Outsourcing ...

The word “outsourcing” may sound political in nature, but there is another use for this fairly unpopular term; finding other sources for Scripture outside of the traditional King James Bible.  Seems like every other week another “researcher” finds inconsistencies in the original Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew translations of existing scriptures; or at least discovers phrasing issues with a particular translation that alters the meaning of the texts.  Then there are those who claim to have unearthed new scrolls, written at the time of Christ, authored by other less famous Biblical or Historical characters.  Funny how the new scrolls seem to always contradict the contents of existing Scripture.  So what is this phenomenon all about?  Is it legit?

There is nothing I know of where God emphatically states that all inspired written communication between Himself and His people is to stop at the last chapter of Revelations.  That would be counter intuitive to what we have discovered about our Creator God.  What’s more, like any point in history, many people have many differing opinions about events they witnessed.  It is more likely that any event in history would spawn writings of all kinds – those that agree and those that disagree with any topic, speaker, or event.  Unearthing scrolls that dissent with the known Gospel then should not be unexpected. 

After all, the established religion of the day (Judaism) was dead-set-against the birth of Christianity and tried to purge it from existence beginning with Christ, but not stopping there.  Many murders followed trying to stamp out Christianity before it could take hold from the disciple Stephen where Paul (then Saul) was present; through the remainder of the original 11 followers.  First the establishment (Jewish) religion persecuted the early church, followed by Government (Roman) persecution.  Every attempt being made to stamp out scripture and faith along with it.  The fact that any text remains at all during this turbulent time is a testament to the miraculous saving power of God for His word.

Bu what about today, are there more contemporary inspired writings?  Various protestant churches have claimed divine inspiration for writings from their assorted authors over time.  Even today, a great many leaders claim divine inspiration for the writings they pen.  (I do not make such claims.)  Could there be any truth to it?  Frankly yes.  Just because a written message is more contemporary than the older gospels does not make it false, or uninspired.  Inspiration after all is God guiding the content, and message conveyed through the written word, it is not His fingers writing on stone tablets each time.  The test of truth or error remains consistent.

To test for truth, test the new material against what is known, what is written, and what you see regarding God.  If something new purports to change the character, or edicts God has authored previously – it is false.  God is nothing but good.  He is nothing but love.  What He has commanded for us is for our own benefit.  The evil He would have us avoid, He would not later change His mind about.  Change in the character of God is not possible, change in His intentions therefore is not possible.  His intent and His promise remain to save us – from evil – from ourselves. 

But if the new material builds upon the old, enhances, adds another dimension too, sheds more light upon what is written and known about God – that may be truth.  I think of a writer I admire personally, her name was Ellen G. White.  She had a miraculous personal testimony of coming to God herself.  And her writings bare testimony to her miracles.  She is an excellent author whose original complete books (not compilations by lesser editors) do shed light on what is known and written about our God.  She never contradicts scripture, only sheds a different light on it.  In so doing, I am richly blessed by reading her works.  I do not worship her, any more than I worship Peter or Paul.  Nor do I say she was perfect, lived perfectly, or never made a mistake – just as I would say about any Biblical character I ever read about.  But what she wrote, she wrote well, and I am blessed for the ability to read it.

It is my fondest hope that in reading these blogs I have been writing, that you the reader may see truth in a different light.  I hope never to take away from the Bible, only to dispel the myths that have arisen where it is concerned.  I long for a focus on original truth.  Getting back to a primal knowledge of God, one that is deeply personal and intensely felt by each individual – not as a part of some corporate / group mind melt where the individual is lost for the sake of “church”.  Church was intended as a place for individuals to meet and share their unique experiences about our God with each other.  In so doing they would encourage each other.

Today’s Christians have turned the sharing of unique experiences into the observing of them in someone else.  A personal relationship with God has been subtly replaced by evaluating the personal relationships other people talk, teach, and preach about.  We lost our uniqueness and traded it away for nothing.  Now “church” is more about observation than participation.  When we do participate it is about show-man-ship.  We admire the best speaking, most articulate pastors.  We like the great sounding musical numbers.  We like the additional lighting effects, integrated videos, and surround sound audio.  True church needs none of these things.

The Bible has been under constant attack for 2000 years.  But instead of a full frontal assault to burn copies not written in Latin, and read by an authorized member of the Catholic priesthood, a new approach is taken.  We degrade the Word by reinterpreting it, by trying to incorporate other writings of the time as having equal weight with existing scripture – even though the content of those texts is categorically against the Christian faith.  We water down the Word by trying to integrate evolution science with Biblical teachings to the exclusion of miracles – including creation, the flood, parting the Red Sea, and possibly the divine birth of Christ.  And the “church” buys into this garbage to its own detriment.  Instead of holding to our trust in the Word and ultimately in its divine origination – we let it go piece by piece until nothing of truth remains.

There are still voices of truth out there in the world.  I find a great many of them singing anthems with truth embedded in the lyrics.  I find it in Christian Rock, Southern Gospel, Black Gospel, Classical Aria’s, and popular Christian songs by very young and old artists.  Your young men are still dreaming dreams, and your older men are still prophesying.  But are you listening anymore? 

