Tag Archives: The living God

Cutting the Difference

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Christmas is coming.  Many will now turn to a false religion.  From their daily life of caring nothing for the things of God, they will now act as though the gospel belongs to them.  They will quote a portion of Scripture that says, “Peace on earth and goodwill to men”.

Smiles on peoples faces, music of God will fill the air, and winter will force a certain diminishing of wickedness.  Ungodly behavior is but a seed planted in late fall.  A treasure of the wicked waiting to sprout in spring.

Christmas is a time of year when the word of Jesus gets passed around rather fluidly.  But what about the other 11 months of the year?

Consider these tidbits  from the Bible.

1 Peter 4:
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Proverbs:
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and the one who is wise saves lives.
31 If the righteous receive their due on earth,
how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

Luke 2:
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

2 Timothy:
19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

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Seek the Lord’s favor while it is still called today.

To the Journey

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We have a tendency to trivialize everything.  But we come to own this tendency with good reason.  Absolutely everything we know deteriorates.  Even the compassion of Man is in a state of flux; needs come and go, the sick get better or die, poverty evaporates at the end of its work, hatred goes to sleep when it is tired of destroying.  So even Man’s compassion (what is considered the best Man can offer) rests from its work.

We strive hard, but at the end of the day everything we know is trivial.  Everything we know is in a constant state of repair or deterioration.  Isn’t that why we sleep?

Most people, including myself, tend to apply this trivial mindset to the gospel of Christ.  We can’t help it, it’s in our nature to perceive things as if they are passing.  And without the constant help of the eternal Living God’s Holy Son we would never perceive the gospel as eternal.  It would remain in a mode of choice.  And isn’t that what we see when we look at those who call themselves Christians; constantly making the choice to do (or not to do) Christ-like things.

We need to be reminded that his promises last forever and never change.  That’s why we read the Bible often; to renew our decaying mind.  That’s why we pray, with whatever earnest soul we can muster.  Isn’t that why we are told to encourage one another?

Connected to this is an understanding that has come again to me this morning.  Everything we do is manufactured.  It’s in a constant state of repair.  But a love for righteousness cannot be in a state of repair.  For whatever constantly needs repair is also constantly deteriorating.  Love does not deteriorate, and eternal Righteousness does not fall into the realm of choice.  Let’s be honest, we either love righteousness or we don’t. 

What an amazing place God has created; it is not a place of deterioration, it is a place of potential eternal life.  There can be no better testing of a man’s heart than the state of affairs I have spoken of here.  On top of that, God knows the difference between a manufactured love of righteousness and one that is ingrained and sincere.

This is the nature of salvation.  It is not something that will be.  It is something that IS.  Christ has come, as the great power of God, to redeem the humble of heart.  He has come to teach us eternity.  Imagine that!  The sum of what we know about eternity is the simple word itself.  And without the presence of God, that’s where our knowledge remains.

Every man is encouraged to begin the journey of truth.  The journey is called Christianity.

The Sending

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Take your eyes off the things that are broken.  For to ponder these things is sadness without repair. 

Let your ears forget the noise of the crash.  Let your eyes cease to remember the shattered pieces on the floor.

The Fullness of Life stands at the door.  Turn to see how He watches you. 

Send your ears away that they may listen to His words.  Forgive them their duty as your servants.  Let them go and learn, so that when they return they will give you knowledge.

Send your eyes away.  Let them go and see the things the Living God has in His hand.  When they return to you they will not squint at the brilliance of light.  The shadows will no longer be an attraction.

Do not shrink back but become!

Education

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NCCThree_old_bricks_held_together_with_mortar

They built a building

Bricks and Mortar stood

Proclamations abounded.

Money, Time, Hopes,

All poured out;

Teaching, Learning, Having.

I went to them.

From what they had, they gave what I would take.

But all man’s strength.

Does not equalholiness

Years of dedication cannot equal one moment spent with the Holy One’s Righteous and Holy Son.

 

“The Faith”

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“The Faith”

Teaches what is Holy;
What is unknown,
How to understand,
How to endure,
How to “become”.

Temptation must come;
In the form of ailment,
In the form of beckoning toward sin,
In the form of fear,
With the threat of destruction,
Yet with the opportunity to glorify the Living God’s Holy Son.

Do we understand these things?  Of course we have.  The question to us all is this:
Why do we not apply what we know we understand?

Entertaining Them to Death

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It would be very pleasant if this post were to reach a certain set of ears.  But I’m not stupid.  The ears that need to hear this aren’t listening.  I’m writing this post because I passed by a church put a small rodeo on its property.

There is a rather popular belief in today’s church.  It is a belief that says, “If we provide entertainment the people will at least have an opportunity to listen”.  So these churches provide all kinds of entertainment for the masses.

I could go on and on about how ridiculous this approach is.  But for the sake of bland truth, I’ll just make the following statements.

All day long, everyday, every night, everywhere without ceasing, entertainment is king of this world.  How deeply and irrevocable is the desire of the flesh to be entertained.  But the desire of the Spirit of God is to bring men to understanding in the things that are not of the flesh.  It is God’s desire to reveal the grandness of His Majesty.

We do men no favor by giving them what they want.  In fact we harm them.  What is it about the Living God that is similar to Man’s ways?  What right does man have, to throw the mud of men’s filth on the body of Christ?  Isn’t the revelation of the Living God’s Christ stupendous enough in its own right?  And isn’t that simple laziness to revert to entertainment.

I guess we have to ask the question, are we lovers of men or lovers of the Most High God’s Holy Son.  The answer is quite personal, for we will be commanded to give a personal accounting.