Category Archives: God

Not so Fast

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The folks were fasting but God was not impressed.  Why not?  They really were making themselves hungry, really were going without for a time.  But God belittled their efforts.  In effect, He said, “You call that a fast?  Are you kidding?  That’s not fasting, not even close.”   Check it out for yourself: it’s in the 58th chapter of Isaiah.  But here is the nub of it:

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  (Isaiah 58:5-7)

The Dumb Thing

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One of the oldest bits of wisdom in the Bible says, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  Except God didn’t say it like that.   Speaking through His prophet, Jeremiah, He said:

13 “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.  (Jeremiah 2:13)

Cisterns hold water but they can’t fill themselves.  You have to do that.  If the cistern is leaky, then you have to keep filling it, even if you haven’t used any of the water. Moreover, have you ever tasted water stored for a long time in a cistern?  Funky stuff.  So then, why would anyone exchange a continuous spring of fresh, clear water for a cistern they had to dig and fill which would give them brackish tasting water?  Be dumb, right?

And why, God asks, would anyone turn away from the continuous interaction with God, Who gives strength, peace, joy, insight, love and life itself, in order to make up his or her own god out of dead stuff?  Dead stuff like wood, stone, metal, plastic… or money.  One of most common reasons people turn away from God is to pursue more money.  But money is very much like a broken cistern.  You have to fill it yourself.  It leaks away when you aren’t looking (If you don’t believe me, check your wallet:  Not as much money in there as you thought, right?)  And money doesn’t satisfy like it promises to do.  Most of the time the aftertaste of money is brackish.

Don’t be dumb.

Ancient Paths

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Do you still use your “Veg-e-matic,” or have you gone back to your kitchen knife and cutting board?  There’s a reason you see so many infomercial products on garage sale tables.  The old, tried and true methods, generally work better.  They’ve stood the test of time.  It’s important to remember that when you consider whether to buy the next better mousetrap.  Or idea.

Our culture has majored in tearing down old, tried and true ideas.  We celebrate our freedom from them, proudly following new, contemporary ideas.  But history has seen many Veg-e-matic ideas tossed on the garage sale “free pile.”  There really is value in paying attention to the wisdom of generations past.  I’m not talking about ideas like the world is flat.  I’m specifically thinking about knowing the value of living with a deep respect for Almighty God, a responsiveness to His guidance.  People abandon that idea, thinking it will tangle them up in old superstitions.  But check it out:  that old idea is tried and true.  What it really does is bring peace:

This is what the Lord says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.  (Jeremiah 6:16a)

Done

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Can you really forgive if you don’t forget?  God doesn’t think so.  When He forgives He forgets.  Speaking about all those who accept His forgiveness and salvation through faith in Jesus, He says:

12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.  (Hebrews 8:12)

So, this woman goes to her priest and says, “I have a word from God for you.”  “Oh no,” he replies, “we don’t do that in this church.”  She persists and he finally tells her to prove she really is in contact with God.  He tells her to ask God to tell her the last sin he owned up to in confession.  If she gets it right, he’ll listen to what she has to tell him.  When she comes back, the priest asks her what God told her was his last confessed sin.  She says, “God said He can’t remember…”

Of course, you could ask all sorts of logical questions about what could be impossible for an all-sovereign deity.  But the point is this:  once God has forgiven you, that is the end of it.  He will never bring it back up and hold it as leverage against you.  When you accept Jesus’ payment on the cross as a full payment for all  your sin, your account is paid in full.  It’s done.

The How and Why of Miracles

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David Blaine blows your mind by doing things that seem impossible.  But if you knew how he did his tricks, they would not have the same effect.  When God performs a miracle, He deliberately hides how He did it, in order to preserve the full effect.  Because it’s the why that’s important with miracles, not the how.  I know people who declare, “There’s no such thing as a miracle.”  What they mean is there must be some physical explanation for how God pulled off His tricks.  Perhaps they are right.  But in getting all focused on the how, they’ve probably missed the why.  And that is a shame.

Miracles are often called “signs.”  Signs point to something.  When you see a sign for a hospital, you don’t stop there to get medical attention; you head in the direction it points to.  In the New Testament, most of the miracles, or signs, point to the validity of the identity, message and work of Jesus Christ.  They are designed to work like starter fluid for faith.  You don’t run your engine on starter fluid; you just squirt some in the intake when you are having trouble getting it started.  God uses miracles to help people get their faith started.  When you read about or experience a miracle of God, don’t get so distracted wondering about the how that you miss out on why it happened.