Have you abandoned your faith in favor of elitist skepticism?  Have you reasoned that your wisdom in this day in age is now ready to replace the wisdom of aging and less relevant scriptures found in the old Bible?  If so, you have bought in to the oldest of lies, the flattering of wisdom that the talking snake sold Eve back in the Garden.  But you are no smarter.  Your wisdom is nothing.  Real wisdom is found in those old texts.  Real truth is found there, and frankly almost nowhere else.

Rather than buy into attacks regarding the source of your faith, let your faith be founded in the Saving Grace of our Creator God, and trust that the truth He wishes to lead you to, you will find.  Nothing will stand in the way of your salvation save your choice to forego it.  So make your choice for God, and stand firm in that decision.  He will do everything else that is required to see you saved and reconciled with His Word, and at His side …

It Is Written ...

One of the problems Christians have when trying to convince others of their beliefs is the wide variations of interpretation of scriptures that are relayed by all the different denominations that exist today.  Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Adventists all seem to have different ‘takes’ on the same set of scriptures.  Add to the many mainstream religions, the number of small cult-like groups that seem to spring up around a charismatic leader claiming divine insights, and you get really wild interpretations of the written word.  So how do you know who’s right?  Can anyone really know truth, or is truth a process of discovery itself?

Doctrines are established beliefs / teachings that a particular church espouses.  They are all said to be based solely on scripture (with the exception of the Catholic faith which adds insights from the Pope, and the Mormons who have an additional Bible of their own).  Mainstream protestant faiths all make the same claims about their respective doctrines; of truth, and basis in scripture.  Logic dictates that they cannot all be right.  Somebody must be mistaken right?  Which one?

Take a closer look at the various protestant faiths and several common themes emerge.  The actual doctrines that separate faith’s tend to be less than expected, and some seem downright meaningless.  Take the teaching of Tithes and Offerings for example, almost every Christian faith puts the teaching of giving to the church and to others, as a part of its central tenants.  This is not just for self preservation, but all claim to have Biblical basis for the teaching, and in point of fact, all do.  Worship on a weekly basis in church is another very common theme.  Styles may vary radically, as do the day to worship on, but the weekly assembly of believers is understood and shared by all.  Obviously the divinity of Christ is shared by all Christian faiths, as is His role in our salvation (for the most part).  So a casual observer might conclude that he should believe all the common teachings, and leave the unique ones for later / further study.

Then there is the lesson of email.  Ever sent an email note intended to be a “nasty-gram” to someone else?  The point is to chew-them-out for something they did, or intentionally did not do.  The notes are usually short in nature, to the point, terse.  They reflect a tone that is negative, accusatory, matter of fact, or hard.  The point is to verbally (albeit in writing) chastise the recipient for his/her misdeeds.  You have to be careful what all you say in a “nasty-gram” because typically the recipient copies the entire world on their reply hoping to embarrass you for your obvious misinterpretation of their supposed misdeeds.  Once written and sent, a “nasty-gram” is nearly impossible to delete.  They can last a long time, and crop up when you least expect it.

But then there are the times when you do not intend to send a nasty-gram at all; when you are just asking a question; or making a comment on some recent event; or just intending to make small talk with a co-worker.  Even though your intentions were far from the typical nasty-gram, your reader interprets the note as an outright insult to their entire being.  They interpret your ‘tone’ as hostile, aggressive, and disrespectful even though you did not mean any of those things.  They misread or only partially read what you said, and jump to conclusions about your intentions, motives, and real agenda.  Now the recipient writes back blasting you for your nasty-gram, and you get a response you had NO idea would be coming.

What went wrong?  Was it a subconscious thing when you wrote your innocent note that came out badly?  Did you use some sort of key words or phrasing that went terribly awry?  What was it that caused your reader to become furious at your otherwise inconsequential note?  Chances are, it was the vantage point of your reader.  The first things advertisers say is “know your audience”.  While you may have been in a perfectly fine mood while writing your note, your reader may have been having the day-from-hell.  One of those ‘Murphy’ days when everything that can go wrong, does go wrong.  A day all of us have had, and none of us want to repeat.  After such a day, or perhaps during it, they open up your note and begin reading.  Their vantage point is radically different from yours. 

Now, unless the phrasing is crystal clear, each nuance, each possible innuendo, each little read-between-the-lines tone is interpreted to be negative.  Not because you intended it that way, but because your reader is having an otherwise horrific day, and is not inclined at all to read innocence into your note, but malignancy.  Is the Author responsible for the interpretation of the angry reader?  You could argue that the Author should have been more clear, but depending on just how bad a state of mind the reader is in, clarity may have been completely ignored.  The Author cannot anticipate the mood of his reader.  And if the reader were to leave the note unopened that horrific day, and open it up on a ‘normal’ day, the point of the message might have gotten through absent the drama.

