What do you do when help isn't on the way?

In conjunction with my last blog, the idea that I am trying to get across is that "need" is a much bigger term than we might imagine. Sometimes what the child of God needs is to go through a period of need. In this we first must understand that God is not violating his promises, simply because we do not get. The idea of a faith that runs no deeper than, Lord please don't let it rain on our beautiful picnic, is not going to sustain you when a crisis of health, finance or loss of a loved one inevitably hits.

Problems that far outweigh our resources are what make us rely on God. The destruction of self-reliance is what occurs in the process. So, for those of you who tell any one of the millions of people who are hurting right now, to just get up and go fix their situation: Shut up, you don't know what you are talking about. No kidding, as I was writing this, I struck up a conversation with a woman who has an degree in management, working on her masters; and she has been out of work since August. Look, there are people everywhere that are struggling to survive on a scale that hasn't been seen in our life time. It has been 83 years since the great stock market crash. It is not easy, and running around kicking people in the seat of the pants is a shameful.

Back to my point, the destruction of self-reliance is what is supposed to happen in a trial. God wants us to depend on Him. Why else would He give us such a gracious offer to come boldly before His throne with whatever concerns us? It is that He wants us dependent on Him, for everything. We are dependent on Him for every beat of our heart; it is the sinful flesh that does not want to admit that.

So, how about the help that isn't coming? Rejoice, that is what James tells us. If you don't get what you need, then maybe what you need is to go without for a time. Why? Tell me something, how is God going to use you to minister to somebody, if all you can say is, "sorry, let's talk about something else." God is creating in you a person who can help when another is in trouble. Help that will mean so much more because you have been "through it." Listen, kind eyes and a reassuring voice only come by experience. So, when you endure all kinds of trials, because you are faithful, rejoice: because God is at work in you.

Is it a strange thing?

In my earlier days, I wrote in sermons something to the effect, if you please God, He will give you what you need. I often got those sermons back with a note that essentially said, what if you don't get what you want? I tied the faithfulness of God to the getting of what you want or need, which is fine so long as what you are asking for is in God's will. What I wrote wasn't wrong, I just didn't understand it. I was lacking in experience.

I understand what I wrote a great deal more now than I did then. I don't think that anyone will say that the last few years have been fun. The Bureau of Labor Statistics places the number of unemployed for November of this year at 15.1 million people. So, is it still true; if you please God, will He give you what you need? Absolutely. So how do we wrap our minds around this concept?

What do they teach you in school? Your needs are food, clothing and shelter. So, we go about finding a program that pleases God and gives us all of these. Is it possible to seek the kingdom of God and miss a meal or two? Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing? There is more to life than food, clothing and shelter. Look at what Peter say about trials in I Peter 4:12-14. It is not strange when trouble comes: it would be strange if trouble never came.

Listen, this is what is going to make the difference when you are up against a trial that can level you. It is the pinnacle of God's faithfulness that we endure fiery trials: especially when we do everything right! Do you want to be moored in the harbor; or do you want to go out on the rough seas where you can experience the revelation of God's glory? God's glory rests on those who have been shucked of everything the world wants: and they stand and say take everything else, but give me Christ! The Bible speaks of people like this who were tortured, but would not accept release, because they wanted a better resurrection, they died at they hands of their torturers; because they wanted to please God more, and the Bible also records that the world was not worthy of them. Do not be dismayed when you have trials. Sail on! That God's glory may rest on you.

My Christmas blog

So it’s Christmas time. I usually share my thoughts, an occasional link and that is about it. You may or may not know that I like to take pictures. This year I am giving almost everyone the same picture. I took a couple of pictures with particular people in mind, but for the most part, I took pictures I wanted to take. For this year, this one is my favorite. Two little children playing at the beach. I watched them go back and forth, chasing the receding wave and then running away from the incoming wave. Since a picture is worth a thousand words I won’t continue to describe it.

The thing about photography that captivates me is the fact that you are freezing one moment in time. There is a technical aspect that generously feeds the nerd in me. There is always a desire to get it right, in both the technical and substantive aspects. The crossing of those paths in one single moment in time and the photographer’s inability to capture it, are what constitute the “missed shot.” But then there is Photoshop, to fix whatever ails your picture.

If you are attentive to details, you will notice that there are a few spots on this picture. Right to left: blue, purple, a lighter purple and just above that a light colored blotch. It’s called lens flare; not technically perfect. It is flawed. So why didn't I fix it? There is a day attached to that particular photograph. One of those wonderful days when the Father does for you so clearly, what you can not do for yourself. And at the end of this day as I looked back toward the setting sun, this is what I saw, this beautiful moment. Children playing at the edge of one of God’s great wonders.

So what of the flaws I did not fix? The flaws are what make this picture mine. God bless you all and have a Merry Christmas.

Some additional thoughts on the book of Ruth

While I enjoyed sharing my thoughts on the book of Ruth, as For Miss Austen, I would like to add a few thoughts that have developed along the way. There are some phrases in the Bible, which perfectly understood at the time of their writing, then translated from manuscripts some 2700 to 3000 years (depending on which version you use) after the original writing of the text, require a little homework to comprehend with a now 21st century mind. So, lets look at Ruth 3:9 in the King James. "Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid," is the phrase that probably didn't cause too much difficulty even up to the turn of the last century; but now some interpret this as a Ruth going to the threshing floor to seduce Boaz: that is completely wrong!

Most of the older translations (relative term) such as Young's Literal Translation and Darby Translation follow the King James translation "thy skirt." Some of the newer translations render the term "the corner of your garment", and in one "the corner of your covering." This is a symbolic gesture. Look at the blessing Boaz gives to Ruth in chapter 2:11-12. Notice the phrase about God in verse twelve, "under whose wings thou art come to trust." That is the symbol that we see in Ruth's request. Clarke's Commentary says this, "Spread therefore thy skirt over thine hand maid - Hebrew, Spread thy wing. The wing is the emblem of protection, and is a metaphor taken from the young of fowls, which run under the wings of their mothers, that they may be saved from birds of prey. . . Even to the present day, when a Jew marries a woman, he throws the skirt or end of his talith over her, to signify that he has taken her under his protection." So we can see what a beautiful gesture this is: namely that Ruth asked Boaz, borrowing his phraseology, to be the instrument of the blessing he pronounced on her.

Finally, as to who the author of Ruth was, let me say this, I think it was David. Some suppose Samuel, in fact many, and others suppose Nathan but I think David makes sense. Think about it for a minute, who would best know this story? What does every little one ask mom and dad? They spend their early childhood learning how mom and dad got to be mom and dad. Then they start on how the grandparents came to be any of the hundred or so derivatives of grandmother and grandfather. David is closer to the story than anyone we know of, in fact is the great-grandson of Ruth. Remember King David grew up as just David, so there's little reason to suggest that this was a famous story outside of his family. The writing of Ruth and David's life time also overlap. So, that's my two cents worth about who wrote the book of Ruth. God bless you all.

For Miss Austen Part VII

I know that we have been a while getting here, but I hope that your patients will soon be rewarded. Naomi was right to say ". . . the man will not rest until he has settled it today." I have to say that the potential redeemer or the nearer kinsman lurking in the background has bothered me all along. I like him less the more I read about him. So, meet the villain of the story.

It was puzzling to see the way that Boaz, who is obviously emotionally invested in the outcome, deals with "such a one." Why would he start by offering the piece of land, and only then mention Ruth? Do you think his existence was a surprise to Naomi or to Ruth? Not at all. Bethlehem is a small town; couple that with this statement Boaz makes about Ruth, "for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman." That includes the would-be redeemer. Ruth has been gleaning since the barley harvest, early spring, all the way into the summer. So we see that he could have redeemed her all of this time; and not only that, we see that he could have redeemed her before Naomi and Ruth became so impoverished that she had to glean in the field.

Doesn't it make sense that this nearer kinsman would be more aware of their return to Bethlehem and their circumstances? Boaz, distant enough in relation, that he had to ask who she was when she showed up at his field to glean. The lack of care for both Naomi and Ruth was an unstated refusal of "such a one" to do the part a kinsman redeemer. So now we see why Boaz offered the land first. He is about to fix his character in front of everyone.

