The Best Laid Plans

          How often have you had everything figured out only to have your plans go terribly haywire? Life would be simpler if we could be absolutely certain how our every decision would turn out. The Holy Spirit provides direction for life, but His instructions are rarely all encompassing. There is always an element of faith involved in which we must trust God with the details.

          The scripture says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” God points the way, but He doesn’t always alert us ahead of time to specifics that await us along the way. In fact, the challenges along the way will often make us wonder if we heard the direction clearly in the first place.

          Forty years of experience doesn’t necessarily make following God easier. Recently, after serious prayer, I made the decision to apply for a permanent job and settle down in the desert. To survive the heat, I invested $55,000 in an all season RV. The manager of my unit was happy to hear I wanted to stay and helped the application along. Everything was going as expected.

  

Do You Believe?

Belief Trumped

          God is not interested in being acknowledged by men. Believe or don’t believe. God is not enlarged by your belief or diminished by disbelief. As the scripture says, “He can not deny Himself.” Neither does God force Himself on others. Man’s inherent freedom of thought and action is not a design flaw. It is the will of God that every Man should think, do, and believe as he chooses.

          Love cannot be commanded or legislated. Forced obedience is an empty shell. As a parent, my rules of proper behavior were strict and compliance was encouraged. Obedience was optional—however, the idea that every choice involved consequences was reinforced. Whether or not they realize it, love created the rules my children grew by. But the object of those rules was not obedience or blind acceptance of authority---it was protection. The rules were in place to protect my children until they were mature enough to form their own rules for living. My rules were laid down in the hope that when my children were no longer children, they would appreciate the love that protected them and return that love. They remain free to do so or not; as they choose.    

          God has nothing against obedience, but obedience not driven by love is no more than service of the eyes and lips. Service from the heart is what God wants from us. Jesus told His disciples, “if you love me; keep my commandments.” If your obedience, faith and service don’t come from love; He isn’t interested. Indeed, He says to such people: “I never knew you.” Like a father, God wants His children’s love—nothing else will do.

          If you don’t love God enough to believe, honor and obey Him from the heart or if you aren’t mature enough to do so; He has rules. You may accept and obey them or not as you choose, but you cannot avoid the consequences of your decision.

Rendering to Caesar

    “What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

    “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, ‘Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrities? Shew me the tribute money.’ And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, ‘Whose is this image and superscription?’”

    “They say unto him, ‘Caesar’s.’”

    “Then saith he unto them, ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’”

     This often quoted passage is well known to saints and sinners alike. A brief reading of the scriptures shows Jesus to be a rather succinct fellow, especially when speaking to those outside His immediate circle of followers. He didn’t often give explanations and didn’t label people on a whim. So why, in this instance, did He label His tempters hypocrites? 

     The Pharisees fancied themselves keepers and defenders of the law of God. Undoubtedly, they had a zeal for God. However, their zeal for keeping the law was exceeded by a wicked desire to be seen keeping the law. Therefore, they constructed a system of semantics that made it appear that they kept even the finest points of the law.

     With politicians and hypocrites, perception is everything. The Pharisees didn’t keep the law; they bent it to their advantage. It was common practice for a Pharisee to dedicate everything he owned to God. Sounds very pious, doesn’t it? However, they instituted the practice to avoid supporting aged parents. As in, “I’d like to help you out Dad, but the only money I have on hand is dedicated to God.” Jesus rightfully accused them of using this tradition to make the command of God of none effect. In appearing to keep the law; they avoided it altogether; robbing themselves and those who heard them.

     The Pharisees thought their challenge would force Jesus to subjugate the law of God to Rome. Either that or be branded a traitor by the government. It is clear from Christ’s answer that God puts a difference between what a Christian owes to God and what he owes to the government.

     It is proper for Christians, as citizens, to pay taxes and abide by governmental regulations. If you are a Christian and consistently violate the speed limit---shame on you. Nevertheless, being subject to the law does not mean that we are servants of the state. Christians are the servants of God and owe allegiance to no other. The state may support abortion, homosexuality and welfare to unwed mothers, but a Christian owes support to none of these things; not so much as even tacit approval. A Christian is not bound to support that which goes outside the rule of law. We are not obliged to follow our leaders in “humanitarian” trespass. We are not bound to pledge allegiance to a government that tramples its own law.

    There are still elected leader who will follow the law. Sadly, such are things in our country, that they will not stand alone to do it. Christians must make our voices heard outside the church. Write, write and keep on writing your representatives in Congress. Do not threaten; do not revile, but proclaim a desire to return the nation to its roots; its Constitution; and the rule of law.     

    

   

Ears to Hear

Jesus often ended His preaching with the words, “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” Hearing involves more than listening to words. Hearing searches the truth; wins the heart; and manifests itself in the flesh. Jesus’ message of the kingdom of God was delivered to everyone. Multitudes listened to Jesus preach, but not everyone heard the message. In the thousands of years since; nothing has changed.

There’s more to quoting the scripture than reading, listening and reciting. It is from the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. That abundance is built upon hearing, having faith in what is heard and testing the truth of what is received.  

“And he (Jesus) said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath…And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.”

What do you hear?

What Are You Doing Just Sitting There?

          In America we don’t have time to waste. The twenty seconds or so it takes for Netflix to load a movie really cuts into the day and don’t even get me started on three minutes for my Bunn to make a pot of coffee. I’ve got more important things to do than to sit around waiting for my devices to work. Armed with my smart phone, I’m an on the go banking, texting, social networking, up-to-the-minute scores alerted, instant news informed whirlwind. My father used to call it the rat race, but the rats haven’t stood a chance in decades.

          What’s it all for, anyway? Well, there’s that “sweat of thy face” thing that generates revenue for the purchase and maintenance of cars, houses, boats, ATV’s and the like that I hope to one day find time to enjoy. Then, there’s the kids. If they don’t have the latest in telecommunications and entertainment, their personality may be warped and lead to a life of crime, drugs and firing guns at the neighbors. Being the romantic sort, I spend thirty minutes every Tuesday evening with my wife. We drive through KFC while the kids are at soccer practice; we call it date night. Add to that the time spent plotting racist, homophobic, sexist pig schemes and inventing new code words to oppress the poor; and I’m a busy guy.

          Imagine how tired God must have been after speaking the universe into existence; sculpting the Earth; planting trees and flowers; creating animals and coming up with someone to share it with. Whew! No wonder He wanted to rest. I know people are tired of hearing the idea that Man was created to emulate God, but I think He has something with this Sabbath. A day to rest, look over what you’ve done, assess the world situation, and touch base with who we are as individuals seems like a good thing.

          Could that be why Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath?” I think God knew we’d be busy, but He also knew the value of reflection, prayer and just stopping for a day to think things over.

All You Need is Love

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Love of God; love of self; love of others; to quote the old song: “All you need is love.” The scripture says that God is love. It makes sense, then, that all we really need is God. But, does saying one has God make it so?

  In our moments of clarity, we all know that’s not how it works. To have a God, whatever you imagine him to be, is to be subject to God’s rule. God, by definition, is the ultimate sovereign; the final authority---alpha and omega. A god shaped to our specifications and subject to our definitions of morality is a creation, not a god. One who is the supplier of wants and needs; who comes only when we call and make no demands is a servant not a god.

A life of subservience is not the role most people choose to play. Nevertheless, it is the only role open to us if we are to have God. There is one throne to the soul; he who sits on it rules and receives worship. Christ will not take the throne by force. He will not share it. He will not sit upon it because He sat with our grandmother. Love must invite Christ to the throne. Love able to do that holds self in balance and flows to others.

“I am the LORD thy God…Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”