What Now?

(rant on)
I've been struggling with a family member over their recent choices in life which is the result of a character morality problem.  I'm now at a position of having no where to go in conversation.  What do you do if someone doesn't want to follow God?  What do you do if they refuse to talk plainly?  How can you have influence?

My confusion is over what is the proper response for me as a Christian, as a brother, as someone who is trying to follow God.  Sure this person has made a big mistake, but we all do.  I've repeatedly said "The past is the past.  But what about your character now?  What are you doing or putting in your life so that you don't fall the same way again?"  Every question is refused.  The answer is always that they don't understand the question.  They "play dumb" as a method to resist conversation.  What can you do if someone clearly doesn't want to have a conversation?  The most irritating aspect is the pretentiousness of it all.  They don't have the courage to say "I don't want to talk to you" because that would put them in a bad perception.  They also don't have the courage to say "I'm not a Christian" or "I'm a Christian but I'm going to do what I want to do" because that would be admission or taking responsibility for their current actions.  I have encouraged any and all of the above but they would rather pretend it doesn't exist.  It is quite maddening to the mind.  I have said very directly, "make a decision one way or the other and get off the fence!"  Got no reply.

Where does a friend go when a friend refuses to be accountable?  Do we "shake the dust off our sandals" and move on as Jesus told the disciples to do when they encountered cities that refused to accept God's Word?  Do we hug them and tell them how much they are loved and pretend it doesn't exist?  I just can't believe that pretending is the right answer, but I am getting crucified for not doing it by my family.

I believe I am to hug them and tell them how much they are loved but continue to make sure they know that they must be accountable for the influence of their character.  The problem is they refuse the hugs and to believe you love them when you do this.  I have been specifically told that they believe that in no way did I do anything out of a heart of love.  They accuse me of being "judgmental".  Yet, I have judged nothing.  I have repeatedly said I simply want them to tell the actual truth and put something in their life so they don't repeat a mistake.  Again, it is maddening to the mind.  I have said that they need to tell me how to define their actions so I can determine how it will affect my family.  The answer was they didn't owe them anything, my family could believe what they want to believe.  And yet, I'm in the wrong for not saying "do whatever you want, as long as you're happy - it's all good".  I am sorry, but I can't agree to that.

I have to stand on faith for there is nothing else in life.  In fact. life is only in faith and faith is life.  I shall love deeply and fully as commanded, but I will not allow a lie into the house God has provided for me.  I myself have witnessed how satan seeks to destroy the blessings of God through lies, deceptions, and pretensions.  I will confront this everywhere I see it.  The pain is too deep and the destruction is too broad for it to be allowed.  I pray daily for God to stand over our home, His home, so evil will run from it.  I pray daily for God to bless our family and our home; for His love to abound.  I pray that God will hold us in His hands.
(rant off)

Psalm 67

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make His face shine on us—
² so that Your ways may be known on earth,
    Your salvation among all nations.

Here is a prayer to God asking for His blessing.  It reminds me of the Prayer of Jabez that much was made of years ago.  In 1 Chronicles 4:10, “Jabez calls upon God saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’  So God granted him what he requested.”  Here the prayer is that God would be gracious and bless us.   It is for His radiance and His Spirit to shine upon us and cover us.  What an awesome prayer.  How often do we directly ask God to bless us?  Do we not ask because we don’t feel worthy?  We are right, we aren’t.  Neither was Jabez.  Yet he asked and God granted it. 

Why do we ask for blessings?  So God’s ways and His salvation known to everyone.  Jabez said so he would not cause pain to others.  Our greatest concern should be for the spiritual condition of the world.  Do they know God’s ways and do they know His salvation?  Here the prayer is for God’s blessing and presence so that the world may know by seeing His influence upon us.

³ May the peoples praise You, God;
    may all the peoples praise You.
⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for You rule the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations of the earth.
⁵ May the peoples praise You, God;
    may all the peoples praise You.

May everyone everywhere praise the one and only God at all times.  May everyone everywhere rejoice and be glad.  May everyone everywhere for God’s righteous rule and for His guidance.  May everyone everywhere praise the one and only God!  … How would we respond if this actually happened?  Would we look at everyone in disbelief distrusting their motive or sincerity?  Or would we be overcome with joy and praise for our Lord?  We need to know in our heart if we truly desire for everyone everywhere to know God, be ruled by Him, guided by Him, and praising who He is.  If we don’t want this, we are against God.

⁶ The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him.

We proclaim how our God blesses us and we pray that He will bless us continually so everyone everywhere will know there is only one God with all authority and all power. 

Pray today for God’s blessing upon your life so that all people will come to know Him.  May we be blesses so everyone will praise His greatness.  May we be blessed so everyone will know that there is only one God, the great I AM, the author of life.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!

