Tag Archives: obedience

Proof By Adversity?

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“Frivolous” Humanities Helped Prisoners Survive in Communist Romania

(I tried to comment on the writer’s article in his page.  But his page would not accept a WordPress login.  So I make this entry in my blog in the hopes that it will reach the writer.  Who knows, perhaps it will also reach a soul somewhere else.)

In that writers article he describes how the government legislates its own morality.  The writer says that he found the government’s methods and its operating premise to be at fault, simply by humanity’s insistent efforts to circumvent unjust laws.

The writer says this: “If the study of literature or history were really that pointless, a government trying to control the minds of its subjects would not go to the trouble of putting humanities students and professors in jail.”

Isn’t the same thing true of Jesus?  Part of the proof of his royalty is the venomous activity of his enemies.  And if all of Jesus is true, proved by the activity of his enemies alone, wouldn’t it be wise to consider his words.  If he is truly life are we wise to ignore him?

A Favor to Yourself

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The face of your existence will change, as it does with every human that has ever been born.  You will walk through the door of death and enter into a place that has always been.  That’s an absolute guarantee.

It doesn’t matter what you gain here.  You will still encounter THE radical change.

If you were to be given 300 million dollars, you could spend the rest of this life doing what you please.  But take a good look at what you please to do.  Does your pleasure involve the things of the place that has forever been?  According to the Lord’s own words, that’s very unlikely.

Perhaps a hundred years.  That’s all we have.  Then, beyond our volition, we are ushered into the place of Eternity.  Whose pleasure we have desired will determine our riches forever.  Or our extreme poverty.

I’m not talking about religion here.  I’m talking about our own will to do God’s desire.

Kelly Willard was right when she said, “If you don’t have a willing heart ask Him to give you one”. 

Count as best you can (the clock is running down), how much time are you sure you have left?  How much of you does Jesus deserve to own?  Your estimation determines God’s bounty.

Now do yourself a favor.  Act on what you know.

Gate Guard

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“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”  (Hebrews 12: 14)

How easily we accept peace among the people, but disregard the holiness.

We pray that God will help us in our lives.  Are we then a blessing to God?  Or do we love Man and despise the Living Gods Holy command?

Is it possible we think we will be well received for these things? 

Fine, we love those we choose to love.  But how quick we are to hate.  With that in mind, how can I say more and expect these words to be received. 

Doesn’t pride stand guard over the gate of every man’s house?

Before the Weeping and Gnashing

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28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.  29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.  30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”  (Luke 13)

But before that time comes, many will endure a foreboding in their hearts.  They are currently throwing away marvelous things.  Many have received the word of Jesus.  But they have not loved him.  Nor did they care to understand.

I write this, that some may understand and wake to their current state.  I recognize that it doesn’t matter what I say.  But it matters greatly what we do.

This song from Sara Evans provoked the understanding for this post.  God will have what is rightly His, whether that includes us or not.

Onward.

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The religion of a man comes about because he thinks he has found the extent of God’s requirement for him.  How far the man goes in Christ depends on how much he desires to learn.  Doesn’t our obedience to the Living God’s Holy Son depend on our will?

God has in mind for us great things.  He has in mind for us beautiful, holy, righteous, eternal, and glorifying things.  But far too often man settles for some small routine.  He gathers about himself just enough to say, “I have done the Lord’s will.  He is pleased with me”.  Such religions have a veneer of righteousness.  But consider the following.

God is not my co-pilot.  He is the one at the helm.  He owns the ship.  He owns the Sea and the Wind.  He owns the place we are going to.  He owns the place we have come from. 

The religion of man tends to say, “I have pleased God by coming through that door.  I will then go back through that door and return to the place I am”.  How can that be reasonable?  It is so easy to do the things we have learned to do.  Still, the Lord beckons us unto death; death to self and Life to Him.

Legislative Freedom

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The freedom of a child turns first to love.  Innocence demands inclusion for all.  In a child’s heart, there is no separation between us but the surface of our skin.  The child’s heart does not see colors of skin or deviant actions (The blackening of Souls).  The child’s heart does not understand violence born of selfish greed.  And the child’s heart is innocent before God.

But soon comes rules and regulation.  “You shall do this, you should not do that.”  The lack of self discipline demands law.  Innocence, or ignorance, is not a license for deviant behavior.  The love of a child quickly turns to obedience in lieu of punitive action.  And isn’t it tragically necessary.

As it is with the little child, so it is for every man.  Law stands as a wall around everyone.  Law is for the deviant.  Freedom is for those who love.

I spent the night in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan.  I learned about the Chippewa who held this land before the Whites came.  I was curious about the state of the Chippewa Nation in today’s economy.  So I looked up their law.  I was surprised to find a lengthy and comprehensive code of law.  For whatever reason, I did not expect to find the law of the Greeks.  I think I expected to find something more akin to the law of natural order.

But my heart is bruised to find such a free people compelled to recognize the laws of the Greeks.

Gone is innocence.  Hello, the literary form of love. 

“You will do this and you will not do that.  You will accept mechanization and technological order.  You will live in houses.  You will drive cars.  You are compelled to receive the education of the Greeks for your children.  You are compelled to bury your people according to the ordinance of the Modern Age. You are no longer a Free People.”

Yes my heart is bruised for the sake of their loss.  It is the same bruising that comes when I look at the transformation of love to a written code. 

Codes of law are for the deviant.  They are not for those who love without restraint.  Beyond the loss of their Natural Freedom,  they have become like the rest of the world; permanently labeled deviant.  And this by a forceful compulsion beyond the dreams of their ancestors who lived long before the law of the Greeks appeared among them.

There is so much to write about this.  So many understandings flood my mind.  From the fact that law is given to man by the wisdom of God, through the indelible stamp of “Guilty” that lays upon all men, and into the regulation of God to restrain the greed that is the nature of man.

The bruise in my heart is to see the loss of freedom.  Perhaps the bruise in my heart is a longing for the place of promise while I live in this place of disrepair.  Perhaps the bruise in my heart is the same engine the prompts fairy tales for children.  Those beautiful stories that remind the child, “Love is still real”.

Love does not need law.  But if you want to see how deviant man has become, look up the code of law for the Greeks.  Visit a library for lawyers.  Every possible infraction against society, and even ourselves, has been written down with its appropriate boundaries and punishments. 

What then shall we say about those who call themselves “The Free World”?  The love of God in Christ is the only freedom that has no boundaries.  The love of God in Christ is the only freedom against which there is no law.  The love of God in Christ is the Light that shows me the bruise on my heart.  It is, indeed, a longing for a land from which I did not come.

If you want to see what shook my soul to write these words, here is the link.  http://www.narf.org/nill/codes/sault_ste_marie/