Mission: Accomplished - Galatians 1:24

And they glorified God in me. - Galatians 1:24

    We often hear the stories of lost souls wondering, pondering, the “why” of their existence here in this life. I refer to these unfortunate folks as lost in the sense that they are seeking the answer to a question which for all intents and purposes should be readily available to them. If they but knew where to look. This is the part where we Christians come in.
    When Paul wrote Galatians, near the end of the first chapter he spoke of his former self - a persecutor of Christians. He was a man known and feared by the fledgling Christian community. So much so that when news of his conversion came to them they glorified God for His grace that Paul was the recipient of. They knew that the effectual grace God had bestowed upon Paul had changed his life. As a result of what these Christians saw in Paul they fulfilled one of the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith: they glorified God! (WLC: - Q.1) But then how does this answer the seeker’s question, “Why am I here?”
    As Christians, are we living examples to those unbelievers around us? When they see us do they immediately recognize that we are “different” either from the world around us or from our former selves, for those who knew us before we enjoyed the grace of God? Let us look again at Paul’s admission - “And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.  But they were hearing only, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.’” - Galatians 1:22-23. And they glorified God! Paul’s “new man” was so convincing that even the Christians he once persecuted glorified God because of the change in him. Do others watching our lives feel so inspired by us that they glorify God because of what they see? If not - why not?
     “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” - Galatians 5:22-23. If we are exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives both those who believe and those who have yet to believe will know that we are different. And that difference just might answer the question of  why we are here: we are here to glorify our heavenly Father.

By God It Comes To Be - Job 9:24

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not He, who else could it be? - Job 9:24

    There are endless discussions regarding God’s role in the existence and observable workings of evil in the world. Last week’s SCOTUS ruling in favor of homosexual marriage is just another outgrowth of the reality that God does indeed ordain all that comes about. From tsunamis to earthquakes to mass shootings to childhood cancer, God does indeed ordain the events. There is only one alternate explanation: that God is not sovereign and thus Satan holds power even greater than God! This is absurd, of course. We know for certain that “ . . . all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28.
    The question remains “why?” I would suggest an answer, but not to that particular question. I would ask, “why do we ( how dare we) question our sovereign God, using our limited human wisdom as the template for understanding His divine motives. How could we ever begin to understand why God ordains a good day or a bad day without possessing the one thing we will never possess: divine omniscience?
    We cannot possibly comprehend the divine plan that God has in place, nor the workings He has put into play to bring it to completion. We simply do not possess that knowledge - “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” - Isaiah 55:8-9. We are not humanly capable of possessing God’s knowledge so how could ever possibly understand His plan?
    So from this we must accept the fact that the abominable SCOTUS ruling, as terribly destructive to our nation, society, and culture as it is, has been ordained by God Himself and no other. We must stop trying to understand that which has been veiled to us by God and -  “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven.” - Lamentations 3:40-41.

Teach You Children - Proverbs 22:6

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- Proverbs 22:6

Children. We love them, but one of the harsh truths about children is that they are a direct reflection of the mores and values that we have instilled in them by our thoughts, words, and behavior. Everything we do sets an example to our children, so Proverbs 22:6 is perhaps one of the most important of all the proverbs given in the Bible. But the impetus is upon us a parents, Christian parents -  “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-8.
Have we forgotten what God had to do in our lives to get our attention? Is that what we want for our children? I know what God had to do to make me reach up for Him out of the sinful morass I put myself in. Would I have directed my children’s paths away from the Lord with my thoughts, words, and behavior had I been saved in my youth? “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” - Ephesians 6:4.
For those of you raising children now, in your and their youth, remember the words of one of God’s most faithful servants - “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  - Joshua 24:15.
    Lord, that I had held You in my heart when I was a young man, raising my children. I pray now that I may still help You effect a change in their hearts and the hearts of my beloved grandchildren. May Your words always be in our hearts.

