Tag Archives: the gospel

Foreign Language

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I had been of the persuasion that the Gospel could be communicated in a way that was “less offensive” to the ears of man.  To a certain degree, I still am.  I find that stories, parables, and examples from life, are quite fit for consumption by those who do not have the Spirit of God in them.

But it must be recognized that The Gospel speaks an entirely different language than the language of man.  And why not?  The Gospel comes from Heaven and Eternity.  Man is of time, suffering, rebellion and death.  How can the two speak the same language.

Certain phrases and alignment of words are completely foreign to man.  One such alignment of words is “I love God”.  Now man is quite willing to allow that God is love.  It’s kind of cool to think that there is at least someone who loves.  So they don’t mind hearing that.  But if you tell them you love God, they come unglued.  If they are willing to try to understand what you just said, they might accept it for a moment or two.  But as you show and speak the things of God, that live within you, they will quickly label you a freak (At least in their mind.  And to my experience, they will often let that thought pass through their lips.  I have even been told I am insane for just such an alignment of words.)

So what’s this mean?  It means that there’s a place where hiding your foreign language from man is not reasonable anymore.  You’ve tried to speak to them in their own language.  You’ve spoken things that man thinks are wonderful, wise and beautiful ideas.  You’ve spoken about wisdom, as man likes to hear.  But you see no connection within them yet.  Well maybe it’s time to pull out the “big guns”.  Maybe it’s time to tell them plainly that you love God.  Just be ready.  When you do that, you’ll see their true feelings about the things of God.

Flaky Fluff

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Your inner child.  No, thats your sinful nature.  It’s not innocent or childlike.

Confess Jesus as your Savior.  Yes, but now go lead a life of repentance.  “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:48)

Faith alone will save you.  Now what was that the apostle paul said?  ” 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5)

Urging people over and over and over to read their Bible.  “12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5)  And let us not forget that the people perish for lack of vision.

Jesus is love.  He also abhors every form of wickedness.  He will vomit the lukewarm out of his mouth!  He holds the keys to life AND death in his hands.  He will vehemently protect eternity.  He will never swap his Holy Father’s commands for willful disobedience.  And he has the ability to write as well as erase from the book of life.

By His Grace

Self Discipline and Diligence; Fear and Awareness

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If you were compelled to grow a garden instead of relaxing and watching TV, you would naturally develop the self discipline to get it done.  Hunger is a fascinating motivator.

If you had to kill deer in order to have clothing and food, you wouldn’t complain so much about the weather.  You would learn quickly how to track, kill, field dress, and manipulate the carcass.  And the more intense the fear, the less remains would be left in the field.

Instead of being spoiled by central heating, and a fat paycheck, you would have gathered enough firewood for the entire winter.  Your fear of freezing to death would cause you massive sweat in the summer.

The more basic the life, the more likelihood of strong self discipline.  Hunger and survival are powerful motivators.  Fear of starvation and death can make weak people extremely strong.

If freedom was not given to you by legislation, you would have fought tooth and nail to gain it.  The desire for freedom is often stronger than the will to live.  Especially when ruthless men subject your children to violence.

But a consistent freedom requires consistent self-discipline.  The lazy and spoiled simply can’t hang on to it.  All the goodies are given to them for minimal labor and self discipline.  They will surely lose their rights over time.

All these things are true in the world.  They are far more true in the kingdom of heaven and application of the Gospel.  Didn’t Jesus tell us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled?

The Hungering and thirsting presupposes recognition of lack.  He didn’t tell us that all we had to do was ask and, “whaamo bammo”, we’d be righteous. 

The more stark the reality of a man’s trouble, the more likely he will be to pursue stability with all he has.  And when he perceives his need as greater than anything on this earth can cure, he will chase after God with a feverish pitch.

But how should a person diligently pursue what he thinks he already has?  And isn’t this a problem that has surfaced because the Gospel has become watered down?  Distill all the “flaky fluff” out of today’s Gospel, and you would see an entirely different people worshiping God.

By His Grace

Worth It All

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Those who know me, know that in my past I have been an agent for destruction.  Everywhere I went, I destroyed lives.  Selfishness was all I knew.  I had no respect for anyone else’s life, or prosperity.  Only God knows how much of that man is dead.

But a new man has risen from the carcass.  This one is thoroughly ashamed of such behavior.  He strives to let people be more than himself.  But again, only God knows how much.

I did the things I did out of habit.  One might say out of compulsion.  And I don’t know how many of those habits or how much selfish compulsion to be destructive still lives in my mind.  All I know is that I strive everyday, all day, to be a different man.

Prayer has become often and earnest.  With a great abandon, I have thought the truth of God through and through.  To the point that what you see written in this blog is likely less than 1/8 the volume.  And with all my might I strive to do the things I learn.

I’m not trying to praise myself.  And it would be ridiculous to look for pity.  For justice remembers that I had no pity on others.

I write this for the sake of those who are like I was.  I write this that you may know there is a way out.  And the exit door has a name, Jesus the Christ of God.  But I also wrote this as a testimony to what you can expect.

You can expect to remember what you’ve done.  You can expect the Lord Jesus to forgive your sins.  You can expect God to teach you how to put selfishness away.  You can expect him to teach you the real meaning of love.  You can even expect to become quite trustworthy.

But you cannot expect those who knew the man you were, to trust you.  Just as you will not forget the man you were, they remember all the more. 

