Speaking the Language

Speaking the Language

There are those in this world who just don’t get it.  We try our best to explain, to clarify and to prove the existence of our God, but we fail at convincing those who are determined that we are the ones who need to learn a new language.  We speak a universal language of love, God’s love, but to those who choose to view things differently, its if we are speaking a foreign language. 

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:4-6(NKJV)

I find it hard to believe that there are still those people in this world who simply are convinced there is no God, and there is no need to worship something that does not exist.  I try to imagine how empty their lives must be because without God, there is no hope, no promises, no future.  I often will try to empathize with these people, but I’m too far gone in believing I have a Savior and that He will return one day to take me home.  How can anyone not want that, not need that and never believe that? 

When I read the Bible, it’s as if God is speaking to me personally, and in a language I fully understand.  Regardless of the translation, God speaks to me when I read His Word.  It’s a universal language we all need to understand.  But there are those who refuse to read or listen to God’s Holy Word because it can be convicting.  They feel that as long as they refuse to know or to understand right and wrong, they are under no obligation to live their lives that way.  They refuse to learn God’s universal language of love.  I can hear them saying “what I don’t know can’t hurt me.”  But that is the furthest from the truth. 

As Christians, we are commanded to “love our neighbor as ourself.”  One of the ways we can do this is to teach them the language.  We can spread the message of our Lord and Savior by teaching them God’s language of love.  The best method for this is to learn what we can, when we can so that we know all we can in order to teach others. 

Learning the language of God’s love is simple.  His Word is full of living examples, moving demonstrations and awe-inspiring stories of just how much He loves us.  It’s up to us to teach this language to the world, instead of having the world teach us another language. 

“in the world, not of the world”

Coming out of the Closet

Coming Out of the Closet!

Yesterday I posted about how we need to stand up for Christ in a world that wants us to stand up for everything else.  I’m going to take this issue a bit further today, making sure that we understand our command to shout to the world how we feel about our God.  Now I will admit, God wants us to have some private time with Him.  This is how we reload the magazines with the ammunition to go into battle. 

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”  Matthew 6:6(NKJV)

This is when we have an intimate conversation with our God.  No one else needs to be present.  We don’t need loud music blaring in the background.  We should be away from the T.V. and into the silence of being with Him.  We recharge our hearts, minds and souls to make good on our commands from our God. 

“And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”  Matthew 10:7-8

It’s in these quiet times that we hear God speaking to us.  It’s in this solitude with our God that we are able to discern just what He had in mind when He crafted us in the womb.  We need to learn to “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10  It’s in these uninterrupted, silent prayers that we hear God speak His will for our lives.  But we already know much of this because He tells us over and over in His Word just how He wants things to be.  We read these things every day and yet we still struggle with carrying out these commands. 

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:1-3

We need to simply come out of the closet, refueled and recharged for Christ.  We need to make sure our batteries are filled with the Gospel of Christ.  Then we need to drain them dry, delivering His message to the world.  We need to come out of the closet refreshed with the promises He has for us. 

Share the Good Word with someone today.  I just did and now I feel better, a bit drained, but better knowing that I am coming out of the closet for God. 

“in the world, not of the world”

Being as good as we can be

Being as good as we can be…

Ever stop to think about just how good, how nice and how loving we should be?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have these boundaries laid out before us so that we could pace ourselves in order to enjoy the ride? We often will set limits on how nice and how generous we strive to be because, let’s face it, it’s not much fun to be these things every day, all day.  We can slip into those “not so loving, not so generous” thoughts at times and get angry and resentful, even to the point we act out on these feelings.  But that’s not what God wants from us.  When we go to God’s Word and look at just how we are supposed to behave, it is clear that anything less than what He desires will not suffice. 

“For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 11:45(NKJV)

 

What does being holy look like?  How do we know when we have reached this level of behavior?  In my opinion we will never reach this level, but when we strive to be more like God, more like His Son Jesus Christ, we are making progress in the right direction.  Early in the Old Testament, Moses wrote of this challenge to our “misbehaving.”  Later, the Apostle Peter reminds us of this command that our actions and words should be “holy.” 

“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16(NKJV)

One of my favorite authors, C. S. Lewis, takes up this concept in his book “Mere Christianity.”  He writes of this Christ-like behavior as being the “whole purpose” with regards to being the Christian we were made to be. “He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has—by what I call ‘good infection’. Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”  Those are powerful words.  When he considers this Christian behavior to be the “whole purpose of becoming a Christian,” he is making it clear that, in his opinion, there is no other way. 

When you really think about the command from our God that we live a holy life, it can seem far-fetched that we could ever realize this type of living.  We are all sinners, and God knows this.  After all, He created us and is very aware of our challenges.  But given all of our faults, we also have the gift of free will, and we can choose to live in any manner we feel we need to in order to survive.  It’s in the attempt to be more like Christ that we become something that pleases God.  When we practice what we preach, we become more like the Child of God we were created to be.  Now I know that there are things of this world that pull us away, or that steer us in the opposite direction at times, but God knows these things are headed our way well before we see them.  He even knows our response ahead of time.  We just need to stop and think of how God would want us to react.  We pattern our response after what we feel God would want, or to borrow from a popular saying back in the day “what would Jesus do?” 

It sounds impossible, but trust me, it can be done.  Just take a minute or two to stop and think about how you act, how you behave and how you approach others.  It could be that you may find it very easy to make a change and be more like Christ.  We all could use this in our world. 

