Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

Noise Pollution, Sin Pollution

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Ear

Ear (Photo credit: Menage a Moi)

People often work in noisy places.  Some work the flight line.  Jet engines roaring, whining, and causing audible chaos to the ear.  Others work in metal shops.  The clanging, scraping, and grinding noises could deafen a man in a minute or two.  There are a lot of places where we work that threaten to rip our ears off our head, or at render them useless.  But men survive this onslaught.  Ear protection and just plain blessings from God, allow men to endure this with some ease.  After a while they hardly notice the level assaulting them.

People often live noisy lives.  Busyness, hatred, lies, greed, immorality, all assault them, all day and night.  They endure this chaos with ease after a while.  And they hardly notice the level assaulting them.  What will they think if we speak of a life without all the trappings of sin?  They would look at us as if we are crazy.  Like the workers in noisy places, they can’t imagine going through life without the “normal”.

There is a peace above the din, a steady calm away from sin.

Where “normal’s” not the way of life; absent of this lowly strife.

It’s here!  It’s here!  Come taste with joy!  The Peace which never does destroy.

Ah Peace, ah the peace!  Silent peace in Jesus.

Jethro

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Two small test tubes held in spring clamps

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At 18 Jethro went to work for a man who made parts in his tiny shop.  Now the man let Jethro know that his duties would be small and limited.  Jethro agreed this was good.  What did he know about making parts anyway?  The few things he did know he had learned from his dad and mom.  He had learned things like, sweeping, taking out the garbage, dusting, putting things back where you found them (provided that those things were where they were supposed to be when you found them).  But making parts?  Even dad and mom had never seen anything like this “Massive” shop!  Wow!

During the first hour or two, Jethro did what he was told.  Then the man stepped out a moment.  Well!  He’s only 18.  Jethro spied a shiny cylinder on a shelf.  “Its got some dust on it.”  So he allowed his fumbling fingers to lift it from its mount.  But the dust was a secondary consideration now.  Turning the item over and over, Jethro was admiring the part.  Then, as could be expected, Jethro dropped it.

Panic just is not a good word to describe what when through his little body.  He became a test tube of emotions.  As if he were mounted over a bunsen burner, panic mixed with fear, regret, hopelessness, and adrenalin.  He picked it up and examined the item, all the while keeping his tear fuzzed eye on the door.  “It’s just a tiny little dent.”  So he replaced it to its mount and shakily went about sweeping like a mad man.

The man came back in and went straight to the shelf.  Those old eyes went straight to the cylinder!  “I see ya couldn’t keep your hands to your own body”, a soft voice said.  Then he turned and looked right into Jethro’s eyes.  “It’s ok son.  Just keep sweeping.”  The man turned away after a wink and smile.  And whistling, went about his work.  Stunned, Jethro was frozen.  He had expected a stern word, a scolding, perhaps even being fired.  But this!

What lesson has the boy learned?  Isn’t it this way between us and the Mighty Lord Jesus?  We are set to a task, for the sake of His Holy name.  And we just can’t seem to keep our hands to ourselves.  Yet, do any of us ever hear a long lecture from Him?  Does He throw us away because we’re stupid little kids?

I write this story for the sake of the joy that is within me for the salvation Jesus is bringing to me.  I give Him all Glory for His patient ways.  And I witness that He is able to bring all His people to a place reserved for those who love Him!

He is Not Idle!

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English: Mighty oak, Bonehill

Image via Wikipedia

I have written many things regarding God.  And every word is written by the Grace of God.  Who is the Grace of God?  Jesus is the Grace of God!

I woke this morning considering people I know.  How many times I have lifted them to the Throne of the Most High God, by His Glorious Grace in Jesus.  A level of worry surrounds this frantic prayer life.  And this is not good.  This morning I realize that God is not deaf.  He is not idle.  He has heard my prayers for them.

I go to Him this morning, filled with anxiety for their sake.  And the steady, calm, and reassuring voice comes to me.  “A tree does not sprout up over night.  It grows steady and sure.  It does not explode to a mighty Oak, only to shrivel back to a twig.  It takes time to grow strong.  Be patient.  And do not be concerned.  The trees of God endure much wind and chaos.  This is what makes them strong.  There are seasons for every tree.  There are leaves to sprout, fruit to develop, and a time of winter.”

