What Has That Got To Do With Forgiveness?

 

In the book, Every Man’s Battle, by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker, Arterburn writes in his foreword:

 

One of my favorite stories is of a husband who came because his wife demanded it. After the conference he confessed his affair. He was truly repentant and said he would do anything to make it up to her. She asked him to sign over all the property and assets to her – because the name on them wouldn’t matter if he was truly finished with his lust and adultery. She asked him to shave his chest, and she asked him to get braces on his teeth. He did all three because he realized his actions had humiliated her and he was willing to do anything to humble himself and win back her heart. I speak with them both regularly, and they are doing well (pg. xii).

 

Does GOD forgive like this?                                                                                                    If so, I am in serious trouble when I get to heaven.                                                                                      If I even make it…

Before I begin to explain why I have such an issue with this, let me start by saying, despite the respect I had for Arterburn in the past, I can no longer respect his opinions and I cannot recommend this book. I think his condoning of this kind of vindictiveness is just a sample of what is wrong in the church and destroying what Christ taught about forgiveness. I wonder if Arterburn would be so quick to applaud the man if he had treated his wife this way?

When I was studying family counseling, a couple of the therapist/instructors told of adultery within their own marriages. One case I remember in particular, the wife had been having an affair. When the husband found out, he described how hard it was to sleep in the same bed with her. He said he felt like she was filthy and the thought of her touching him made him physically sick. So why did he not sleep on the couch, or better still, kick her out? He said because he was her husband, it was his job to cover her with his love and protection, even after she had cheated. He said that is what Jesus does for us and he had to be obedient to God’s Word and his marriage vows. I wish Stephen Arterburn would talk to this man.

I think I see some tale-tale signs of why the man cheated in the first place. While I am not an expert in the fields of psychology or marital counseling, I have studied both, academically and personally, thus I do have my own opinions. Decide for yourself if I present a good argument or not.

The reason I say there may be signs of why he cheated, let me present the results of a study I read a few years ago. In the survey, when asked if the person they cheated with was smarter, more attractive, better educated, etc., both men and women said the person they had the affair with did not measure up to their spouse. When asked why they cheated, men said because they felt their wives did not respect them, but the other woman did. Women responded that they felt their husbands did not love them, but the other man did. (Unfortunately, I have lost many of the papers I wrote, and this is one I cannot locate).

As I stated in my paper (from memory), Paul instructed:

 

Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, since we are members of His body (Ephesians 5:22-30, HCSB).

 

He concludes, “This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband” (Ephesians 5:32-33, HCSB).   

Again, Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, writes, “Wives, be submissive to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and don’t be bitter toward them” (Colossians 3:18-19, HCSB).

According to the study I mentioned above, men typically cheat because they do not feel respected by their wives. I think we clearly see from the text that this wife had serious issues and I believe she genuinely lacked respect for her husband. I would guess that the other woman was everything this man’s wife was not. While I do not condone his actions, he clearly demonstrates his love for his wife, his dedication to the marriage, and his repentance for the affair. I would even go so far and challenge believers to question if they demonstrate this kind of brokenness over their sins and devotion to God, or not.

I think about the parable Jesus told of the two men who went to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was pompous and prideful, naming off all he did, even boasting how he was so much better than the tax collector. The tax collector made no excuses, not even looking up but beat his chest and confessed his sins. Jesus said the tax collector was the one who left justified (Luke 18:13-14, HCSB).

I’m not saying that every cheating spouse should be let off the hook. What I am saying is that we don’t know the details of why someone strays in the first place but when the repentant sinner returns, do they find grace and mercy?

Again, let’s return to the Scriptures one more time to see how God demonstrates forgiveness. Jesus told about a man who had two sons. The younger asked for his inheritance before his father was even dead. He took his money and went away to live a life of sin. When the money was gone and he found himself hungry, dirty, and cold, he returned a broken man, knowing he did not deserve his father’s forgiveness. He would merely ask to be a servant because they were treated better than he was with the life he had made for himself. The father was already looking for him and saw him off in the distance. He ran to meet this dirty, smelly, wretch of a man, and threw his arms around him, kissing him and crying for joy. Was his brother glad to see him? No, he sulked and would have sent him away. Knowing that this event had broken his father’s heart, he had no compassion, not even for his father (Luke 15:11-32, HCSB).

