Tag Archives: Sin

Billboard Hysteria

by

0


Two women were complaining about all the Bible billboards down south. One said she was tired of being inundated about sin, Jesus, and condemnation. She made some remark to excuse herself for being callous to the words. Something like, “I know the gospel is important, I’m just tired of it being in my face all the time”.   Surprisingly, her friend agreed.  

Are you tired of hearing about God? You might want to get used to it. He owns eternity, you know. And the conversation about his glorious Son Jesus is never ending. Such people as those women are not likely to have a good time.

Broken, Not Destroyed

by

0


I don’t know what value this is. Maybe it’s only valuable to me; to let my heart speak the words.  

What is Christ to me? He is a painful love. Yet, it’s not that he is painful but that I am from destruction.  


I see his love. I feel his love. I strive, with everything I have, to do his love. Yet the culture of the place where I am from often interferes with peace.  


The pain is not because of his love. Pain does not come from there. It comes from the store house of memories; wrapped around every thought like a leaching vine on a dying tree.  


I remember I did this to someone. I remember I failed to recognize someone else’s pain. Missed moments. Murderous moments. Distracted by selfishness. Wasted times, Times spent trying to survive, encased in a body full of greed.  


Sigh. So it is. But I would rather live this horror, with his love as my target, than to spend another moment living that useless life I have come to regret so deeply.  


Let this be an apology where no words can repair. Let this stand as a testimony to true Christianity.  


The Spirit of God calls, provokes, leads, and encourages toward what is holy. The unholy part of me must succumb. And I am gratefully thankful to my God that his promise is to destroy the destroyer. He is the rock upon which we are broken. Yet woe to those upon whom it falls, for they shall be utterly ground to powder.  


Be glorified Holy Father, for the work of Your own hands in the souls You have chosen to love.  

Hope and Help

by

0


As a child it is not difficult to find someone who believes in you.  The only difficulty is proximity.  Are those who can believe in you close enough for you to touch and receive.  

But let childhood pass.  Let the people begin to notice your faults, and those who believe in you will quickly dissipate in number.  Now let the person become an adult, full of fault, like a filthy glass filled with reeking mud.  We will find no one left to believe in our potential [frankly, this is not an aberration. We simply don’t have any more potential to love] but those who require a payment of some kind.  The love we need, we have to buy.   Isn’t it said that the world loves the rich, while the pauper remains ignored; destitute of adoration.  

Now we see destruction run rampant in every heart.  Woe to the rich man when his money runs out.  Woe to the poor man who cannot buy love.  And especially, woe to the man who has used his mind to be loved by so many.  For the mind will surely waste away to nothing.  

You will say to me, that’s what a strong relationship is for; someone who will love you regardless your faults.  But what should you say if no such relationship comes?  And why should you hope in something that everyone knows is incredibly rare?  How many fables revolve around “true love”.

Who are you then?  You were nothing more than an empty body; hated and despised simply because you need to draw air.  Your station in love will not increase.  You will become less and less and less.  How many old folks waste away with no one left to love them?  They enter the grave poorer than they were when they were born.  

Do you think this is too harsh?  How many live like that for the majority of their life?  How many become invisible even while they are here among us?

Here I must say that Christ is enough.  He can reclaim and love and make you valuable.  But even in that love, despair returns from time to time.  We find they did not love the Lord when he was here among them.  And even God has said they have hated me for no reason, he is righteous in Christ and full to overflowing with love and potential.  How much more will they despise the unrighteousness within us?  

Most people come into this world greatly loved. But also, most people leave this world despised and empty.   Do not be fooled by the plenitude of beautiful stories.  

I could leave it like this and most people would say amen.  And I confess that today I do not have many more words in regard to this.  But I look to my own soul to find the hope of Christ that lays for us beyond the grave.  If he has proven his love for us while we are still filthy, how much more will we know his love when he takes away our mechanism of sin forever?

To the non-Christian I say, believe and experience The Hope.  To the Christian I say remember, dig deep, struggle hard against the sorrow in your heart, remember his promise.  It is enough.  When there is nothing left, he is that part of our soul that refuses to be destroyed.  

Today I do not have much strength.  I have proofed this with half my heart.  Perhaps I will come back a little while later and look it through.  But what I had to say is written here, not hard to decipher past the mistakes.  

Seven Spanish Angels?????

by

0


You got to this post across a certain trail. Stop a minute. Pick a rock. Have a seat. Let’s do a little traveling that doesn’t require legs.  

I’ll tell you about the trail that brought me here. I was practicing guitar this morning using YouTube; A little Skip Ewing, a smidgen of Vince Gill, a sliver of Keith urban, and just a dab of Carrie underwood. I just finished “mama’s song”, and looked down at the next few songs. There was Willie Nelson singing “Seven Spanish Angels”.  


In a flash, I was no longer playing guitar. I was transported to this place where you meet me.  


15 minutes of thought can be rolled up in one question. Does Man have a right to play games with the concept of heaven, angels, salvation, death, vengeance, and what is Holy?


It’s kind of sentimental and cute to think that seven Spanish Angels even exist, let alone that they immortalize people just because they die. But is there any possibility that it’s true? Is everyone taken to heaven simply because they lived here on earth? Take a look at what happened to Isaiah. Then tell me what will become of the godless and the sinners of this life.  


1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3. And they were calling to one another:


“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”


4. At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.


5. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”


6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (chapter 6)


God is HOLY. Everything of heaven is Holy. Angels do not come from Mexico. They are of heaven, where everything is holy.  


Those who live by the gun will die by the gun. And in the end they will be assigned the place of those who murder and are of vengeance.  


I am caused to consider this, how much of my own life is a room of lies filled with stupid and ignorant tapestries that will most assuredly destroyed me? What are you thinking?


Thanks for having a seat. Thanks for listening. May God bless the path you take from here.  

The Old “New Age”

by

0


The man of the tombs was set free. The people marveled when they found him dressed and in his right mind. But do not mistake their marvel for a willingness to love. No, he spent the rest of his days in this world abandoned and despised.   

When he was full of demons they tried to bind him but he broke the chains and was set free from their bonds again. But now they find him weak. Now their despising is a raging fire. Now he can receive their pent-up vengeance. Don’t bother to think they had mercy on the man.  

As they realized that he had become like them, their widened eyes became squinted in anger.  Amazement quickly turned to thoughts of murder.  

He was not loved when he was unlovable. They could find no strength to love him when he became sane.  


But where is he now?


Despite all the world’s favorable words and intentions, they do not know what love and mercy is.  

Freedom À la Violence 

by

0


“Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.” Thomas à Kempis 

                          BE SOBER!

There is no one more vile than I. For no one is more adept at destroying the work of God than my selfish nature which lives within me.  


No matter what knowledge I have concerning righteousness, my roommate called selfishness knows nothing, desires nothing, and can produce nothing on his own. At the base of things, he only knows how to play with mud.  


What counsel is there in these things? I see this: be careful not to judge the sinners all around us. For with one touch of the love of God, anyone of them can out strip us with the doings of the Holy Spirit.   Despise the action, but be ready to embrace the actor.  


The one to whom much is forgiven, the same will love much. The one who is released from the deepest and darkest of dungeons will love the open spaces more. He understands captivity, and now embraces freedom with a violence.  


But the one who does not perceive his own wickedness, this one sees no need to praise. Righteous humility eludes him.  


God has raised mighty men from the sewer in the past. Rest assured, he is doing so today.