God at Work

Matt 6: 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

This past weekend was Transfer Student Orientation for Ryan.  While we all looked forward to being back in StarkVegas, I think we were all feeling a little apprehensive about getting him registered, finding a place for him to live, and getting all the bills paid.  So we prayed about it and then Reja and Ryan did quite a lot of on-line research into all the details.  Ryan called ahead and made appointments to tour apartments.  The first tour really depressed us with the possibilities, revealing a dirty, poorly maintained complex and unit that smelled life a dirty dog.  It really surprised Ryan at the conditions for which college kids (and parents)  happily fork over premium rent.  Worse, that night in the hotel, the neighbors kept us up nearly all night with post-party talk and laughter that came through the paper-thin walls loud and clear.  
So we prayed more and drove around Starkville and stumbled upon some one bedroom stand-alone houses that really intrigued Ryan with the possibilities of true privacy.  Although not luxurious, they were spacious and offered the privacy Ryan desired.  These weren't advertised on the web in any way that we could find before or after our trip, but we felt God had guided us in that direction.  The next day, Ryan had an appointment for some much newer apartments further from campus on a golf course.  They had demo units that were very tastefully decorated and of course were in perfect show condition.  Suddenly Ryan found himself torn between two really good options - an answer to prayer.  
Orientation was useful, but not hugely so and as Reja and I waited for Ryan to meet with his advisor and register for classes, at least I wondered if that day was going to prove worth the time.  When he finally finished, he was incredibly animated and energized.  His advisor had taken a very personal interest in him, his calling to ministry, and his education.  Although we thought we had done all the right research, upon hearing Ryan's testimony, then reviewing his major declaration and strawman class schedule, the professor recommended an entirely different approach stating that Ryan was in for a very liberal experience that would challenge his beliefs rather than reinforce and grow them.  He first recommended a change in his philosophy degree emphasis from a pre-seminary track to a religion track so that Ryan could take more religion classes and less philosophy classes.  Then he worked a schedule to line up specific teachers that would work closely with Ryan for success.  Ryan was greatly encouraged and it showed in his speech and mood. 
Before we left Starkville, we revisited the two housing options to help inform his decision.  Both people we talked to were very gracious and hospitable (in true southern fashion of course) only adding to Ryan's enthusiasm, but not making his decision any easier.  He's blessed with a choice among to really good options for him. 
Finally we capped off the day with what was to be a quick stop at the Wesley foundation.  I had met with the campus director during the morning session and as we talked, he remembered receiving a request for information from Ryan prior to orientation and invited us by later in the day since he had not met Ryan.  When we walked into  the front door, we were met with a large circle of adults who looked up in shock to see us.  It turned out we walked into a Foundation Board meeting which really embarrassed me.  They were gracious and wouldn't let us leave without a tour.  As we wrapped up, Hugh refused to accept my apology stating how important it was for the board to witness parents take an interest in their kid's spiritual development to the same extent as their academic development. 
As we pulled out of Starkville, Ryan said he was now really excited about MSU and Starkville and could see it being home.  That one pierced me.  I've been dreading this chapter in life and that one statement summarized my dread.  Yet, it is a necessary chapter in life and must happen.  How awesome to see God at work guiding us through all the big decisions and the little details just so we all know that Ryan is on the right path and will be taken care of just like He has always cared for us.  I don't look forward to the empty nest, but I seeing God work through Ryan's advisor and through the Wesley Foundation experience, seeing God answer prayer about a place to live gives me confidence that the nest really isn't empty.  God is there with Reja and I continuing to love, lead, and council us just as He always has up to this very minute. 
So, what did I get out of Ryan's orientation?  Increased faith and confidence that God is at work, Ryan is answering His call, and God will be taking care of both Ryan and us as well.  And I thought this was about getting an education...

Psalm 69:6-11

“Lord, the Lord Almighty, may those who hope in You not be disgraced because of me; God of Israel, may those who seek You not be put to shame because of me.  For I endure scorn for Your sake, and shame covers my face.  I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children; for zeal for Your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult You fall on me.  When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.”  Psalm 69:6-11

David does not want anyone who is seeking God or who have their hopes in the Lord to be dismayed negatively by him or his actions in any way.  I believe he has a fear here that he may have hurt people’s spiritual desire for God and he is praying that no one is affected in a manner that would draw them away from God.  Let’s face a simple fact, we have a sin nature and we’re going to sin.  We may not want to; we may know it’s in there and we don’t want it to come out; but somewhere somehow there will be a sin and we will need forgiveness from God through Jesus our Savior.  But, how we react to our sin matters a great deal and shows a lot regarding our character.  I find that when someone has sinned greatly clues about their true spiritual condition can be gathered by watching what their priorities are regarding the people around them.  Do they put the people’s welfare who are affected by their sin ahead of themselves?  Is their heart broken because a single person might have to suffer because of who they are and what they’ve done?  Do they perform actions that do not help them first, but help everyone around them to recover faster?  Are they willing for the others who have been caught up in their storm to be lifted up ahead of them?  Are they willing to accept all the responsibility so that no cause is reflected upon those who have been hurt?  In essence, do they put others ahead of themselves?  Or, is everything someone else’s fault.  Is the sin justified as a result of an inability to cope with the actions of others?  Is everyone just getting their fair “shake” of what happened no fault of their own?  … There is a marked difference between a person whose heart is broken over their sin and wants to not hurt anyone’s relationship with God and a person who lets pieces fall where they fall. 

David is first concerned over the spiritual condition of others.  He follows that with being the object of scorn and an outcast to his own family, for God’s sake.  This could be because he is trying to do the right thing following his sin.  People are scorning him, making fun of his effort to reconcile with God.  After all, who is he to pursue God after such a great sin?  What a fool! … People still do this to this day.  It is human nature and that thinking is the natural man’s way of thinking.  But Godly thinking rejoices in the man who pursues God, especially after falling.  The hardest thing to do after a fall is be willing to get up and start running again.  The best thing we can do is encourage someone to get up and start running.  Hopefully they’ll encourage us when we are down. 

Not only do others scorn him but his own family treats him as an outsider.  They’ve rejected him.  His own brothers and sisters treat him as if he isn’t one.  Why? “For zeal for Your house consumes me”.  Out of the ashes of his sin comes a torrent of fire pursuing God.  Once he has seen his condition he pours his heart into finding God, being one with God, knowing more of God, and dwelling with God and he refuses to accept anything less than this.  He must have it!  This is the proper heart condition that all of us hope to have following a sin.   Yet, he is scorned for it and ostracized from his family.  Sorrowfully, many today experience similar situations.  When a family truly “judges” one who has sinned, they shun them.  Instead they should seek to confront and come alongside in encouragement to help someone seek God again. 

I find in this reading that we must be careful to know ourselves by reading our own dashboard.  We need to look at our “caring for others or caring for myself” dial and see if it’s running well.  We need to look at our “condemning others or encouraging others” dial and see what it reads.  We need to look at the “zeal for God” dial and see if it’s full.  It is important to know where we are in this context.  These readings let us know where we are in our following of the two great commandments.

Psalm 101:7-8

⁷ He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.

The liar and the one who works to create confusion shall not dwell in the house of the lord.  He will not tolerate such in His presence.  This verse could also have been written from David about his own house and he is saying that he will not allow those who lie to dwell in his house and he will not let them continue in his presence. 

Either way, the only way to keep someone from dwelling in your home or continuing to tell lies in your presence is to confront them.  There has to be a confrontation where the lies are asked to be defined and the person must stand accountable for them.  I believe it is extremely important for Christian homes to be firm on this.  Make every word accountable, let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’.  We must train ourselves and our children to be accustomed to confrontation on their actions and willing to confront others.  Any type of passive resistance is vague and non-specific and creates unresolved emotions between family members and should be avoided.  If someone is lying they should be confronted about it and their future intentions clarified so everyone knows what direction they are going or what spiritual target they’re aiming towards.

⁸ Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Evil will not be allowed to prosper.  When it is recognized it will be destroyed quickly so that they do not access the holy city.  We would do well to learn this in our own lives.  When sin in our life is recognized we should be adamant to destroy it quickly.  We should find a way to not let it roost and close the gap so no foothold can be established.  By being vigilant to watch and destroy it we will keep it from corrupting our spirit, our peace, our love, our perception of others, our joy, and our hope.  It will not seep in and come between us and our Lord.

