Tag Archives: God the Father

Of Compromise and Folly

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folly

folly (Photo credit: Leo Reynolds)

This is a personal testimony regarding compromise and folly.  The issue is large.  But I will strive to limit the words.

I had been a “leader” in a Church setting once.  This Church group had a social service outreach.  And as I administered its various functions I noticed that there were many compromises with truth within it.  It was in this setting that I came to understand that there was a whole lot of power and money to be made on the backs of those who have no money and no power.

Through the guise of helping man has made a violent mockery of charity.  And I am quite aware that this is a problem that will not be fixed in this place of testing.  We wait for the True Leader of True Charity to appear.  And under the singular rule of the Son of God we will see purity.

The source of corruption within all charities is compromise.  I was told I was far too black and white in my approach to leadership in that Church group.  And it was this aspect of my mind that caused me to resign.  I can’t say if it was wise to remove myself from the grip of such an endeavour.  For every dark room needs a light to see. (I am not praising myself here as you will see.)

I make full confession here that I am a fool.  Now the reason I say that is that I am not adept at the art of social compromise as most people are.  That is why I am also a loner, or perhaps better said a social isolationist.  I cannot compete in the games the world demands we play.  So I opt out of as many of those games as I possibly can.

There are wise men who can play the games with a bend toward righteousness.  But I am not one of them.  Because of my straight forward approach to what is true I often get into arguments with almost everyone.  I will say it again so that there is no misunderstanding, “I am not a righteous man because of my approach.”  There is no one righteous, not one.  And I am not writing this to make myself into something I am not.

With that forward I will now launch into what prompted me to write this in the first place.

Though I am often put to great sadness because of my lack of wisdom in the affairs of men.  And though I am bruised within my soul for the harm I do to my fellow man with such arguments, I have found something of great value that is worthy of mention.

Compromise is the oil which keeps this world from becoming a vast blood bath.  It is impossible to look at the world and not notice that.  And men praise the one who is the most adept at this art.  Needless to say, I don’t get much praise from men.

But it is the foolish of this world who will receive the praise from God.  It is those souls who are bent on rebellion against compromise that will receive the praise of the Father in the form of salvation.  How can I say this with certainty?

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)  Those who compromise with the darkness of corruption in this world will be considered artful players here.  But what will be their case when they appear before the Most High God?  With what justification will they give account of what they have gleaned from the praise of men?

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1: 27)  For the very reason I have mentioned above, God has been eternally wise to take those who are not willing or able to “play the game”.  And for this reason alone I will find reason to boast of my folly among men.  Though I do not boast for the sake of pride.  But I boast because this is the very instrument which has brought me to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

So if I own anything worthy of praise (Ownership is a very curious way of describing that which God Himself has gifted me in this manner.  For no man has anything good that wasn’t given to him from God.) I have my folly.

I am horribly saddened that this folly results in so very many arguments with my fellow man.  And to the point of sobbing I cannot repair that aspect of my life.  For truth will naturally contradict lies.  And as much as my fellow men rely on lies to compete against one another truth will cause hardship between us.

I cannot apologize for what God has called Good.  And I cannot rightfully praise lies.  So I am forced by the wisdom of God to remain black and white in my assessment of life.  I will always be the outcast.  But this is to my advantage.  I will always be the one least invited to social gatherings.  But I am forced to appreciate that this is to my advantage.

I’m done trying to explain this now.  It is my sincere desire that this post has helped anyone who marvels at my apparent verbal violence.  I do not desire to be the outcast.  But how shall it be avoided if I desire to please the Most High God?

By His Grace.

A Prayer for Today

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Forboding Malibu Creek State Park

Forboding Malibu Creek State Park (Photo credit: jasoneppink)

Holy Father in Heaven, we give You Glory for Your Holy ways.  We observe the choice You are setting in our path.  The choice of freedom or oppression hangs before our path as if a fragile cliff.  With one gentle move of Your Mighty hand America will encounter one or the other.

We consider ourselves in light of this pending choice.  We are the sum of what we have done; to abandon Your Holy commands to one extent or another.   Or we have failed to employ our whole heart, mind, soul and strength in the pursuit of Your Ways.  But we are also a people filled with hope at the generous gifts You have given us.  Each one of us having attained a certain filling of Your Holy Spirit, and each one accountable to You as to how we have employed “The Faith” You have graciously given us.

