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| Are Christians Elite? |
| 08.23.04 (6:40 am) [edit] |
I have a warehouse full of bags (for the sake of discussion.) Some are sent out to be filled with scap metal. Others are sent to be used by brink's security deposit trucks to haul money. One might point to the sack of refuge and say that it is not worth anything. Someone might point to a sake of cash and say that is a fourtune. But it is the same sack.
Thus it is written that it is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of the mouth.
Let us grateful to be filled with treasure, so that we may be given the noble task of the good works prepared in advance that we should walk in by our Lord, among many neccessary tasks for which a human soul may be put to use. (Lets not forget that it the objects of God's wrath are useful in glorifying "what God is NOT like" as well the ransomed are useful in glorifying what God is like through the Spirit.)
Are we elite? That term would imply inherant nobility, that we do not have.
2 Corinthians 3
4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.
5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant,
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| The Lesser Will Give Way to the Greater |
| 08.22.04 (8:04 pm) [edit] |
If I say that anything is greater then God, then I have just worshipped that thing while slandering God.
You have heard people do this, and you may not realize it.
The other day someone told me that Jesus has no power over me if I am not walking in obedience. In other words, I can restrict God with disobedience, or hinder God with my decisions. If God can hinder me then God is greater then me, but If I can hinder God then I am greater then God. Which message was implied? I was being told that I am greater then God, because the lesser will always have to give way to the greater.
A friend of mine asked a Jew in the airport about the thing on top of his head. "I've always wondered what is it with those beanies?" The Jew explained that the head covering makes it possible for God to bless him. Well, what was this guy saying? Who was he worshiping? So, my friend asked directly, "Do you mean that God can't bless you if you don't wear that thing?" When the young man agreed ... "Well, I don't think that I want a god that is weaker then bennies, and so easily hindered."
If the bennies can limit God then the bennies are greater then god, for the lesser must always give way to the greater, and the Jew thought that god was hindered by a hat or lack thereof.
Christianity has its own beanies. Only they go by different names: "devotion," "quiet-time," "study," "prayer," "church attendence," etc. I am not saying that we should avoid these things. I am saying that we do those things because God has brought us near to Him, not so that we can bring God near to us. We do not lay those acts of devotion before God and cash-in on blessings. We respond to God; not He responding to us.
This is part of the point of the story of Job. Who are we to worship? Can we prevent God from allowing evil to happen to us, by carefully living upright? If we fall for that lie, then we have ascended above God in our mind, to be in control of Him, and obligating Him to bless us based on our worth.
Ascribe worth to anything but the one true living God, and you are worshipping an idol, whether it be yourself, or a bennies, or even the devil - making him out to be some kind of worthy foe that can hinder the work of God.
God is not fighting the satan, He is using him. When God decides to fight, then the battle will be over before it began. Until then, God holds satan together with His might along with the rest of creation ... storing up wrath until there is no more use of the evil one.
Nothing and nobody is greater then God. All things must give way to Him and His will.
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| Saved at a Christian Concert |
| 08.11.04 (8:47 am) [edit] |
Lake Arlington Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas is where I saw my first Christian music concert by "Gabriel." The lead vocalist went to that church and formed the band to help lead people to the Lord.
It was February of 1983, and I had been going to Lake Arlington for about 6 years. Christian music had recently seen alot of changes with bands such as Petra, Whiteheart, Degarmo&Key, and IdolCure. Our youth group had album covers on the walls, so I was curious to see what the hubbub was all about.
It was "adult contemporary" music and not as cool as I thought it would be. There was no drummer, just two guys with synthesizers and a programmed drum beat. A couple of years later the band got a drummer, but at that time they only had 10 songs and were pretty small-time.
I don't remember much about the concert except the songs were about Jesus, and the cross, and stuff that I heard all the time at Sunday school.
At the end they had us bow our head and pray to make sure that if we died that we would go to heaven, or something like that. We were singing "Follow Jesus" an old Baptist Hymn:
I have decided, to follow Jesus,
I have decided, to follow Jesus,
I have decided, to follow Jesus,
No turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still I will follow,
Though none go with me, still I will follow,
Though none go with me, still I will follow,
No turning back, no turning back!
The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me,
The world behind me, the cross before me,
No turning back, no turning back!