Psalm 101:6

⁶ My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land,
That they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a perfect way,
He shall serve me.

Summing up these preceding verses in a quick paragraph, we are to sing about God’s great mercies, behave wisely, walk with a perfect heart and the deeds of the evil will not cling to us as our own heart’s perverse ways are removed and we do not know wickedness.  Those who work to push wickedness onto the righteous; those who purposely slander their reputations and character to destroy; those who create perceptions for the cause of looking down upon the righteous and teaching that the ways of the righteous are wrong will be destroyed and not tolerated.  

Today we see this in our culture in such a way that it is almost too big to describe.  Every Christian teaching is condemned.  Life is devalued.  Freedom of choice is restricted.  All of that in the United States, the supposedly land of the free created by the God-fearing as a place to escape persecution.  Around the world Christians themselves are slaughtered, imprisoned, and enslaved.  Today I read where up to 60 women are committing suicide per day in the areas controlled by ISIS because of their treatment by those Muslims as sex slaves.  My mind cannot comprehend it all.  I know that my God can.

How do we respond to this?  We worship and sing about God’s great mercies, behave wisely as instructed in His Word, walk with a perfect heart and the deeds of the evil will not cling to us and we will not know wickedness.  We rest in God’s promise that He loves justice.  We stay focused on Him and we reach for a stronger faith, willing to trust completely to every cell of our physical body and every mental impulse of our thoughts, even in our trial.  We thank God for the stumbling blocks, that we might learn a greater faith.

God’s “eyes shall be on the faithful … that they may dwell with me.”  God will not forsake us; He will deliver us.  May we take rest in His promises.

 “He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me.”  This could obviously be written as prophesy to Jesus.  He was the only one who walked perfectly and He made many statements indicating that He served His Father in heaven.  The most obvious while in the Garden where He cried “not My way but Thine”. 

Personally, I believe I might need some breaking in this area.  I’m not sure how I feel about the sentence, “You shall serve me.”  Even though I may be working as well as I think I can to walk in a perfect way where the perfect way is by the instruction of the one and only holy God, I wonder how receptive I am to the command, “He shall serve me.”  What a wretched man I am!  How double-minded can I be?  How can there be an intentional effort to have a character designed by God but an inborn stubbornness at such a demanding call?  Who am I to consider that I serve because I choose to serve and not because He commands my service!!   If I do not fully submit, then I am no servant at all.  If I cannot be commanded, but choose to review every instruction to see if it meets my review, then I am no servant at all.  How can I even claim to be a Christ follower if I cannot first claim to be a servant of God?

The most fulfilling part of living is knowing you are performing and completing your purpose given to you by your Creator.  When we reach that we know that we are living in a perfect way and we are serving Him.  Our joy and our completion is in the worth of our contribution, no matter how small, to His purpose.  That He would use me for anything is such an overwhelming consideration and my fulfillment is made in my service to Him through the perfect life of Christ.  I am compelled to serve.

 

May we know today that we do not choose to serve at our leisure, but that we are compelled to serve because of the character of our Lord. 

Psalm 101:5b

⁵ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.

What is a “haughty look”?  Haughty means “arrogantly superior”.  To use our society’s vernacular, this is when someone thinks “they are all that and a bag of chips” and they look down upon others.  To use my generation’s words, they are snobs.  But it is more than that.  The essence of this follows from the first part of this verse.  To look down upon others with a disgust at their inadequacy is at its root the very same as slandering them.  The only difference is you are doing it front of them, “to their face”.  The only way anyone is able to do this or give off this aura is by devaluing the worth of others.  So, we see that this second part of verse 5 follows closely with the first part.  The sin or error described here is rooted in the devaluing of people. 

The haughty look is a result of a “proud heart”.  It says “I am something and you are not.  You should be more like me.”  This not only devalues the other person, it makes you an idol (at least in your own eyes).  The only person we should hope people should be like is Jesus.  There are many verses about the destruction of pride.  Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”  Proverbs 11:2 says, “Pride leads to disgrace”.  Proverbs 6:16-17 says, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: a proud look”. 

To be proud and to look down upon others violates the two most important commandments.  In Matthew 22:77-39 Jesus said, “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  If you are proud you are loving yourself and if you are giving haughty looks you are not loving your neighbor. 

As much as I hate to say this, proud looks are common among Christians.  When you learn that someone you know has committed some great sin, then you see them, how do you look at them?  Do you feel sorry for them?  Do you see them as less than yourself with their obvious character flaw?  Or do you love them while thanking God you have been spared from such a stumble?  The church is famous for looking down upon sinners, yet Jesus came for sinners.  It is quite a paradox.  I have found myself hesitant to talk to some people because of things they've done.  I know they are nervous and I don't want to bother them, but at the same time I'm not sure what to do or say.  The right thing to do is to hug them and tell them you love them.  It seems so hard.  My mind is saying you are rewarding them for their evil, but God's heart is saying bring them in so I can heal them. 

Unfortunately the perception of the church from a sinner's point of view is that those people look down upon me.  This is from experience.  Why else would we be so scared for others to know of our failures?  If we knew that the other believers we worshipped with would immediately come to us to help us heal and surround us with prayer and God's love we'd run to the church after a fall, desperate for their help and encouragement.  Instead we shun the church and run from the church after a fall so that we are not ostracized.  I believe one of our charges is to change that church perception if we don't want the church to die as an institution.  If we want to change that perception, we have to change how we see and accept each other as sinners.

Proud looks will not be "endured" or tolerated before the Lord.  This is a very scary thing.  I am only here because of God's longsuffering and great patience.  Here in this verse we are told that a proud heart and having a haughty look will not be endured.  The last thing I would ever want to do is put myself on a path that shortens God's longsuffering towards me. 

 

May we be careful to sift through all that we are to find any sources of pride and never look at another person as less than ourselves.  We are all beggars.

Cost

Yesterday Russ was discussing the question posed by Kyle Idleman in his book, Not a Fan, which asks, "What has following Jesus cost you?"  As someone who was sitting in the stands with goose bumps from this sickness at a church softball game watching one team pummel another, it was hard for me to really consider the question.  But when I read the book and taught the DVD series that goes along with it, I can now remember some of my thoughts on this question.

I will admit that I initially had a difficult time with the question and I couldn't figure out why.  It took me a while to sort out the why.  Sure, I could point to lost friends, lost "good" times by not participating in some of the local krewes, lost houses on the water, etc.  The problem I have when I think of these things is I don't see it as a cost.  The return from following God's guidance to have the right friends, participate in the right activities, and be responsible with what He provides is so much more than a lost cost.  This is why it is so hard for me to try to find that thing that costs because if it was not in God's plan then it was not a cost at all. 