Is adultery a sin? Yes! Does it hurt the jilted spouse? Yes! Does it hurt children? Yes! Does it cause problems between the two families? Yes! Does it break GOD’s heart? Yes! Is it forgivable? You answer this one.

I hope this couple does not have children. Can you imagine the problems they will have in their marriages?

“But if you don’t forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing” (Matthew 6:15, HCSB).

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Are You Afraid?

 

If you watch or listen to the news lately, what you will most likely hear is a myriad of angry voices hurling insults or decrying what someone else said, did, or is doing.

I was a child during the late sixties and remember the Vietnam War protests, the Civil Rights marches, and all of the anger from opposing sides, but what we are witnessing today seems far worse; to me anyway.

A few years ago, I was hearing TV gurus, like Oprah Winfrey, talking about trust your feelings, listen to your heart, and truth being relative, “What is true for you may not be true for me” and vice versa. If a dog bites your leg, the truth is, it hurts. That cannot be true for one and not true for another. Not unless one is dead, unconscious, or has no feeling in that leg. The same is true for death. A dead person is dead, physically anyway, no matter how you look at it. Now, whether the person’s soul lives on and where, might be debatable but the truth is, that person is not going to get up, walk around, and talk to you as in days before.

In all the years of my life, I have not seen the absolute hatred spewing forth as I have since the days leading up to the 2016 election, continuing up until today. I hate to think this is the new normal but I’m afraid it is. Now, before you go accusing me of being a pessimist, let me tell you why. I read my Bible every day and while I do not claim to be a Bible expert, I am not that stupid either. Okay, maybe that is disputable but just try to follow with me for a minute. Over and over in Scripture, we read about Israel and how they turned away from God. God “allowed” other, more un-Godly, nations to conquer them because they refused to listen to His spokesmen (prophets, priests, judges, etc.).

America was founded on God and His biblical principles. We were a Christian nation, not perfect, but look at us today! We murder our children, reject truth (and don’t even really know what the word means apparently), support unholy relationships, worship the creation rather than the Creator, and have allowed God to be removed from our schools, courthouses, other public institutions, and even many of our churches.

Maybe God is allowing all of the strife we are seeing today to get our attention and lead many to salvation. Should Christians be afraid though?

You may be asking yourself, where are you going with all of this?

Okay, here goes…

In his book, Be Amazed: Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship, OT Commentary on Minor Prophets, Warren Wiersbe, in his section on Habakkuk, chapter 3, is discussing faith and writes, “Habakkuk has faced the frightening fact that his nation will be invaded by a merciless enemy. The prophet knows that many of the people will go into exile and many will be slain. The land will be ruined, and Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. Yet he tells God that he will trust Him no matter what happens!”  

“I will wait patiently on the Lord” (Habakkuk 3:16).

This is not the first time God has brought destruction on His people and their land, the land He gave them, and Habakkuk is well aware of how bad things were in the past.

Wiersbe continues, “If Habakkuk had depended on his feelings, he would never have made this great confession of faith. If Habakkuk looked ahead, he saw a nation heading for destruction, and that frightened him. When he looked within, he saw himself trembling with fear, and when he looked around, he saw everything in the economy about to fall apart. But when he looked up by faith, he saw God, and all his fears vanished. To walk by faith means to focus on the greatness and glory of God.”  

Let that sink in, “To walk by faith means to focus on the greatness and glory of God.”

He then makes what I consider to be another profound statement, “One of the marks of faith is a willingness to wait patiently for the Lord to work. ‘Whoever believes will not act hastily’ (Isa. 28:16 NKJV). When we run ahead of God, we get into trouble.”

These nuggets of wisdom just keep coming: “When you know God is working in your life, you can afford to wait quietly and let Him have His way. Furthermore, God had commanded him to wait (2:3) and ‘God’s commandments are God’s enablements.’ No matter what we see and no matter how we feel, we must depend on God’s promises and not allow ourselves to ‘fall apart. ‘Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him’ (Ps. 37:7).”