Boaz offers the land, and the man jumps at it. Maybe he was thinking that they had become so poor that they would be happy to get the price of the land, without requiring him to redeem Ruth. You see, he only wanted from her what would increase his holdings. Girls, don't you ever let it be said, that you are in a relationship with a man who requires everything from you and nothing from him. You've heard it from your Uncle B.

The man refuses when Ruth is mentioned, and every man there understood that Ruth could have come in and spit in his face, for failing to do his duty. The man left that day with his pedigree intact, and his character broken. Boaz then instantly claims the right of redemption and said I'm not only purchasing the field but I am also purchasing Ruth to be my wife, and there is an immediate outbreak of rejoicing. Because, after all, a good boy is marrying a good girl.

More tomorrow, loved ones.

For Miss Austen Part VI

In each of Miss Austen's stories there is the prospect of true love lost, although Emma does not face the prospect as severely as Misses Dashwood, Bennet or Price. It is the very picture of what is taking place between Boaz and Ruth. The boy loves the girl, but the boy may not be able to redeem the girl. Now granted in most of these cases, the afore mentioned "boys" are older; but in each case, his heart is on the line. Billy Graham once spoke about being in love with a girl at a young age, saying that most would refer to it as "puppy love," then he said with some force, "It was real to the puppy!" No matter how old you are: it's real to the puppy.

And do we wonder that she won his heart so completely? Can we not see the hand of God working in her life, before ever the two meet? She as an even younger girl marries a man she loves, and also gets an extended family that loved her too. The father-in-law whom she must have looked to as a father, and no doubt he doted over her as well. And with in a short time, the family buries him. Not only grieving with her mother-in-law, but soon after for her self and her sister-in-law; tragedies that quickly matured her beyond her years. All these trials creating in her a quite and gentle spirit, who could depend on no one other than God.

How quickly she must have taken his heart, gleaning as a Moabite, sparing Naomi the shame of gleaning daily in the sight of those who knew her all of her life. Boaz providing for her by telling his servants to leave for her, as the King James puts it, "handfuls of purpose." The prayers that must have been going up early that morning? They were both as we all should be; loving children completely dependent on their Gracious Heavenly Father.

More tomorrow, loved ones.

For Miss Austen Part V

I really don't like using the suffix "-in-law" with Ruth and Naomi. Ruth behaves as a daughter to her, and Naomi looks over Ruth with all of the care of a birth mother. Notice that she doesn't just arbitrarily send her on a man hunt; she encouraged Ruth to act on the feelings that she had obviously seen in her. Incidentally, you can let some nerd fix you up based on twenty-nine dimensions of compatibility, or you can let God do it: in His way and in His time. The pattern that I want you to notice is that Ruth followed godly counsel, and one of the primary markers of a bad match: is a refusal to listen to any counsel. It is a help to you to listen to those who know you and love you best; people who want to see you have God's best for you.

On to the next point in the story, Ruth goes back to her mother-in-law, and notice that Boaz didn't want to send her back empty handed. I have read all sorts of interpretations as to what the six measures of barley mean, and still do not have a satisfactory answer; but let's at least make this application, Boaz is sending a gift to the one who sent Ruth to him. Say it however you want, but Boaz honors Naomi in large part because she means so much to Ruth.

Now, I've had some long nights, but how would you like to know that the girl you want to marry, who wants to marry you, may belong to someone else tomorrow? How interesting that there is this divine hitch. Both Ruth and Boaz have to place the matter in God's hands and leave it there. Listen to me closely: this is the perfect example of letting the Lord build the house. (Psalm 127:1) If you have formed an attachment and discarded God's will at every turn: you have no reason to expect God to bless what you have created with no regard to His will. Loved ones, follow God, first and always; and when and if He puts you with someone, he will build and bless the relationship in ways that are beyond all that we ask or think; to His glory.

More tomorrow, dear ones.

For Miss Austen Part IV

Ruth did everything that her mother-in-law told her, and by doing so exercised her trust in Boaz. The thing that binds the heart of Ruth to Boaz is her trusting in him; and indeed, it is what all men want from women. Look at the way he responds: he tells her, I have always known that you were an uncommonly good woman, but you just immeasurably topped everything I could have hoped for. Specifically commending her from the beginning for not going after any young men, whether rich or poor. You see, she had honored him with her actions leading up to this point, and when she adds to this her clear trusting him with her heart: she knocks his socks off!

Now, the next point in this story seems the perfect place to insert Richard Lovelace's "To Lucasta, going to the Wars". It is perfectly clear that Boaz is in love with Ruth, but Boaz shows a level of maturity rarely seen. He is willing to set aside his great love for Ruth, because there is the possibility of a nearer kinsman redeeming Ruth. He tells her, "if he will redeem you; good, let him do so." Not because he does not love Ruth, but because this arrangement will honor Ruth more. He is willing to deny himself in the most acutely painful way; proving the depth of his love for her, by doing what will bring her the most honor. You see Ruth put her trust in Boaz, and Boaz had to put his trust in God. Boaz has to say, that I'm not going to steal you for myself, if that is not what God wants for you. How does he know this would be better? Because he is following the course that God's word tells him to take. Now girls ask yourself, how many men do I know that would endure anything that painful to give God's best to me?

More tomorrow, loved ones.

For Miss Austen Part III

To illustrate how courageous Ruth had to be, let's go over a few things. She had no money, she was not Jewish, she was a widow and the man she wanted to marry her was older than her; add to all of this, that she was the one who had to express interest. (Deuteronomy 25: 5, 7-10; Leviticus 25: 25, 48-49) In understanding the law, we see that a widow had the right to be espoused to a near kinsman; but we do not see that she was automatically espoused to the kinsman. It was her right and his responsibility; but it was in not his right to redeem one who did not wish to be his wife. We can see then, that she at least had to express the desire to be married again. Now, put all of this together and you can see what a precarious position Ruth is in. What girl would like to be in her place, even if she had a fortune, came from the right family and had everything to recommend her? She had to trust Boaz with everything. It took Naomi, who obviously noticed their doting over each other, to nudge her daughter-in-law in the right direction; but it was Ruth who had to place her trust in Boaz.

Let's look at this from the other side of the coin. Boaz could not presume to act upon the feelings that he obviously had for Ruth. There is at the core of his behavior, an unyielding sense of honor. You see, he had to express some interest too. Now, boys pay attention to this: he did everything that he could honorably do, and nothing more. He demonstrated how he felt by his actions, and he stayed within the bounds of propriety. Girls, if you are going to notice something about a boy, notice whether or not honor governs his actions toward you. In this you will learn the kind of man you are dealing with.

More on Monday, dear ones.

For Miss Austen Part II

Let's be honest, the only chicken that ever won anything was beheaded, plucked, battered and deep fried (yes, we are staying with an agrarian theme.) If you try to undermine a man's confidence in such away as to produce a reaction, so that you may examine his feelings for you, with out risking you own: that's vivisection! If you think that there is no cost associated with it: you are mistaken. (Song of Solomon 8:7) My point is that no coward ever won anything, because they were afraid to compete. You are not going to win any one's heart worth having, without risking your own. "But, I might get hurt," you say. You will get hurt, you will have scars. I've got plenty of scars, and if I wanted to thoroughly depress you, I'd share them with you; but, the one thing that no one can accuse me of is being afraid to step out on the field of battle. Stunning imagery for love talk, isn't it?

See what C. S. Lewis had to say about love:
To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

We see in Ruth, that she is no coward soul. You may think ill of what you find in the third chapter of Ruth, but I think Matthew Henry gets it right: "If Boaz was, as they presumed, the next kinsman, she was his wife before God (as we say), and there needed but little ceremony to complete the nuptials." (Full Commentary) In other words, she declared her desire to be his wife with a simple elopement. Do you think she was a coward?

Alas, I have reached my word limit for today, more tomorrow, loved ones.

For Miss Austen

It is funny how that you read something that you haven't read in a while, and you see something in it that you didn't see before. I have had that experience a few times lately, but I digress. I read the book of Ruth today. In four short chapters, I felt as though I had gone all the way through a Jane Austen story. A girl with no means, and nothing to recommend her, but the fact that she was virtuous. In fact, after reading it, I am convinced that Mr. Darcy owes his literary existence to Boaz the kinsman redeemer. Created by a minister's daughter, who obviously loved the book of Ruth. You see, Ruth has everything out of her favor, except for a virtuous heart. She is a foreigner, she is poor [evidenced in the fact that she had to go and glean in some one's field for her and Naomi's survival (gleaning - picking what the reapers missed)], a young widow and frankly, nothing that a Jewish man would pick to marry. But the very thing that captures Boaz is her virtue.