Our God will not leave our prayers on the Holy Altar which lay before Him.  He is not idle!  He is already moving among us with the speed of ETERNITY.  Before we kneel before Him to present our requests, He has already seen us.  Do you believe?  Are you truly ready to see the hand of our God move among us?

Oh how I desire to know Him, to trust Him with the full measure of the faith He is willing to give!  So I rise from prayer with a determination to trust.  The sun will rise soon.  This day will begin.  Oh how blessed I am to know Him!  To know in my soul that God has not let His Holy One see decay!  Blessed is the Lord Most High!  For He has done these things at His marvelous pleasure.  And He will do exceedingly more for all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus!

Take heart!  Take heart!  Take heart!  He knows your name!  He knows where, who, and what you are.   He, the I AM, is our Lord!  He is God!

Compromise

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Chinese depiction of Jesus and the rich man (M...

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Wicked men compromise.  Jesus, the Righteous Man, never compromised.  Would we expect the Lord of Life to be anything different?  And should He expect less from His holy people?

Eternity will move away from the judgment filled with the ones who love God without a shred of compromise.  It is written, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever . . .”   Do not be fooled into a lazy sleep.  Compromise with sin is to hand yourself over to punishment and death.

Though there must be a place of transformation for those who love God, do not rely on that place to become what God has created you to be.  Excel in your way before the Most High God.   Excel according to the grace, strength, wisdom, and hope the Lord is willing to give you.  To rely on the Grace of God alone in your salvation is to miss the abundant work the Lord is willing to give.  Let us not approach the throne of God, on the day of His judging, empty-handed of the fullness He is willing to allow in our “days of flesh”.  To compromise between flesh and Spirit is to misunderstand the “Calling” of God to all His people.

Led to Hope

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The Transfiguration Lodovico Carracci 1594

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We are often led astray by the teachings of men.  Drawn by the promises of glittering greed, we wander off the path to seek the things we learned were precious from the time we were born.  But that is not the teaching of God to His holy people.

Let us be led astray from the ways of this world to the path of God.  Drawn by the promise of things that never fade in their beauty, let us wander into the path to seek the things precious that are the things of the godly wise.

Let us allow ourselves to become enthralled at the lovely God we serve through Jesus, our Lord.  May we consider that everything held precious by man will rot before the Holy Fire that is God.  And may we learn to love sitting midst the consuming flame that is the law of God.

Christianity is Not a Religion

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Detail - Glory of the New Born Christ in prese...

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The foolish look on Christianity as a religion; just a single example of man’s contrivances toward pleasing his version of God.  The wise, those led by the Spirit of God, encounter Christianity with a fearful and understanding heart.  They know that they are approaching the Living God.  And they consider their ways with great trembling; aware that they will certainly give account of their lives to the Lord Most High, Jesus.

I have pity for those who live as foolish men.  I was one of them.  I have pity for those who consider religion simply a contrivance of man.  In one fashion they are correct.  There is but one way to the Father in Heaven.  While there are thousands of religions toward gods who are not gods at all.  The religion of man will worship anything from a rock to a cow, from a snake to a star.  But God calls us to the Holy and consuming fire of “The Faith”.  This faith is not born of the mind of man.  And should not be considered as part of the definition of the word “Religion” which man holds so very dearly (either with a loving embrace or with a drawling hatred).

We serve the Living God through Jesus the Christ.   We are not of those who worship God through a religion.  Our religion is the spawn, or child, of The Faith.  It should never be the other way around.  The Faith is first, as it is given and not contrived.  Religion is our response to this gift.  This is the sum of the dynamics of Christianity.  This is how it works.  Yet man would confuse the issue by reversing the blessing.  They contend that religion spawns faith.  They morph the truth of God in Jesus into something evil.   And this should not surprise us.  For the eye of the evil one sees everything as evil.  While the eye of he who loves truth seeks to envision everything lovely, true, wholesome, and vividly alive.

May God grant insight into what has been said here for everyone who reads these words.  Your soul is at stake in understanding this concept.  We do not believe so that we can be saved.  We are saved so that we will believe.  Faith comes from God so that no man can boast.  And it is because of that gift that we come to believe.