It appears that, in times such as these, we should, 1) Be still, 2) pray, and 3) wait on the Lord. No matter what is going on, God is still on His throne, and He is still, very much in charge. Instead of complaining about why God doesn’t do something, we would do well to see it rightly, He is doing something, and we need to reflect inwardly towards ourselves and ask what we are doing wrong, rather than outwardly at God and asking why He doesn’t do what we want Him too.   

I’ll let Wiersbe have the final word: “Whenever we find ourselves getting ‘churned up’ within, we can be sure that we need to stop, pray, and wait on the Lord before we do some stupid thing.”

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Encourager

 

In the book of Acts, chapter 9, after his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, we read that Saul was blinded physically, but for the first time in his life, could see perfectly, spiritually. The problem was the men with him could not help him; he needed someone who could speak and act for God. God had a man ready for the task, his name was Ananias. When God told Ananias to go to Saul, he was scared. He had heard how Saul had been persecuting the Christians, but he was obedient to the Lord. God used Ananias to heal and then baptize Saul. Shortly thereafter, God sent Barnabas to introduce Saul to the apostles who were also afraid, but Barnabas testified to them how God was already using him. As the book continues, we see that Barnabas was a great encourager.

As we know, Saul became the Apostle Paul and much of the New Testament was penned by his hand. He was arguably the most influential evangelist/preacher/theologian next to Christ. What if Ananias and Barnabas had given in to fear and prejudice? Would we know anything about Paul today? I believe so. God can make things happen with or without us, but He chooses to use us or as I like to say, God does the work, He just allows us to be a part of what He is doing.

Do you have an encourager in your life?

Do you feel encouraged by others at your church?

Do you encourage others?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like we have many encouragers in the church today. Many of the ones I have seen, only encourage those that meet their qualifications and not God’s. Several years ago, I witnessed a church I loved and had been a member of for many years, not only refuse to encourage the pastor, but actually discourage him. It was heartbreaking to watch. Needless to say, the Lord called him to another church. We hired another, younger pastor, who had a heart for reaching those in our community. Again, many in the church discouraged this and he left as well.

A short time later, we got another pastor. His ideas on evangelism were quite different. I had invited a co-worker to visit our church and she eventually did start coming. I was told that he, being the pastor, and another man would take over and that I was to stop witnessing to her. A few weeks later she left the church and told me they had made numerous, unannounced visits to her apartment and were pressuring her to get baptized. She shared with me that she knew she needed to get baptized but that she was not ready. She could not handle the pressure they were putting on her and, as she said, they didn’t really care about her soul, they just wanted a number. They literally chased her away.

Around this time, I had gone to Chicago for training in a ministry opportunity. I had not discussed with the pastor or church leadership as I did not think it necessary. A week or so later, I was called to the pastor’s office and was chastised for not getting permission and I was told the church could not afford to help me financially. I thought this odd because I had never asked for nor expected their financial support.

I could give more examples from this church alone but that is not necessary. Needless to say, I left that church and went elsewhere. I wish I could say I found a great church that believes what the Bible says abut equipping the saints and sending them out but I haven’t, as of this writing. While I think it wise to find out what someone is doing and if it aligns with Scripture, before offering support and encouragement, I find it difficult to accept a church that neither finds out nor prays over such matters and then refuses to encourage such ministry.

For more than ten years now, everything ministry based I have undertaken has been outside and apart from any church. After working in and through the church for many years, it is so much more freeing to work apart from the legalism and politics that have taken over so many of our churches. It is not just pastors but the members as well.     

It is a sad thing when the church does not support what God is doing.

Barry Meguiar, of Meguiar’s auto products, started a ministry called “Revival Outside the Walls.” He encourages Christians to take their faith outside the church and meet people where they are. He is a successful business man, a dedicated Christian, and an obedient servant of God.  

I am a proud graduate of Liberty University. The founder, the late Jerry Faldwell, was a visionary who saw the need to not just educate pastors and others seeking to serve in the church, but to equip every student to take the Gospel wherever they were led vocationally; thus, the motto, “Training Champions for Christ.”  