So it is with scripture.  We do not need others to interpret scripture for us, though we may study it together to learn from each other’s vantage points.  We are fully capable of reading it on our own, but do we drag into it, the mood of our particular day?  Could it be that we develop our own ideas about what a doctrine SHOULD teach and THEN open the Bible to prove out our own theories.  If so, who is leading?  If scripture teaches something completely contrary to our belief system are we willing to adjust our belief system, and what’s more should we?

Email can be used to hammer others if you are inclined to use it that way.  It can also be used to uplift others if that is your intent.  Scripture can be read with predisposition, and extraordinary negativity, such that all manner of hurtful beliefs are engaged.  This is the basis for how ‘cult-like’ groups spring up.  They begin with a charismatic leader who reads scripture and interprets it for singularly unique purposes (namely the promotion of him/herself).  They use the Bible to reinforce the idea that they alone are the ‘true’ leaders and representatives of God, and that they alone are capable of understanding the word He gave us all.

Once under the influence of a powerful, aggressive spiritual leader, many sheep fall right into line.  They do not have the backbone to challenge their own beliefs, or the intelligence to reason out the answers and affirmations.  Deep down they want to be controlled spiritually by another, because it eliminates the self-responsibility they have always felt about their own conditions with God.  In this way, you can transfer the guilt and burden of your repeated failures, to the new ‘prophet” or leader, and make it all ‘his/her’ responsibility.  This immediate relief in the soul of the follower is worth the eccentricity of the leader, and the sacrifices he may demand.  After all does not the scripture say to follow the advice of Prophets, give your money to the church, and obey the voice of the Lord?

But the truth is anyone can begin reading and learning from the Bible with just a few simple prerequisites.  First, take a minute and let go of the cares of the day, adjust your mood so that you are not stooped in negativity.  The easiest and therefore most effective way of doing this is simply to offer a prayer that the Holy Spirit lead in your study of the word.  Don’t expect mind blowing 3D visions of the apocalypse, or panoramic dreams of past Biblical scenes in history.  It is often not the earthquake, but the still small voice that guides the mind and heart to God.  Be willing to adopt truth as you discover it, in whatever form it comes in.  The great lessons of the people in the Bible itself are about them changing their own minds as truth is revealed to them – Saul becomes Paul, David becomes King, Joseph becomes ruler of Egypt, Jonah does actually go to Ninevah and his preaching works …  the list goes on.

When we realize we are children, opening up a book with the secrets of the universe revealed within its pages, we begin to understand our place in its study.  Truth is an absolute, but only God can really know it all.  What we learn in our lifetimes of study, is little perspectives of truth, different vantage points of truth, glimmers, reflections.  When we know Him face-to-face the entirety of truth can then be revealed.  We do not need prophetic leaders who claim sole ownership of truth, we need prophetic leaders who in humility reveal only a bit different or more enrichment of the truth already in the word.  We are not redefining God based on the ideas of a charismatic leader, we KNOW who our God is, and put our trust in Him to lead us to an even deeper understanding of who He is.  When religion is focused on God it is focused well, when it is not, there is little light in it …

The Courage of Fools ...

We owe a debt we cannot repay.  There are heroes among us who put self-interest aside and risk the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country, to their fellow citizens, to us.  There are many reasons why they choose to do this, but what is asked of them requires the same measure of risk and resolve from each.  There is legacy found here when looking back you can trace a lineage of service in the faces of prior generations, of fathers, and grandfathers, and pictures long since faded into yellow.  It is a tradition of heroism.  It is a task that requires bravery tested in blood.  It calls for the daring, and the courage of fools.

“There is no greater sacrifice than for a man to lay down his life for his friends.”  Christ knew what He was talking about.  In this statement He reveals the sanctity of life, and the precious gift our soldiers, our policemen, our first responders, and our emergency services workers often yield for us.  Their professions demand accomplishing mission over self preservation.  Military commanders have often had to order men into impossible scenarios to achieve victory, knowing they ask their men to yield up their lives.  The men understand the request, and follow the orders.  Sometimes hope and against hope, they prevail, but when this does not occur, both accept what is required of them.

It is against self interest to take on a responsibility that may demand your very life.  It is against the very essence of our nature to defy self-preservation to accomplish a greater goal.  Thinking, men of reason, would call this foolish.  They would say it makes no sense to yield up one’s life in the pursuit of any cause.  But intelligence cannot defeat evil, sometimes blood is required.  And thinking, reasoned men, have the luxury of analysis, because it is paid for by the blood of those “fools” who were willing to pay it.  We owe a debt we cannot repay.

When asked why they fight, service men seem to always reply their primary reason is the brother who fights beside them.  “Brothers in arms” means something when under fire.  Policemen never earn salaries that even approach those of the drug dealers, and organized criminals they may encounter, yet their honor demands they continue fighting a battle against crime they can never hope to fully win.  An EMT runs into the face of explosions, and scenes of horror of every kind, to seek out the dying, the injured, the helpless, and bring them relief.  All risk life and limb to perform these jobs.  All must find courage in the face of danger.  All must face death in a moment’s notice.