The heroines of Miss Austen's works have the same underpinning: virtue. One of the recurrent themes is girls of the marrying age, with nothing to commend them, except virtue. And contrary to every message our world throws at us today, in every case, it is enough! Doesn't the famous proverb tell us that a virtuous woman's worth is far above rubies. Her value is her virtue and by her virtue she creates a safe place for the heart of the man she marries. In passing, I don't know why girls miss this today, but they seem to miss it with great frequency: no guy that is interested in you has any interest in seeing you around other guys, ever. No respectable farmer wants to go out and see his cow grazing in another farmer's field (yes, we are going with an agrarian theme today); no respectable guy wants to see a girl that he is interested trying to get attention from other guys that she should be getting from him. You see, by doing that, you militate against the idea that his heart can safely trust in you; thereby taking yourself out of contention for the "Proverbs 31 prize."

More tomorrow.

Living in need

I think that most believers go through periods when their needs or the task at hand is greater than their resources. Sometime the need far exceeds the resources. I've been listening to a radio broadcast, that I enjoy, and there is now at the end of the broadcast a stating of an urgent need of funds to continue. Anyone well acquainted with church work, will know that there are always financial ups and downs. It is not an accident. God is working in all things to bring about His divine purpose. A great part of that purpose is to teach us to rely on Him. Now, how could that happen if we never had a need?

Pay attention to this: it is easy to believe in God as a provider, when every time your reach in your pocket, you find money; it is when you reach in your pocket and pull out nothing but lint, that you are living where the rubber meets the road. But how could that happen when I say my prayers and eat my veggies? Listen, financial need is neither a miscarriage of divine justice, nor a surprise to the Almighty. Remember always: the God we serve always has our best interest at heart. Not only that, but He wants us to cry out to Him in our distresses and with our needs. He wants to be closer to us, so He puts in place the things that will cause us to rely on Him fully.

So, what do we do when we find ourselves in need? Give something to someone. Nothing makes you feel better than giving. Thank God for what you do have. The easiest thing to do when you are in need is to become bitter, and the absolute best way to combat that is to thank God for the good gifts He has already given you. Finally, Trust God. It's not always the easiest thing for us to wrap our minds around, but it is that attitude that is thankful and trusting, whether you have or don't have, that God will honor.

Citizens of Heaven

It occurs to me that all of the great men of God, who have truly been ambassadors for Christ, have been to this world, foreigners. An ambassador is a citizen of a country, who then lives in another country and represents the country, and the country's interest, of his citizenship. So, we see that applied in a spiritual sense that our citizenship is in heaven, and that we are Christ and Heaven's representatives here on Earth. Then we have to ask, how well are we representing our homeland?

I wrote this statement while working on a sermon: "If they get the same thing inside these doors that they get outside of these doors: there is no reason for them to come inside." I was speaking about our churches, and if our churches are no different on the inside, than the world is on the outside; then there is little reason to be a proponent of bringing the lost in. On the other hand, if our churches are indeed representing Heaven's interests well, then there is every reason to engage in the work of winning the lost.

Plainly put, there must be a difference between Christians and the lost. It is in that very thing, the conversation, in the fullest since of the word, of a Christian, that the Holy Spirit convicts the sinner of his sin. It is in that difference that the salt develops its savor. It is in that difference that the lost are won to Christ and face the penalty of death no more. It is the very thing that makes us ambassadors for Christ.

Back to the Book

Satan is always trying to get us off track. He constantly puts things in our path to distract us from what we should be doing. He doesn't come on the scene with a pointy tail and a trident, he uses stealth. He doesn't just say here's the wrong path why don't you take it; detours and side roads are his tactics. If he can get us to detour, he can get us to stop doing the work of the Lord. It doesn't take much, it just has to seem like a godly pursuit or look like something that is harmless. Getting us to lower our guard is the trick that leaves us vulnerable to attack.

I have recently taken up a study based on things that are going on in the world today. Not long into the study, I realized that my spiritual life was not as it should be. A few years back I bought a book, and the author said that he read the book of Proverbs, a chapter for each day of the month (i.e. the fourth chapter for the fourth of the month etc.) I started the practice myself. Very quickly, I found more in the reading of Proverbs than I did in reading the book that I paid twenty dollars for. My point is, sometimes what seems like a good thing to study, may take us away from studying the Word.

We need to look to the Bible for all of the concerns of life. Scripture speaks to all of them. II Timothy 3:16-17 Our studies need to stem from the Book, not the other way around. Remember church camp from when you were a kid, how it was such a spiritual high; do we wonder how retreats get us to such a close place with God, and not realize that there is a direct correlation to how much time in those retreats is spent in studying the Bible, listening to preaching (more than once per day) and worshiping in song.

Listen, day in and day out you have access to those very same things. You can study the Bible, listen to preaching (literally any time you want, thanks to podcasts) and sing your heart out in the shower or in the car. If you are feeling a little flat spiritually, then start your next retreat at home: download some sermons, study your Bible, sing praises and really talk to God about all that is in your heart the next time you pray. You don't have to be on a mountain to have a mountain top experience with God. God bless you all.

Love better . . .

I once told a Sunday School class, that if no oars are in the water, the boat isn't going to sit still. The nautical term is adrift. Without motive power and without anchor or mooring, so says Webster. It seems that the general day to day cares of this life are constantly pulling me away from the cares of the cross. Adrift, is something that I can not afford to be. I always have to be on my guard. But, I find that vigilance is not always the nearest companion of caring.

Part of this pursuit of perfection, in fact the best part of it, is the people whom I love. I have to be better; because I am day by day more aware of the little eyes that watch me, and I must be better, because I can not deal with the grief of failing them. And in this pursuit, I must remind myself to be kinder and sweeter. To love better, is really what I mean.

Whether we are motivated or not, we are teaching subsequent generations. Too many today want to live the life that they want, and then hope that their children will do better than they did. One of my instructors used to say, "People want to sow their wild oats, and then pray for a crop failure." If you get nothing else from this, take this to heart: Be the kind of person that you want your children to grow up to be. Only then can they do better, because only then will they be taught better. Starting right now, let all of us love better than we have before, and in so doing teach the world about the Christ who loved us so much.

The guy that lives up here . . .

I had an unusual discussion with a fellow that I met in a coffee shop the other day, for the most part, he talked and I listened and tried to make sense of it. He kept talking about "the guy that lives up here" and he would point to his forehead. Some of what he said made sense, and some of it didn't.

Well, last night, "the guy that lives up here" had a rough night, because the guy that lives everywhere else didn't feel well. On the drive home, "the guy that lives up here" drove right past the house that we live in. The guy that lives everywhere else wanted to go home, but "the guy that lives up here" had other plans. Got it? Me neither.

So, where is all this going? That's just it, the man who told me all of this professed to be a Christian, but in none of his ranting did he mention the Bible. You see, he had a sincere belief system complete with doctrine; but all of his assertions were based on his feelings about God coupled with what he had studied (which was not the Bible.) Pay close attention to this: all sorts of evil is hatched when nothing more than our feelings are consulted as to what we believe. In this day and age, too many come to the Bible and when Scripture contradicts what they feel, they throw it out. That is no different than taking a blank notebook, a pair of scissors, a Bible and glue; and cutting and pasting whatever suits your fancy and creating your own book. If you get nothing else from this, learn this: the Bible is the authority that we consult, not the other way around. We come to the Bible, and the Bible changes us; it does not work the other way around. It is God's word that gives us everything that pertains to life and godliness. Let the Bible say what the Bible says, an then let it change your life accordingly.

The Battle Continues . . .

Sometimes we are blessed, and yet we remain convinced that we are of all men most miserable. It's not an accident that this happens. It seems with great consistency, whenever we do our best for God, we are attacked. The Devil's favorite technique is to convince us that we are completely ineffective and alone in our efforts. I am amazed that we still are such easy prey for this, myself not only included, but at the head of the line. I mean after a spiritual high, you walk the battlegrounds waiting for an all out attack, and you hear nothing but crickets. Unusual silence. Making the fight seem irrelevant, and the efforts seem in vain. It is at this point when it seems it should be the easiest to go on, we find going on close to impossible. We desire some measure of result, and when we can't clearly see whether we are doing any good we find our situation sometimes hopeless.