An Encounter With Unbelief - Matthew 10:33

 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:33

    I was at the local home improvement store where I bought a new outdoor lounge chair. I struggled to get the chair in the trunk. No luck. I decided to try putting the chairs in the back seat. After ten sweat-filled minutes I’d managed to get it in. Now I tried to get it out. I said “tried.” After another ten minutes one of the store’s associates approached to see if he could help. He said he was a problem solver and almost came to the point of insisting he could get that confounded chair out of my car. I said, “Have at it, my friend.” A moment of careful maneuvering and there the chair was freed from the back seat. He turned to me and asked if I’d like him to show me how to put it back in and retrieve it as easily as he did. Of course, I said, “Please do!” After showing me how to put the chair back in I thanked him and said, “God bless you.” It was at that very moment that he made the most curious remark. He said, “Oh. I don’t think God had anything to do with it.”
    I mention the encounter here for a couple of reasons. For one, I thought even if he isn’t a believer he didn’t need to make such a remark. Sure, he certainly helped me and I in return merely asked a blessing upon him . . . not a curse. Yet as helpful as he had been he still could not resist the opportunity to deny God! Here the man had a chance to show a little class despite his feelings. He could have been gracious enough to say, “You’re welcome,” and leave it at that, but no, he just had to reject God. “But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” - Luke 12:9.
    This encounter cannot be compared to one where an unbeliever wishes us fortune through some satanic entity or Wiccan-type earth deity. The reason is simple: if someone were to wish me well with a phrase such as, “The mother of creation bless you,” it would offer me an opportunity to share the Gospel with that misguided person. The helpful atheist didn’t offer me an alternative gospel or blessing. He simply manifested his unbelief in God by making his crass remark. These are the unbelieving people who need our prayers. They aren’t arguing a case for another god per se; they’re denying God. Yet, whether they know it or not, in their denial they are decreeing another god: the god of this fallen world, the god of this age! “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
    When one denies God it can be compared to one who has been warned about the dangers of the dark and ventures forth regardless. Their pride and their stiff-necked resistance to the warnings puts them in such a precarious place. Prayers, our prayers, are indeed what these lost souls desperately need!
    Let us always pray that the Holy Spirit will fill the hearts and illumine the minds of sinners like us.

The Last Bridge

    Let me begin by saying that we start with the Holy Bible. This is the alpha and the omega of our life study. And allow me to state emphatically that either you believe that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God or you don’t. If you don’t then read no further. If you are not drinking in the word of God then you are drinking in poison. And we all know what the end result of drinking poison is. If, on the other hand, you are willing to hear me out then by all means: read on.   
    To begin with we must start with the premise that we are all sinners. We are all sinners but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have to sin! My inclination could be to steal or to lie or to cheat; it doesn’t mean I have to! One can call himself a glutton but that doesn’t mean he has to behave that way. He can resist the urge if he chooses to. He doesn’t have to give in to his particular predilection. He can choose not to. He does not have to sin!
    Homosexual behavior is constrained by the same rules as any other sinful behavior. One is not compelled to behave that way except by one’s sinful nature. Now to those who decry the idea that homosexuality is sinful behavior, please see paragraph one then drink your own poison or continue to read. For those who believe that they are “born that way,” let me say I heartily agree with your premise: you are indeed born that way, just as we all are born sinners. But unlike race or ethnicity we can choose to follow our sinful natures into dark territory or we can choose not to. We are only compelled to follow our proclivities as far as we are “willing” to go. This is the concept of free will.
    Liberum arbitrium, or freedom of choice, is the ultimate human freedom. No matter what other freedom we may aspire to we ultimately make our choices based on whatever inclination we are currently under the power of. There are those who will say that some choices are not in fact choices at all but compulsory actions taken under duress. But we still are charged with the making of that choice regardless of the particular compulsion. Even under the threat of death we will either give in to the conditions set forth to save our lives or we will resist . . . to the point of death. Sin is the point of spiritual death. And those who choose to resist God face spiritual death.
    Sin is any transgression against God, whether it be deliberately lying or stealing, murder of any kind, sexual sin in its various forms, or any of a myriad of other transgressions against our heavenly Father. Yes, homosexuality is numbered among those behaviors we call sin. And we know from scripture that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The death we speak of here once more is spiritual death. Again, the very belief in spiritual death rides on the fact that one either believes in the Bible or one doesn’t. If at this point you can still say you don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God then why are you still reading this?
    The allure of sin is well known. In its most heinous form it presents us with the greatest pleasure our dark human hearts and minds can imagine. And then, once we have experienced the sweet almond taste of cyanide on our tongues the poison courses through of spiritual blood streams. No one ever said that sin was painful to begin with; if it were, no one would ever sin! No, at first we experience delight in whatever behavior our debased characters are inclined to, then, perhaps not immediately but eventually, we reap the very harvest we have sown - spiritual death.
    Warning sinners of their impending fate is not hate speech or bigotry. Calling for sinners to repent and accept the Lord, Christ Jesus as their savior is not a phobic reaction as has become the mantra of the day. Certainly there has been enough of this unproductive name-calling from both sides. Name-calling has never effected a lasting positive change. If any real dialog is to take place it must take place without the demagoguery and histrionics that have thus far defined the war of words. But the two sides cannot possibly come to any real understanding unless they come to an agreement on what sin is and what sin is not. If the holy Bible, the very word of God,  is not the measurement by which we can define sin then how, I ask you, can sin be defined? And that is the last bridge we come to. Will we use it to communicate truth or error because salvation comes only on the wings of truth, never error.

