Stick IT!


I can’t tell people what to do to gain eternal life.  I can point them to the Lord Jesus.  I can mention the expectations of the Most High God regarding His Holy and Righteous Son.  But I can’t tell them how to put all that stuff into practice.

I can tell them to read the Bible.  But it’s up to them to do it.  I can tell them to pray.  But I’m not suppose to be privy to such a holy event, no matter how short.  I can tell them that they will do well to DO what they learn.  But I can’t make em.

So I don’t try much any more.  I tried to stick with em.  But I didn’t have the stick-to-itive-ness necessary to stick-to-em long enough to see em stick-with-it.  I’ll just stick-to-da-road and write about stick-to-itive-ness.

A Taste of the Chasm


To hear your voice a afresh.

To hear your words so clear.

After a time of rest,

Without your music in my ears.

I’ve spent time with the Holy One.

I’ve listened to his voice.

He has, my love for man undone.

He’s granted me The Choice.

But lies are all you know to speak.

Such noise is vast absurd!

Such peace and truth are mine to eat.

While you feast upon your words.

Then I come across the chasm,

Back to the place of man.

To stand among the chaos,

To hear your unholy demands.

To prayer with you, or away with you!

I cannot stand your din!

For nothing here can ring as true,

As 10 minutes spent with Him.

How great is the gulf twixt man and God,

How great is the distance between?

What is the dimension of impossible odds?

How vulgar is obscene?

By His Grace

The Grand Reception


There is a love that is readily perceived as hatred and selfish ambition.  And there is a hatred that is readily perceived as love, but is full of hatred and selfish ambition.

There was a time when one man turned an entire city to God.  For in that day people cared about what is true.  The love of God for the people was sent in the body of a reluctant man, and the fruit of that love was blatantly obvious.

Today no such thing can be done.  Jonah caused Nineveh such great anguish that they fell to their knees in repentance and prayer.  Such words today are ignored as if they are full of hatred and selfish ambition.

But preach to the people what they want to hear, and you will amass to yourself millions.  Your words will be full of hatred for the Living God and full of selfish ambition, but the people will perceive that you love them.

Do not be surprised in this day if the preaching of the true Gospel receives such a tiny welcome.  This is not the day of Nineveh.  This is not the day of Babel.  It is not the day of the great Egyptian empire.  Nor even that of Rome.

This generation is special unto itself.  For these are the last days.  This is the day which gives birth to the generation who celebrates at the death of the prophets; sending gifts to one another, for they despise the Word so greatly.

Take heart if you are cast aside and vastly unpopular.  So mankind has treated God’s prophets from the beginning.  And from here on, it becomes even more so.

And if you are a teacher who receives great welcome in this world for the words you speak, it would do well for you to consider the truth.  For if the world loves your words. . .

By His Grace

Obey?


The ignorance of man is astounding!  I say that knowing that I am a man.  And that I am ignorant of many things.  But there is a difference between not knowing something, and knowing it for the sake of abuse.

How dearly humanity loves the law of God.  But we do not love it so that we might obey it, for we know that is impossible.  Men love the law of God because it is a tool with which they can readily hate their brother.

But this is so absolutely contrary to the nature of the law of God. 

I don’t want to make this a long post.  But there is something key to understanding the law of God, that I have never heard men speak of: how all of heaven embraces the law of God without question, yet man turns it into a tool of death.  Enough apology.  Let’s get at it.

When the law of God was delivered to Moses for the people, at a certain point they begged that no further word be spoken.  Realization struck them and fear overwhelmed them.  Yes they wanted God but they knew they could not have him.  The inability of men to obey the Holy law of God was blatantly obvious.

But still God commands us to be holy, and to obey His law.  How can this be?  Does he demand too much?  Is the devil’s accusation against him valid; You demand too much and you do not give the resources to obey?

Isn’t this what men say?  Isn’t this what every single one of us finds our soul believing at one point or another?  But we know that cannot possibly be true. 

We know we will die and we know that God never will.  He obeys his great Holy Law with the most perfect ease.  And so do all the other creatures in heaven!  And the Christ of God has walked among us, fulfilling the law completely, again with the greatest of ease!  How can this possibly be?

Because the creatures of heaven, and the Christ himself, love the Father more than anything in all creation.  Never once does rebellion cross their mind.  Eternity is sustained by this love.  It is not sustained by obedience to a set of rules.  Yet this is the perspective of man!

We raise the Ten Commandments and scream at our brother!  “Do these or you will die!”  But we know they cannot.  And even the one who is screaming knows he cannot obey these laws!  And so we divide and hate one another by the very law that brings unity in heaven.  By the very law that is the foundation of eternity.

There.  That’s what I wanted to say.  But I don’t find myself feeling any better for having written it.  For I know it will not be received or understood.

We will all nod our heads in agreement.  But we will turn right back around and hate our brother.  We will read the Ten Commandments as if there might be something we missed.  But we will not find it.

Let’s add one more key to this proclamation that will devastate the heart of the one who considers it. 

What is the first and greatest commandment?  Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 38)

There’s the key to obedience.  Love.  But when we read the Ten Commandments we don’t hear love do we?  All we hear is fear. 

Fear gives birth to rebellion and hatred.  Fear reads the law of God and despises it.  Fear turns away from God with a great willing heart.  And fear will eventually lead to complete obliteration.

You ask perhaps, how can I love God?  There is only one way.  Look to Jesus the Christ of God.