So, before we all crawl into a hole, what do we do about it? Remember that we are in a fight, and discouragement is one of the things that we have to fight. Look, if you throw up your hands in disgust and walk away, you are vulnerable to every kind of evil temptation; and if you have checked out spiritually, in a very short time you can ruin your testimony. We fight against the powers of the darkness of this world, of course they want you to think that you are ineffective and doing no good. It is not a trot through a field of daisies, it is a fight! Get up and fight! Do you know that God is greater than any enemy we face? Do you know that God is our ever present help in time of trouble? Do you know that He will never leave us or forsake us? So, even if you are by yourself, you are not alone: the Maker of Heaven and Earth is with you and for you.

If you are waiting for the things to get easier, let me save you some trouble: things are hard now, and they are going to get harder. Discouragement is going to come, and it ought not to sideline us, but to cause us to cry out to God in our distress. God will always help us, comfort us and fight for us. The days that it is the hardest to get up and keep going are the days that it is most important to get up and keep going. Always pressing on for Jesus' sake; knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.

The day isn't over yet . . .

Paul told Timothy at the end of his days, that he had fought the good fight. Isn't that strange? A people who love God and love others, who serve God by serving others and constrain no one to believe what they teach; and here is a champion of the faith calling it a fight. We fight to be sheep and doves. We literally fight the evil one to be both harmless and helpful. We should, and we have been conditioned not to, expect resistance. As a matter of fact, if you try to tell someone about Jesus; you can most definitely plan on being resisted. Now let me name names: when I say resistance, I am saying demonic and satanic opposition. You see, we have been desensitized to real Christianity by euphemistic writers, radio hosts and sadly many preachers. The great trick of Satan is to get us to turn the message from what we need to hear to what we want to hear. So here is what you need to hear: Satan and demons always oppose us. (Ephesians 6:12)

The devil always wants to replace an alarm bell with a soft chime. It is not the purring of a kitten that you hear, it is the roaring of a lion, who is eyeing you for dinner. Christians are being sent out to battle day by day in short pants and sandals, and they are either getting their clocks cleaned, or they are not being bothered because they are of little affect for the cause of Christ. So, we realize that we are in a fight; now we realize that we need to get ready for it. We have to put our armor on. When we get up, we put our armor on, because we are going to battle. Soldiers don't just fire a single volley, and then the other side says that's it, we've had enough. They know that they will be coming back again and again. The day isn't over after the first volley, even if it up ends you. Remember, greater is the One Who is on the inside, than the one who is on the outside. Battles are not fought in days and weeks, they are fought in seconds and in minutes. So when we've been knocked back, we need to dig in and pray, "God help me to not lose the battle; God help me not to lose the day to the evil one." Listen, the battle isn't over until somebody quits fighting, and God helping us we will keep fighting on, and God helping us we will have many victories on our way to our ultimate victory. God bless you all.

Praise in prayer

I was reading some of Spurgeon's writings the other day, and I found something on prayer. He said we seem to prevail with God, when there is an element of praise to our prayers. I hope that we all pray frequently, but I hope that it is not perfunctory prayer. I have caught myself on many occasions praying aloud and offering the same words in the same order. What a strange thing, I mean I don't talk to anyone and make a habit of repeating myself; so, why would I repeat myself so frequently when talking to God. I don't think that God or I get much out of my prayer when it is offered as a verbatim copy of the last time I prayed. I think ultimately, it is that I am not really talking to God. I think sometimes we all lose sight of the privilege of prayer.

Think about it, what subject ever had an audience with a king, whenever he decided to speak to the king? And here we have the literal King of kings, and we can talk to him with whatever concerns us, whenever it concerns us. Go to your favorite spot, the one where it is quiet and beautiful, and you can look and admire the handiwork of God; and then say to yourself the One who made all of this is willing to listen to me. Even more amazing, He is not only willing to listen, but He wants to listen. What father isn't moved when his child tells him all that is in his or her tiny heart. Do we really not know that the King Eternal is that loving Father Who cares so deeply for His children? And in light of that are our hearts not filled with praise? Loved ones, what a beautiful God we serve; call out to him with a heart filled with praise, and He will answer.

A note on complaining . . .

I am often annoyed by people who complain about the heat in April or the cold in October. The fact is it gets hot every year and it gets cold every year; I've been around for a while, and I can't see why it surprises so many, year after year. I ran across this story while reading Theodore Roosevelt's autobiography, which I think illustrates the folly of complaining perfectly.

The following is taken from "The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt":
There was a very hot spell one midsummer while I was police commissioner, and most of each night I spent walking through the tenement-house districts and visiting stations to see what was being done. It was a tragic week. We did everything possible to alleviate the suffering. Much of it was heart-breaking, especially the gasping misery of the little children and of the worn-out mothers. Every resource of the Health Department, of the Police Department, and even the Fire Department (which flooded the hot streets) was taxed in the effort to render service. The heat killed such multitudes of horses that the means at our disposal for removing the poor dead beasts proved quite inadequate, although every nerve was strained to the limit. In consequence we received scores of complaints from persons before whose doors dead horses had remained, festering in the heat, for two or three days. One irascible man sent us furious denunciations, until we were at last able to send a big dray to drag away the horse that lay dead before his shop-door. The huge dray already contained eleven other dead horses, and when it reached this particular door it broke down, and it was hours before it could be moved. The unfortunate man who had thus been cursed with a granted wish closed his doors in despair and wrote us a final pathetic letter in which he requested us to remove either the horses or his shop, he didn't care which.

Hopefully, this account will encourage us to be kinder, and do a little less grumbling.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Temperance

This final installment is temperance or self-control. The Greek word is egkrateia (egg-kra-teh-ee-ah), which oddly enough means self-control. It is not an accident that we would end up here. There is so much involved in being a good friend, a good sibling and ultimately a good Christian. Not all of us bear the burden, but some of us do, of saying what is needed over what is wanted. It seems that many are all too happy to surround themselves by those who tell them what they want to hear, and the fastest way out of that circle of friends is to say something they don't want to hear. Scripture is replete with examples of those who delivered a message that was necessary, but unwanted. We not only say what those we love need to hear, we endure and forebear when those whom we love say things that cut us to the quick: knowing their faith and the God who is working in them, we anxiously await the person they are becoming.

Let us come to a right understanding, this Christian life will not bear fruit based on a model of happy accidents. It is God Who is at work in us, and he gave us eyes and ears, hands and feet and mouths and hearts, so that we may be engaged in the lives of others, while we are surrendered to His will, in order that we may bear fruit, not only in our life, but in the lives of others. We are not Taoists, we do not subscribe the nonsense of action through inaction. We love and we get hurt and we continue to try because it is the love of Christ that constrains us to be involved in the lives of others. We do not just say "whatever" to the hurts and trials of the ones that we love.

The key here is that we are engaged in work. A co-laborer with Christ, and it takes self-control. How do we get up day after day and feed our spirits, when frankly, we'd rather watch cartoons? Answer: self-control. How do we get involved and help someone who is hurting, when it is easier and less messy to simply turn our feet in a different direction? Answer: self-control. How do you keep from drawing your sword and handing someone their head after they have wounded you? Answer: self-control. You see self-control is the very element that turns a would-be rebellious life into a living sacrifice, and when we become a living sacrifice, then others will see Christ living in us.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Meekness

Both the NASB and NIV translate this word as gentleness, and the King James as meekness. The Greek word is prautes (pra-oo-tays) carries more meaning than either of these terms convey. It is that attitude of spirit we accept God's dealings with us as good and do not dispute or resist. Prautes is not readily expressed in English, (since the term "meekness" suggests weakness), but it is the condition of mind and heart which demonstrates gentleness, not in weakness, but in power. It is a balance born in strength of character.*

David's dealing with Saul illustrate this concept very well. Saul loved David, when he saved his kingdom. A little shepherd boy with only a bag of rocks and a sling (or so Saul thought), but when God exalted David, Saul then despised the boy he professed to love. Saul despised David so much that he wanted him dead, and tried repeatedly to kill him. So this is where meekness comes in, David was faithful to Saul, even though Saul had tried to kill him. He respected the position God had given him. David remained faithful to Saul; so much so, that he had the man killed who ended Saul's life at Saul's request, because the man had killed God's anointed. Now ask yourself, did David have the power to overcome Saul? Absolutely, he cut his robe, which meant that he was close enough to kill him; but at the very core of his strength was a deep respect for the workings of God. So to put the illustration of meekness into perspective; David, the warrior, who knew what it meant to be drenched in blood on the battlefield, with a kingdom to gain, would not touch King Saul, who had tried repeatedly to kill him: not because he lacked strength, but because God had anointed him. David's power was restrained because he both understood and accepted that Saul was God's business, not David's.

