Tag Archives: godliness

Sayings Worthy of Acceptance

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Sayings that are worthy of retention, contemplation, and sharing:

1.  Receiving the Gospel from a man makes the receiver twice blessed.  For you have kissed your sweet brother with an eternal joy, and you have the assurance of sharing that joy together for eternity.

2.  Christ Jesus is first in absolutely everything.  He is not some passing fanciful and ecstatic joy during a worship session.  He is first and comfort even in the most extreme and horrific circumstances.

3.  Rejection of the Gospel does nothing to eternity.  You were dead before you heard it, and you remain dead as you reject it.  The dead are no loss to the Living God.  Pride makes you think you’re something.  Frankly, you’re just not that important.

4.  A Gospel of extortion is no gospel at all.  God does not desire a people who are under duress to serve Him.  The Gospel is free of manipulation.  It does not demand acceptance.  It is a declarative call for free will.  As we love Jesus we will obey.

5.  God is not isolated from anything.  Only the perception of man can isolate one thing from another.  The concept of “Object Permanence” is taught in pediatrics.  Hide a baby’s fingers and watch his face turn to anxiety. 

God owns eternity, for eternity is of God.  Equally, God owns this wicked place of testing.  For every sin is a distortion of eternity.  Just because the hand of God is unseen, doesn’t mean it’s gone

6.  Every man knows he lives a lie.  Ignoring the truth of Christ Jesus does nothing to fix a lie.  Receiving the fullness of the Gospel of Christ, this is the fix. 

7.  Nostalgia brings no permanent joy.  Soon enough, you will be nostalgia for others.

8.  Everything in this world points to Christ Jesus.  For nothing is created here that was not created by him.  And our misuse of his creation does not nullify his signature.

9.  Fear is no excuse for remaining ungodly.  For Christ did not fear to do the will of His Holy Father in heaven.  Fear has to do with unbelief.  As if the one who fears, calls the Holy Son a liar.  What kind of reception should the fearful receive on that Great Day of Judgement?

10.  There is a difference between weakness of flesh and rebellion of soul.  God is able to distinguish between the two.  The one he will comfort and encourage toward boldness.  The other he will dismiss without regret.  The wisdom of God among men gives discernment.

11.  Death brings an eternal seal to every man; what we had become in life, to that we are sealed forever.  It is of the father of lies to speak anything differently.

12.  Let the acceptable threshold of Christianity remain elevated.  The expectation is godliness.  How then shall we set the bar at 0?  Not one man but Christ can reach 100%.  Yet surely there is a number in between, which we can grasp with an iron grip.

There are hundreds more worthwhile sayings.  But these are enough to keep us busy for the remainder of our life.

By His Grace

“Made for Profit”

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Companies are not ruled by insane men.  They create a product for the sake of making money.  For instance, they don’t make diapers just so they can store them in a warehouse.  No, they find the parents of poopy babies and advertise their product to them.

No automaker makes cars just so he can warehouse them in some underground bunker.  They selectively advertise their products so they can sell it.  They’re in business to make money folks!

The church is set aside to serve the Living God in the manner of saving souls.  To speak in the vulgarity of man, the church is a business.  The machinery is the people of God.  The output is called godly transformation.  Evangelism: the advertising campaign designed to bring in profit.

But isn’t the church so unlike the reasonable men of the world?  For only in the Christian Church do you see the warehousing of product with no intent to sell!

You know what the problem is?  You don’t believe in your product.

I’ll leave this to stew in your mind.

By His Grace

What Does Jesus Do?

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Jesus will forgive your sins.  How would it feel to have a clean conscience for a change? Will others understand?  No, but you will.

He will teach you to listen.  If you let him, he will teach you how to obey his Heavenly Father.  Even if you are full of rebellion and are difficult to teach, he will provoke you to obedience.  If only you will continue to call on him.

He will teach you of the eternal way.  What men say is good, changes from hour to hour.  He will teach you what lasts forever.

One thing at a time, you will overcome difficulties in your life that you did not even know you had.  Then as the appearance of maturity arrives, you and He will do a significant work to obliterate rebellion.

