Human Nature Fails Us

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
2 Corinthians 10:17

On this planet earth, since the cross, and not before, God is
pleased to make His people to be His habitation. He came
down in the person of Christ, but  Christ abode alone as far
as the dwelling-place of God was concerned.

It is not because the New Testament saints are more worthy
in themselves than those of old. He that knows himself and
redemption knows that such an idea is a fallacy and a false-
hood; he knows that human nature is good for nothing as be-
fore God; he knows that, in His presence, there is no question
of flesh, or what flesh can glory in.

But this is not all; not only is there a Lord to glory in, but now
we have actual redemption in Christ through His blood. How
does God estimate the precious blood of His Son? What does
He feel about those on whom that blood is put by faith--those
who are washed in it? Does He not as it were say, "I can come
now and take my place in their midst?" This is indeed one of
the precious characteristics of the church.

- William Kelly

Human nature which is called "flesh" in the Bible, can-
not be redeemed, but we constantly look at how we are doing
to see if we are getting better. We, in ourselves, will never get
any better, but our redemption is never dependent on our ef-
forts but upon the redeeming blood of Christ, and the work of
the cross. Because of this I have become His dwelling place.
I can creep close into the down of His wings. He becomes my
place of rest. (Why do I wait until I am at my wits end?)

Freedom to Live

Being Kind

PAUL: AN APOSTLE’S JOURNEY

By Baxter Kruger 

I have been reading Douglas Campbell’s masterful book on St. Paul.  The following two paragraphs speak rather loudly and I wanted to share them. 

“Graeco-Roman cities loved appearances.  They loved what people looked like, how much money they had, their connections, and how they spoke.  Fully trained rhetorical professionals could captivate audiences for hours. They were the rock stars of the ancient world, and they commanded huge fees for their performances.  They looked beautiful and spoke beautifully.

In one of the most profound passages he ever wrote, Paul points out that the Christian God revealed in the crucified Jesus could not be more different from this (1st Corinthians 1:18-2:16).  By journeying down into the human condition and ultimately accepting a shameful death, Jesus revealed that God was a reaching God, and inclusive and gentle God, who valued everyone, including the most despised and marginalized.  Those whom society looked down on, God was especially concerned about and eager to reach. . . This is what a Christian leader should look like.  It could hardly be more dramatically countercultural, and Paul lived this leadership style out in person”

(Douglas Campbell, Paul: An Apostle’s Journey, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub., Co, p. 98).

His Presence

Choice of Belief

Gratefulness is Prayerfulness

Heaven is breaking through the veil all day, every day. Hot coffee, warm fire, beautiful sun diamonds on the river, eyes of love looking into ours, animals, children, art, grass, cool breezes, changing seasons, beautiful melodies, delicious smells, warmth, wine, great food . . . all of these wondrous gifts are received through gratitude and thanksgiving. Gratitude opens the door. Gratitude completely rewires the architecture of our brain. Gratitude opens us to receive more and more of the good which lifts us into whole new ways of seeing, perceiving, feeling in our body, and relating to others.

Gratitude creates happiness, not the other way around. Gratitude will bring us to a joy that no longer depends on happiness. Our interior life will become so rich and full of all that we are experiencing and tasting of God in all the moments of our life that we don’t need as much from others or the world anymore. Nothing that the world can give can begin to compare with this state of deep, quiet, unspeakable joy. It is the joy of Heaven.

Gratitude is the infinite giving and receiving of love between us and God and the whole of creation. Gratefulness is prayerfulness. Prayerfulness is prayer without ceasing. Gratitude is all we can offer in return for our awakening to the great Mystery in which we live and move and have our being.

Gratitude is everything.

The Examen

So where do we find gratefulness in times of crisis?

Here’s where I find it:

I am grateful that he is always with me, even if my feelings try to tell me otherwise.

I am grateful he has given me life, breath, and subsistence to get through this day.

I am thankful that I have a Father who loves me more than anyone on this planet ever has or ever will.

I am thankful there’s nothing I can do to make him love me one bit less or one bit more than he already does.

I am thankful that every breath I take is in his hands.

I am grateful that Jesus has a way to navigate me through anything life can throw at me, including when others treat me unfairly.

I am grateful that all my hopes and dreams don’t have to be satisfied on this side of eternity.

I am grateful that nothing in this world, or the actions of any person, can keep me from the life and freedom he has for me.