What a blessing it would be if the church would lift up in prayer and encourage, those who serve outside the church. What good does it do if we know all the latest praise songs and sing louder than everyone else or have a bumper sticker or yard sign if we don’t partner with those God has called to serve, in and outside, the walls of the church building.

Jesus’ Return

 

Have you ever heard someone going through bad times say, “Come now Lord!” or, regarding the sin of others say, “Well, I guess they’ll find out when they get to hell!”

It’s sad isn’t it?

When I hear Christians say things like this, I wonder how they can say these things when there are so many unsaved around us. What if Jesus had this attitude towards us? What if He cared for us the way they care for family members, friends, neighbors, and others who are not saved?  

While we are commanded to keep looking up, anxiously awaiting His return for the church (the rapture), what would He have us do in the meantime?

I think we can find out clearly in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  

I don’t know about you, but I have many loved ones who may not be saved. While I look forward to the day I stand in His presence, I hope to reach as many of the lost as I can. I want to see them there as much as I want to be there myself.

I pity those who are so unloving that they say such things without any concern for the lost.

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What Is That? Looking At The Future Through A Lens On The Past

 In my study this morning, from Warren Wiersbe’s book, Be Amazed: Restoring An Attitude Of Wonder And Worship, I was reading about Habakkuk and how he sought Israel’s repentance. He believed Israel would turn from their sins and get right with God. 

Josiah had been king and was a good king, but now his son, Jehoiakim, was king and he was nothing like his father. He led the people to stray from God and His Law. As Habakkuk prayed about this, the Lord showed him what was to come. God was sending the Babylonians to deal with Israel, not what Habakkuk had thought, nor did he expect. Why would the Lord send an un-godly nation to destroy His chosen people?

While Habakkuk wrestled with God’s decision, he never lost his faith, but he did have questions. Wiersbe writes, “keep in mind that there is a difference between doubt and unbelief. Like Habakkuk, the doubter questions God and may even debate with God, but the doubter doesn’t abandon God. But unbelief is rebellion against God, a refusal to accept what He says and does. Unbelief is an act of the will, while doubt is born out of a troubled mind and a broken heart.”

Wiersbe goes on to say:

 

The prophet needed to remember two facts: (1) God had used other tools to chasten His people – war, natural calamities, the preaching of the prophets – and the people wouldn’t listen; (2) the greater the light, the greater the responsibility. Yes, the Babylonians were wicked sinners, but they were idolaters who didn’t know the true and living God. This didn’t excuse their sins (Rom. 1”18ff.), but it did explain their conduct. The Jews claimed to know the Lord, and yet they were sinning against the very law they claimed to believe! Sin in the life of a believer is far worse than sin in the life of an unbeliever. When God’s people deliberately disobey Him, they sin against a flood of light and an ocean of love.

 

So God had tried to get their attention but they just kept ignoring the warning signs and this brought God’s righteous judgment down upon His chosen people, the people who were called to be His priests to the nations.

Does this sound familiar?

America, founded on belief in God and His holy Word, are we witnessing God’s warning signs against us? A nation who knows God and His Word, yet we have allowed abortion, Hollywood’s garbage to rot our brains, corrupt politicians to do whatever they will, pornography, human trafficking, etc.

We have seen floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorist attacks, school shootings, thugs capturing and holding a downtown hostage while the city’s leadership looks on, approving this violence, and much, much more. Is this not God trying to warn us of impending judgement? I believe what we are witnessing today is our last chance, maybe it’s too late already, but if we don’t want to suffer the consequences of our own rebellion, we had better hit our knees and pray while we still can.

I beg you, brothers and sisters, repent now and take this warning seriously!

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Compassion or Wrath: You Might Want To Rethink That Rock In Your Hand Before You Cast It…

 

Currently, I am reading a book by Warren Wiersbe, Be Amazed: Restoring An Attitude Of Wonder And Worship, a study of the Minor Prophets. Currently I am in the study of Nahum and his prophecy against, and the fulfillment of this prophecy against Nineveh.

As you may remember, years earlier, Jonah had gone and preached against Nineveh and they had repented; thus, God spared them. Now, many years later, that nation had returned to their wicked ways and once again, God was ready to deal with them. Rather than go into a lengthy discussion here, you can read this book yourself, I want to focus on a few questions at the end of this chapter that I feel led to share with you.