I stand in awe at the courage of these men and women.  I am speechless when I consider the depth of sacrifice that has already been made so that my life could exist as it does.  How do you repay courage of this magnitude?  How do you even begin to understand what someone else lost on your behalf?  The fallen are heroes without measure.  Those that serve still are titans on the earth.  But there is one I admire most of all …

No, not my paternal grandfather who saw action in the Pacific theatre during World War II.  He went from enlisted to a full bird colonel in the Army Air Force in that war from his leadership and bravery.  He now rests in Arlington, next to his wife who joined him some years ago.  Nor do I admire my maternal grandfather who saw action in the European theatre, working as an experimental airplane mechanic, fixing new machines, mid-air, risking death on many levels.  He and his wife are now at rest as well.  My father and many uncles served and they too are heroic to me, even though there is one I admire even more.

For me, I look back even further.  I stand in awe of the courage and fortitude it took, to forsake the throne, and become a servant of all.  I cannot imagine the restraint required when you have the ability to vanquish your enemies with but a word; instead you keep silent sealing your own doom, to accomplish the greater goal.  I cannot fathom the courage it took to hold up under torture, ultimate humiliation, and then death by those who you came to save.  How could He do it?  What could keep Him resolved in the face of this insanity?  Why am I so worth saving?  Why am I so loved?

You see our current heroes that serve in the military, and on the front lines of danger, do not know me personally.  They sacrifice for me, but only in the context of my belonging to the country, or the neighborhood, or the community in which they are familiar.  While my debt to them is still real, and frankly unpayable, we speak in the language of the collective, not of the individual.  I try to honor them by adhering to the laws our nation sets up, and paying the tax burden I owe to help fund their needs.  But my feeble efforts at honoring those who serve cannot even begin to repay what so many, even in the collective, have done for me.  In tandem, they allow me to live.

But where Christ is concerned, the collective language ceases to be relevant.  It is me He came to save.  It is my sin that needs to be removed from me.  It is my death, my torture, and my separation from God that He paid in my stead.  It is my sin He died for, so that I could live.  And He would have done it, if only for me.  Forget the Roman guard who nailed His precious hands to the uncomfortable cross; the hammer sits in my hands as with every fresh new evil I indulge in, I must pound away anew.  His aching flesh must cringe under my hammer and my nails.  It is me who puts the crown of thorns and humiliation on to His perfect brow.  I push down on it.  I see His blood flow from what I thought “necessary” in my life.  Oh the cost of my decisions, of my actions, of my self-interest.  I owe a debt I can never repay.

This is the primary reason why the entire plan of Salvation devised by God to save us from evil is a gift.  It is because no-one would ever be capable of repaying it.  Were we to purchase our redemption, no price could ever be enough.  Were we to try to earn it, our efforts would look so pathetic next to the level of sacrifice He made.  Just as we accept the sacrifice of our heroes today, owing them a debt we know can never be repaid – we can accept the gift and the sacrifice Christ has made for each of us.  Our living heroes sacrifice to prolong our lives.  Our Savior sacrificed to make the lives we live worth living.  He died to free us from the self inflicted pain we have come to know as evil, or self-interest.

I serve no fascist Nazi figurehead as both my grandfather’s risked life and limb to defeat them, and prolong our freedom and way of life.  And I need not serve the dictator that lives in my mirror whose history of trying to serve only self, leads only to pain; because of the freedom my Savior offers to me as a gift so precious.  Christ longs to recreate the core of who I am, as I allow Him to.  As I learn to submit my will to Him, I die daily, and a new creature is reborn within me – not of my design, but of His.  In this we are capable of so much more than we ever imagined.  In experiencing Salvation the good news of the gospel is reborn within us, not as words of a story, but as a life altering experience that removes the self-inflicted pain we have been slave to so long.

There is a courage I have never experienced but appreciate beyond the measure of my soul.  There is a debt I cannot repay and a sacrifice I will never be worthy of, but I will accept.  May we learn to embrace perfect submission to Christ, and in so doing begin to honor those around us, who have given so much of themselves for us.  May we finally learn that in submission lies perfect service …

You Can Take It With You ...

Ever heard the expression “He who dies with the most toys wins.”?  How about “The only thing you can take to heaven with you is your character.”?  One statement pokes fun at our materialistic impulses, the other implies we take those evil impulses with us into perfection, both ignore another simple truth – there is something you can take with you when you go (so to speak).

No it’s not your favorite watch, or your wedding ring, or one of those truly sentimental things you have picked up during your lifetime that mean so much to you.  Those items help remind you of things that actually have more value.  For instance, the watch you inherited from your parents, passed down from their parents, etc.. – this item may have monetary value, but the memories it inspires within you are what make it meaningful.  These memories of loved-ones are the link to the physical item that make it sentimental at all.  Would you trade that watch (or item) back, to have your family healthy and with you once again?  Who wouldn’t?  The people wind up being of far more value than the symbol we remember them with.