I am grateful that Jesus will get the last word on every one and everything in this world. He hasn’t yet, but he will.

I am grateful he is bigger than any injustice, calamity, lie, or failure.

I am grateful that there’s always a way for me to encourage and be helpful to others who are going through difficult times.

I am grateful for friendships that love through anything, and don’t assume the worst of motives in moments of pain.

And, I am grateful that beauty and joy will once again rise from the ashes of my calamities and lead me to peace.

- Wayne Jacobsen

Debts Forgiven

Imagine for a moment that your father is the richest man in the entire world. Imagine as well that you are drowning in outrageous debt…debt that you could not repay in a hundred lifetimes. One day, because of his great love, he pays off everything you owe and will owe, past, present, and future. You are free.

Question. in light of all your father has done, how much sense would it make for you to ask him again and again to pay off your debt? Many Christians today are constantly asking God to do something He has already done, once-for-all, 2,000 years ago on a cross, just outside Jerusalem.

Do you see God dispensing forgiveness on a piece-meal basis? Take another look! The word of God says, “It is finished!”…and there’s an empty Cross and an empty tomb to prove it.

- Preston Gillham

Those who have seen

Blessed are those who have not seen, yet have believed.
John 20:29

How important it is for God to keep us focused on things
that are unseen, for we are so easily snared by the things
we can see! If Peter was ever going to walk on the water,
he had to walk, but if he was going to swim to Jesus, he
had to swim. He could not do both. If a bird is going to
fly, it must stay away from fences and trees, trusting the
buoyancy of its wings. And if it tries to stay within easy
reach of the ground, it will never fly very well.

God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength
and let him see that with his own body he could do noth-
ing. He had to consider his body "as good as dead"
(Heb 11:12) and then trust God to do all the work. When
he looked away from himself and trusted only God, he
became "fully persuaded that God had power to do what
he had promised." (Rom 4:21)

This is what God is teaching us, and He has to keep results
that are encouraging away from us until we learn to trust
Him without them. Then He loves to make His Word as real
to us in actuality as it is in our faith.

- AB Simpson 1844-1919

Was It Me or Was It God?

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for {His} good pleasure.--Philippians 2:13

How does a person become godly? How does a believer pass the test? How does a Christian reach the place where he says with confidence, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7)? I regularly meet young men and women with attitudes of faith and trust beyond their years. Did they make themselves that way? Was it their choice? One fellow from Costa Rica at age five told his mother to stop going to the government’s housing application office, saying, “If the Lord wants you to have a house, you will.” A few months later, her employer bought her a home! From where did this five-year-old's faith and confidence come? How had he developed it? What discipleship courses had he taken? Which seminar was it that instilled such faith? Did he come to this place of faith through choice? If so, then he would have something in which to boast, but I do not believe it was choice. “For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). I believe that there are no great men of faith; if the lives of those so named were examined with a magnifying glass, they would be found to be average persons possessed by great faith. “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised. God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God”(I Corinthians 1:26-29). Ultimately, it is important to understand that it is God who is at work in any one of us. 

- Mike Wells

NON-Approval or DIS Approval

When it comes to how we relate to people whose questionable actions trouble us, perhaps we should use the more nuanced idea of careful NON-APPROVAL rather than the destructive concept of hasty and hostile DISAPPROVAL.

When our hearts spew disapproval, it becomes too easy to harshly judge, quickly condemn and recklessly release toxic negativity toward a person or situation. So many have been crushed by disapproving looks, disapproving tones, and disapproving actions. Sadly, many Christians are better known for their quick abandonment and malicious resentment than for their steadfast friendship. And this "disapproval" always terminates relationship, releases hate, and paralyzes the situation with unrighteous judgment.

Jesus didn't approve (i.e. NON-approval) of the woman's adultery in John 8, but He didn't DIS-approve of her either. And this made all the difference. He was then empowered to save her out of the deadly situation because He didn't enter into toxic "disapproval-mode." He specifically told her, "I do not condemn you: go and sin no more." (v. 11). Jesus practicing NON-APPROVAL (rather than DISAPPROVAL) allowed Him to stay connected to the situation and to tether it to the mercies and deliverances of God.