The cost is in not following God.  Every time we decide to not follow God we pay a tremendous cost.  We lose time, time we could have been using to grow, time we could have been using to love others, time we could have been using to follow our purpose.  And we never get that time back.  Never.  We also extol a tremendous cost on those around us.  They have to bear a burden that they don't want to or should have to bear. 

I think the right way to ask that question is, "What has not following Jesus cost you?"  I think I could fill a book answering this question.

How to set The Church apart

Isaiah 43:10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me
Yesterday I was talking with Denise Whited about what it takes to set the church apart from other social organizations and I pointed to the fact we need to make decisions differently - to wait upon the Lord and follow his lead.  Certainly we are called, I believe, to surrender ourselves, including our opinions, intellect, common sense, and cleverness to His perfect leadership in order to make Godly decisions.  No where in scripture do I find "God gave us a brain and expects us to use it."  Instead I find, the calling to surrender ourselves and follow Him. 
Much more important to setting the church apart it think is that our witness should testify to the reality and benefits of serving and being in relationship with God.  After all, there is so much competition in these days for our time, what incentivizes those unfamiliar with God to want to know Him? 
I deeply appreciate the hard work and dedication that our staff is putting into the worship experience in our church.  As a member of the choir, I have a little insight into how hard they're working to build a cohesive experience that builds on the theme of the sermon.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate Dave Barkalow.  He delivers insightful messages with clear application to my life and does so in a transparent way that shows me how he has applied these truths in his life making application even more clear to me. So what's missing?  Response.  A response from us that says we worship a living God who is making a real difference to us.  Where is our testimony of God's activity in our lives?  Where are the examples of where we put our faith in God and He was faithful?  Where is the celebration of God's works?  How are our lives a testimony to the reality of God?
Yesterday Ryan received a substantial scholarship to MSU.  Yes I'm a proud Dad, but this is clearly God continuing to lead and guide Ryan.  Ryan was the kid that struggled to make B's in HS and his mother and I knew college was going to be difficult for him academically, and for us financially.  Yet, he received a very clear calling into church ministry while still in HS.  He desired to be obedient, and began asking the "how" question.  Late in his Jr year he felt compelled to dual enroll at NWFSC and followed in obedience.  His grades jumped a full letter across the board.  Since then he has explored majors, sought advice from numerous pastors on how to pursue his calling and continually prayed about his next steps.  To make a long story short, he has prayed for some time that he would receive this scholarship as part of an overall fleece to confirm that he is really supposed to pursue the path he is on.  Reja and I didn't think he would be notified about this scholarship until June, yet we have orientation this weekend and must put down $$ for housing.  We thought we would have to do so at risk.  God stepped in and gave us confirmation to "get on with it!"  Praise God from whom all blessing truly flow!
You could congratulate Ryan and dismiss God's involvement.  Yet I know him and many of you do as well.  He's a great kid, but wasn't the kid clearly on track to receive scholarships.  In order to pay for 4 years of college and 2 years of seminary, He felt compelled to stay at NWFSC for two years at drastically reduced cost to us, pursue this scholarship to offset the next two years, and then utilize the savings to go on to seminary.  He didn't make up this plan overnight, he prayed earnestly about it and God has given him the answers he needed just when he needed them. 
We clearly serve a risen Savior who is in the world today and active.  How can we make Him better known to a world that doesn't know they have a need for this Savior?

Psalm 101:5a

⁵ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor,
Him I will destroy;
The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart,
Him I will not endure.

 Following the statement, “a perverse heart shall depart me; I will not know wickedness” is verse 5 which calls out two wicked things.  The first describes someone who slanders his neighbor.  This can cover a great deal of landscape. 

1.       There is the obvious, this is a direct conversation where someone speaks negatively for the sole purpose of demeaning or causing a perception of someone’s inadequacy.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:22, “I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”  Yikes!  I believe I have put myself in danger too many times.  Many times I think I have a cause but when I really look at everything, I realize that I just need to be the right person.  Being the right person means thinking about people the way God does.  Who am I to determine that a person God created and breathed life into isn’t equal and doesn’t deserve Him?  Yet again, if I intentionally speak against someone with the purpose of harming them or causing others to think less of them, I am becoming my own authority in the matter.  Jesus, who endured suffering and death, has a completely different view of people than we do.  There are, of course, some people who are intent to do evil and they have no conscious about it.  Do they deserve our harsh words?  By our justification, absolutely, but our authority and our justification simply do not matter here.  Psalm 37:27-28 says, “Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forevermore.  For the Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints”.  God loves justice and if He loves justice then justice will happen.  He will not forsake us, we are always on His mind because He loves us too.  We can rest in His promise that righteous justice will occur and we are not forgotten.

2.       There is the not so obvious.  Gossip.  There is the talk about others that does not intentionally want to hurt others but does hurt others because of its nature to cause perceptions about others.  Too many people have been hurt too many times among Christians from gossip.  Gossip is at its best the telling of half-truths; at its worst it is the spreading of non-truths.  The pain from gossip strikes to the heart of people.  We are already an insecure bunch and constantly concerned about what others may feel or how they may see us.  Throw in some hearsay and then the person can’t focus on fellowship, learning, accountability.  Their sanctuary, the place they go for spiritual healing, now is the focus of their pain.  Satan uses this tool mightily.

The answer here is that this person will be destroyed!  Let that sink in.  As written above, Jesus said the person is in danger of hell fire.  This reveals to me that there is a highway to the corruption of the heart and that highway is devaluing life.  I find this startling and it causes an immensely burdened heart.  I find myself almost unable to type when I consider how we devalue life in our culture.  Every day I read about Christians being slaughtered by Muslims because they are Christians, their lives mean nothing to the Muslims except for how they can use them to promote themselves.  Every day I read about refugees crossing the Mediterranean and dying because their ships sank or they are thrown overboard.  Then my wife reads from our local newspaper how a woman addicted to Meth killed six infants and hid them in her garage.  How is any of this possible except for the devaluation of life?  Devaluation of life is the exact opposite of God who creates and gives life.  He is life.  If Satan can cause any devaluing of life, he is on tract to create confusion and chaos.  We must be anxious to see if there are any areas in our own life where we devalue another.

Psalm 101:4

⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not know wickedness.