But doesn’t that painful experience give you a magnificent opportunity to be humble, forgiving, patient and understanding?  And aren’t those four attributes foundations for love?

You can expect that becoming the new man will be a horribly painful experience.  But I have determined, it is about time I tasted my own medicine.  And the Lord Jesus reassures me that the pain will be worth it all.

By His Grace

No Room for Humanity

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I recently met up with an old friend.  We did a lot of talking about the days gone by.  Soon we turned to the present time, catching up on what each one does.

Over the weeks and months, my love for God came out strong.  I tried to talk with him about the things of his interests.  But those things no longer interest me.

As is sure to happen, a distance begin to develop.  It is an uncomfortable awareness that we are no longer the friends we were.  He is of the world, I am of God.

With hopes that we would not have disagreement, I tried to coax him toward understanding.  I tried to lace everything I said with something to do with eternity.  As if a man might try to tame the lion.

But a lion is what it is.  And history can tell us of many people who were ripped to shreds.  The trainer cannot be the lion.  And the lion cannot change from being a lion.  Sooner or later one of them will have to step up and take the lead.

So it is with our dealings with the unsaved.  Their minds are firmly set on the things of this world.  A love for God is a foreign and obscene idea.

The argument finally came.  His feelings were hurt by some small thing I said.  He commanded that I repair my ways or distance myself.  Ok, fine.

“I will stand where I do.  You go back to what you love.”  This is the sum of what I was forced to tell him.  It is not God in me that closed the door.

But in parting, as it is with the end of all arguments, a remark is always made to punctuate the truth.  This particular relationship has ended on the same note.  He will go his way into the chaos of all the world.  And I will remain attached to my feet; those items of my soul which are firmly secured in the salvation of God.

He is upset because he thinks it’s unfair that God should trivialize the human condition.  He does not want to be holy.  He wants to be accepted just like he is.  In this, my friend is not much different than the majority of Christians (At least those I have met.  At least what I have read from what Christianity today has become).

But his parting volley of words missed me by a mile.  I’m sure he intended to cut me to the heart.  It was his last ditch effort to change my mind.  He said to me,  that he didn’t want anything to do with a religion that has no room for Humanity.

What does he mean by that?  I doubt that he would truly know.  But I know what that means.  That means what God has been saying all along.  There is no room in eternity for sin.

Many people think the frailty of humanity is to receive welcome out of pity.  What a completely uneducated perspective that is.  God’s promise to the frailty of man remains.  Everything that is sin will be utterly destroyed.

In His mercy he will teach us how to become holy.  But so many millions think it is unfair.  They hate the things of God but they love the pity that comes their way.

There is far more to Christianity than the forgiveness of sins!  Christianity is about becoming a godly man.  It is not a certificate of license handed out by God so you can continue in your unholy way.  If you think that’s unfair then you are likely not a Christian, no matter what you’ve gone around calling yourself!

There is so much to say concerning this.  I feel the anger in me rise to the top.  Not because of my friend, but because so many have misused the love of God.  I think it is wise for me to just shut up right now.

By His Grace

Sibling Rivalry

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Millions of people, all over the world, know the nature of Truth.  They know the God who made us all.

You know them.  They walk among you.  And they are not ashamed to testify about what they have come to know.

How do I know this?  Because I am one of them.  I know that the Living God, the Holy Father, would not leave this world without testimony about what is more important than anything in this world.  He gave His Holy Son into the hands of man to die.  And this for the sake of saving us all.  Why would He now abandon man by having no witnesses among us?

They are all at various stages of understanding.  But God works in them to testify, with reliability, according to the Gospel.  By the power of God, their testimony is reliable.  It is the ears of man which muddy up the “Word of God”.  And it is their “past man” which conflicts within them to deliver what they have come to “know” by faith.

Perhaps you have one in your family.  You know that person, so you discount what they say.  You remember the person they were before they came to understand the Gospel.  So you assume they are only spouting what they believe, as if what they now believe were only another opinion (of which there are, apparently, billions).

By rejecting what they say, because you have known them, you reject the One who has transformed their thinking.  Did you know that?

I know it’s hard, but if you would only listen to what they are saying, you too can become a child of the Living God.  I am, after all, speaking of Christianity.

Now if you find it too hard to rid yourself of the image of the man or woman you used to know, as you strive to listen to them, then go find a stranger that speaks the same things.

It’s curious, about people, that they get stuck in a rut when it comes to the Gospel preached by family or acquaintance.  But let us recognize that such difficulties exist.  Fine.  But don’t let that stop you from looking into the things of Christ.

Don’t let the natural mistrust divide you from eternal life.  Don’t let sibling rivalry, (that hideous tendency of man to discount the words of another man, simply because that person is another man just like you) rip eternal life from your fragile fingers.

Right now you have no idea how precious the Gospel is.  You don’t know what is at stake.  You don’t know the glories you are throwing away by not being willing to listen.  You are judging the content by the wrapper.  Strive to get past what you think you know.  Strive to understand what you’ve never comprehended.

And have mercy on that person.  He or she is trying, with all they have, to interpret the things of heaven to human ears.  It might take some time to get the message out clearly.  Encourage them to try again, if what they say to you makes no sense at all.  If you want mercy from God, be willing to give it to your sincere brother.

You’ll have to put on patience, something we humans seem to have extremely little of.   But if you comprehend what they’re trying to tell you, you’ll find every difficulty more valuable than all the riches in the world.