For further reading: I Samuel 24

* Taken from "The Complete Word Study Dictionary."

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Faith

Odd that I would be blogging about faithfulness, after having interrupted our study, but as any good saint will know: life doesn't always follow our plan. The Greek word that we find here is pistis (pis-tis). As used here, pistis carries the meaning of fidelity, although most of the time it means a conviction or doctrine. These are two branches of the same tree. Our faithfulness or the sincerity of our faith is demonstrated to all in our adherence to the teachings that we have received. Faithfulness is an easy concept to grasp, but not always easy to carry out.

Think about this, Satan always loves to plant doubt in the mind of a believer. Don't you think that Paul had occasion to doubt, when the very fact that he was faithful to his calling led him to prison? How do you prove that you are a good Christian, when by the world's standard you are in chains because you are not a good citizen? You see, anybody can be faithful as long as it is potlucks and chicken dinners. But, how many will be faithful when doing so comes with a set of shackles? That is the glaring difference between the saints of old and those who use the name Christian today. In short, their belief affected their lives. So, you may clap your hands and sing "Give me that old time religion," but let me tell you: that old time religion was made of sterner stuff than we know.

Christians and churches have been hoodwinked into believing that their highest calling is to produce model citizens. All but one of the disciples bled and died, and the one died of old age, after suffering greatly, and they all did so for bearing the name and testimony of Christ. Our highest calling is to faithfully bear the name and testimony of Jesus Christ. He changed my life, and that is why I am telling you this now.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Goodness

Agathosune (a-ga-thoo-sune-ay), beneficence, as used here referred to as goodness, but the English word includes several pleasing qualities whereas the Greek refers to one particular quality. There is more activity in agathosune than chrastotais. Agathosune does not spare sharpness and rebuke to cause good in others.* Not quite what I expected to find when I came to this word, but there it is. The fact is, there is a trap that many of us fall into as ministers, we somehow come to believe that all that we say has to be pleasing to the hearer. After all, if you don't please the audience, who will listen? This seems logical, but the idea is inherently flawed.

It is worse than telling them nothing at all. You see, the flaw is that you lull people to sleep, when you need to be waking them to the fact that sin is plaguing their live, and destroying them from the inside out. In our supposed kindness, we do more harm than good. Nobody quiets an alarm by wrapping it in blankets, so that when it goes off it is more pleasant to the ears. It is an alarm! It is supposed to hurt your ears, so that you know that you are in danger. That's why firehouses have clanging bells and not chimes; it is an alarm calling them to take action.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Being sharp and rebuking a friend or loved one isn't an easy thing to do. And, it doesn't follow that there needs to be a raising of voices, but there must be a clear presenting of the truth. Because when you present the truth to someone that they are living in sin, they then have the option of repenting from their sin. But if you applaud them for missing the mark, what good have you done them?

This isn't just for ministers, mind you. It is for all of the household of faith. If we need to rebuke, then we need to; and we are doing no good by sitting on our hands and hoping that things will work themselves out. The Bible tells us that if your brother offends you, then go to him and get things right. If our brother offends us, and we don't go to him at all, it frankly says that we don't care. You see, the fact that we go to that brother with words that are neither easy to say or to hear, is the proof that we do care. We say hard things out of love, so that the ones we love can have a closer relationship with God and with us.

* Taken from "The Complete Word Study Dictionary."

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Kindness

Kindness, another abstract, something that you know very well, and have too much difficulty describing. Chrastotais (kray-stot-ays), in Greek, can also be translated gentleness. And something that we are way to short on as a people is gentleness. In other words, you don't have to smack someone around to make a point. Amiable, a marked absence of harshness, in the way that we deal with others. Harsh, I find, is an easy reputation to get, and extremely difficult to shed. The exercising of kindness, is the idea of governing our responses in consideration of the feeling of others.

Is it not the gentleness of children that so deeply wins our hearts affection for them? Didn't our Lord say that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these? There is a sweetness in the way that they interact with us. There is a gentleness about them. So tiny, yet their influence as powerful as an ocean wave. In consideration of this, is it any wonder that we are sometimes ineffective in our ministering to others, when we bulldoze the shack that they are living in, and then tell them to build a proper house? Have we forgotten kindness, gentleness? God helping us we can get them back, and again be an effective witness for Him. God bless you all.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Patience

Now we come to patience, the King James Version renders it longsuffering. The Greek word is makrothumia (mac-row-thume-ee-a), which is a derivative of makrothumos (mac-row-thume-oss), which is the combining of the Greek words makros (mac-ross) and thumos (thume-oss). Makros means long, and thumos means anger or wrath. So, hopefully, you can see how we get to the term longsuffering. Now to the meaning of the derived makrothumia, it means forbearance, or the quality of a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so. So, there's your Greek lesson for today.

So how do we apply all of that to the fruit of the Spirit? To honestly describe it I must put it this way: I have been the beneficiary of the makrothumia of a great many of my instructors, especially in seminary. For those of you who don't know, learning is sometimes an ugly process. Better teachers understand that not all students start from the same place. While you may immediately recognize a child as a prodigy; they may first have to be taught that they can, before they begin turning out work congruous with their talent. It is through the forbearance of good teachers, that I learned to teach; through the forbearance of good Christians, that I learned to grow; and it is through the forbearance of my God and my friends, that I learn to become a better man. Thank you and God bless you all.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Peace

Peace is next in the list of fruits of the Spirit. Eirene (eye-rain-ay) in Greek. Webster's describes peace as a state of tranquility, and describes tranquility the state of being free from agitation of mind or spirit. From "The Complete Word Study Dictionary" we find this: Characteristic of the New Testament is the view of peace as the present possession of the believer. So, what does all of that mean in real life? As long as you are being led by the Spirit, you have an unlimited source of peace. The Bible tells us that this peace goes beyond all of our understanding. I've been racking my brain trying to think of some example of this, and the only thing that really illustrates it fully is the way that many martyrs have died for the faith. Polycarp, the bishop or pastor of the church at Smyrna, one of the seven churches of Asia found in the book of Revelation, faced his death this way. The following is an excerpt from "Foxe's Book of Martyrs":

"The proconsul then urged him, saying, 'Swear, and I will release thee;--reproach Christ.'

Polycarp answered, 'Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, Who hath saved me?' At the stake to which he was only tied, but not nailed as usual, as he assured them he should stand immovable, the flames, on their kindling the fagots, encircled his body, like an arch, without touching him;"

How does a man meet his death at perfect peace? It is the very peace that passes all understanding. Polycarp, an example to us all, was only one of countless martyrs, who died because they would not renounce Christ. How else could a man be so undaunted by his own execution, if not for the divine peace given to him by the Holy Spirit? Many unbelievers seeing these saints meet death with such peace were forever changed by the peace that they saw; because many of them became believers, and some became believers knowing that they would immediately meet the same fate. It is the peace that comes from knowing God. II Timothy 1:12

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Joy

So next we come to joy. Chara (ka-ra) in Greek means joy, rejoicing or gladness. I have noticed more often than not, when I meet new people, I have a good sense of who is a believer. Not based on any divine endowment of smarts on my part, but because there is an attractiveness to the person. I hope that you understand that by using the word "attractive", I mean it in a much greater sense than we generally use it today. Like a magnet attracts a piece of metal. It is the inner joy that makes the person stand out as someone who is different from most that we meet. Indeed, there is something different about them, we, the saved, see it as well as the lost.