“in the world, not of the world”

Lead by Example

Leading by doing the thing you want others to do can be very difficult.  It has always been a practice of mine to live my life in a manner that others would want to follow.  This can be very demanding in a world that wants to set its own standards.  We must be strong in making these decisions to do what is right, versus doing what is popular.  I always want to lead by example by doing what is right, regardless of the cost, and regardless of what the rest of the world would want me to do.  God has the same approach through His Son Jesus Christ.  Christ lived a sinless life despite the sinful nature of the world He was living in.  We should be proud to follow in His footsteps. 

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”  1 Peter 2:21-25

 We all have the ability of choosing, of making decisions each and every day that have an impact on those who are watching our every move.  These include our co-workers, our friends and our family members and most importantly, our children.  We are impacting the lives of others when we make our decisions on living a life full of what God intended us to be.  Our obligation is to a God who sent His Son to die so that “by His wounds we are healed.”  We are commanded by our loving God to live a life like Jesus lived.  We have the greatest example to follow.  The only thing left to do is to get in line.

 

But we have other ideas, other plans, other goals and objectives. We want to march to our own drummer and live a life that pleases our ego, and not our God.  It’s this sinful life that begins to make its way into our daily routine.  We fight and we argue over the slightest issues, creating the snowball of evil that continues to grow because we want the last word.  I can attest to this because I want to win an argument each time I get into one.  We all have this competitive gene, yet we do nothing to control it. 

 Christ has the solution to this problem.  All we have to do is to follow His lead.  But that would mean changing, and we all hate change.  That would mean cleaning up our act and we all want to misbehave now and then.  That would mean cleaning up our language, but it feels so good to throw out the occasional curse word.  I understand how difficult the change can be.  God knows that I’m trying, but the world wants to make it so difficult at times.  My only advice would be to visit God’s Word when you are feeling these emotions, because it will “lead by example.” 

 

“in the world, not of the world” 

No One Told Me

No One Told Me…

We all have used the defense “no one told me it was wrong.”  I have used this and I heard this used many times in my career as a supervisor.  The “quick and easy” excuse for doing something wrong is the one that says you had no knowledge that it was actually wrong.  This can make life tough because we are always looking for the easy and most applicable excuse.  But this excuse, this justification for our mistakes only goes so far.  We have been told.  We have been warned of the consequences and we have been instructed on what is right. 

“Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.’ Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”  1 Corinthians 10:6-13(NASB)

We are all tempted to do something we know we should not.  We are all drawn into situations that, although we do not create it, we are now up in the middle of the mess.  It can be tempting to just simply go with the flow, to join the crowd because this is how the world works.  The world convinces us that these things are acceptable and right, when we know deep down in our hearts that they are not so.  But in order to be accepted and loved by the world, we play along.  We make decisions, we buy certain things, we work ourselves to death so that we make more money so that we can buy more stuff.  This train continues down the same track until it faces another train and we can’t get off. 

It seems that we are taught the right way at a very early age.  We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us in making the decisions and choosing a way of life that is pleasing to our God.  But we fight these feelings because the world has other ideas, and we want to be just like everyone else, to fit in, to have what everyone else has.  Yet God, our Father in Heaven, has already laid things out for us.  In the Old Testament, He gives us examples of what NOT do.  Paul reiterates these in the New Testament to the Church in Corinth.  There is no secret as to the life we need to lead.  There is no mystery as to our instructions on how to live this life of dedicated to a God who has told us how to behave.  He has given us the written instructions on how to live a life according to His rules.  And we still ignore it.  This does not bode well, because history has a way of repeating itself. 

We have been warned!

“in the world, not of the world”

Now What?

Now What?

All of the presents have been opened, some have already been returned.  The decorations have lost a little of their luster.  Everyone seems to be moving a little slower, a little less animated not that Christmas has come and gone.  Now What?  What is left when we begin putting the decorations away, storing the leftover wrapping paper for next year, and taking down the mistletoe?  We even wrap our Baby Jesus from our nativity scene and place Him in a box for safekeeping.  I think we need to let Him spend the rest of the year snuggled away in our hearts.  We need to allow Christ to take up residence in our hearts so that our minds can stay focused on Him, and not on things of this world.  We are in need of renewal. 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  Psalm 51:10-11(NKJV)

We talk about resolutions, we fuss about how we want to look in the new year, we rant and rave at the latest craze when we have the obvious solution staring us in the face.  We don’t want this renewal, this new creation to take hold because it means losing our old self.  We try our best not to slip into this realm because we are too comfortable in our sinful existence.  We want nothing to do with becoming like Christ.  We fight these feelings because they would mean allowing Christ to take up residence in our heart.  But that’s what needs to happen if we are to become more like Him.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:2

The key phrase in this passage is “transformed by the renewing.”  We can be changed if we renew our minds, doing what is right, what is acceptable in the eyes of our God.  It’s just that simple, or is it?  We want to hang on to what we feel is right, what we know is acceptable to a world that seems to dictate our actions and control our minds.  It sounds easy enough, but actually going through this renewal, making this huge transformation can be extremely difficult because the world keeps pulling us back into the depths of sin.  We know what is right, we know what we should do, but our ego and the yearning to be accepted in our peer group is just too strong. 

The decision is all yours and yours alone.  You have everything you need to be transformed.  You have access to all the things you need to know in order to live a “Christ-like” life.  It’s not about becoming perfect.  God tells us that this is His long term goal.  It’s about making the effort to transform.  It’s about trying our best to have a new outlook, one that is acceptable to God, and not to the world.  We need to have pure and untainted aspirations, but it is tough to do this in a very tainted world. 

That’s why is so important to be “in the world, not of the world.”