 

1.       How do you understand God’s pity and compassion alongside His jealousy, anger, and wrath?

2.       As you observe your neighbors or relatives, would you say they deserve God’s judgement? Why or why not? How does God see them?

3.       According to Wiersbe, what are the three reasons Nahum gives why Nineveh deserves to be judged?

4.       Wiersbe states that “people become like the god that they worship (Ps. 115:8), for what we believe determines how we behave.” If you look at the behavior of non-Christians around you, what would you say they worship? What about the behavior of people who attend your church?   

 

How do you understand God’s pity and compassion alongside His jealousy, anger, and wrath?

I think that we clearly see a perfect example here in the book of Nahum, especially when compared to the book of Jonah. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and a very wicked city/nation; their cruelty was unimaginable. God had sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn them about His coming judgement, but they repented and God spared them. I would say that the book of Jonah is more about Jonah and his rebellion against God because of his hatred for the Ninevites and God’s love and mercy than it is about Nineveh’s repentance. God’s love for this wicked people is greater than His anger against them; this is Jonah’s main concern. While some argue that Jonah was afraid of the people because of their cruelty, I believe, based on Jonah’s own wording, that he wasn’t afraid of the people, but rather he knew if they repented, God would spare them and Jonah did not want them spared, he wanted them dead.

Jump ahead to Nahum’s time and we see Nineveh had returned to their old and wicked ways. This time, they did not repent and God delivered His hand of justice. He used the armies of the Medes and Babylonians to destroy them and destroy them they did. God could have used Israel to subdue the Assyrians or He could have done it supernaturally, as He had done in times past, but this time He chose to use another foe that was just as cruel.

I hear people talk about God being an angry tyrant in the sky, or they may argue that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the God of the New Testament; I would argue that they are one and the same and, in all cases, He is loving and merciful but a righteous judge at the same time. I think the story of Nineveh demonstrates this sufficiently.

 

As you observe your neighbors or relatives, would you say they deserve God’s judgement? Why or why not? How does God see them?

It is easy to see this through our own eyes, with our own biases, and through our own emotions but that is simply a flawed way of viewing things. We tend to view people by whether we like/love them or by comparing them to ourselves. We love our children and parents so we might extend more grace to them, overlooking the wrong they have done but in contrast, we might judge more harshly our neighbor, if we don’t like them, for doing the same things we overlook in our family members.

We also tend to judge others based on how good or bad we see them, especially in comparison to ourselves. You might say, “Look at that, I can’t believe they did that. I would never do that!” On the other hand, we might exalt others, say a preacher or humanitarian, and think, “I wish I was more like them.” We tend to put some on pedestals while condemning others to hell.

Remember, “What would Jesus do?” Well, the Bible tells us what He would do in these circumstances. He would reach out in love and offer forgiveness to the one who humbles himself, but He would judge the one who is outwardly good but inwardly corrupt. Remember the story of the two men who went into the temple to pray, one a priest and the other a tax collector? If you don’t know the story, I won’t ruin it for you, you can find it in Luke 18:9-14.

The Bible says that we all fall short and deserve God’s judgement (Romans 3:23) so I would say we, our relatives, friends, and neighbors deserve judgement; however, God is willing to forgive and heal us. Isn’t that beautiful?

 

According to Wiersbe, what are the three reasons Nahum gives why Nineveh deserves to be judged?

The three reasons given are: ruthless bloodshed, idolatry, and pride. The Ninevites/Assyrians were notorious for their ruthlessness and disregard for human life. One of the many cruelties was skinning people alive where they would die a slow and agonizing death. They murdered men, women, and children.

They did not worship the one true God, they worshipped idols. According to Wiersbe, there primary deity was Ishtar, the goddess of sexual passion, fertility, and war. Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is a jealous God. I remember years ago, Oprah Winfrey stated that she had a problem with a God who was jealous of us. Oprah, Oprah, Oprah, how little you know or understand. Instead of researching this, she chose to walk away from her faith. How sad. Not all jealousy is bad. Wiersbe writes, “Jealousy is a sin if it means being envious of what others have and wanting to possess it, but it’s a virtue if it means cherishing what we have and wanting to protect it.” He further illustrates by giving the example of marriage and how spouses want to protect and defend each other and keep their marriage exclusive. If only Oprah had done a little research…

“For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.”  - 1 John 2:16, NKJV

Pride. The Bible speaks often about the subject. I won’t go into details but suffice it to say, pride is evil and leads to destruction. The pride of Nineveh was in their might. They thought no army could defeat theirs or capture their city. They were wrong!    

