Hate the Lesson, But Love the Teacher


Owning a love for God is a result of practise.   And this practise does not practice in mediocrity.  For no sooner does a mediocre practice, produce a “love”, and sin wipes it away.

Love him more than you love all other things.  The other side of the coin, which shows our beginning, says it the same: hate him less than you hate your brother; hate him less than you hate yourself.

A child may love the teacher until he is forced to learn what he does not want to learn.  Then a measure of hatred sprouts up.  With diligence and humility, the child overcomes and continues to learn.  But let him believe his own mind, and he will remain where sin entered in.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14: 26)

By diligence we practice toward a love for God.  If a man is diligent, he will find himself learning to love the Living God in Christ Jesus.  Mediocrity is an envelope containing hatred.

10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4)

By His Grace

Take Back the Land of Hope


“Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:5)

Can you remember?  Can you allow yourself to look back?

Look back to the first time you felt the freedom of a clean conscience.  The time when you decided to take that leap of faith for the invisible God in Christ Jesus.  Simply find the time to remember.

You would have given your very life without the slightest sliver of shame or regret.  In fact, you shoved away many things you held dear for the sake of His Holy Name.   If the world would have let you, you would have held a press conference.  And in your heart you proposed to abandon every wicked relationship.

But three things have happened to you since that moment.  The desire for pleasure has crept in, largely with your blatant consent.

The shame of being different and unaccepted has left scars on your weak heart.  So, little by little, you have compromised.

The diligence of work toward holiness has been diluted by a listless, “do nothing” attitude.  Procrastination began its work in reading the Bible.  Like a toxic mold it spread to your prayer life. 

Primarily, these three things have left you vulnerable  to that scripture above.  Are you satisfied with your loss?  Is your present “best” acceptable in your estimation?  Are you sure the old person you will soon be will have no regrets about your choices to date?

All that is needed is to rekindle what you have lost.

By His Grace

Willoughby Wallaby


A poem for my grandson Danny.

Willoughby, Wallaby, Sneaker, and Snore, cast off in two boats t’ward an elegant Shore.

Leaving behind their frail  hopes and weak dreams; risking it all to pursue The Great Scheme.

Willoughby Wallaby soon took the lead, flexing their muscles like white stallion steeds.

Sneaker and Snore barely took up their oar, considering labor a venomous bore.

Said Sneaker, “This work is is to hard for us two.  Let us hitch to your stern.  What say Double U?”

But word was sent back with a scowl and a snort, “Row as you can!  We’ve no time for your sort.”

Soon came a Breeze, gainst their bows, to drive back.  But Willoughby, Wallaby gave work no slack.

Sneaker and Snore soon rested their oar.  And let the breeze blow them straight back to their shore.

Back to their poverty.  Back to the stench.  Elegance not being worth muscles wrenched.

While Willoughby, Wallaby soon came in sight, of an elegant castle perched high on cliffs white.

A rope was found dangling on which they could climb.  Their great oar born muscles began t’ward sublime.

Reaching the summit, they were welcomed with good, and welcomed into their fine brotherhood.

The moral is sure to escape none who read:  You get what you pay for; you reap from your seed.

By His Grace

Unchained Desire


Today we will encounter

What is vastly marked with “Good”.

What we will do, accordingly,

Is rarely what we should.

To become the man intended,

Let desire rage and burn.

The good to be accomplished

Is given to those who yearn.

Is it wrong; is there a limit

To the promise of God for me?

“Good” demands a doing,

Its retreat will never be.

Aspiration closes in;

Refines my very name.

Let then rage within me:

Desire to Holy flame!

Regret yet to come


When we stand before the Lord Jesus most men will feel regret.  There was something they could have done but did not.  Or there are things they should not have done but did.

I think about my own life and I can pinpoint a few of both.  I suspect every Christian can also find a few.  Not a one of us who reads this is yet perfected.

Now here’s the obvious question, but I’ll ask just the same.  If we know there will be regret, why aren’t we doing something about it now?

Isn’t that a curious quandary?

Serving a King


I remember when I first came to the Lord.  I was told to revere Jesus as a King.  I said to myself, then to Him, “I do not know how to serve a king.  I have been raised a free man.  And I have no respect for the ways of those in leadership in this country.  How can I know to serve you as King?”

His reply to me has taken decades.  I am beginning to understand the concept of King.  I believe the full understanding will have to wait till heaven.  But there are two things that are worth saying in regard to this.

1.  I have heard many use affectionate names in public for the Lord Jesus and God the Father.  Names such as daddy, papa and so on.  They use names of familiarity.  But what about the holy Lord is familiar to us?

What a man does between he and God in private is of no consequence to me.  But the words he uses to describe what is holy in public is a reflection of his understanding.  And every time we use such names we give our understanding to others.

It is not my job to judge the relationship of a man to the Holy Lord God Almighty and his Holy Son.  But I have found some men of this nature in great error. 

How we refer to the “Great I am” says a lot about what we believe.  One such man did not believe that holiness was even possible in the flesh, let alone a command from the Holy Lord.  He openly used the word “papa” to describe his God.  And the doctrines he promoted were of the flesh.

What will be his end is not for me to determine.  But his view of God was obscured by wicked desire.  As quickly as was reasonable I abandoned his company.  We are not to entertain the doctrines of demons.

2. God is Holy.  What He has given us is for our reference.  To Moses he identified himself as “I am that I am”.  And Jesus said, “You call me Lord and rightly so.”  How should we presume to bring his holy name down to our level?  It is we who should rise toward Him.

Yet how shall we who are full of darkness understand what is Holy?  The Lord will teach us over time.  The longer I serve Him the more I understand, and so it will be for all who serve Him in the holy faith.
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Such men, as the first, put a stumbling block before those who are learning.  But if a man will continue in the way of God he will be taught what is good and true. 

In weakness and lack of understanding we are tiny and hopelessly tossed about by every breeze of teaching that comes along.  But the Lord knows your state of affairs. 

Read the Bible that you may know what is true and correct.  Then do the things it says.  Both of these will help you discern what is right and true and holy.  And the Holy Spirit of Jesus will teach you what is Holy.

Do not accept every man who speaks the name of Jesus.  Test the spirits.  Bring your lack to the Lord.  He is ever willing and able to guide you into what is true.  Only be diligent in your desire to understand.

We serve the Lord through the darkness of faith.  But in this faith we have more light in us then does the world or those who pervert the way.  Do not fear.  If you put your faith in the living God he will direct you to the holy path.

Millions have fallen away because of a lack of understanding.  They did not trust.  Therefore they did not receive.  This will not be so of those who apply themselves with great diligence.

Men study for years to become proficient in their trade which earns them money.  How long then is it right to persevere that we may gain a place in heaven?  Renew your efforts.  Give God more importance in your heart. 

If destruction is our natural reward, how hard should we struggle against it?  And if we fall away for a simple lack of knowledge, how shall we propose to stand on the holy day of the Lord?

What more can be said?  With what may a man convince the weak?  How can I strengthen you?  I have said enough.