To each You present this choice.  To the holy of Your people You rightly expect more.  To the sinner just entering into Your Gospel You rightly expect more.  And to all Your people You have said “Straighten your path.  Display to Me what you desire.  The choice belongs to My people.  And I will act accordingly.”  As it has been eternally written:  13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to
devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7)

We see the choice looming before us and we ask that You clearly waken Your people with eyes and ears that only You can give.   Guide us all in this matter that we may act wisely before Your Holy Throne.  This prayer is presented to You who are a consuming fire of Holiness, purity, and love.  And we sign this petition with the Holy Name of Your Blessed and Faithful Son, Jesus.  Amen.

A Thought Worth Thinking

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stop. sit. rest.

stop. sit. rest. (Photo credit: McBeth)

We are throughout the land.  We are scattered but not as a band of men are scattered.  It remains said, “In Him we live and move and have our being.”  Where you are right now, so am I.  What you suffer I also suffer, for we are the body of Christ Jesus.

A rejoicing hair on His Glorious head will cause a tingling in the little toe of His left foot.  Just as well, an assault against His knee is an assault against His nose.

It is good to remember that we are connected even though we are vastly different.  Surely His elbow does not desire ill for His heal.

The Eunuchs of Heart

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To be made a eunuch of heart, in a sea of immorality.  What a wonderful gift is given to those who press their souls against the glass floor of heaven.  While men all around worship the visage of woman; pressing their heart toward desire and admiration of decaying flesh.  God’s men are blessed to inhabit far loftier places.

Each body we encounter becomes a soul.  The eyes of the Spirit do not see the outward adornment as primary.  Instead, they perceive the companionship of testing which attends all people.  Slaves to Righteousness, they walk unhindered by the lust of the flesh.  Set free to inhabit that far loftier place of Life, they are a blazing fire in the night to weary travelers.  They are a warming glow of fire to frost-bitten souls.

All Glory to God the Father through Jesus His Christ for the release from bonds born of flesh.   Given is the freedom to walk according to His commands.  Purified in heart far beyond the limitations of man, these blessed ones perceive the truth without error.  They will not be ashamed on the day they see His face.  For He has set them free by the Holy Spirit of Life.

To live in this Spirit of Life is to Live in Christ Jesus our Lord, Master, Friend, and Love.  Such strength displayed against the lust of the body is the same strength which the holy Martyrs displayed under all kinds of torment.  The smiling countenance they showed during those trials.  The songs they sung while their flesh was taken from them.  The praises for the God who saves were in abundance.  And the love of tormentors through forgiveness and encouragement, still rages in the soul of those purchased through the power of God to impart Life.

Come taste and see; The Lord is Good!  There is eternity even here in this black and twisted “place of testing.”  This testimony is true.  And all who partake of eternity, through the Holy Spirit of God’s sending, will testify the same answer.  “There is a purity among God’s people that the world knows nothing about.”  We are not simply commanded to restrain the desires which rage within us.  We are also given the Perfect strength to desire and perform obedience.  His people come to expect obedience as much as we can expect a wicked man to do what is wicked.  What does it mean when it is said, “They have washed their robes in the Blood of the Lamb?”

Make no mistake regarding religion.  “He who does what is right is righteous.”  And this not of ourselves, it is a gift of God lest any man should boast.  Only come and taste what He offers to everyone who will dare to believe unto righteousness.

No longer does belief remain speculation.  There is a faith which turns to a Knowing.  Seek it out!  Prove this testimony.  You will not be disappointed who seek after this truth with all your heart, mind, strength and soul.  He will meet you where you stand, regardless the stench of your ways.  And He will fill you with that strength of Life which you lack so very much of now.

It is through this filling that we become so very much more than men.  Restraint is not the answer, though it is proof of a present and good desire.  Transformation is the superior key.  And this is what He has promised to all who rest in Him.  We, who belong to Him, testify that God cannot lie!  How else is it said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled?”

By His Grace.

Application

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ISKCON desire tree - Quote Struggle Poster 09

ISKCON desire tree – Quote Struggle Poster 09 (Photo credit: ISKCON desire tree)

Please understand I mean you no harm.

But as farmers divide the sheep on the farm.

I struggle to keep all that is good.

While tossing away the things that I should.

I hear what you say when you chide me to care.

And you hear from my mouth “I will let loose and dare”.

Contentious am I against all man’s restraints.

Yet I’m bound as all men with fleshly constraints.

What then shall this striving produce?

With what focus will the general be reduced?