Where do they get this stuff? Don't they have the same struggles that everyone else goes through? It doesn't make any sense, that guy should have an ulcer the size of Texas, but he's walking around with a smile on his face. He genuinely seems glad to see you. I don't know one in a hundred who behave this way. Exactly! There is something different about him, and it isn't what is on the outside, it is what is on the inside. Joy! It is the joy that comes from a life that is yielded to Christ and led by the Holy Spirit. It is one of the fruits that is hanging on the tree.

Listen, you can walk around all the time looking down your nose, determined to be displeased with everything. You aren't doing anyone any favors, most especially yourself. And as long as you look at the world this way, the only thing that you will find in others joy is sorrow. Let me tell you most kindly, to get you head screwed on straight. If you belong to Christ, then He intends for you to have joy to the fullest measure. When Christians have that joy, they are the best witnesses for Christ: anybody can teach them to be miserable; how many can teach them to have joy?

God bless you all.

The fruit of the Spirit . . . Love

The very first fruit that we come to is love. Many of you have probably heard the term agape (a-gah-pay) which is one of the Greek words that is translated love, or charity in the King James. What is unique about this word, is that it describes a love that gives of itself. It is the very benevolence or agape-love of God, that caused Him to give His own Son for us, while we were still sinners. So then, we see that the fruit of the Spirit is then a modeling in our own lives of the very things we see in God. For the agape-love to be demonstrated in our lives we must show the same type of benevolence that God showed to us. Think about the good Samaritan, he helped the man who had been beaten and robbed, and he did so at his own expense. He didn't first draw up a repayment plan, and say I will help you as soon as you sign this promissory note. He took the man and bandaged his wounds and provided a place for him to stay, for the simple reason that the man needed help.

I remember Brother Sankya told me about a poor family that visited with his family. He told me that his daughter gave their children some toys. When the family had departed, Brother Sankya told me that his daughter had begun to cry. Thinking that they were lamenting the loss of their toys, he started to scold them. Then he said, they told him that they were crying because they didn't have more to give, and then he told me that he started crying. That is love. That is what we all need in our lives, a love that gives simply because there is a need.

The fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. I tried to write them all from memory, but I didn't make it. So, it is probably a good time to refresh my study of them. To start off with, let's look at the word fruit. Jesus, while teaching His disciples, asked them a funny question, "Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" Obviously, grapes are gathered from grape vines and figs from fig trees. What Jesus is speaking about is men, and their ability to present themselves as something that they are not. Then He goes on to say, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Webster's defines fruit as a product of plant growth. Men can frankly say anything about themselves, but the evidence is not found in their words. The evidence is found in the product of their lives. That is why Jesus said, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." So if someone tells you that they are an grape vine, yet all the while you see all thorns and no grapes, you know by their fruit what you are dealing with.

So then, we see that these particular fruits are associated with the Spirit. In other words, the product of a life that is indwelt by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. What we are talking about are the things we should see in the life of a believer. In our dealing with others, it is quite simple: when you see these afore mentioned fruits you know that you are dealing with a Christian. This is important because there are many unbelievers who are completely versed in church speak. So while they know enough to keep their speech pleasing to those at church; the evidence in their life is very clear that they don't know God at all. Sad to say, but many unrealized opportunities for evangelism are sitting in the pews next to us. And just as important, we all have to, from time to time, examine the fruit that we are producing. We need to ask is the Spirit working in us to produce good fruit, or is the flesh reigning in us and producing bad fruit?

More tomorrow, God bless you all.

The Agenda

Much is said about sharing our faith, but not much is said about clearly presenting the gospel. Too many of us have been tricked into peddling a "Jesus can make you feel better" pill. In other words, Jesus is here to make you feel better about yourself, without really addressing the fact that without Christ we are lost, undone and hopeless. We are now taught to make friends with them, but to try to avoid anything that might scare them off. I am not saying that we should approach them in the manner of a rabid dog, but we should make friends with them in such a way that we remain honest with them. The "I'm OK, your OK" ideology doesn't help anybody; and in fact, it may do eternal harm. The fact is that none of us are OK. We are all sinners, and we all need God's mercy to keep us from His judgement.

Let's get something straight, you need to have an agenda. Throw politically correct out the window. Politically correct means one thing, "you can be anything you want to be, so long as it is not Christian." The Muslims have an agenda, the Godless ACLU has an agenda and Godless judges and legislators have an agenda; why shouldn't we as Christians have an agenda? I'll tell you why: it is a trick of the Devil to make us lay down our arms, so that we can not share a message that convicts of sin, and thereby showing the lost their need of a Savior. We are to be the ones influencing the ones around us, not the other way around. This is the agenda: befriend them, speak in plain terms that are apt to convict of sin and tell them about the love of God demonstrated in Christ. We are to be ambassadors of Christ, as if God were making His appeal through us for the sinner to be reconciled to Him. II Corinthians 5:17-21

The want to be brilliant

I often want, and it is my flesh that wants it, to be thought of as brilliant. I sadly, can see my self like the boy in the now infamous "Christmas Story," who before turning in his essay, imagines the joy and amazement with which his teacher and classmates receive his latest writings. Although I try to keep that plane tethered to the tarmac, once in a while, I see it taxiing down the runway.

You can take a page and write about anything, and if you do it often enough, you'll develop a style of writing. You can be as clever as you want, be coy or even silly. But when you endeavor to write about life in reference to Christ, all of our verbose nonsense has to be put away. You see, the trick to good Christian writing, is to put Christ in the center of it. All of our desires for adulation have to be put under subjection. That's why Paul said I beat my body into submission, so that I won't become a castaway after I have preached to others. Castaway, in the King James Version, what the potter throws out, cracked pots, useless vessels. So then, the only thing that remains brilliant in our writing is Christ.

The apostles' lot in life.

Lately, I've been thinking about the lifestyle of the apostles. I have been considering what they went through to be servants of Christ, and all they endured to be able to preach the gospel. They lived a life so different from anything we have known, or might aspire to. Really think about it: Paul got up about seven, went to Shoney's for breakfast, strolled into the office about nine, asked his secretary about his day's schedule, studied for his Sunday sermon from ten until twelve, went to lunch with a church member, got back around 1:30, looked at his Sunday School lesson for thirty minutes, counseled with a church member for an hour, and then decided the weather was so nice; he took the rest of the afternoon off to go play golf. Absolutely not, his life and the lives of the other apostles were nothing like that; yet sadly, that more than passes for our presenting our bodies a living sacrifice and our reasonable service. Let me tell you something, the man who penned those words made it clear that he had an appointment to keep; and it wasn't to condole with sister so and so from the church whose cat ran away. He said, we apostles are bringing up the rear of the parade: as those who are appointed unto death.

Paul said they were made a spectacle in front of men and angels. They were hungry and thirsty, clothed in rags as the NIV has it, roughly treated and homeless. We work with our hands, we bless and we speak kindly, and all the while we are reviled, persecuted and defamed. Think about what it would be like if someone showed up on Sunday morning beaten, hungry and wearing visibly tattered clothing. How many of us wouldn't at least say this in our hearts? "Please, get that mess out of here. You're welcome to come back on Monday or Tuesday and help yourself to some day old or week old bread and whatever tin cans we have rolling around in the church pantry." How many would flatly throw them out, thinking they were doing service to God by keeping things decent and in order? Who among us, would give them an honored place and serve them from our coffee and doughnuts? And who would trade places with them for Christ's sake?

Listen, we are talking about God working in us, and I am sorry to disappoint, but that doesn't mean penthouses and luxury cars. God working in us produces the marks of the cross. Our lives ought not to be lived from one cheeseburger to the next; and maybe when we get a little hungry, we'll see what God wants from us, instead of what we want from Him. God bless you all.
I Corinthians 4:7-17

Hiding our problems

We have to find a middle ground between being people of discretion, and bearing one another's burdens. All too often, I believe many of us (how's that for subjunctive?) err on the side of hiding too much. The thought of "being good church folk like us" compels us to go through life, creating the guise of a problem free existence. I was listening to a sermon from Alistair Begg, in which he said, "We make it very very difficult for people to be honest about their struggles in their Christian lives, when we present to people no struggles in our Christian life. It's just down right dishonest."

It is out of pride, that we want to go through life always appearing to younger Christians as some type of superhero of the faith. When we ought to be telling them the truth. And the truth is that you are going to get your nose bloodied, and it is going to be a fight. You are going to be hurt, embarrassed and humiliated. And your ego is going to be the continual and chief casualty in this war. You will eventually cry from the deepest part of you that you no longer want to go on. And all of this will become more dear to you than you can possibly imagine. Because you will realize, that all of those souls who went before endured the very same, to be able to bring the glorious gospel to you.