1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:1-4)

 

Benchmark

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What makes a good president?  We are awash with opinions about the Obama presidency and prejudgments about what Trump might do.  But what are the standards by which those opinions are formed?  I don’t believe such standards should be based primarily on political preferences.  We’ve had great presidents from both sides of the aisle.  Let me suggest a benchmark taken from Psalm 89, a declaration of praise addressed to God.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.  (Psalms 89:14)

If I could have my “druthers,”  I’d like a president whose claim to leadership authority was based on a solid foundation of righteousness and justice, both of which preclude favoritism.  I’d like a president who was known for how sincerely he or she loved, one known for being absolutely faithful.  I’d like a president who bore the character of God.

Of course I understand we humans don’t measure up.  But more than party leanings, those are the benchmarks I measure by as I wait for the arrival of the King of Kings.  May God truly bless, guide and protect all of our leaders and develop a greater sense of understanding among all the people of this nation.

Making Movies

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I’d be very surprised if the movie, “God’s Not Dead,” convinced anyone to abandon atheism.  Perhaps I’m wrong, but I suspect movies like that mostly feel good to those who already know God’s not dead.  I’m pretty sure God does not need to be defended.  Why?  Because He isn’t dead!  He’s all powerful and His purposes prevail.  If He was dead, then maybe we’d need to work hard to prove He wasn’t.

That’s the idea humorously and ironically illustrated by these guys:

24 A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25 He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26 And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27 There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”   (Acts 19:24-27)

Any so-called god who can be “robbed of divine majesty” because of something someone says is no god you want to follow.   I’ve seen many movies about faith in God that have stirred my soul.  Don’t get me wrong: I’m not down on God movies.  It’s just that the real God doesn’t need our movies; He makes His own:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.  (Psalms 19:1-4)

A Good Church?

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There’s a lot of weird churches out there.  Unhealthy, conflicted and sometimes dangerously wrong in what they teach.  Trouble is, these problems often lie hidden.  You can’t tell the condition of a church by how nice it looks, how upbeat the music is or by the size of the congregation.  Good churches come in many shapes, flavors and sizes.  So, how can you know if you’ve found a good one?  What do you look for?  Here’s a description of the first church, the initial gathering of people who knew Jesus.  I think it describes some of the most important things to look for in a church:

Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.  (Acts 9:31)

Good churches will surely have a peaceful vibe and will seem to be growing stronger and adding people.  But not necessarily always.  For example, what seems like a lack of peace may actually be a manifestation of honest willingness to address a tough problem.  And what seems to be peacefulness may be an unhealthy passivity of a congregation that is under someone’s thumb.  Same thing with temporary swings in attendance.

But central to the health of a church are the two phrases highlighted above.  A good church is very aware of the awesome and somewhat frightening presence of Almighty God.  They understand His amazing power and perfect understanding and are reverently responsive to Him in a natural way.  And a good church is mostly made up of people who, by having put their faith in Jesus, are alive with the Holy Spirit.  Instead of going through religious motions, they are engaged in an exhilarating relationship with the Spirit, being encouraged, strengthened and instructed by Him.   A church where these two are present will likely be one where you will be blessed and changed.

Impudent Prayer

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How often do you check your cell phone?  A recent study done by a screen locking app discovered an average of 110 times a day.  If you spread that evenly over 16 waking hours, that’s about every 8 minutes or so.  How do I know?  I checked it out on my cell phone.  I got thinking about that when I read this parable of Jesus about being persistent in prayer.  He told this right after teaching His disciples to pray “Give us this day our daily bread.”

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  (Luke 11:5-10)

The word translated, impudence, has an original meaning of shameless persistence.  Apparently Jesus encouraged us to pray as often as we ask our cell phones for things.  Not long, flowery prayers but simple, quick questions.  If you are skeptical, go back and read verse 9.

20-17 Vision

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Remember Y2K?  How much needless worry and panic was spilled over mostly nothing?  That’s my impression of 2016 – people got all stirred up over first one thing and then another, wasting countless hours watching “news” about what might happen and wasting a lot of energy shouting about it.  

Imagine what news channels would have done with the circumstances of Roman occupation and oppression in Jesus’ day.  Public whippings and crucifixions, unjust demands by soldiers imposed upon ordinary citizens.  And yet, Jesus largely ignored all that, focusing instead on more important aspects of reality.  Such as loving one’s neighbor.  Such as learning to see the world through His eyes, so “the truth will set your free.”  Such as learning not to worry but trusting your Heavenly Father.  What if, in 2017, we dared to follow His example?  What if we dared to stop defining reality by what the media says and instead asked God to show us what really matters?

20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  (1 John 5:20)

18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Grace and peace to you all this new year!