radically more.  We were lazy, we were derelict, we were willingly rebellious.  What we thought we would become has escaped us.  And the fault lies clearly in our own lap.

If that is the state of your yesterdays, it need not be the state of your affairs today.  And tomorrow can be all the more secure.  All you need to do is to transform yourself into a diligent and habitual person, and this by the renewal of your mind.

What belongs to yesterday, belongs to yesterday.  Today belongs to you.  Tomorrow belongs to the one who profits from what you do today.

Don’t bother yourself with a vow.  Simply start doing the things that are good.

Write a letter to yourself, and read it when it arrives again.  Make sure you write often, you are a very lonely person.  And why wouldn’t you write back, understanding your frailty?  Its not only good social etiquette, it’s also a deed of mercy.

Begin keeping a journal or diary, and please make sure to go back and read the days before.  Do you really think anyone else will care about what you have written?  So if you’re not going to read it, why write?

Let these things become a habit and there is no need for a vow, which can so easily be broken.  Remember your New Year’s resolutions?  Haven’t you figured it out yet?  Those who have to wait for a special day to make a vow, will never be capable of keeping it.

Leave your Bible in conspicuous places.  Write down certain passages and put them in every place your eyes might go.  (On the toilet seat, on the mirror, under the cap of your deodorant, paste it on your pillow sticky side up. Do these things nightly for the preparation of the person you will be tomorrow.  While you’re at it, you might throw a few bucks into 3M stocks.) Memorize passages and think them through.  Make it a habit to do these things, and the Living Word of the Living God will begin to live in you.

When it comes to prayer you will take note that you have a distinct, “I don wanna”.  So what.  If you force your feet habitually to go to the place of prayer.  If you habitually force your knees to bend when your feet have arrived.  If you will force the first few words from your mouth, as a habit it in that place.  You will learn to adore your time of prayer.

As for practice, every man does the things he learns to love.  As our habits are, so follows our love.  And what we love is a blatant proclamation of who we have become.

By His Grace