How do you change?  Maybe there is something within you that you just can’t seem to shake.  You don’t like it and you want to be different.  You hate it.  You pray and pray for God to take it from you, but it seems this perverse heart, this pull away from God, remains.  Maybe it’s not you, but someone you know and they just can’t get it “out of their system”.  Are we/they doomed? 

“The Lord detests those whose hearts are perverse, but He delights in those whose ways are blameless.” – Proverbs 11:20

Here, we are told “a perverse heart SHALL depart from me”.  This is done by CHOOSING to take some actions to increase your chances of having the proper heart condition you know you should have. 

1. “I will sing … to you, O Lord.”  Sing of God’s greatness and particularly of His great mercy towards you, that is, His not giving you what you deserve for your evil, but showing His great love for you.  No matter how imperfect we are, God is not ashamed of us, but loves us with an everlasting love calling us to Himself.  So sing out of a grateful heart.
2. “I will behave wisely.”  The only wise thing any of us can truly do is follow the instructions of God.  To behave wisely we follow His Word.  We acknowledge that He is the only authority and His Words are the only words that are worthy to be followed.  We trust and obey.
3. “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.”  I am grateful and thankful for God’s everlasting mercy and I sing to Him praising Him for His love extended towards me, “an undeserving sinner”.  I listen to His Word and I obey it.  I seek to follow it with all my intentions.  And now, I decide to put nothing in front of me that A.) Might cause me to stop praising Him or appreciating His great mercies or B.) Might cause me to stop following His Word and being wise.  “My son, if sinners entice you, DO NOT CONSENT. … My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path.” – Proverbs 1:10,15

Rick Warren likes to comment that the Word of God often has premises followed by promises.  Here, the premise is laid out in verses 1-3 and the promise starts in verse 4.  If we remain reminded of God’s great mercies and sing praises of them, listen to His Word and obey it, and are vigilant to have nothing wicked before us, then “a perverse heart shall depart me” and “I will not know wickedness”. 

“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,

Discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you,

To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things,

From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness;

Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked” - Proverbs 2:10-14

Not only do I continually want for there to be no perverse, no inward reluctance or disposition to oppose God’s inward call upon me, but I do not want to know evil.  I want that anchor in me that pulls me towards the bottom to be cut loose and I never want to know the suffocation from the deep.  Here we are given a recipe. 

Do you wish to be well?  Do you want to be complete throughout?  Once you answer this question, then you can answer the next one.  We have to choose who is the authority in our life and we have to choose whom to believe and in whom to have faith.  Do we choose ourselves?  Or do we choose the one true living God?

Peer Pressure

Ro 7:15 I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.
The other day as I went to work on a rainy day, I was crossing the Cinco Bayou Bridge in the left lane on Eglin when a car came racing up behind me and then drove right on my bumper obviously wanting me to speed up or go by me.  Note that although there was some traffic I wasn't flying in formation with someone beside me and she could have easily changed lanes on the bridge and gone around me. Interestingly my first reaction was to speed up as I saw her barreling up behind me, but then I looked down and I was already doing 43mph.  So there I am speeding and this young lady wants me to go faster or get out of the way.  So, I resisted the urge to speed up or move over.  As we drove through town on the other side of the bridge, she finally moved into the center lane and blew by me.  I hate to think I might have made her late to school or a nail appointment.
This silly incident got me thinking about peer pressure and how we respond.  The only peer pressure was the closing rate of her car.  She had room to go around me, but she either lacked the skill or patience to check traffic and go around so she raced up behind me, slammed on her brakes, and rode my bumper for a half mile or so and I felt pressured to respond.  Why? 
Psychologists say we have an inner voice.  (My kids say it often comes out loud and I talk to myself as if I'm already crazy beyond my years.  They don't understand that if I don't maintain that dialogue, I'll find myself in a room and can't remember why.  But I digress...)  Why in this case is my inner voice saying I must accommodate this person?  Clearly they want to do something illegal and want me to participate.  It all happened in just a couple of short seconds, but my first reaction was to speed up and check traffic to get out of her way.  Why did it take a stream of conscious thought to rethink my action and make a conscious decision not to (increase) sin?  Clearly my nature is to sin and I had to resist that sudden urge.  Note that the other person is unknown to me, and I won't ever face any persecution for refusing to budge out of her way, but yet I felt compelled to do so.  That pressure came from myself, not her.  I put pressure on myself (ok, not much I admit) to respond to this person.  So, at least in this case, the only real pressure I felt came from inside me. 
So this is hugely simplistic example, but I wonder how often more complex scenarios play out the same way.  We are tempted via a very simple stimuli and our first reaction is to go along with the pressure or we begin wrestling with ourselves on how to respond.  I guarantee you that person isn't starting out her day reflecting on the jerk on the bridge last week that wouldn't get out of her way, yet I am.  I had to force myself to evaluate a very simplistic situation and make a conscious decision not to (increase) sin. My conclusion is that a significant amount of peer pressure is really internal pressure.  We worry about how others will respond to our decision.  We worry that others might not like us or think less highly of us.  I think this is but one trap of self-centeredness.  We put pressure on ourselves that is perceived and simply not real, yet we make decisions based on that pressure that at times are the wrong ones.  In reality the other person really only cares about themselves and when you opt out of their sin, they don't care and forget about you as soon as you're out of their way. 
So what are you feeling pressured about?  Is the pressure real or self-imposed?  Sure someone may be asking you, pressuring you, even daring you to sin, but is there really that much pressure to do so?  Sometimes I think we generate pressure that really isn't there.  We try to preserve "friendships" that really are manipulative and abusive with a long string of terrible decisions.  We see temptation coming and rather than listening to our inner voice of warning to simply avoid the situation altogether, we feel pressured to accommodate their sin.
I think often we sense pressure that isn't really there, at least not the amount of pressure we feel.  We need to get over ourselves and remember that most people are out for themselves and aren't really thinking about us or our feelings.  If they do care about our feelings, they won't mind a "no."  If they care about the "no," then they don't care about our feelings and aren't worth remaining in relationship with in the first place. 
Who's screaming up behind your back bumper today?  Are you going to put pressure on yourself to respond or grow up, be self-actualized, and resist temptation?  Seems like a stupidly simple example, but it seems to accurately capture so many situations in my life. 

Staying Sober

In light of Russ's plight to not drink for a month as he gets over some kind of ailment, I heard a message in on Wednesday that I will try to share a few points of and then let my own thoughts intrude.  If I can find the name of the speaker, I'll add it later.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." - 1 Peter 5:8

When a thief wants to rob a home, he comes at night when all is quiet and people are not awake.  The first thing he does is check the doors on the homes, when he finds a door that is unlocked, he robs that one.  We as Christians have a thief who is continually trying to rob us.  The ones he robs are the ones who have unlocked doors.  When we as Christians have an unsecure area of our belief or when we are "on the fence" about an issue or, even worse, when we are dabbling lightly in an area of sin, we have an unlocked door and we can expect our enemy to show up.  And when he shows up his goal to reek havoc and destroy a life will start in the mildest of ways.