In the process of becoming a man of God you will develop peace.  With a clean conscience, and proof in your soul that God has accepted you, you will find you have no fear.  And the longer you walk with Him as your Lord, the deeper that peace will penetrate.

You will find yourself teaching others.  Not because someone told you you have to go out and evangelize, but because you simply can’t keep your mouth shut.  And you will not only tell them the words, but you will act them out in the their presence.

In time you will come to know you have eternal life.  You will not just believe the words that you were told, you will know, with clarity, those words are true, and that they belong to you. 

Because he is always reliable, you will find yourself looking to him for every possible solution to every possible problem.  It won’t be a matter of discipline to go to prayer.  You will find you never leave it.

What does jesus do?  He will create such a change in you, that you will not be any resemblance to what you were.  And if you continue in the way, all this will happen to you while you were here.  Yes he can prepare you to be a citizen of heaven here.

By His Grace

For Emergency Only

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The godly will endure trouble.  For this trouble, God is righteous to uphold their cause. 

The ungodly and the sinner will also encounter trouble.  But how is it they believe God must help them?  Wouldn’t God be righteous to allow the trouble to provoke them?  Yet his loving mercy is extended even to his enemy.

I read the account in John chapter four, where it speaks of a nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  He begged Jesus to come and heal his son.  The Lord replied to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders you will by no means believe”.

It’s hard to miss the fact that Jesus was not pleased with the request.  But what is it that would have given the Lord pleasure?  The foolish might think the death of the child.  But how could that be so?

God is not a charity.  He is a purposeful engine for godliness.  Though he is merciful to our ignorance, his desire is that we understand.

Let us not be consumed with the things of this world, be they profit, poverty or sickness.  But let us understand the will of God, that we should become godly men and women.

God will take care of us as our needs arise.  Are we willing to endure for His Holy Name’s sake?  Are we willing to let our faith grow?  Or do we demand solution for the things we cannot control?

Shall a servant refuse to serve the king until he is fed?  The good servant will rise on an empty belly and make sure his master is well taken care of before one morsel of bread touches his tongue.  The king will take care of what profits his kingdom.  If that is so among men, isn’t it more so among the things of God? 

What are you using God for?  Let us be truthful and admit that most people use God for some emergency tool.  And to the shame of the church, such expectations live among Christians.

By His Grace

True Pleasure

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If sadness does not accompany us on our waking.  If what is first in our desire, is to be full of joy and laugh.  If we find we can look back at our past with great pride.  If there is no fear within us for the things we love to do.  I submit to every man (Christian or not) , that such a life may not have the Living God within it at all. 

(By using the phrase “may not have”, I mean the odds are 99:1.  For those of you who know nothing about gambling or other games of chance, such odds are not even worth playing.  What sane person loves to play a game he knows he can never win?)

What is pleasurable in the flesh, stands at odds with the desire of the Living God.  There is a joy in the Holy Spirit.  But it is not like the joy of man.  Man is full of joy at what he has.  The Christian is full of joy in The Promise.

There is a history in every Christian that is worthy of peaceful contemplation.  But the world would not recognize it as peaceful.  The world would perceive such a life as a desperate insanity.  For the Christian finds that not one single thought of his own was worthy of thinking.  The Christian’s only moments of sanity, are those places where he obeyed. (And this in direct conflict with the desires of his body)

The Christian may carry a great pride, but it is not for the things he is, nor the things he does or has done.  The Christian’s pride is exclusively in the Lord who has purchased him.  Thus the vibrant testimony, which the world hates, thrives within the man of God.  The man of God will find it impossible to keep his mouth shut.

There is a trembling in fear the man of God owns.  But it is not a fear that restrains.  It is rather a fear that provokes.  It is the very engine of godliness.

The man of God will find that he loves to do the things the world hates.  He will also find that he is full of hatred for the things the world loves.  The people of the world are like a high maintenance woman; they must be entertained 24/7.  But the man of God is full of joy to do the simple things.