The Bible itself is full of symbolism and items with double or even triple meanings in order to help us understand God’s plan for us.  Take for instance the old testament precept of sacrificing a “sheep without blemish” in order to be forgiven of sins.  On the surface this looks like simple pagan animal sacrifice.  But look a little deeper at the symbolism – the sheep represents Christ who would come and die for our sins.  Christ would be our ultimate sacrifice (in fact after his death, this practice was not needed by our Christian church any longer).  Continuing on the symbolism route, Christ was called “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.”  Sound familiar?  The old testament lamb had to be “without spot or blemish” meaning untainted by sin, perfect as Christ was perfect.  It had to a lamb, not a full grown sheep.  As lambs and children are innocent, so was Christ innocent.  We would use our own hands to kill the lamb, as it was our sins and our forefathers who killed the Savior.  There could be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, both of the old testament lamb, and of our Savior.  Even the old testament was sensitive to the needs of the poor, if they could not afford a lamb for sacrifice, they could substitute a white dove instead.  Can you guess the symbolism of that one?

It seems ironic to me, that in our day Christians prize symbols, sometimes so highly, they lose the meaning behind them.  For instance, Catholics continue to believe that certain acts of worship performed in certain places guarantee outcomes in the next world.  Yet there is nothing in ALL of the bible that would indicate this is true.  Acceptance of God is the only method of salvation.  Protestants share a fondness for wearing gold and silver crosses on a necklass or other piece of jewelry.  Here is even more irony, taking a symbol of a tortured death, of agony that kills its victim every time, and making it a piece of jewelry we wear around our necks giving us pride in our beliefs.  A closer examination of what took place on this symbol should reveal our role in its need.  Do we wear this so proudly knowing it is “we” who continue to require the blood of our Lord, by our eagerness to choose evil over good.  I am ashamed that my actions require the cross for salvation.  I am grateful for the loving nature of my God who saved me from myself by dying on the cross.  But I cannot see this symbol as anything more than my shame, His torture, and my responsibility.  It does not give me pride, it breaks the pride within me.

So if we cannot take our favorite symbols with us when we go to heaven, and we know our wealth dies behind us.  What can we take?  There is something that is stronger than death, and lasts longer than our time in the grave.  It is the thing we do take with us as we are called from our sleep into the city our Lord has prepared.  It is not our characters.  Our character must be purified, or perhaps better described, re-born and made new in order for us to venture into heaven.  All our evil desires, habits, addictions, and behaviors must be wiped clean before we venture into heaven.  This process begins now, and is completed at our coming forth from the graves, or just prior to our ascension in the clouds should we be alive at His second coming.  Our personalities, preferences, mannerisms, and habits that are not tainted by sin will remain with us, and make us recognizable to everyone who knew us in our imperfect state, but our characters will undergo as much or more change as our bodies do.

What lasts beyond our death, that no human or satanic power can ever take away, is that characteristic of God He created in us, and we can use daily to enrich our lives.  It is love.  We can take our love with us to heaven.  Our love of each other, our love of family, our love of that special soul mate, our love for our kids, for our friends – this powerful influence in our loves is the only permanent thing this world is capable of experiencing.  It is why good conquers evil.  It is why love defeats hate.  It simply outlasts it.  When all that is evil has passed away forever, never to be seen or heard from again.  When the fires of hell have long been burnt out, when the devil and all who chose to follow him and to deny the gift of God, have long ceased to exist – what exists still is love.  That God is love should tell us this.

We can invest ourselves in each other knowing that these acts of love are forming a relationship which can last beyond the mere boundaries of this earthly life.  We are free to love each other, knowing this alone has permanence.  Where I hurt you, your forgiveness outlasts my neglect.   Where I curse you, your kind words echo throughout all time and eternity, and my curse is heard no more.  It is nearly impossible to meet love with hate, and sustain that hate.  It is so hard to do.  Our divine image created within us longs to love, we long to love and be loved, it is imprinted in us as much as the uniqueness of our DNA.  We share this common bond of love.  It can unite us past our imperfections.  It can offer forgiveness for the most heinous, premeditated, acts of choice and horror inflicted upon us.  It can bring us to our knees in dumbfounded humility as we realize the depths of love that can be shown to each other.  It can reveal the awe in the pure simplicity and faith in the love of a child for its parent, no matter what we might think of the worthiness of that parent. 

But therein lies the strength and power of love, it is not because we are worthy of it, that we receive it – it is because God chooses to love us that we receive it.  Likewise when we choose to love each other, we give each other a gift.  Not because we are worthy, but because He is worthy.  We forgive because we are forgiven.  We love because we are loved.  And the permanence of our relationships and the bonds we forge are done in the steel of heaven which cannot be broken by the evil in this earth.  This is what we take with us as we enter the sleep of our graves – the assurance of the love we have shown.  We know as we awake to greet a perfect world, all those who we loved will return that love once again. 

The influence of the love we have given, may help those who do not know the Lord today to find Him, and follow Him, the source of all love.  Our great commission was NOT to convince, to convict, to judge, to argue, or even to preach – it was simply to love.  When we love, we reveal the character of its author.  When we forgive, we emulate the author of forgiveness.  We begin to act in the manner of our Lord, the more we choose to love each other.  This is the influence others need to see, to be drawn to the source of love.  They do not need only our words, they need to see our love.  There is nothing more powerful and influential on the life, that the active choice of another to love you.