I am not sure why, because I had sung that song 100 times before, but it was different this time. The word stuck out with the synthesized accompaniment. "I still will follow?" I choked on those words. I could not say them. I knew in my heart that I would not follow Jesus if none went with me. I did not want to pray and sing a song that I knew was not true for me. So I sat down and put my face in my hands.
"Lord," I prayed, "I won't follow you if none go with me. You know that. I am just following the crowd, not you" I continued, "I want you to help me, come in my heart and change me into the type of guy that will follow you if none go with me."
By, the end of the song, I sung that verse with conviction instead of hypocrisy. I knew that Jesus had come inside of my heart and made me new.
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| Nagging homosexual impulses |
| 08.09.04 (2:17 pm) [edit] |
A stranger identified themself as a Christian and then asked me about if they should just accept the bisexual impulses that they have had, and quit fighting them.
Here is what I told them.
One of the best kept secrets in Christianity is that bisexual impulses/temptations is not unusual. Jesus had them.
It is written that He was "tempted in all things as we are" Hebrews 4:15. All things means all things. He was tempted to murder. He had perverse impulses come to him. How long does it take to be tempted in everything? I am guessing about 33 years, because that is how old Jesus was. But, this is only the first part of the secret.
Temptation does not equal desire.
That is an important revelation, because if you think that temptation equals desire, then you will look at your temptation to break natural law, and think that is your desire. That is exactly where the enemy wants us. He want us to think that our temptations are our true desires.
How evil would Jesus be if temptation equals desire? Pretty evil; perhaps the most evil, if that were the case. He was tempted in all things. But we read on in that verse: "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet WITHOUT SIN."
Now I can get pretty much any theologian to this point in agreement, but then I could ask them if they have ever been tempted in homosexuality, and they would be offended. Why? Because they still think that temptation equals desire deep down. This is a hard error to break and it is in fact a tremendous challenge.
If we truly begin to see that temptation does not equal desire, then we will want to act ONLY on our true desire rather then any temptation/impulse/ or urge. We will have to take every thought captive, and discern the source of that thought; does it abide with our true wants or is it crafted for our destruction?
We have lots of enemies: our dull mind, our crazy emotions, our unstable will, the fallen world, our deceptive flesh, the devil, unrighteous spirits, reminders of iniquitous past, etc. The list is pretty long, and if we dwelled on it ... we would find that I have only listed a fraction of what we are up against on a daily basis. Any of these sources can provide a thought or impulse. We need to judge our thoughts as they come to us, and weed out most of them as just crazy notions.
A friend of mine was about to get his hair cut, and laughed as he asked his hairdresser, "When you cut hair, do you ever feel like taking your scissors and slicing someone's head off?" She spun him around in the chair and put her hands on his shoulders and said, "How did you know?"
What do you think he advised her as he sat at her station? Should she just give into those thoughts and quit resisting them? Maybe she should just accept that she is a murderer by nature and act on that. After all, she has those impulses, so that must be what she really wants, right?
Wrong.
If she gave into those impulses, then they would not make her happy. There would be fear, distress, anger, depression overwhelm her as she stood in the middle of a crime scene. Those thoughts are not to bring a spring in her step and a lift in her countenance, and really they are NOT what she wants. Her true desires are to cut hair with scissors not kill people with them.
Lets encourage one another to not get involved in things that go against our heart that is washed and renewed by the Spirit. Lets encourage one another to not be led astray by our shifting emotions and insane minds, or by the enemies in our life. Lets not be ashamed that we are weak and that we can't resist the enemies in our own strength. Lets pray for deliverance from evil. Lets stand firm if that deliverance is not immediate ... so that we can reap the harvest that comes from moment by moment dependence on our Savior.
I can see how you can be blessed with this weakness, over someone else, as it will cause you to depend on Him greatly, and it may even cause you to stumble and fall, and you will get to see that God's love is greater then the fall. You will find a love so stubborn that you won't be able to resist drawing near to Him, and as you do you will find fulfillment that no sexual gratification can come close to.
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| just finding it easier to realize |
| 08.03.04 (1:31 pm) [edit] |
I think that you can tell just how far someone has fallen out with God, by how much they can do without Him.
Can we mature ourselves without Him?
Can we minister without Him?
Can we do anything?
I have found that I can do less and less without Him. Recently, I shared that I couldn't even handle a trip to Kinko's without Him.
That's how it has always been, but I am just finding it easier to realize.
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