Tag Archives: Lord

I’m Sorry for Not Being Sorry

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English: Construction works at a prefabricated...

English: Construction works at a prefabricated house (light-frame construction) Deutsch: Montage eines Fertighauses (Holzrahmenbauweise) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recognize that the posts I write are quite harsh.  And I make no apology for them.  If you think I am far too harsh, consider this.

A man wants to build a skyscraper.  His plans are created and given to the construction team.  They don’t start with the top floor.  But the top floor is always in mind as they dig the foundation trenches.  In the same way, if we consider God’s demands for man, we can’t hope to reach what He commands us to be if we don’t keep the ultimate obedience in mind.

Today we see millions of people living life to the demands of man.  And we see the “fruit” of their efforts dwindle into complete rebellion, selfishness, wickedness, and depravity.  It all has to do with the focus each of us gives to the purity of God’s commands to us.

What if the construction team only focused on the foundation and never considered how tall this building would be?  Wouldn’t the finished construction be delayed, or maybe the building might never be completed!  Isn’t this what we get in our lives when we don’t keep our focus on the finished product of our lives?

We are encouraged to look to Jesus constantly.  He is the author and perfector of our faith.  And if we take our eyes off Him, replacing His perfection with that of man, we will never complete what He desires us to become.

I’m not sorry for being harsh in my writings.  And I don’t want you to think that I am a perfect man.  I am less than anyone who would read these words.  It’s just that truth demands center seat in any gathering of students.  And I won’t allow anything to sit there that gives us the illusion that we can live with less than Jesus’ commands.

 

Expectation Overload

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With a binding minimum wage of w the marginal ...

With a binding minimum wage of w the marginal cost to the firm becomes the horizontal black MC ‘ line, and the firm maximises profits at A with a higher employment L . However in this example the minimum wage is higher than the competitive one, leading to involuntary unemployment equal to the segment AB. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just read a post from a man who is in a leadership position.  It seems that today’s competitive environment has caused him to consider his role in the company.  One day he prepares his resume for another place of employment.  Another day he finds the strength to continue.  I couldn’t find a place to add a comment for his post.  So I “Liked” it in the hopes that he would come to see who visited his post.

I have two things of importance to lay against this problem.

1.  When I first became a Christian I endured the obvious turmoil that the Lord brings to a sinner’s soul.  Often I considered leaving because I wasn’t fit for the positions they gave me to fill.  Then one day it came to me that, though I was severely unfit for my post at least I cared about fulfilling it.  And if I abandoned my seat I wondered who would come along to fill it.  In the end it wasn’t enough to sincerely care.  The position demanded fulfillment.  And this brings me to point two.

2.  I have found that the lie of competition and demand are far too much pressure for a man to rely on.  What I mean is that people often expect too much from us.  They see a need and, apparently, they have found a body to fill that need.  Now it is up to the individual who is being pressed to make a choice;  “Do I continue, knowing that I can’t do what they ask?  Or do I resign and accept something that I know I can accomplish with faithfulness.”

If the seat I hold is too much for me I will not fulfill the expectations.  How is that much different from having someone who lacks devotion fill that post?  We are forced to lay aside the demands of our culture of perfection and seek a place where we best fit.  The Lord will lead us there.  Bottom line, are we willing to lose so that we can become more efficient, according to the skills the Lord has given us?

I have found that losing hurt deeply.  But I wonder how much more damage I would have done to others had I stayed where I didn’t belong.  Now I am in a place where I can contribute with ease.

It is my sincere hope that this post will help someone deal with the problems associated with unreasonable expectations, whether they come from inside us or from others.

The Alarm (Don’t push snooze)

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The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland.

The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I look around at the people I see.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at those who have a clue about Jesus.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at the remaining few.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the extreme calling to holiness from the Lord.

I look one more time and what does my mind perceive?  I see a tiny few who have entered into the full scale war against the flesh by the power of the Spirit of God within them.

How can I say this?

Let’s take a look at what I have just said by considering a number.  Let’s give it the value of 100.  I’ll be generous because I don’t know the state of people like the Lord does.  I’m only making these statements by what my mind can perceive.  The Lord sees the heart of every man.  I can only look on the outward appearance.

Out of the 100 I see 75 who don’t care at all about the things of the Lord.  Out of the remaining 25, I see people who recognize that God is greater than any man.  They attend a service or two.  But there is very little difference between their lives and that of the first 75.  Ask them about the Bible and they can’t answer.  But they will tell you they believe in Jesus.