 

Wiersbe states that “people become like the god that they worship (Ps. 115:8), for what we believe determines how we behave.” If you look at the behavior of non-Christians around you, what would you say they worship? What about the behavior of people who attend your church?   

I have written about world views before, a Christian world view vs. a secular world view, and how that affects what and why we do what we do or think the way we think. As Christians, our desires should align with God’s desires. How we think and act should align with what God thinks and how He acts (look at the life of Jesus while on earth). Everything we are, should be based on God, as found in His Word, but is only able to be lived out as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we cannot do it in our own strength. This is not to say an unbeliever cannot live a good and moral life, they can, but they cannot live a holy life as we are commanded to do.

If you look at our society today, what god does it look like we worship? I would say the god of this age.   Going back to the three sins that caused God to pour out His judgement on Nineveh, let’s look at ourselves in comparison:

Ruthless Bloodshed. The violence and corruption today is staggering. The amount of murders and physical assaults is unthinkable. The suicide rate seems to go up every year and yes, suicide is murder, but the biggest murder rate is from abortion. Hands down, abortion kills more than all other murders put together. When a nation butchers it’s most defenseless and vulnerable, it is not the God of heaven that we worship but the God of this age. Over and over, the Bible speaks of the judgement to come for taking human life but no judgement so severe as the murder of children. Strange how little this is mentioned in most churches…

Idolatry. Do we know more about the Bible or what goes on in Hollywood? Do we know more about the Bible or the television lineup? Do we know more about the Bible or who’s dating who or whose marriage is on the rocks? Do we know more about the Bible or what sports teams are heading to the playoffs? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I once heard a man say, “What we run to in our time of need is our god.” Do we run for alcohol, pills, or something else when we are hurting or afraid? Is food our go-to for comfort or facing problems? What about cutting or other forms of self-harm? Does shopping fix things for you? I think we see many things people turn to instead of God and this is idolatry.

Pride. I deserve free education. I deserve to be happy. I deserve… My teams better than yours. My family has more money than yours. My house is nicer… Get the idea? You know, it’s funny how those who hate former President Donald Trump attack his ideas of patriotism and national pride, like those are bad things. He stated that as he would look out for what was best for America, others should look out for what was best for them, but that than we could sit down and negotiate deals that would be mutually beneficial. Call me stupid but I can’t see how he was wrong for saying this. I mean, if your car is nicer than mine and you live in a better neighborhood…. I do see something wrong with this, it is prideful and hurtful. You offer me nothing in the way of a benefit.

I’m not sure how good of an argument that was but the idea is that we are so prideful, we demean others for being prideful but can’t see our own pride that is so much worse. We tend to think that what we have, we deserve or that we earned it. How many believe they will go to heaven because they are good? More than you think. I’ve even talked to Sunday School teachers, deacons, and pastors that believe this way. How prideful! That we can earn God’s favor, especially in light of His Word, is extremely prideful.

Another act of pride is to judge God. “God is a tyrant and a killjoy.” “God is so mean, I don’t want to live with Him in heaven.” “If God really cared about us then why so much pain and suffering?” These are common questions, or better put, statements, and are the highest form of pride. How dare we sit and judge our Creator! However, if we struggle with these as questions but are willing to seek the answers in truth, God will give us the answers and do so in love. He can handle our questions but He expects us to not stop at the question mark but look for the truth.       

In addressing the last part of the question, “What about the behavior of people who attend your church?” Is there any real difference? Not so much that I can see and it breaks my heart. So many in the church today look just like their unbelieving friends and neighbors. In regard to Christian living and the church, many are more concerned with activities: who’s here, are donuts and coffee available, ending the sermon on time so as to beat others to the buffet line, etc. Sure, there is talk about missions and supporting the church’s work and all, but what about the family next door that just lost their business? Our child’s friend at school that’s struggling? The garbage man that just lost his wife? Oh, you didn’t know about those things? What shows come on tonight and what channel? Bet you knew that! 