Let's make an analogy to a person who drinks.  They drink for the buzz and its exciting and fun as they hang out with a bunch of "friends" all doing the same thing.  But, they don't stop.  They want more because its fun.  Soon they are unable to make good decisions, but they don't know it.  They think they are fine, but they are drunk and can't think "soberly".  The people around them know they are drunk and see that they can't make good decisions and even try to tell them, but they won't listen because they can't think soberly and they do not see their world as those who are "sober" see it.

Maybe they choose to drive and get away with it for a time but then get a DUI and can't drive to work and have it on their record.  Maybe worse, maybe they get in a wreck and hurt or kill someone.  Maybe they wreck their relationships in their drunkenness by saying and doing things they would never do in their "sober" mind.

They simply aren't themselves because they are drunk and they cannot think clearly.  They get angry at those who are "sober" around them who try to take their car keys and try to drive them home and try to take their drinks away so they won't get more drunken.  They call them judgmental and say they are hypocrites because they've seen them drink before.  Soon, the "sober" minded around them can't do anything but leave them to themselves, they can't participate in the drinking and they have no effective power to change their direction.

When a Christian allows for a sin to take a spot in their life, it is an open door for the devil to come in and work to their destruction.  As that sin takes more and more, the Christian becomes more and more "drunk" and is no longer able to think in the Christian mind, or "sober".  They become unable to see, hear, or talk clearly because their mind and its thinking is contaminated.  With their wisdom broken, they then make decisions against what they know to be right and against who they know loves them.

Romans 8:6 says "to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."  May I be vigilant to check all the doors and know that they are given to God so that no sin may have a way to have an influence in my life.

I Got a Rock...

2 Sam 22: 2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

3my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield^a and the horn^b of my salvation.

He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—

 

Sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown - all I get is rocks when everyone else seems to be getting candy.  May I not only celebrate those bountiful blessings I do have and in so doing find deep contentment that eludes so many people with bags of candy, but look to God as my fortress and deliverer and remain mindful that there is but one savior and it is not me.  God has called me for some purpose which I don't yet fully understand, but my calling is only to be faithful.  May I honor him in all that I do today and may others see Him in me.  I would do well to remember that it is not I alone who lives, but He that lives within me.  May I yield to him, remember that I'm fallible and unable to do the simple things He asks - to love Him completely and love others as much as myself - therefore I cannot be trusted with the deeper things of His kingdom without His clear guidance and direction.  May I surrender those things that He has given me: knowledge, wisdom, intellect, common sense, and position to Him so that these things are perfected, added to His complete perfection, and therefore useful for things of true kingdom value.  May pride, self-reliance, impatience, short-sightedness, and a propensity to run my mouth when I should shut up an listen be crushed so that I constantly look to and acknowledge Him as my strength, guidance, and direction.  May I be a man not of words, but of heartfelt and God-led deeds that testify to the one Savior and Lord of all.  Only then can I walk the straight and narrow path. 

Making the Wise Choice

1 Cor 2:  4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
Recently I've had a couple of conversations with people who have been reading or studying a series by Andy Stanley in which he asks "what's the wise thing to do?"  I guess this is a great catch phrase, but on the surface, I hate the question.  Don't get me wrong, he develops the series well, and I would benefit from completing the entire study rather than just skimming through the book, but I still hate the question.  I hate it, because on the surface, I can simply gather data, get some sage advice, and make the best decision I can on my own - without God.  I think he uses it to hook people because lets face it, we all want to make the best decisions and we know in our minds that God knows best.
My observation, however, of my own life as well as the decision process that I can observe in others lacks deep-rooted, I-won't-make-a-move-until-I've-heard-from-God, kind of faith.  My own downfall is a lack of patience to wait upon the Lord.  I put artificial constraints on God that demand an answer by a certain time or I think I've narrowed the options down.  Often I wonder if I get out ahead of God like I believe the disciples did in Acts ch1.  If you look at the progression of their decision to replace Judas, first they set conditions on candidates regarding their experience, then they held nominations against the criteria, then they prayed, then they cast lots to determine God's will.  They essentially gave God a choice among 2 candidates.  We never hear of Mathias (or Barsabbas) again.  Meanwhile God was raising up someone who didn't fit the original criteria to take His message of salvation through Christ to the Gentiles - Saul.  I don't really know if the early church got it wrong or if we simply didn't need to hear from Mathias, but my interpretation is that the disciples got the order of events wrong and failed to recognize where God was working.  Once we recognize God at work, the decision process becomes much more straightforward - we simply decide whether or not to join him.
I wonder how often I've made sub-optimal decisions.  I sit in meetings at work and obvious decisions are required yet sometimes I'm torn and don't have a clear indication of how to proceed, but the pressure of urgency and leadership seemingly demands an on-the-spot decision.  I also have numerous deep-rooted personal desires.  I want to do this, or that and I want to do it my way.  I think my own agendas can drown out the still small voice of God. 
I'm concerned that we work the same way at church as I don't see a clear distinction between the processes I've studied and learned at work vs the way we conduct business at church.  Yet I expect a marked difference: I expect someone to lead us in how to discern God's will.   After all, many have studied "What is the Wise Thing to Do" yet I don't see a difference in our decision processes.  To be fair, I was really encouraged when Dave made taking a prayer guidance sheet a prerequisite for obtaining an information sheet on the upcoming Assisted Living Facility.  Clearly this is a move in the right direction.  Yet, when the group is divided rather than simply voting, what if we stopped and prayed until we came into clear majority?  I don't live in a utopian world that thinks everyone will pray open mindedly, so I don't expect unanimity, but an overwhelming majority seems obtainable. 
It seems to me rather, that church, just like my job, tends to get dominated by personal agendas and reliance on our own "pick myself up by my bootstraps" or "God gave us a mind and expects us to use it" kind of approach rather than a total dependence on God.  Am I off base?

Psalm 101:3

³ I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.

“I will set nothing wicked” … This is a very strong statement for all of us.  What do we allow ourselves to watch on TV?  Do we “settle” on a sitcom’s morality just because it is humorous or funny?  When we do this, and show our children how to do this, does this mean they’ll “settle” with a set of friends or a mate just because they are funny or make them temporarily happy, and not because of their sense of companionship with Jesus or desire to follow His ways? 