Out of that 25 I see, perhaps, 1 or 2 who are awestruck by the things of God in Christ Jesus.  Their lives are turned upside down by the Gospel of Christ.  You won’t see their prayer life very often.  But it is obvious that they are intense in their prayer life.  They are so distinctly different than all the others in everything they do.  These are the ones everyone else hates.  Not because they are Bible thumpers harassing everyone else, but because they make the others look bad just by being alive.

What makes the difference?  And how do we encourage any of the other 98 or 99 percent to join this tiny band of people?  I confess that I don’t know how to incite others to become absolutely sold out to the things of Jesus.  All I know is that it is impossible for any man to attain the full measure of dedication to the Lord.

I take a look at this from my own perspective (I’m not allowed to judge others in their faith.  So I am forced to look inward to explain this).  What do I see within myself that provokes me to a deeper commitment to the things of Heaven?  I see the warnings of Christ Jesus ringing from every “house” within my mind.  The warnings are not words to me.  They are a screaming call all day long and into the night.  I wake and I hear the warnings.  I work and hear them.  I sit still and they provoke me to think of Him.  Everything I encounter has that sound ringing loudly from it.

Who makes this sound I keep hearing?  Did I wake up one morning and decide to make a mental bell to sound in my mind?  That’s foolish to consider.  This state of alarm is from the Lord.  I asked for it.  And He gave it.  I will tell you that I know He can silence those bells if I prove that I’m not willing to obey His next command to me.  It is the Lord who does this to me.  And I conclude that He has done it to that 2 percent I mentioned above.

Now what of the rest?  I don’t know.  What is the threshold of entrance into the things of God through Jesus?  I don’t know.  Some point to the simple confession of lips, which mouth the name of “Jesus”.  Ok.   I can’t accept that.  The bells don’t mellow their sound when I consider going that direction.  So I conclude that perhaps it is a good beginning.  But it is obviously not the end of the road.  In short, I can’t testify that speaking the name of Jesus is good enough.  There’s more.

Is it going to church or even reading the Bible when we feel the urge?  Nope.  Still got that alarm going off.

How about if we go to church and listen to the sermon really hard?  Nope.  Bells still ringing.

Ok.  Then I’ll try be a good man.  Nope.  ALARM!

You see what I mean?  No matter how deep I go into Jesus, there is still an alarm sounding which calls me farther.  How then is it a good thing to be like any of the others?  And woe to me if I teach myself to ignore the sound of alarm.

I post this, not to brag about my Christianity.  But to open a discussion in the heart about the urgency of Jesus’ call to all men.   I care, and I can’t afford to care, where you are on that list of people.  What does it matter if I say one man is such or another?  Each of us gives complete account of ourselves alone.  I’m just trying to open a can of worms here.  Let’s see where they slither.

To the Woodshed We Go.

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English: Sheep and woodshed These animals were...

English: Sheep and woodshed These animals were determined to be in the shot! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is no light matter to expose our own faults.  But it is our duty to display the entirety of the Gospel within us.  It is one thing to say that the Lord can save us from sin and present us to His Father clean and without blemish.  It is an entirely different matter to display what that cleansing looks like as we walk with the Lord every day.

His people encounter the same ugly world as the non-believer.  And we stumble around sometimes just like they do.  The difference is that He holds us to account of our ways.  The things we do which displease His Father will be dealt with appropriately.  This is the side of Christianity the world knows little to nothing about.  Perhaps, just perhaps, if we displayed our travails more often the world would be set on ear as they criticize us.

Hypocrisy and Blasphemy

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The Grand Stand

The Grand Stand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had two dreams I that kind of rattled my cage.  I had been caught in some troubles with another.  And the relationship ended up shattered.  It doesn’t matter who’s at fault.  The result is the object of both dreams.  Though these dreams reveal a rather bad experience, I hope they might be helpful to others.

hypocrisy:

I dreamt I was attending a function with a lot of people, perhaps thousands.  I and a friend sat in the upper row of the stands.  I heard some people singing as they drove along the freeway to my right.  It was a song I have been looking for with great anticipation of finding.  I jumped up and said, “I’ve been looking for that.”  My friend looked at me quite puzzled.

I ran to find the driver of the van.  And when I did find him I asked him where he got that song.  Instead of helping me understand he began to berate me for only wanting a portion of Christianity.  (The song was something to do with the Christian life.)