I am not trying to sit in judgement but rather hold up a mirror for all of us to look at.

Does what we know matter?

Do we really know what matters?

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Broken...

 

Mirriam-Webster’s dictionary has multiple definitions and applications for the word “broken.” I will list a few here:

 “Violently separated into parts: shattered;”“damaged or altered by or as if by breaking;” "made weak or infirm;” “subdued completely: crushed, sorrowful;” "cut off: disconnected;" “not complete or full;” “disunited by divorce, separation, or desertion of one parent.”                                                                   -Mirriam-Webster.com/dictionary/broken

While each of these, if applied with the given example, mean different things, in quite different applications, I think they all sum up nicely how many of us feel.  

Judging by many songs of late, it seems brokenness is more common today. You Broke Me by Maria Mena, Broken by lovelytheband, Broken by Anson Seabra, as well as many others, describe brokenness in one way or another. When listening to these songs, you can’t help but feel a sense of pain. I realize some artists play songs they didn’t write but you sense some emotional pain nonetheless.   

Many years ago, a band named Radiohead had a huge hit called Creep. I won’t go into detail but the lead singer wrote it describing a period of his life and how he saw himself. To say the least, the name tells you it was not very good and dare I say, he was broken. For years, the band refused to play it at concerts but eventually begin to appreciate its value and begin playing it again.                                  

One song that really carries great meaning for me and speaks to my heart is Matthew West’s, Truth Be Told. He describes how he tells people he is fine when in reality he is torn up inside or broken. In one part of the song, he writes:

 

There’s a sign on the door saying “come as you are” but I doubt it. If we lived like it was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded. But didn’t you say the church should look more like a hospital? A safe place for the sick, the sinner, and the scarred, and the prodigals, like me. Truth be told, the truth is rarely told, am I the only one who says… I say, “I’m fine, yeah I’m fine oh I’m fine, hey I’m fine” but I’m not, I’m broken. And when it’s out of control I say it’s under control but it’s not, and you know it. I don’t know why it’s so hard to admit it, when being honest is the only way to fix it. There’s no failure, no fall, there’s no sin you don’t know already know. So let the truth be told.

 

I suspect many can relate to these lyrics; I know I can. How many of us have had to muster up the courage to walk through the church doors looking for healing only to be shunned?

Week after week, pastors stand in the pulpit and talk about those who don’t come to church. Have they ever taken an honest look at why so many don’t come? Do they really even care?

How many times do you stick your hand out when you only get bitten?

Business can cause one to justify shunning others, but I think in reality, it boils down more to a lack of empathy, caring, and love. Are we not called to love one another? Jesus said the two greatest commands were to love God and love our fellow man (Mat. 22:34-40).

So how are we doing?

Only Jesus Christ can heal the brokenness. But I am not willing to give a pass to those who use this as a cop-out. Did He not say that we are to love one another? Did He not also say that we are to visit the sick, the poor, the incarcerated, etc? (Mat. 25:31-46). Some of the most hateful and uncaring people are well respected members of the church. Jesus constantly used the Scribes, Pharisees, and others in His examples of the worst kind of sinner, boastful, proud, uncaring, and unrepentant. The people He seemed to speak positively about were those whose sins were great, but they admitted their sin and fell on their faces and turned from their sins.

In his book, Be Amazed: Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship, Warren Wiersbe writes, “Wordly and ignorant spiritual leaders produce worldly and ignorant people, and this brings destruction to the land.” He continues, “As goes spiritual leadership, so goes the church, so goes morality; and as goes morality, so goes the nation. God’s people are both salt and light in society (Mat. 5:13-16); when they are corrupt, society becomes corrupt” (pg. 31).

If you are hurting friend, do not despise the church or, more importantly, God. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” (Mat. 11:27-30, NKJV). Jesus loves you so much, He knows the number of hairs on your head. He loves you so much, He walked away from His heavenly throne where He was seated next to the Father and came to earth, not as a king in a palace, but as a servant, lowly and poor. Then He went to the cross to pay for your sins and mine. He didn’t have too, He chose too.

