Tag Archives: Grace

I’m Not the King.

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Delivery Truck

I presented a witness to you.

And you thought you mocked me.

I stood before you and spoke.

And you shot your hatred at my head.

I did not flinch, nor did my soul respond.

While the dust of your words passed me by.

I knew, without doubt, that those words you cast out,

Were not meant for one such as I.

The dust of your words left no trace upon me.

Every speck has landed somewhere else.

It is the Lord you’ve insulted.

I am only His messenger to your face.

And how foolish to dash the messenger,

Then turn and boast that you have killed the King.

 

By His Grace.

“Blessed is the man . . .”

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Psalm 1, Verse 1 and 2 in Biblia Hebraica Stut...

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I used to think that a man could consider himself blessed by God if he did certain things which pleased God.  I equated “blessed” with God being thankful for our work/s.  And to a small (very small) extent this might be true.  But I remember that nothing we do actually pleases the Lord.  “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”  (Isa. 64:6)  So I am forced to reconsider what blessed means from God’s point of view.

Psalm one says, “Blessed is the man who . . .”.  And the psalm goes on to describe what this man’s blessing will manifest itself as.  The blessing is not a future promise as much as it is a present and real way of life.  The Lord causes a man to become what He desires.  Man did not know to do good.  It was the Lord who caused the man to do good.  There will be no boasting before the Most High God that a man has done a good thing.  God prompts us to desire Him.  We react with some action, according to our personality.  He rewards that reaction with another prompt.  And so it goes as we develop the fruit He desires to produce on us.  Eventually we are to become holy, even as our heavenly Father is Holy.

If you do not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the mockers, then the Lord has caused you to be like this.  Perhaps you thought or think that you choose to do these things.  But you are blessed by God to bear His desired fruit.  So praise Him, for this is your function.  Humble yourself to worship Him.  For He has been kind to you.  He has allowed that you should not be a fool in your actions.  He has blessed you.  You have not become a righteous man on your own.  You did not desire to serve Him or read His word on your own.  It was His Spirit which has brought you to this place you now live.  So render to God what is His due.

By His Grace.

Ah. To Know to the Doing!

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Wacka' Mole!

Image by Tom Stamp | Photography via Flickr

I know how to tie my shoes.  I know how to feed myself.  I know a lot about the body and the world around me.  But what do I know about the Kingdom of God?  I want to know more.  But I don’t just want to know for the sake of knowledge.  I’m not intending to attend a trivia party.  I want to know to the doing.  I want to know what the Lord allows a man to know regarding holiness.  I want to be set apart from the ways of this world.  I want to honor His name!

Yet my heart is wicked and full of sins.  I quash one this moment, and another pops up a little later.   We are so horribly locked in a battle against what is pure and what is not pure.  I want to know to the doing of the Lord’s will.

by His Grace.

To Judge or Assess?

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Scale_of_justice

Image by TaranRampersad via Flickr

I witnessed an old man having trouble with the lock on the back of his trailer.  Now, I’d jump out and help.  But only one key opens the lock.  And only one set of fingers at a time can turn that key.  And what advice can I possibly give to help? “Try to turn it this way.”  Yeah.

I was waiting behind him to pull into my door.  And there was nothing more to do but sit and watch.  After a while he gave up and waddled back to my truck.  Was he going to ask for help?  Maybe he thought I carried a bolt cutter or an oxy acetylene torch.  Nah, that’s not reasonable to expect.

He got near my truck and I jumped out to meet him.  He began to talk and my soul was startled.  Anger and cursing flowed from his mouth like a river of fast moving mud.  I didn’t expect that.  He didn’t look like someone who carried that kind of heart.  But there’s not much a person can tell about another by simply looking at them.

This experience brings me to ponder “judging”.  We are instructed (commanded actually) not to judge.  But what would this world be like if we didn’t access our fellow humans? How would we sort out danger or friendly?  Would we allow the enemies of truth to come live in our house?  Perhaps, but not without making some measure of prevention.  So what is this judging thing?

Judging, as we’re commanded to refrain from, is more likely having to do with settling on a conviction that someone is a certain way and  without redemption.  Perhaps it’s like being a judge at a trial and rendering a sentence on the person in question.  I can see how this would be a source of major damage.  There would be no hope of that person ever overcoming their history.  And such judging would preclude any possibility of change.  So they would be locked out of our sphere of acceptance and hope.

Judging, as is necessary, might be more like assessment.  We consider the other person according to what knowledge of truth we contain.  And we allow for learning on both parts.  I allow myself room to learn something more about the person, while I continue to consider that person with reserved guard.  And I allow that other person room toward possible clarification of their personality.

Refrain from condemning others to the life they now present to you.  But be careful not to allow enemies to get too close.  A curious mix of understanding is needed here.  But doesn’t this just show how small and unwise we really are?  Who can know what is right without the Lord giving understanding?  How many people have been killed, through the ages, because others judged them unfit.  Even the righteous have become victim of this kind of judging.

In the end, perhaps it would be better to identify two words we can use.  We are allowed to access a person’s intend and tendencies.  And do so with understanding that we might well be wrong.  We’re allowed to protect what is precious in our world.   But we’re commanded not to condemn others before we have all the facts.  And even when all the “facts” are presented, can we truly judge them on an eternal scale?   “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

And what would have happened if Jesus had met the “man of the tombs” and simply turned around and left?  After all, wasn’t the entire village afraid of this man?  Wasn’t he a horrible person?  But look what happened when Jesus drove the evil spirits out of him.  The villagers found that man “in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus”.  (Mark 5: 1-10)  See also:  http://timglass.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/a-man-from-the-tombs-mark-51-10/

At the same time I’m put in remembrance of the 7 sons of sceva:

13 “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. ”  (Acts 9)

Again, we are told to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

By His Grace.

Walls Too High

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The High Wall of Jid Ali

How many times have we reached a “wall too high”?
Then found ourselves, without explanation, “on the other side”.

And how many times, of those unexplainable moments,
Do we remember how high that wall was?

A plain stretches out before us, after a place we can’t remember.
The grass of opportunity now waving in the breeze.

We’re free to reconsider what plainly lies before us.
And we’re headed to the next “wall too high.

By His Grace.

Morning

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Twilight

The colors are almost here.  And the dew is suspended like a blanket.  Listen to the Robins praise the joy of the coming day.  “Eat!  We will eat and fly!  Ah, to fly again.  It is a day for us to soar.  Thanks to God for this beautiful morning!”

Stillness reigns at the advent of day.  The world is not yet awake.  Ponder, Saints!  Give that moment of marvelous joy a place to light.  For your day is nearly here.  He watched over your sleeping, though He left your dreams alone.  No message has been delivered while you rested your weary bones.  But now your eyes are open and your neck will crane to see.  sovereign Lord please help me to perceive what must certainly be.

Those whose faith has blossomed into a sort of knowing are so very blessed.  Though we can’t touch our desire, we are propelled into a hope beyond anything this world offers.  The longing becomes intense.  Yet the strength of what we don’t have is stronger than what man perceives.

Look!  We too can walk in places without feet.  We see what is, in a place of temporary colors.  This is the land of shadows.  But every shadow is cast by something of substance.  And every shadow lands on something of substance.  How unspeakably brilliant is the Glory of God to even cast a shadow in a land of darkness!

Glory to God Most High!  He is the Father of the Lord of Life!  May His will be done forever.

By His Grace.