It is a part of life here that we all die.  Some die earlier than expected.  Some die from the choices of others.  But until our Lord returns and kills death once and for all time, we are destined to experience it.  When this final sleep approaches, I hope we are able to meet it having lived a life so full of love that we regret little.  I hope our mistakes are overshadowed by the love we chose to give, to ALL those we came into contact with.   This is our comfort and our solace when we approach the great abyss.  We have the knowledge our time will feel short in the sleep of death.  We know that death itself will someday come to an end.  We know our reward is sure for our reward began in our lives the second we accepted the gift of God.  The progress we have made towards eradicating all evil in our lives is an early down payment of the reward Heaven will bring when this work will be completed fully.  And we know the love we chose to share will be waiting for us upon our return.

The illusion of Security and Control ...

Ever wonder why your life is not where you want it to be?  Ever wish that you could ‘make’ something happen the way you want?  We tend to search out routines that give us a feeling of comfort in our lives.  We steer away from any radical changes, and develop a sense of security from the repetition of what we do.  This feeling of security if held long enough gives way to a feeling of control, perhaps limited, but a ‘reasonable’ amount of it seems to be within our hands.  Then the alarm clock rings, and we are asked to take the blue pill and wake up or the red pill and keep on dreaming [apologies to the Matrix].

The film the Matrix presents us with a challenge to our reality.  It offers a completely different version of what might be true with no real ability to argue with it.  This analogy is very apropos when discussing feelings of security and control.  After all these two words are more about feeling than about our perceived reality.  What kind of control can you possibly have in your life if you remain subject to random events?  Disease, weather, geo-political influences, corporate malfeasance, the actions of others are all out there in the ether of your life like winds.  They blow upon you sometimes with incredible force that you cannot stand against.  They move you, whether you are willing or not, to places outside of your comfort zone.  Man has always struggled against this kind of movement.  Like the ant that immediately starts rebuilding its home when destroyed by water, man starts immediately trying to rebuild his rut once it has been disturbed.  We work hard to get back to the feelings we once embraced of reasonable control and security in our existence.

Of course evolution offers no comfort when it comes to the ‘winds of fate.’  We are blown about by forces beyond our control and this is simply part of the natural selection process – only the strong survive.  But if that were really true, why do some of our best and brightest seem to suffer the same fates as those with no particular intelligence or strength.  Lance Armstrong gets cancer, just like my neighbor next door.  They both fight the terrible disease.  They both engage in a program to treat the illness.  Seems to me that if our species were evolving towards the strong and brightest, Lance would be a million times less likely to ever come down with the illness in the first place.  The guy is as strong as a horse by the looks of it.  With his excellent regimen of exercise, water hydration, deep oxygenation and generally healthy diet he would the last person on earth to expect to see any form of cancer affect.  But he gets it just like my neighbor.  Unlike my neighbor whose fight only lasted about 2 years before he died, Lance seems to have beaten his first contact.  I hope he lives a 100 years more, but now that he has had this disease – doesn’t that mean that his offspring would be MORE likely to contract it than not.  Despite his health prior to getting it, it now ‘runs in his family’.  This does not argue that we are evolving towards stronger and better and brighter.

Take also the example of Jim Fixx the famous runner who authored a book on the subject.  A 31 year old specimen of seemingly perfect health drops dead of a heart attack in otherwise the prime of his life.  A strong fit person who obeys all the known precepts of healthy living dies in spite of it.  Now too, his offspring (if he had any) would have a ‘history of heart disease’ in their immediate family.  A factor making them far more likely to come down with the disease despite the overall superior healthful living of their father.  This argues that our world more closely resembles entropy than evolution.  Therein is where evil begins to play on our fears, and our ambition, and develops a keen marketing plan to offer us the ability to ‘control our own destinies’.

One of the primary arguments I hear from those who refuse to accept the concept of God, is that they do not believe anyone or anything controls what happens to them.  They believe themselves to be fully in control of their own lives.  This occurs (not surprisingly) more in the youth than in the elderly, but also more among those with means than those in poverty.  But as we just outlined above absolute control is an illusion.  If it were not, Jim Fixx would still be with us, and Lance would never have had to fight his battle with cancer.  The plain truth is we are not in control of our destiny.  The closest thing we exert that resembles control is the decision of who to serve.  We can choose to follow God, or not.  The alternative to serving God is presented as choosing ourselves to run our own lives.  Again the illusions of self-control / self-destination.  Evil completely masks the idea that the only real other choice to serving God is serving evil.  No-one would intentionally serve the devil if they knew it was him they were following (except your average witch, warlock, demon, or other mentally impaired individual).  So evil markets the idea to us that this choice itself is bogus.  There is no real Satan.  There is only good, and not a lot else.  You don’t have to worry that some supernatural power (i.e. yet something else stronger than you, which you cannot exert control over) is out to get you.  That is crazy talk.  That is for deluded religious folks who merely believe in superstition and mumbo-jumbo.  But is it?

