Tag Archives: Righteousness

Poor Sinner

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Poor sinner.  Pathetic wanderer in utter darkness.  Why do you choose to walk alone?

Do you know where you are headed?  Do you know what is to come?  You will surely appear before His Holy Throne.

Why do you make fun of righteousness?  Why such a sport do you play?

When tears and anguish will be your food, and hopelessness on that day.

Why not rise up.  He calls your name.  He offers you joy and peace.

“Tis too much work.  My body’s tired.  I’ll take this present release.”

Then add to your food, that of a fool.  For the fool desires slumber.

Yet on that day your mind will clear.  Your folly you’re sure to remember.

Necessities

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The call to arms in my soul this morning was this: “Minimize regret”.

Take care of the things, in Christ, that are given you!  At the time of our appearance before his throne, what is lacking will be violently blatant.

If we fulfill the expectation of Christ today, then becomes fulfilled all the other things.  The dishes get done.  The bed is made.  Our work becomes a joy instead of labor.  Our joys become far more complete.  Our hope becomes more radiant.

Already there are many things that were not done.  If we look back, with intensity, the mountain of regret will consume us.  If that is so now what of our moment of appearance? 

There is no need to continue in that habit!

Minimize regret!

Two rooms

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In my house are many rooms where I may live and thrive.

But two stand out as special rooms, for Him they glorify.

One room is bare, kept clean for prayer.  The other is kept for man.

In one my anxious heart is healed.  The other for words to send.

A path between the two is worn; a richly trodden way.

This is the path I’ve taken thrice, this wondrous golden day.

The room of send abounds with shelves, and a pile upon the floor.

The shelves contain the rarer words.  The pile I use the more.

What words appeal?  What words reject?  What words will action bring?

My fingers scurry through the mess to cause your heart to sing.

” Praise God all creatures big and small.  Adore his Holy name.  His righteousness and mercy sent has saved my soul from shame!”

The Limits of Can

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The list of limits, which restrain the life of man, is long.  He is bound up and constrained by the Holy dictates of God’s great Wisdom.  The list of “can” is shorter, yet no less sure.  The first constrains rebellion.  The second unleashes holy righteousness with the unlimited power of God himself.

Man presses against the limits of restraint.  They invent machines to push into those limits, and succeeds.  There will be no glory from God for such pernicious strivings.  How can rebellious desire be rewarded?

But who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?   It is written for all to read, “With God all things are possible”.   In the way of obedience, this was said.  In the way of salvation to obedience, this was said.  Who, among men, reaches to the fullness of God’s Holy words?

There are the limits of this world.  The final limit, among men, is reached at the point of death; the release of the soul from the constraints of flesh.  All men will surely reach this limit and pass through.

Many will reach the next impenetrable limit of condemnation; they will go no farther.  No rebellious striving will produce success.  But who will reach beyond that finality to the unspeakable limits of eternity?

God is a God of order.  He has placed limits for all creatures.  In this age, he has constrained.  So it will be in the next age.  In this age he constrains rebellion.  In the next he will constrain Holy order.  Yet who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?

Jesus offers righteousness to man now.  Jesus is the righteousness of man forever.  Yet what shall be said of the fullness of possibility in this place of testing?  Who has reached the fullness of God’s willingness to give?  Who, among men, reaches deep to become what God is willing to give?

The Mind is Slave to the Soul

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The mind is a very fertile and powerful organ among the members of our body.  Regardless our state of affairs, it is able to rise to the occasion.  Though it is not the source of decision.

If a man is depressed, the mind can drive him to death.  If a man is joyful, no Depression can touch him.  If a man strives to accomplish a task, within the reach of his body, his mind will quicken.  If he determines to say, “No I will not”, his mind will shutdown possibilities.  The man is soul.  The body is the place where the soul lives.  The mind is therefore, the slave of the soul.

Within the boundaries of man (within the nature of constraints God has placed on this world), the mind is able to accomplish the things the soul desires.  This can be bad or good.  For if a man’s soul is darkened, so his mind will be darkened.  But if a man’s soul reaches for God, his mind also will reach for God.

God will respond to the soul who desires him.  Though the mind is full of wickedness, God can cause righteousness to grow.  But let the man, in his soul, first search diligently for what is God.  Let him also continue in this searching as he sees the fruit of God appear.

If I go to an apple tree, in its season of fruit, I do not expect to find skunks growing on it.  If I have planted the apple tree I will be quite miffed at its produce.  I will cut it down and burn it to ashes.  It will not matter if the tree has produced apples for years.  I have no use for skunks.  There is no place for them among my things.  And though they do exist, independent of my orchard, I will not grow them willingly.

Can we expect less of God who plants righteousness?  If a soul has once desired the holiness of God, receives what God graciously gives, then turns to embrace wickedness, can we expect God to embrace that soul?

The righteousness of God will cease in our things.  Though they will continue for a little while, as we have developed a habit, they will dissipate overtime.  In the place of the righteousness of God, we will find the fruit of wickedness.  How can we expect that to be received by God?

Let us be wise and press the mind to accomplish.  What our soul desires, the mind is forced to endure.  Therefore if we desire God, let us continue to desire more of God.  If he has blessed us with a crop of righteousness for a small desire how much more for complete desire?

Man is not body.  Man is soul clothed in a body.  The deception is complete enough to keep the fool a fool. 

No man has seen his soul.  But any man can readily see his body.  Most people believe the body is who they are.  They have not noticed the subtle difference between the decaying nature of the mind and the eternal nature of the soul.  They are caught in a deception, and there they will remain eternally.

The body cannot do the will of God if the man’s soul is in rebellion.  But let the man look up and desire his maker, and he will see marked difference in his life.  The problem is, most people do not understand this.  So when they once receive the grace of God, they fall back to the desires of the body.

If a man’s body is healed by God, men consider it a miracle.  But the real miracle happens when a man’s soul agrees with God, and of the body is forced to obey.  The mind will do as the soul commands.  Will the soul do as God commands?

Waxed up and shining

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It’s been spring for a while.  As has become my habit, I wax my truck three or four layers deep.  It produces a beautiful shine.  It is noticeable from a long distance off.

As I drive down the road, I am prone to notice the cars that are not waxed.  I even pass the time by guessing which one is clean and which one is waxed.  I confess there is not a lot of difference between a clean car and one that is waxed with a single coat.  But let someone apply two or three coats of wax and there is a startling difference.

Now the question here is: do I notice these things because I wax my truck, or do I notice these things because they are apparent?  I suspect it is a measure of both.  In the one, I am looking.  In the other, it is obvious.

Who can help but notice the sun shining off an object in front of them?  A fully unexpected place to find the Sun .  But when someone notices they remember the look of their own.  And they take mental note that this is something they would like to do also.

Isn’t the same thing true with righteousness in Christ?  Someone gets their act together by worshipping the living God in Christ Jesus.  As they live their life, the righteousness of Christ shines through them.  A fully unexpected place to find the living God.

They live their days looking at others to see if they have appropriated the righteousness of God.  It becomes almost a hobby.

They see some forms of righteousness that are produced by diligence in the world.  And they are given reason to ponder if this is righteousness of God or just righteousness of the world.  But let a man spend immense time with the Lord Jesus and there is a distinct glowing difference.

And just like the waxed car, others take a mental note and say, “I would like to do that to my own.”  As they see enough of the righteousness of God, the mental note becomes important enough to accomplish. 

They may even approach others to ask how.  That’s how I learned how to wax my truck like I do.  That’s how I learned about the righteousness of Christ.  That is why it is important to let the glory of God’s righteousness shine in our lives.