Disapproval hardens us to become part of the problem. But, non-approval softens our edge and keeps us involved in the solution. We can remain silent without spewing condemnation. We can remain calm without having to curse the men who God still richly loves. And, we can remain available to help those who know NOT what they do. Sure, we don't need to approve evil, but neither do we need to disapprove misled men who bear the precious image of God.

- Richard Murray

The Cost of Love

The cost of love is freedom (we are real children, not preprogrammed and mechanized puppet slaves).

The cost of freedom is the risk that it might be misused.

The cost of misuse is the risk of love’s rejection (at least for a season).

The cost of love’s rejection is the possibility (not the necessity) that evil may fill the vacuum created by freedom’s misuse, at least for a season).

A creation eternally destined for love can be temporally expensive.

- Richard Murray

Planting

Something to Think About

Your Head

Voice of God

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. --John 10:27

I have found that there are two primary reasons that believers are not hearing God. First, imagine a mother looking out the front window of a house watching her children play in the yard, where she has told them to stay. As long as the children are in the yard, do they hear from the mother? No! They do hear her voice if they move to the sidewalk, and they feel the mother’s force as they move into the street. When the children hear nothing, it is proof that they are in the will of the mother. Often the silence believers experience is due merely to being in the will of the Father.

Second, if we are not hearing from God it is important to ask whether we did the last thing that He told us. God often speaks concerning our hearts, the direction of our lives, matters of forgiveness, or anything relating to Matthew 5-7. If we neglected the last thing that we heard from Him, that may be the reason we are not hearing anything new. We simply need to ask the Good Shepherd if we acted on the last bit of instruction; He is more than happy to point it out once again.Be aware, though, to discern whether later the enemy picks up the banner and begins badgering us over our disregard of God’s communication. The enemy’s voice is harsh, critical, condemning, judgmental, and he will often try to bring up past failures of which we have already repented.

Yielded

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
"We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29

Has the Spirit borne witness that you are to do a cer-
tain work for God? As you heed that impression and
pray over it, does it become deeper and more indelible
on your heart? As you yield toward the carrying out
of that impression does there come a deep and settled
peace to your soul? If so, it is the leading of the Holy
Spirit.

...Has there been a time in your life when you came
to the place where it became your fixed intention to
surrender everything to the will of God and working
of the Spirit? Is it right to expect God to lead you to
the field of His choice if you have already determined
in your own heart where you want to go? If you really
want His guidance, you have to be ready to put your-
self in His hands and gladly follow His directions,
wherever they may lead. Does selfish ambition enter
into your plans, the desire for recognition and praise
from other Christians? It is better, and infinitely more
satisfying to please God than men.
- G Christian Weiss

Uncovering Your Brother’s Sins

Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Ham was the father of Canaan. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was populated.Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. And he drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brothers.” --Genesis 9:18-25


There is a lesson for us. Are we to uncover the nakedness of our brother? Many believe it is their job to find the sins of others and then expose them to everyone. Not only is this contrary to Matthew 18, but it will bring a curse upon the fault-finder insofar as he is complicit with the enemy, who accuses the brethren before our God day and night (Revelation 12:10). Let God deal with a man's nakedness. I know a pastor who discovered a hidden sin that another pastor committed some thirty years ago, and out of spiritual jealousy he made sure that everyone found out about it. Is this how we treat the people of God? Yes, if we want to be like Ham. Should we not rather prefer to be like the other two brothers, backing up with the Blood that covers and not publicizing the failures?

It is remarkable that many Christian fellowships will not follow God’s uncomplicated directives for handling discipline among its membership.  Very clearly, all discipline begins with the individual accused of some infraction (self-discipline).  If self-discipline were followed by each, no other discipline would be necessary.

If there is cause, one person (the “accuser”) is to go to that brother (the “accused), and the accused has a choice to “hear” the accuser, and change his ways, OR to not change.  A change ENDS all discussion.  Goes no further.  Goes to no one else.

Only if the accused brother does not “hear” and “change,” is the one accuser to go to a couple more who go with the accuser to the “offending” brother.  Once more, the accused can “hear” and change, OR not.  A change ENDS all discussion.  Goes no further.  Goes to no one else.  Finally, IF necessary, the accused is to be taken to the Fellowship with the same process.

It is incumbent on brethren to do as God directs, and take no action to the contrary.  Otherwise, as Michael points out, the fault-finder(s) become complicit with the enemy, and ultimately God will deal with them.

May we all be found to act as Shem and Japheth did, and never like Ham.  The end result is not good.