If the alternative to choosing to serve God is not evil, but just another form of good (absent an all powerful God), a form of morality with no objective standard – then why do we continue to witness so much pain and misery and evil in our world today?  If there really is no Satan, and no God, what is the explanation of the existence of evil in our daily lives?  Man does horrific things to each other.  Arguably we continue to develop more effective ways of doing horrific things to each other on a grander-and-grander scale.  If we were evolving towards a better world, or a better way of thinking, why does it seem our perversions are growing more and more violent, gruesome, and apathetic?  The truth is, the lack of a choice to follow God, is a default decision to follow evil.  Without submission to God, there is slavery to evil.  Without the freedom which God offers, are the bonds that would keep us from ever considering we might own another fate.  This is the active mission and intent of evil.  Keep our focus off of God and on ourselves.

But does God offer us control and security?  No.  Many Christians are very dismayed at that answer.  Seems to them that we should be rewarded in some way for our wisdom of choosing this fundamental premise the right way.  The choice and the journey are the reward.  But we are not offered control, and what’s more we should not ever want it.  Humans as sited above, make quite a mess out of everything they touch.  The carnal nature of man corrupts the good we come in contact with (it is our native thinking to destroy first, before we consider creating).  For example consider how fast you can come up with an insult for a person you encounter or know, than a true meaningful compliment.  Consider how fast we have cut down forests, before ever thinking about replanting any of them.  Old-growth is now almost unheard of.  When control is granted to us, we misuse it.  What is the old saying ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely.’  Or ‘nothing destroys like success.’  The truth is we cannot handle having control.  So we MUST learn to give up on trying to achieve it and trust that putting it in God’s hands is where is should be, and really, where it is (even when we don’t like it there).

What about security, does God grant that?  Not physically, only mentally.  You can be assured of God’s promises.  You can know He loves you.  You can know that if you should pass away from the earth right now, that because of Christ’s gift of salvation to us, you will live again in a perfect world, without the presence of evil ever again.  These truths can bring you a great degree of mental security.  They can comfort you.  But they do not eliminate the threats we all must face while living in this world of evil.  Sometimes God interferes with the plans and intents of evil on our behalf.  We experience miracles of healing, or protection, or resources delivered just in time to save us from ourselves and our mistakes.  But not always.  And we were not ever promised a cushy, pain-free existence, just because we follow God.  In fact we were told just the opposite by Christ Himself.  He told us there would always be poor in the world.  He told us that because we serve Him, the world would HATE us, it would persecute us, it would try hard to kill us for nothing more than a belief in Him.  Following God does not decrease our level of danger in the world we face, arguably it increases it.  But following God is a reward unto itself.  And following God leads us to learn how to live without self-inflicted pain.  We learn to avoid so many mistakes.  We shed ourselves of the things that would destroy us, and learn to embrace the things that would make us happy and fulfilled.  Our existence is transformed from meaningless to one of unique purpose and design.

I greatly admire those Biblical characters who understood the value of serving God so well, they were willing to forfeit their earthly lives to maintain their stand for God.  Not all were saved from the horrific intents of the evil one, but all WILL experience the rewards of their faith in the world to come.  Security then is not something we will need in this world.  Faith is.  Security is something else we can look to God to provide, trusting in His ability to protect us, and in His wisdom if harm comes our way in spite of our prayers.

Broken Tools ...

Have you ever brought something home from a store that required assembly at home; only to find the instructions are in a foreign language, and the tools you need to assemble the drawing are not functioning?  It makes the task nearly impossible to perform and the results … “may vary”.  The frustration of unclear communications, combined with nearly unusable tools, makes for a combination designed to add gray hairs to your head, and cause you to question why you really needed this item in the first place.  It would be so MUCH easier to simply buy the item pre-assembled, but sometimes that is just not an option.

So it is with us.  Our creator God has a perfect plan for the redemption, and salvation of man from the cancerous evil that surrounds and ensnares him.  But though His designs are perfect, His tools (being us) are far from it.  We are the most dysfunctional and broken tools to ever be employed in any plan ever devised, let alone the MOST important plan ever devised.

Let’s face it, we do NOT represent the character of our God, or His ideals very well in our own characters and actions.  When non-believers look at men, they see nothing but faults, inconsistencies, weaknesses, addiction, and hypocrisy.   The work of our God in fixing these deficiencies is enormous, and His progress is slow due to our lack of willingness to surrender to His better designs.  So when men look at men they do not see God very well.  Yet we are supposed to be His children, His representatives, His spokespeople here on this earth.  Perhaps this is why above all other reasons we should point each other to look to Christ as the standard to which we should strive, not to another person.  Only Christ lived out a perfect life, only His life is worth imitation and emulation.  We remain broken.