Without him you will never love God.  Without him you will only obey according to your understanding; you’ll find your obedience is nothing more than a mental exercise.  It never finds its way to your fingers or feet.  Not to mention her filthy mouth.

I do not need to say more than this.  Because if you will not turn to Jesus, you will not believe these words anyway.  Yet if you do turn to Jesus you will find yourself in complete agreement, and I will be rightly pushed to nothing.  That is my proper place.  I am only a messenger of he who lives forever.

May God bless this testimony to the very door of eternity.  Amen.

By His Grace

Growth in Christ (recovery from chaos)


No one sins all the time.  That’s just not physically possible.  Every man has a lucid moment from time to time, at least.  And because of the weakness of the body, sleep must come.

When you have those lucid moments, make the best of it.  Search out the message of the Gospel, and do it quickly.  Just as the chaos of sin cannot last forever, our lucid moments pass even quicker. 

Just as a man who wakes after a night of heavy drinking finds himself pondering what happened and why, such thoughts are signs of a lucid moment.  Treat them as a welcome friend.

Raise whatever faith you have to the surface of your conscience, and believe.  You may not have the answers.  But then is the time to approach the One who does.  And if growth is to become a part of our experience, the answer must be found in the Christ of the Living God, Jesus.

Every man is like a disturbance at the bottom of the sea.  At birth the seafloor rises in a certain place.  Then as the man grows and does the good things of God, his disturbance becomes a mound.

If the man will train his soul to listen to the words of God, eventually the nature of what he, is breaks the surface of the waters.  This “breaking forth”, lends itself to all manner of Life.

Dust in the air settles between the cracks of rock.  Storms whittle down the sharp edges, causing the filings to fill in the gaps.  The birds of the air come and deposit a few seeds.  In time, the man becomes more then a disturbance in the sea; by his nature he lends himself to the utility of the heavens.

The growth at the bottom begins when the lucid moments of a man are captured for “Good” intent.  I will admit that there are far more mounds that never break the surface of the sea, than are those who become useful to God.

And don’t we see this played out in creation, in the fact that there is more space of water on the earth than land exposed to the air.  More places for slime and few places of dazzling beauty.

But now in the emergence of the man above the surface of the waters, there comes many a travail.  Parts of the exposed land occasionally break off and fall back into the sea.  Part of the work is wasted.  But that should not stop the land from taking its rightful place.  And what broke off was not firmly committed to what must become.  Good riddance, c’est la vie.

If the use of your lucid moments has allowed you to rise above the nature of man, use them all the more as you aspire to become a place of Life.  Why remain a desolate island?

Do not let your failings cause you to plummet down under the waves.  The target here is to work diligently to produce more lucid moments than moments of chaos and decay.

If you will apply the forgiveness of Christ, as it is found in the Bible, you will find your self overcoming guilt, and far more quickly.  This does not erase what was lost.  But certainly provides more vertical growth.  And every square inch of attainment offers more potential for Life.

If you believed at the outset, if that belief has caused you to break into the air, why can’t that belief cause you to reach for the heavens?

Those who shrink back because of the storms of life, will not find themselves pleasing the soul of Jesus.  But those who believe that he cannot lie, will prosper according to the wisdom of God.  Lucid moments of righteousness will begin to grow in the place where before was nothing but chaos.

Think diligently on these things.  Apply this with diligence.  And you will find yourself growing in Christ exponentially.

When you find yourself having sinned before the Lord, in the ways you had learned and the habits you had developed, grab a hold of your belief which you had at first.  And do not delay!  When the next lucid moment comes to your mind and heart take hold and grow!

I could have held the following for another post.  But it fits so seamlessly here.

Many think that they should punish themselves after a moment of insane chaos, called sin.  Such self abuse may or may not be useful.  And I have come to understand that sometimes self abuse is only a continuance of the sin we have just committed.

It is necessary to let Jesus be God.  Who could possibly know better what is necessary and useful after restoration of lucid thought?  Should it be the one who is prone to moments of insanity, or the One who knows the very elements of righteous eternity?

I cannot speak about this to those who have not developed a relationship of communication with the Holy Lord.  A man cannot rely on his own heart to determine what should be done next.   It was, after all, your wicked heart that caused the sin and decay to abound.  Is it reasonable to trust your judgement now?

And what has been the outcome for others may not apply to you.  Prayer is necessary.  With a calm heart full of belief, wait and listen.  In reverant prayer, confess your situation to God.  Ask Him to show you what you must now do.  He will certainly respond.

Be careful not to let anxiety overwhelm you.  Anxiety is a form of self abuse.  And the best of lucid moments teach us to be at peace and trust the Living God in Christ.

If you want biblical proof of these things.  Read the story again of what David did following his sin with Bathsheba.  Take special note of how he received the judgment of God against him for his child of sin.  How is it possible that we should be any different?

By His Grace

Stings and Bites


I sit here this morning, marveling at the nature of the things of God.

His Holy Law is like a spiny reptile; those who desire to tame it will be stung by some unseen outcropping.

His Holy Gospel is like a wily snake; those who desire to manipulate one part will be bitten by the Truth, or stung by their pride.

All day long, the Lord makes straight those who desire to turn His Holy Way.  In one sense, he draws them into the Way.  In another, he seals their fate along the broad path.

He who desires to be presentable to the Most High God, by means of obedience to the whole Holy law, will also find himself dismayed at the Judgment.

And those who turn to God with humble heart will be like a tiny child rescued from the hands of a murderous thug.

Beware the Wisdom of the Most High God to save.  It is written, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 2: 12)