Will I set forth a desire which celebrates my demise?

Or set forth horror by willingness to compromise.

There is turmoil in this debate within.

But there is no doubt the desire to win.

Jesus is among all men to raise “the few” up.

Raise up I will if He lets me drink the cup.

I’m sorry, for now, that I’m misunderstood.

My hope is, His Day will say “Yes he could.”

 

He Did Not Ask

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Pool of Siloam

Pool of Siloam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He did not ask.  The question never crossed his mind.   He had never seen red, let alone to consider the subtle difference between red and orange.  Dirt had no color at all.  And, beyond the reach of his fingers, the world was filled with utterly ghostly challenges.  Textured blackness was all he knew.  Noise and smell were the only possible warnings before something unknown drew near.  Living in the night with no light to guide his feet, who had testified the impossible possible?

He did not ask.  He was simply the subject of debate between the Lord Jesus and His disciples.  “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  How could the man know he had been born blind so that this conversation would find a suitable object for a lesson?

He did not ask.  Why those things had happened that morning; those things which brought him to that square foot of ground at just that moment?  There was no need to question anything.  But something was about to change forever.

He did not ask.  Yet someone plastered mud on the man’s eyes!  Of all the humiliating things he has endured.  Now he was the object of an art class.  Had he known he was to become a model this morning he might have presented a bit of persona different.

He did not ask.  But he was told to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  “So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.”

He did not ask for the reaction from his parents, or the subsequent verbal thrashing from the Jews.  He did not ask to be able to see their faces, nor to be quantified a liar.  And he did not ask that he should be thrown out of the temple that day.

He did not ask to be able to walk by himself in places before forbidden.  But now he did.  I wonder if he struggled to stay awake that night; afraid to close his eyes and see nothing but darkness again.  But surely sleep came, just as it had every night before.

He did not ask.  But the morning brought confirmation to a dream he had last night.  Eyelids flung open as soon as the mind brought him from dreams.  Breath filled his lungs with explosive inhale.  And this without his will.  “It was not a dream!”

He did not ask for time.  Who asks for time to come?  Most of us simply endure the next moment.  Time, however, had a different effect on this man than it does for most.  From that day and for years to come, that man lived in colors, shapes, textures seen, and faces recorded.  But the days and years ticked by without restraint.  I do not think that man ever regarded his eyes as people do who have always seen.  Even as old age came to take away what he did not ask for, there was the beauty of fuzzy objects to enjoy.  In the end death took away the gift.  But what need had he of those amazing little marbles then?

He did not ask.  He had no idea of what was coming.  Brilliance surrounds him now.  Colors, living colors dance through perfect eyes.  He did not ask through all those remaining years.  For who could know what he was about to see, even as death came to take back the colors and shapes.

He did not ask to be an object lesson.  For eternity, however, he will be an object lesson of the majesty of the God who caused him to be born blind.  And we should not doubt that he will enjoy his status in this regard.  What remains within Promise is more lovely than the colors and shapes this man saw without asking.

We did not ask.  For we did not know we were in need.  Wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked we are.  Who has known to ask when there was no question?  “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

We did not ask.  But we were born in our own circumstances.  Who asks for mud?  Who craves to be “sent”?   Who has come away from Siloam healed for the Glory of God the Father?  I remember one more time when 10 were sent.  Only one re-appeared to praise God.  And I ask, “Who am I?”

I did not ask.  I did not dare approach, even in prayer.  Just when I thought I would die that Death, He came to deliver me.  And these words, all together in this place of testimony, praise the One who set me free.  This story has testified, there is a freedom yet to come which I cannot ask for.  How can I know what to ask that He hasn’t already prepared beyond my knowledge?  He will forever be first.  And we will forever be those who receive with praise, dedication and thanks.

Billions have not thought to ask.  Yet they received God’s generous gift of eternal life.  Do you dare hope for something you have never thought to ask?  Here you are reading these words.  Do you dare ask for what you do not know?  “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.”  Isn’t that what is written?

No one asked.  But He has prepared this place of testing for His own Glory.  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”   Have you ever thought that the entire world was created for the sake of judgment?  What judgment could provoke all of creation?  Think about it.  And He does not ask too much of us.  For at His return, His reward is in His hand.

“No eye has seen,

No ear has heard,

No mind has conceived

What God has prepared for

Those who love Him”

We did not ask, but:  “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”  “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”  He has answered even before we were created!

Glory to the One who lives forever!