What about what we look at in our private times?  Do we look at scantily clad or undressed women?  The sole purpose of these images is to put wicked thoughts in our minds and to devalue human life - the very life that God created and breathed into!  Why would we allow ourselves to buy into Satan’s call to proclaim something God created as only good for our pleasure and not His purpose?  This is always Satan’s goal.  Use your own authority with all of Creation, including yourself, and not God’s.  Are we willing to develop a set mind who refuses to allow it?  At the very least, we can do as Joseph and run from it; we can put up guardrails that keep us from easily accessing such things if we can’t trust ourselves; at the most we can stand before it and proclaim that it is unacceptable in our presence and further as a part of society. 

What is before your eyes today that needs to be removed?  I believe we should consider all things.  Is there an attitude that I have that is before me that I should remove?  Is there a way of thinking in my mind that is selfish and wicked?  Is there an action I take that is for me because I believe I deserve it and it is wicked?  It is important to examine our life in this area.

I believe this verse could also be written “I will not settle on anything wicked in my life”.  Does anything exist in my life that I know should be there?  I should set my mind on finding any way possible to not having it in my life.

“I hate the work of those who fall away”.  … The work and actions of those who do not pursue or follow God is wicked before my eyes.  They do not seek God and His righteousness in their efforts.  Their work and its consequences will not “cling to me”.  I will not get caught up in their actions or I will not allow their actions to get close enough before me so that I am in them. 

When our dog Daisy wants to run around outside in the rain and get wet and dirty, then wants to come inside, we have to clean her.  When we clean her, we can’t help but get dirty.  The dirt gets on the floor, the rug, the towel we’re trying to clean her with, and us.  The only thing that can clean someone who does wicked work is the only One who didn’t sin, couldn’t sin, and can’t sin.  The wicked work will not cling to Him.  Jesus and Jesus alone is the only one qualified to perfectly help us sinners.  We need to set our minds that the wicked work of others will not find us, but we will show them Christ.

Psalm 101:1-2

¹ I will sing of mercy and justice;
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.

 ² I will behave wisely in a perfect way.
Oh, when will You come to me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

 

“I will sing” … Praises to God of how great His mercy and justice are – will always be on my heart and mind and in my conversation.  Maybe I’ve been wronged greatly by others though abuse or neglect.  Odds are in your favor if you’ve lived very long at all that this is true.  Yet, when we are close to God, we want to sing about how perfect His mercy and grace are for us.  We are thankful and grateful for His blessings upon us.  His blessing upon is that He remembers us and loves us.  We are more than nothing in His eyes; we are not overlooked; we are not a mistake.  Every day we are given by Him and allowed to live should be undeniable proof to us that there is a great heavenly purpose for us to fulfill.  He has us here for a reason.  Someone needs to us so they can grow spiritually or we need to be around someone who will help us to grow spiritually.  We are here for a reason, a purpose, and it is either to grow or to help another grow.  Let us not be slack in being fed or feeding others.  May we sing praises to God for His mercy and His grace and His purpose for us in this day.

 “I will behave” … Andy Stanley has a popular DVD message series that asks this most important question, “What’s the wise thing to do?”  Here, David says “I will behave wisely in a perfect way.”  I believe that if we ask for wisdom God is faithful to that prayer request and will grant it to us.  We should seek to find wisdom so that we can walk daily in our relationships and work in a perfect way.  The only wisdom we can obtain is from God.  Reading God’s Word is a must criteria if we seek wisdom.  Wisdom is the stately and kingly character of God that balances the absolute power against the force of love.  He applies both perfectly because of wisdom.  All we can hope for is to have His wisdom help us apply these for Him in our own life.

 

“I will walk” … Is there anything in your life today you know you can do better?  Is there a single thing in your thoughts that you know you can apply in a better way?  Why don’t you?  Why do you allow yourself to do a less than perfect job?  Decide that you “will walk … with a perfect heart”.  God wants us to have His heart and to spread it to His sheep.  May we decide to live every day turning our heart over to His Spirit so He can show us how to live with a perfect heart.

What are we doing?

Malachi 3:7  Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "But you ask, 'How can we return when we have never gone away?' (NLT)
Judges 17:6 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Apathy seems universal right now.  No one seems to be excited about God or his works.  It seems like we view God as an ethereal Emergency Medical Technician - only calling on him when we run out of ideas, airspeed, and altitude.  Youth are non-plussed by church and don't seem to have a sense of urgency about the things of God.  Parents seem to attend when its convenient and are usually content to gripe rather than lead.  When faced with decisions we gather data and do the best we can on our own and hope God will endorse our efforts.  Maybe its just my perception or maybe I'm just tired of all the fabricated drama that seems rampant.  I guess I just don't see a society that lives a life in the constant context of a relationship with God.  From my perspective, it seems like well-meaning people keep God in a box and only "bother" him when absolutely necessary or its that time of the week to "turn our hearts towards God."  Then when things go to hell on earth we scream out an "oh-God help me" prayer and cop an "how could God let this happen?" attitude.  Or maybe its a rainy Monday and I'm just grumpy. 
Oh God guide me today in every detail.  May I, through the power of your spirit in me, be a dose of your grace in every encounter today.  Guide my thoughts, decisions, and words such that in everything you are glorified and others around me honored as your children.  May I lead and in that leadership be part of solutions, not additional problems.  Forgive me for my own apathy, laziness, and lack of attention to detail to things of eternal significance.  Grant me revival such that I sense a nearness to you that is infective to those around me.  May I as your imperfect child, we as a family, church, and nation return to you and reject not just evil, but our own goals and ambitions so that in everything that is done it is in response to your call, not our best guess.  Speak clearly, loudly, and often Lord that I might hear through my hardened heart.  Overwhelm me with a burden to be about your business and lesson my numerous distractions. 

Godly Conversation

As I continue to ponder and learn how to interact and plan for future interactions with those who knowingly perform actions in their life to live in lifestyles that are not consistent with God's Word, I find that I have to be mindful of having a proper attitude and character of love.  Someone once asked Billy Graham what would he do if his son became a homosexual.  He replied that he would love him more because his son would need it.

There is Godly quality to that response that I need to learn to include as a part of my character.  When I am unsure how to react: love first.  I may need to be careful to not participate in someone's chosen contradiction to God's Word, but it shouldn't create barriers within me that would stop the flow of God's love to them.  God's love is unconditional because God is love.  My love to others should be unconditional because God's Spirit resides within me.

Whom do You Choose?