In closing let me quote and say amen to the words of C. T. Studd: "Let us not glide through this world and then slip quietly into heaven, without having blown the trumpet loud and long for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Let us see to it that the devil will hold a thanksgiving service in hell, when he gets the news of our departure from the field of battle."
God bless you all.

The Abbreviation of Worship and Why We No Longer Sing the Third Verse Part III

So, let's get to what we have been missing. Here are some of the third verses that we have been leaving out of our worship:

My sin -- O the bliss of this glorious thought --
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
"It Is Well with My Soul"

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in--
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin!
"How Great Thou Art!"

His brow was pierced with many a thorn,
His hands by cruel nails were torn,
When from my guilt and grief, forlorn,
In love He lifted me.
"He Lifted Me"

In the old rugged cross,
stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see;
For 'twas on that old cross
Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
"The Old Rugged Cross"

O the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God,
I commune as friend with friend.
"I Am Thine, O Lord"

I have to ask: Do we really want to quit singing these verses for any reason? I have spent the afternoon with old friends, that I would like to visit more often. Everyone of these verses touch my heart; because it is in the singing these verses, that we plumb the depths of our Savior's love. When we really think about the love of God shown to us in Christ; doesn't make you want to sing all the more? And to close, I give you this chorus, God bless you all.

How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful is my Savior's love for me!

The Abbreviation of Worship and Why We No Longer Sing the Third Verse Part II

Picking up where we left off. . . We go to church to meet with God, or we should. Think about this for a minute. When we go to church, we should be going to meet with God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the Great I AM. When you set that next to our one hour a week, which has been cut to 49 minutes, because we had to stop on the way to church to get gas; we can see how pathetic our worship sometimes is. Like it or not, it is tantamount to saying, God bless us, even though we have handled Your Day so poorly, that we have barely remembered to be here at all. Before you think me too self righteous, I have been guilty of doing everything I have mentioned on this subject, and have been blessed accordingly.

Let us come to a right understanding: God is God! We bring nothing to the party, but filthy rags. It is the pinnacle of arrogance to think that we some how dignify or elevate the assembling of God's people with our mere presence. Look at the Pharisee and the publican. The publican who stood far off, who could not lift his eyes and cried to God from his heart went to his house justified. In other words, the publican met with the Great I AM; because, God was God and he was a sinner who recognized that he needed God's mercy. Meeting God on God's terms is what has always changed the lives of God's people.

More tomorrow, God bless you all.

The Abbreviation of Worship and Why We No Longer Sing the Third Verse

I've had the idea to write about this for some time, and now I think that time has come. It has been a bur under my saddle for years now. Whether or not I am the horse in the scenario, I don't know. It is the abbreviating of our worship. We hurry everyday of the week, and it seems to accelerate on Sunday. We come to worship, but keep an eye on the clock while we are there. Honestly what kind of worship happens, as we watch the clock with growing intensity as the noon hour approaches? But I digress, there are other things at the root of this abbreviated worship service. Namely, the elimination of the third verse of our hymns, or any adjacent verses that reduce the total number of verses to three.

To start with, let me just ask, Why? Why do we feel the need to cut our hymns down to three verses? I sat down with the intent of writing about the substance of these verses, which I will write about; but I have uncovered something I didn't anticipate when I started this. The ugly truth is that we have decided that we are going to worship our God from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Sunday; and for too many that statement is followed by "only." Whether we say it in word or in practice, we've said it. Never mind the fact that the whole day belongs to Him.

There is not only a conditional worship based on time constraints; there is a complete lack of preparation for worship. Let me prove it. Did you get gas on Saturday, or did you stop on the way to church? Did you have breakfast at home, or did you stop on the way to church? Have you ever started getting ready for church, only to find that what you were going to wear is still in the clothes hamper? That's called a lack of preparation. So, if we are running late for our prescribed time of worship, what hope of a worship experience do we truly have?

We want to sing more hymns in worship, so we start with five hymns. Then we find out that "we are going too long," so we cut the hymns down to three verses each. Then we start reducing the number of hymns to fit our schedule. I suppose there could be a reduction in preaching to accommodate more songs, but it is fairly unlikely. The point is, we are enslaved to the idea that if the song service goes over five minutes, and the preaching goes over five minutes; then the congregants have been wronged by the unjust taking of ten minutes of their time. By whose standard? I'll leave that for your homework.

More tomorrow, God bless you all.

Spring has Sprung

Winter is over, at least, so say the blooms on all of the trees. Everybody seems so happy, because now we have sunshine and warmer weather. The flowers are blooming, the grass is green and trees are putting on new leaves. Hope seems to have been reborn. The general consensus was that we just had to hold on until Spring arrived. Hold on for what? I don't know. But, there always seems to be a "hold on until" attached to why folks aren't doing anything productive. For everyone who has been "holding on until" Spring gets here: it's here. What are you going to do with it?

Ressurection Day

Why do you seek the living among the dead? Imagine, a tomb that was guarded by Roman soldiers. Roman soldiers, who paid with their lives when the failed in their responsibilities. "And the guards shook for fear of him." Matthew reports that the angel rolled the stone away and sat on it, and the soldiers were scared to death of him. What a question to ask his disciples. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; for He is risen. And now I am alive, because He is alive. Thank God and Amen.

Catching Excellence

If you have read this blog, or know me; you know how much I love football. A few years back, I found an article in Parade Magazine about Bart Starr. In this article, he discusses the impact that Vince Lombardi had on him. I cut part of this article out and keep it in my Bible to this day. The following is taken from this article:

The new head coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, was addressing the players, who had won only one of their 12 games in the previous year.
"He opened the session by thanking the Packers for allowing him to be their coach," Starr says. "That tells you something about the man. Then he quickly turned to us and said, 'Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence.' He came right up on us, within a foot of us in the front row, and then he said, 'I am not remotely interested in just being good.'"

I use these words to constantly remind me that being good at something, isn't enough to make a difference. Take a look at the state of our nation, and tell me that 1 and 12 doesn't about sum it up. Christians, we have been lulled to sleep, and look at what we have woken up to. Every Godless libertine group that is out there has set their sights on erasing Christianity. Erasing, not trying to find away to coexist, they want to erase it from our history.

We need now more than ever, difference makers. We need Christians who relentlessly chase perfection. By perfection, I mean just that: Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Not because we are under a dictatorial mandate, but because we are keenly aware of the fact that we are carrying the name of Christ with us where ever we go. Excellent Christians make a difference on the world around them. Look at Lottie Moon and Charles Spurgeon, were they perfect? No. But they were excellent Christians. And they were excellent Christians, because the pursued perfection. I flatly do not accept that we as Christians can't do better than we are doing. We can, and we must! The need is too great and the time is too short. Read these words from Paul. Don't chase good, relentlessly chase perfection.

The Truth About Hot Dogs

A couple of blogs back (What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part VI), I mentioned hot dogs. It has since come to my attention that my remarks may have caused some confusion. Sometimes I have a thought that is perfectly clear to me, and not at all clear to anyone else. So, with all that being said, I give you the truth about hot dogs; or at least my version of the truth.

I have often heard it said, that if you ever saw a hot dog made, you would never eat another. Not that I mean to turn anybody off of hot dogs, but they aren't exactly cutting up rib eyes and t-bones to make them. Hot dogs are the remainder of the remainder of what goes in a cow and comes out steaks, hamburger, liver and the like; not to mention, that they also make them out of pork and chicken. So it should be understandable, that one might say if you had seen them made, you wouldn't want to eat them anymore.

With all of that in mind, I still consider a chili dog to be one of nature's perfect foods. I used to have a boss who would say with frequency, "I don't need to know how the hot dog is made; I just want to enjoy the hot dog." He didn't want to know the ugly details about the process, he just wanted to enjoy the end result of the process. So, back to my confusing blog.

