The standard


The world does as it desires.  Try to restrain it into holiness and it will kill you.  In fact it may kill you just for sport.

But put aside the threat of death.  They only usher you into the Lord’s presence forever.

Regardless their thirst for pleasure and blood, the Soverign God desires their willing love. 

As proof of God’s desire he has dispatched his son among us and glorified him for his obedient love.  And now he has left the Lord’s people among those who hate him.

God is the standard of all things good.  The Lord Jesus goes on record to show us personally what that means.  And now we are left among them to display the standard we are taught to love.

We are urged, all day long, to love the Lord and obey his commands.  But not solely for the purpose of salvation.

We are to love him and obey him for the sake of those who hate him, just as we witness the Lord Jesus do for us.

God the Father is the standard.  The Lord Jesus is the display of that perfect standard.  We to then are to display the obedient standard among those who do not know.

Every time you cut corners in your obedience, you teach others to do the same.  Even disobedience in secret will not remain so. Every time you obey without question, you teach others to do the same.  For no good action can remain hidden.

Let us willingly become part of the standard of God.  Let us live such lives that when they look at us they can see the expectation.  By all means let us teach the righteousness of God according to what we have attained.

And let no man think that if he shrinks back the expectations up on him will be less.  There are souls to save.  There is righteousness to teach.  And class is in session as long as you breathe the air of this world.

The cost of righteousness


On the news this morning they said that they would no longer be able to help against bullying.  Funding for the program has been cut off.  Now the children of that school district will be at the mercy of the young children who love evil.

Are you kidding me?  Money is the source of righteous behavior?  We need money to restrain the evil children among us?  But isn’t this what they are saying?  I am astounded at the blindness of America!

What cost is there to speak of what is true, boldly, defiantly, and timely?  What cost is there to refuse service to parents who will not control their children?  In fact we could save money if we went after righteous training properly.

But man considers himself God if he has money to spend.  Take away his money and he is helpless to do what is right!  This is what they are saying!  (I yelled)

The cost of righteous behavior is nothing more than humility.  But punishments are taken away from evil doers .  Psychology is used instead of God’s Holy Word.  And proudly, man stands and says, “I have achieved godhood!  I rule over all people.  By my discretion they live or die.  For I am the keeper of the cookie jar!”

Take away your money and you are a pathetic lump of flesh.  For you trust in the riches of this world, and give no glory to the Righteous One.

But what sickens me more than your pathetic strength, is how the people agree that you are right.  Those who sin, those who teach sin, and those who say Amen to the sinful teachers, will receive the same reward; both in this life and the age to come!

I would urge America to wake up.  You sleep a sleep toward death.  By your own willful ignorance you raise an enemy in your own house.  And you will reap the crop you have planted.

How I wish it were different.  It was not this way when I was young.  But “wish” is the proper word.  For you have made your choice and you will not turn.

So be it!  Even now the judgment of God builds against such things of man.  The wise will perceive.  The proud will spit in the face of the Holy Righteous God, even on the very day when they are judged.

The spike of peace


Our life can be considered as traveling upon a flat line.  What lay to the left is yet to come.  What lay to the right is written and sealed.  But the spike upon the line is the “now”.

What is to come is not.  What lays behind is done.  Only the moment should be of any serious consideration.  The faith of the future and the faith of the past squeeze together and cause us to be.

There is peace in the faith of what is to come.  For he who promises cannot lie.  There is peace in the faith of what is behind.  For the mercy of God in Christ covers us with beautiful righteousness.

So it is right to say as follows:

“I have peace regarding what comes for God is faithful and supplies.  I have peace regarding what has been for God is faithful to forgive.”

How then should we live in any anxiety?  The promises are sure.  Strength to sustain us is present.  And he has shed His Holy Blood as proof of our forgiveness. (Not only so, but he who believes in the forgiveness of Christ also gains a clean conscience)   How then shall we walk in anxiety?

This should be the aim and desire of every man and woman in Christ.  God has caused things to be in this way, so that his Glory maybe known for eternity. 

But if we live in dreams, desire, greed and anxiety about the future, how does that bring glory to God?  And if we quake and shake and cry and moan for the wicked things we’ve done, how does this bring glory to the Holy blood of Christ?

But if we live in peace, understanding, knowledge of truth, and trust, then we live in the place that God has desired for all men to live. Then a man lives in eternity. Then he is prepared to receive the good things God desires to give. Then the man becomes.

Practice trust.  The righteousness of God covers us.  And we know that his righteousness is Holy true.

A righteous man


A man is not righteous because he does right things.  Is righteous because he himself is righteousness.

The good deeds are his children.  They are not his identity.

He has become a righteous man because righteousness is what he has desired most of all.  He has appealed to God through Christ.  And he has received that for which he has asked. 

Such a man has stopped doing and has become.

Righteous World?


I read the news and I see promising headlines.  Certain things are discontinued because the world has considered them obscene.

I used to be fooled into thinking the world had second guessed its war against God.  But age has taught me something valuable.

The world makes not one small step toward God.  It simply hauls back the things that are not acceptable among those with money.

They make no moves to become righteous.  Everything they do is simply a re-posturing in their greedy desires.

Those who see these things and feel a twinge of hope, are willingly deceived.  The righteousness of God continues uninterrupted.  And of the wickedness of the world continues uninterrupted.

Do not be fooled.  The righteousness of God is holy; the very thing the world hates with all its strength.  Holy provides no profit for the things of men.

BEST


Regarding man’s righteousness; his ability to perform in this life in a manner worthy of God’s acceptance:

Man can learn to do many things.  He is able to build towering structures, both material and spiritual.  He is able to clean and maintain all that he has.  He can keep the streets clear of clutter.  And he can produce a life free of wilful sins.

But the righteousness that pleases God is more.  For man can only work with what he has been given. Man is born a receiver.  Nothing he can do that is “best”, is anything more than maintaining what he has been allowed to have.  Therefore, nothing “best” we can do is as “Best”, as God defines “Best”.

Jesus is the very Word of the Living God.  He has been so from the beginning of creation.  What He has done is God stuff.  His righteousness is not received, He is the origin of all that is purely Righteous.  He, being the first and direct offspring of God, is not a receiver.  He is a pure giver.

Can man possibly compete with that?  Is he even wise to try?  God Himself has proclaimed the place of Christ.  Who is man to challenge, with his uninformed mind?

Let Jesus be your righteousness.  Stop seeking to impress God.  Jesus is the only One who can do that.  TRUST!