I know many in the church have caused great harm, but they don’t represent Jesus. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing (Acts 20:25-31).

I urge you to seek out a good, bible believing church and who knows, maybe you will be that friend you were looking for to someone else who walks through the doors that is hurting.

May our Lord give you His peace, His strength, and His joy~

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Something Beautiful to Behold

 

I love to go out and gaze at the night sky. I always have. Looking at the many stars and the planets has always fascinated me. I marvel at the size and beauty of our universe. When I was just a boy, I dreamed of one day going to the moon and beyond. The thought of getting a closer look intrigued me.

Last night I went to a friend’s house and we sat around his fire pit. Even with a blazing fire, much like the stars we see, away from the fire there was this deep blackness. Have you ever noticed how light seems to shine the brightest in contrast to darkness?

As light dulls the beauty and brightness of a starlit night, so business and sin seem to dull the light of God, but as the beauty of a star shines through the darkness, whether we can see it or not, so God’s light shines through the darkness of sin, even when we cannot see it.

 

 “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”      - C.S. Lewis

 

 “I can see the sun, but even if I cannot see the sun, I know that it exists. And to know that the sun is there – that is living.”         - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

 

When I look into the heavens and contemplate the massive size and complexity of the universe, I cannot help but be in awe of God. I believe that God created the universe “ex-nihilo,” out of nothing. I know this idea seems strange to many but is it not stranger still to assume it has always been? It had to come from something; things do not simply pop into existence without a cause. If they did, we would see evidence of it taking place around us today.

I know some will say, “so where did God come from?” and that is a fair question. I could go into more detail but that is not the purpose of this writing so I will leave it at this, if a thing comes into existence, it must have a cause that transcends time, space, and matter and God is that cause because God alone transcends time, space, and matter (If you would like to discuss further, please message me).

During my devotion this morning, I was thinking about last night’s view of the heavens and the beauty and majesty of all of creation. Then a thought occurred to me: in view of this marvelous creation, only man rejects God. Think about that for a minute. My mind cannot even grasp the distance across our galaxy alone and we think we can reject and/or judge God!

Many either reject God’s existence or simply reject God. Some say, “if He exists, He is a monster,” and present pain and suffering in the world, or some other notion, as evidence.

I think this is an arrogant and extremely prejudicial way of thinking. Many of these same people are offended at the thought that God would dare to judge them, yet they readily judge Him. Do they not see the hypocrisy?

God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1, 2:1, 2:4) and everything that was created (John 1:3). John the disciple and apostle begins his gospel:

 

“In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines through the darkness, and darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5, NKJV).

 

So if God created everything, does He not have the right to set the rules?

Do you control, or try to control, who comes into your home? Do you ever lock your doors? If you own or run a business, do you pick and choose who to hire? Do you expect your employees to be honest? To show up on time? To be where they are supposed to be? To give you an honest day’s work? Do you have children? Do you expect them to be obedient? To listen to you? To show respect?

If you expect so much of others, I suspect you would hold them accountable for violating your rules, how can you judge God for doing the same thing? And in the grand scheme of things, who has more right to do so?

If you try to judge God for doing the same thing, you my friend, are a hypocrite.

The good news for you and me is this, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV).  

You see, you and I may have difficulty forgiving others, but God does not. He loves us so much, He is willing to forgive us for disobeying and rejecting Him. He loves us so much, He sent His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus, to suffer and die for everything (sin) we have done wrong (Romans 5:8). The New Testament writers calls this act of taking the judgement for our sins propitiation (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2, 4:10).

There is one caveat, to receive forgiveness, we must turn (repent) of our sins and do our best to honor Him. We will fall short but that’s okay, if we repent. To simply mouth the words but not truly mean it from the heart is not good enough, we must be sincere.

Friend, if you are tired of fighting against God and want to enjoy the fellowship with and the blessings of a personal relationship with the Creator, tell Him so. He is waiting patiently but there is a time that it will be too late. Please do not wait.

May God bless you and keep you~

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