My Sin, Ever Before Me - Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. - Psalm 51:17

    Perhaps one of the most well known of David’s psalms, Psalm 51 brings the ultimate hardness of the human heart into focus. David not only confesses he is a sinner but even a sinner before his birth. This is the finest example of self-rebuke to man’s sinful nature among all the psalms. Think about it. Can we even for a moment imagine anyone coming forward to us in complete and utter confession and repentance, in complete and total admission of their darkest sins? In certain instances pastors hear some pretty volatile confessions as do some psychiatrists, but how many times have we ourselves heard such stunning admissions of sin? Yet here is the larger question: have we ever made such a confession ourselves? More important - have we ever made such a confession to God? “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”  - 1 John 1:6.
    A false devotion or piety put on among the churched audience is not what God wants. In fact, He hates religiosity. How many times did Christ call out the scribes and pharisees for their false piety? Our religious pretensions mean nothing to our heavenly Father - “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.” - Psalm 51:16.    With our sins ever before us there is but one offering God wants from us. “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” - Proverbs 28:13.  Confession and forsaking (turning away from our sins, i.e., repentance) is what our Lord wants. A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart is all the sacrifice God desires.
    Each and every night before I close my eyes to sleep I ask my Lord and Savior for the forgiveness that only His blood could purchase for me. It is, after all, for my sins that Christ died. It is for my inequities that His holy blood flowed!  How now then could I dare go forth with pretension, pride, or presumptuousness?
     Lord, may I never forget in my lifetime that there is no good in me but by Your grace alone I was saved from perdition. Amen.

                   

The Right Tool For The Job - 2 Timothy 2: 20-21

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
 - 2 Timothy 2:20-21

   
    In the truest sense are we all not tools in God’s hands? Does God not use as He sees fit? Ahh, the question then arises: does He indeed use us all? I believe our title verses speak directly to that point. If we are to useful to Him we must be cleansed (a key word here) vessels of honor, sanctified, useful, and prepared for every good work.
    The act of cleansing is indicative of our sanctification, a process of becoming more like Jesus, guaranteed to every one saved. As R.C. Sproul put it, “Sanctification is an inevitable consequence of justification.”Contrast that image with that of the un-cleaned vessels. God hasn’t sullied these vessels of the world; He simply hasn’t graced them with justification, ergo there is no cleansing. For God’s elect He has cleaned us with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ - “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” - 1 John 1:7.
    Cleansed by the blood of Christ we become useful to God and prepared for every good work. God will use us as He sees fit. But we must first be cleansed - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.” - Matthew 23:25-26.
    May God grant me the blessing of my cleansing so that He may find me prepared for every good work. Then, and only then, will I be the right tool for the job.