(Note to good guys who may be reading this: If a girl, to whom you have formed an attachment, demonstrates a willingness to spend time around a lesser man, for whatever her reason; my advice to you is to let her marry the lesser man. Trust me, you don’t need to know how the hot dog is made; just enjoy the hot dog.) First, everything between the parentheses is addressed to "good guys." Second, it is a warning about girls, who for whatever reason seek out the attentions of another man or other men. Third, the hot dog, you can devote your time to figuring out why this girl behaves this way, and bit by bit examine all of the ugly details behind this behavior. After wasting months of grief, you come to the conclusion, that based on her behavior and her irrepressible desire to continue in it, she isn't for you. Or, you can take my advice, and walk away and find a girl who won't take all of your affection and give you nothing but grief in return (enjoy the hot dog.) And that folks, is the truth about hot dogs.

What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part VII

1. A sincere relationship with God
2. Modest
3. Kind
4. Sense of humor
5. Courageous
6. Trustworthy

7. Willing to be alone

The final installment. Why would “willing to be alone” be a quality that would interest a good guy? Very simply put, it demonstrates that you aren’t on a man hunt. Sorry, but its true. But, much more worthy of respect, it shows that you are not willing to be with the wrong person.

It takes a lot of faith to be willing to be alone. Just about nobody would actually condone being single as a legitimate lifestyle. Although, the apostle Paul managed it quite well, few are forward thinking enough to allow that God can make good use of people who can travel all over the world without having to first sit down and think about how it would affect the wife and kids. And for those of you who may think me a chauvinist, and to some degree are probably right; I include this quote from Lottie Moon, “Our Lord does not call on women to preach, or to pray in public, but no less does He say to them than to men, ‘Go, work in my vineyard.’” Part of the reason she did such a wonderful work was that she realized that the best person to tell Chinese women about Jesus, strangely enough, was a woman. She could have married, but she broke off the engagement for religious reasons. She, however, had a fulfilling life serving the Lord.

Let me make this clear: If God hasn’t put a significant other in your life, then God has not put a prospective husband or wife in your life. Are you going to marry some dolt, because your friends at church or your mom and dad are turning up the heat for you to marry “anybody”? Will you be single your whole life? Maybe, but if that is what God has for you, it is His best for you. If you do get married, it had better be to the one God picked out for you; because, the “anybody” who will shut your friends and family up won’t measure up to God’s best for you. Until then, single and unmarried only happens once in a life: make the best out of it.

What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part VI

1. A sincere relationship with God
2. Modest
3. Kind
4. Sense of humor
5. Courageous

6. Trustworthy

Trust is something that simply isn’t sought as a prerequisite for a relationship; and as a result, breaches of trust have littered our country with failed relationships and failed marriages. True, you are putting your trust into a fallible human being, but you also have the perfectly reasonable expectation that the person you have trusted will not behave with little regard for your feelings. I have noticed that girls, whether in church or out, trade relationships with guys, very much like they are swapping used cars. (Note to good guys who may be reading this: If a girl, to whom you have formed an attachment, demonstrates a willingness to spend time around a lesser man, for whatever her reason; my advice to you is to let her marry the lesser man. Trust me, you don’t need to know how the hot dog is made; just enjoy the hot dog.*)

A good guy is looking for someone he can trust with everything. This is what many today mess up. Either, they do not allow enough time for someone to prove themselves trust worthy, or they continue to carry on a relationship with someone who hasn’t proven themselves to be worthy of trust. Let’s tackle the first one. The Bible says, “to whom much is given, much will be required.” To start with, let that be your guide in trusting someone. Trust is something that is built over time.With the passage of time, you will see that what is important to you becomes something that is important to them. Trustworthiness is something that is proven over and over again. If trust is breeched in little things, you can certainly expect that it will be breeched with greater things. Good guys are interested in girls who demonstrate that they care about the responsibility of being trustworthy.

If you continue to carry on a relationship with someone who has proven themselves to be a person who can not be trusted, you are not just wasting time, you are throwing your life away. You may be pitied by good guys, but that is all of the interaction you will have with them. This is going to be exceedingly ugly, but I am going to say it: When you swear allegiance with a devil, you have embarked on the path to destruction; and you erase any hope of having anyone descent in your life. If you accept that kind of behavior, it is much more than likely that you will exhibit that same behavior. Be someone who can be trusted, and surround yourself with people who can be trusted.

7. Willing to be alone

* The Truth About Hot Dogs

What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part V

1. A sincere relationship with God
2. Modest
3. Kind
4. Sense of humor

5. Courageous

I was listening to a sermon this week, and the preacher said, “Any dead fish can go with the flow, but it takes a live fish to swim against the current.” Courage is just that, the ability to swim against the current. Popular opinion (the current in this example) is that girls have to trade off parts or whole chunks of an ideal relationship, to be in a relationship. It takes courage to stick to the ideal; it takes the courage of one’s convictions.

The courage of one’s convictions is a person’s ability to hold to their belief system when it gets increasingly difficult to do so. You see, if you can set aside your belief system; then it is of no effect at all. It is what you know to be right, and if you are willing to compromise on what you know is right, then you have to accept that you are willing to pursue what you know is wrong.

When you drive across a bridge, you hope that the engineers and builders did not compromise on what they knew was the right way to build the bridge with the right materials. The potential for this bridge to collapse, and the potential for the tragedy that it brings, is directly tied to the willingness of the engineers and builders to compromise what they know is right. The same holds true for a life.

Let me tell you plainly, if a guy does not measure up: Get rid of him! Let me also tell you, that I frankly do not care what his issues are, and that he wasn’t loved enough growing up. It is not my problem, nor is it your problem; and you are doing yourself no favors by letting him make his problems to be your problems. In fact, the only way that you can help him, is to let him know that he doesn’t bring enough to the table to merit any further consideration. Guys that are worth having, expect that girls will be looking for a man who is made of something. The good guys respect and admire girls who have the courage of their convictions; girls that will not compromise on their standards.

6. Trustworthy
7. Willing to be alone

What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part IV

1. A sincere relationship with God
2. Modest
3. Kind

4. Sense of humor

The ability to laugh is really the ability to enjoy life. If we all walked around like monks, forbidden to speak or laugh, how fun would that be? Well, it wouldn’t be fun; in fact, it is a fairly miserable way to spend a life, but that is what some people choose. A merry heart is commended in Proverbs. One of the things that good guys are looking for is a girl who still has a smile on her face when things aren’t going her way. Oddly enough, a sense of humor demonstrates strength of character. It indicates a steadiness of heart. Surely no man sets out to find a woman, who when trouble comes, she seeks to multiply it by her squawking and flapping of her wings. It is the steadiness of heart, displayed in a sense of humor, that attracts the good guys. Things may not always go according to plan, things may seldom go according to plan, or things may never go according to plan. It’s nice to be around someone who can laugh when things don’t go as planned; however often that occurs.

5. Courageous
6. Trustworthy
7. Willing to be alone

What the good guys are looking for in a woman. Part III

1. A sincere relationship with God
2. Modest

3. Kind, sadly, is a rare quality. It certainly is difficult to put into words, its an abstract. In other words, you can buy a gallon of milk, but you can’t by a gallon of kindness. Like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can certainly feel it; you can even fly a kite in it. So, let’s go with the wind analogy.

Men for some reason or another have to dig holes or dig things up. Honestly, I can’t remember a year going by, that I didn’t dig a hole or dig something up. Well, a by product of digging is getting hot and sweaty. Nothing in the world, at that point feels better than a cooling breeze. That is what kindness is to us.

So you see, kindness is another quality that gets attention of the good guys. Kindness is part of one’s conversation (which in times past, carried with it the meaning of a great deal more than just an exchange of words), so much a part of it that it can not be cut away from it. Not something that is used as a tool, like someone picking up a saw or a hammer. I wish very much that a lot of this went without saying, but it must be sketched out. Good guys are looking for girls to whom kindness is part of their makeup. They are wary of those who use kindness as a tool of ingratiation, while acting with little care for those other than themselves.

Kindness is something that men need; but frankly, we don’t know how to ask for it. Let’s face it, if it were up to us, we’d still be sleeping out in the woods around a fire. In fact, when men spend an extended period of time around one another; it’s usually in the woods around a fire. It’s important that you understand this: in a world where natural selection occurs with regularity and absolutely nothing is given to us, we’re okay with that. That is what also makes kindness such a rare jewel. It’s what makes us want to come out of the woods, and fly kites.

4. Sense of humor
5. Courageous
6. Trustworthy
7. Willing to be alone