In my observation of the world as it is today, I am overwhelmed at what I think I see.  I am consumed by my thoughts that God is allowing evil to be purely evil so every man and woman will have to make a decision.  Do you believe in Jesus the Christ as the Son of the only one true God?  I get the sense that God is allowing "the heat to be turned up" from hell itself so no one can sit on the fence.  You will have to choose a side. 

That said, the obvious tool being used for evil is Islam.  I can't fathom in my mind how any religion could allow a facet of it to behead people publically with no shame, but have pride in its accomplishments.  How can they endorse, or in the least not publically condemn, this and the many, many, many stories of raped women and children, using women as sex slaves, and the unapologetic slaughter of anyone who doesn't or claim to believe exactly as they instruct?  I have yet to see a Muslim leader get in front of a TV camera and declare all of it as not Islam.  I have yet to see them say they these, who claim to do what they are doing in the name of Islam, are not a part of their religion and that they will help to destroy them.  Therefore, I have to believe that all Muslims are secretly hoping they succeed, but are too scared or unwilling to say so.  They too will have to make a decision and choose a side.

Religion is a labeling thing.  It is used too often to separate men from one another.  I try not to get caught up in it.  I hope that I can simply be a follow of Jesus.  He died for all and all men are accepted at His table.  He knocks on the door of every man's heart.  Every single person who has ever been born is a "who so ever" and if they are willing to believe in Him, they shall be saved.  Therefore, I do not think I should be of a label or promoting a label beyond being a follower of Christ.

Therefore, it is imperative to say "Allah is not the one true God" and "Mohammed was no prophet".  Our media seems to try in influence all of us to be scared to say this.  I find that offensive.  As an American in what is supposed to be "the land of the free and the home of the brave" and as a follower of Jesus, the One true Messenger of the only true God, I have no reservation in proclaiming what I believe to be true.

Tough Love

Proverbs 13: Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

Back in September, God inspired a devotion I called Loving Correctly in which I raged against the outrage over the Adrian Peterson issue with his kids (obviously I'm not supporting child abuse, but several Dr's raged against spanking as abuse).  To me, scripture is clear that in order to love someone correctly, discipline is required.  Today's society disagrees not with me, but with scripture.  Let me illustrate:
A loving parent will not let his child play in a busy street for their own protection.  If a child chases a ball into that street a loving parent will warn the child and tell them to look both ways before entering the street.  In my experience, this first offense is usually a teaching moment because the child simply doesn't know about the dangers involved in their behavior.  A repeat offense brings about discipline because now they clearly know better and we are simply looking out for what's best for our child.  No one argues the point (unless the second offense results in a spanking).  Yet in today's society, adults refuse to be held accountable for their childish and self-centered actions in spite of the fact that they know better.  We've become masters at justification and rationalization.  We can twist, contort, extract information out of context, and just downright ignore clear direction and rationalize it or make excuses for our behavior.  We even label our behavior with all kinds of medical excuses, with names that don't matter as long as it cannot be clearly defined as our own fault.  We live in a no-fault society.
Yet we know from the outset that to properly care for our children, discipline is required no matter how hard it might be.  Somehow we as adults think we've outgrown the need for discipline just like so many think they've outgrown the need for Sunday School.  Clearly this is a false teaching and why I think Christ told us we're to have a child-like faith.  Children will believe anything their parents tell them because they have a trust relationship with that parent from the outset.  In my experience children also respond well to discipline, at least after they're done with the tears of pain.  We would do well to have a child-like faith that trusts God completely and understands that correction is required for our well-being.

Confrontational Conversation

As a follow to my recent post on Today's Conversation, I look to these verses on guides on how to interact with a Christian who is living in sin but unable or refusing to live in accordance to the Word of God in Who they claim to believe.

"Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted." - Galatians 6:1 (NIV)

Dan Delzell comments in his Christian Post article, Helping Someone Escape Sin Is Not Judgmental on this verse.  "That is a command to every Christian who is "spiritual," which is to say, every Christian who is grounded in God's grace and filled with compassion for those caught in sin. It is not our job as Christians to go and tell everyone in the world where they are sinning.....but it is our job to help those around us who become trapped in sin....and to listen to those around us when we ourselves become trapped in sin. That is how the New Testament church is designed to work....but we must remember to always do it "gently" as instructed in this passage from Galatians."

It is our job as Christian brothers and sisters to help those around us who become trapped in sin.  "My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20).  James indicates that if we can turn them from the error of their ways we save them from many more sins.  The faster someone off the path can get back to the path the less likelihood there will be more pain and suffering as a result of being off the path.  This makes common sense.  Yet our society opposes this in almost every way.  Even our churches are reluctant to teach and practice this type of action towards one another. 

It is our job as a Christian brother and sister to listen to those around us when we ourselves become trapped in sin.  "Let a righteous man strike me--that is a kindness; let him rebuke me--that is oil on my head.  My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers" (Psalm 141:5).  The proper attitude is one that recognizes that my Christian brother or sister who is confronting me over something in my life is actually loving me properly.  Because we practice non-confrontation in our relationships most people see confrontations as rejection.  But that is precisely incorrect.  "Better is open rebuke than hidden love" (Proverbs 27:5).  It is better to be confronted by our brother or sister openly than for them to love us and never seek to help us.  Who would watch someone you love walk off a cliff and not try to turn them around?  Does the person trying to stop them  love them more than the person who watches and says nothing?  Yes, very much more.

It is our job as a Christian brother or sister to be gentle.  Being gentle or meek is a key element in the approach.  We are to be meek as a part of watching out for ourselves against the temptation of the sin.  We are just as capable of being wrapped in that sin or another sin as our brother whom we are seeking to restore.  We need to be aware of this knowing that we are simply a beggar trying show another beggar where the giver of food resides.  This approach should be performed humbly and not with pride as one who is above such things.  "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." 

Jesus instructed us on how to perform this work.  "If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you . If they listen to you, you have won them over.  But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'  If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector." - Matthew 18:15-17

This is very straightforward.  The most striking part of this is the "treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector."  Jesus said this, not me.  This is a clear instruction and it is the very opposite of what the church teaches today.  No one wants to put this action to practice because it hurts.  In the dealing with a drug addict world, this is called "tough love".  The drug addict wants more money so he can go get more drugs and he'll say or do almost anything to get more drugs.  The sinner, wants more approval so he or she can go live the way they want to live, and they'll say or do almost anything to get more approval.  Jesus specifically says to not give that approval.  In fact, I would say He says to be careful in how you interact with them, "or you also may be tempted."