To those who stand outside Christianity, I testify that Christianity is not just another religion.  Christianity is always a becoming.  And to those who consider themselves Christians, yet find entertainment their highest priority, I suggest strongly that you reexamine your faith.

While the man of God lives on this earth, he is never at rest.  And the closer we get to the Living God in Christ Jesus, the more dynamic the separation appears.  The closer we get to Him, the less we are in turmoil.  But the journey is easily compared to a bloody and protracted war.  What man can endure such a life on his own?

You can have your life of joy, and peace, and pride.  I would much rather live the life of humiliation before the Living God.  I would rather own no righteousness, than to be full of self praise.

For when I find my own ways abhorrent, then I know I agree with eternal ways of the Holy and Loving God.  And this, my friends, is peace eternal.  This, my friends, is Christianity.

My brothers and sisters in Christ: Check the boxes.  Where has your faith agreed with these things?  Do you find yourself afraid to testify?  Are you fully absorbed in the things the world loves? 

How could you possibly be at peace in godly testimony?  Such a fear testifies that you agree with the world; “Jesus is an embarrassment to you”.

You may think this is a very harsh statement.  But remember that Jesus was not ashamed of his Heavenly Father.  Even to the extreme humiliation of beating and death, he knew he was at war with the things of this world.

Every hero in the Christian faith has lived his life in a desperate war.  If you find yourself living a life of peaceful joy, as you pursue and mingle with those things of the world, how could you possibly be a disciple of Christ?

Any man can call himself anything he pleases.  But there is a line of demarcation.  God himself has drawn the line, in the bloody body of His Holy Son.  And there are far more who straddle that line than those who cross it.

I wrote this to describe the radical difference between Christianity and any other way of life.  But as I came to completion, I began to realize that Christianity has been so watered down that it is almost unrecognizable.

If you consider my last few words to be an attack, you are reading with the glasses of pride, proudly poised on your upturned nose.  The man of God takes instruction where he finds it.  He may not yet be humble, but he knows that is the desired place to live.

I am finished writing this post.  I realize it is not only an instruction, it is also a declaration of war.  So be it.

By His Grace

Lessons Begun

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Things I have begun to understand in the last three days:

Any school boy can understand words, even good words.  But there is a place where good words begin to come alive in a man.  It is the latter which provokes this post.

Lowered eyes that cannot be raised, may be a sign of humility.  (Keyword being “cannot“. Shame can have the same effect.) While eyes that will not lower, often are accompanied by the chin.

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As a man desires, so he will become.  The man who desires the things of this world, has already attained them.  Even though they are not yet in his hand.  Likewise, with the man who desires the things of Christ Jesus.

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As a man compares himself to others, godliness leaves him.  While the man who is able to be satisfied with what he has, is capable reaching toward godliness.  The former sins by his comparison.  While the other opens himself to the peace of God.

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In the matter of godliness: The young man may think he has attained.  But he does not know the extent of what is required.  The old man has begun the journey.  But no man can live long enough to attain all there is to attain.  Continuance for both must be established.

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In summary:  Our dependence on the Holy Righteousness of Christ Jesus does not diminish with our accomplishments.  It only grows stronger the higher we climb on the Mountain of holiness.  Toward the pinnacle, the fall increases.  While at its base, pride remains king.

Woe to those who do not consider these things, for what they lose, no man can count.  And the sadness of their loss will never cease.   For if it is difficult for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

Yet who can tell where a man may begin?  Those who remain In the Way of Christ may well accomplish great things.  Perhaps the “greatest” has not yet been born; whether of flesh or spirit.

These things have come to me as I have entered 61 years of living.  Why should those of lesser years give up now?  And these things have come to me in a relatively short three years.  What great hope lays, therefore, before my seniors?

It is necessary to encourage one another as the days grow more wicked.  As these things become known, it is not right that we should bottle them up. 

And it is not a righteous thought to believe that others will recognize the truth as they as they see it displayed in us.  Where is the wise word of counsel from those who know?  Laziness and fear are not godly traits.

By His Grace