I looked at him with anger and disgust.  Then I walked away.  That was the end of the dream.

Blasphemy:

I saw in another dream that a leader of a Church was teaching all the truth of the Gospel.  One man was there learning with a vibrant heart.  After that student had learned enough to understand fully, he said to the leader that he was going to open his own class room.  The man didn’t wait for a response, but walked down the hall to another room and encouraged everyone to join him.

The leader watched.  Then he walked outside and called to everyone there:  “Come help me tear this building down!  If we push with unison we can topple every timber.”  As they began to push in unison, I woke.

The understanding the hypocrisy:

Sometimes we are so desirous of other’s understanding of Christianity that we push too hard against their perceptions.  We tend to forget that we too were once flailing about trying to grasp the fullness of Christ.  We often demand too much from those who can only eat the basics.  And this is the meaning of the first dream.  The driver of the van was me.  The man in the stands was the other.  The fault of the destruction of our relationship belongs to me.

As for Blasphemy:

The teacher is Jesus.  And not one student will be allowed to “muscle in” on the Lord’s role in the Church.  It would be wise of all of us to remember to sit quietly and learn.  There is a place of sending.  But it is not wise to bring division to the Lord’s Holy Temple.  The Lord will simply tear down such a building with a rather quick judgment.

I present both these dreams and their understandings for everyone to consider.  I am not any different than my brothers and sisters.  We are all redeemed sinners.  But it is my hope that there might be some value found among us at the revealing of these dreams.

Baal Worship.

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Deutsch: Der Baal Tempel in Palmyra im Dezembe...

Deutsch: Der Baal Tempel in Palmyra im Dezember 2009. English: The Temple of Baal in Palmyra in December 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lord has set me in harness.  With skillful hand He directs me in the straight ways of the plow.  “Rip up the land.”  He has commanded me.  He is with me to tear at the ways of baal (The worship of man’s rebellion toward God and his love for the works of his own hands.) among the members of men who inhabit the same day as I.

You who worship the ways of man in every wicked way come to me.  Argue what you will.  Your ways will not stand before His wisdom and Righteous ways.  You sacrifice your children to every wicked way.  You do as you please and are not satisfied with the wickedness you already retain.  “More rebellion!”  This is the battle cry of man today.  It has been prophesied from thousands of years past.  You will seek out all that is wicked in increasing violence.  And you will consider yourself righteous because He allows you to have your fill of what your hand can create.  In this rebellious way you consider that strength belongs to you.  All lasting strength belongs to the Living God in His Son Jesus!  But you will refuse to acknowledge this.

There was a young man who is like what the Lord has given to His servant.  The young man’s name is Gideon.  Listen to the testimony of that young man.  The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”  (Judges 6: 14, 15)

Listen to what Gideon said.  He confessed that he was the least in the least clan.  Yet the Lord sent him to rip at the enemy of His people.  I am of those who are the least in the world; full of wickedness and depravity.  And of those wicked men I was the lesser of them all.  But now He has set my feet on strong ground and has commanded me to rip at the wickedness of all men.

You think you will stand on the day of judgment.  All the while you chase after every evil thing you can lay your filthy hands on.  What restrains you now is the society around you.  But you will fall away into oblivion on the day your soul is judged.  Righteousness has escaped your heart.  The Righteousness of God has not entered into your ways.  And you will be found false before the perfect Living God.  This restraint you trust in, the acceptable laws of man around you, will begin to fall into chaos soon.  Then what restraint will you find to restrain your desire for filthy ways?

I warn you as one who draws the plow over your desirable meadows.  There will be good seed planted.  And you will marvel at the edible crop which grows from among you.  For now you have no taste for the food of God.  You think what you provide for yourself is sufficient.  Your food is sweet to your wicked tongue.  But it is the sweetness of poison that you embrace with all your heart.  You consider that God will harm you.  And you hate His ways with all the strength you can gather.  You have no taste for what is Good.  You call good evil, and evil good.  What will come of this behavior?

Present yourself to Him before He comes to take you from this place of testing.  If you do not, you will be destroyed.  The fruit of sin does not provide God’s desire among men.  At the harvest of souls such men will simply be cast away, as one might throw away rotten grapes.  Where is the compassion when you toss out your garbage?  Do you love what you are willing to throw away to the stinking heap of refuse?  Do you shed tears as men come to take what you do not want?  No!  Unless you turn your heart to Him, this will become your fate.  Be wise and listen.

By His Grace.