And to add insult to injury, our communication with God is sporadic and prejudicial at best.  Not because God has not made every effort to talk with us, and teach us who He is.  He provided the natural world around us to show us His love for us – from the beauty of it all, to the functionality of it all, to the pure enjoyment we have with it.  Stop for a second to consider what would be a really good vacation you could go on.  Imagine for a minute a beach-based holiday beginning in Maui, then on to Fiji, then to Capri on the Mediterranean, and finally to the Bahamas; I dare say the water is fine.  Or perhaps you would enjoy a skiing vacation starting in Vale, then to the Swiss Alps.  Or do you enjoy Safari to watch wildlife in their natural settings?  The wonders of this earth even after all the pollution we created are still breathtaking.  The less we damage them, the more breathtaking they are.  But we seldom take from Nature the messages of love and care God is sending us.

We have the written word of God to us in the form of the Bible.  But we tend to read it to prove something.  Instead of being explorers on a journey of discovery (like in Nature), we read it like investigative journalists out to prove our own views are more scripturally based than our neighbor’s.  We read it for vindication.  We read it to inflict judgment on others.  We read it to condemn, not to redeem, and thus, we read it wrong.  Like trying to read Mandarin instructions on furniture that requires assembly, we do not get the messages God is trying to send us.  Our communication is clouded not because what the text says is unclear, but because our hearts lack love, lack empathy, and do not discern it’s real meaning very often.  Were we to read in humility, and ask for the Spirit’s guidance more often we would gain far more knowledge than we thought possible.  But for now, communication is less than stellar.

And in this environment, with evil working out its own designs with brutal efficiency, come us the broken tool set.  We are supposed to be used by God to work out His will.  This after all is the highest calling in the Universe.  All the unfallen beings who exist in perfection, exist in eager anticipation of serving the Most High.  They long to do His will.  We run from it.  It is like herding cats, to get us to do anything, particularly when our own self-interest is not at stake.  We spend our time in entertaining ourselves, or engaged in work to support ourselves, or doing some other obligation we feel obliged to do.  Time for service to God takes a backseat, and is nearly a last priority.  Like that promise husbands make to their wives to fix something around the house – they mean to do it.  They are planning on doing it.  They just never quite seem to get around to doing it.

This of course reduces the tool-set God actually has available to Him down to a very small number of tools.  It is not the worthiness of the tool that is picked for a job, but the willingness of the tool itself.  We sometimes get an idea that there are those of us who are somehow “special”.  We rationalize that people like Moses, Noah, or Abraham are “called of God” and therefore selected by God making them special; whereas we are mere mortals who feel no special calling.  What is incorrect in this thinking is our continued lack of willingness to be used, and their eventual agreement to it.  We keep saying no to God, and thus are not selected.  Those Biblical heroes of the faith, were WILLING to be used and so they were.

But being a great instrument in God’s plan did not make any of them less human.  They continued to struggle with sins before, during, and after the call or journey God sent them on.  Moses was a great leader but not a perfect one.  He could not control his temper, even after 100 years of trying.  Noah liked drinking in excess, even after the flood.  Abraham, even with all his faith, lies about his wife to protect himself from a powerful lustful king of Egypt.  The account of their weaknesses in the Bible record is yet another proof of its accuracy.  A human writer, with a human agenda would have omitted completely or radically downplayed the weaknesses of the heroes of the stories in their works to reinforce the point.  But God would have us see the imperfections of others, to realize that He does not demand perfection from us, but willingness from us.

God works with us despite our weaknesses, and even our failures.  The people of Israel were led into the promised land despite Moses losing his temper.  Noah lived 900 years despite his love of drink (somewhere around 400 of them after the flood).  Abraham’s wife was not defiled, and was restored to him untouched through a miracle God performed despite the lie Abraham had told.  And an heir came to him when he was 100 years old.  The plans of God worked through despite all the barriers we place in front of them.  Christ told the criticizing priests that if the people were made to be quiet on His triumphal ride into Jerusalem that even the stones would cry out in praise.  Prophecy will be fulfilled.  Plans will be completed.  Missions will be accomplished with or without you or I as participants.

We are not excluded from the plans of God due to His lack of invitation; but due to our constantly ignoring it, and turning away from it.  God cherishes His broken tools.  He longs to repair each of them, to restore them to their full potential, but the tools keep running away.  God has mercy on His erring tool sets.  If He did not we would not last a day, not one of us.  He patiently waits for us to learn of His love, and stop our foolish condemnation of each other.  He works hard with us to get us to see Him more clearly, while we spend time chasing others away from Him, in His own Name with our viewpoints and our opinions.  Despite our lack of usability, despite our unwillingness to change or conform to His will, despite our continued embracing of evil intent and action; God still longs to use us in His service.

The magnitude of this slaughters me.  The thought that I might make a difference in the life of another, that I might actually help another to see God, to learn something more of God’s love – with my pitiful existence, is more than I can fathom.  For I see in me, only the most broken of any tool in the case.  I know my own unworthiness.  I ache at how often I must come back to the throne of grace and ask forgiveness for the same old sin, again and again.  I loathe my own weakness and addictions to evil, and cannot imagine why God would still want to use me.  So I decide to look beyond everything I know about me, all the facts of evil related to me, and my complete substandard representation of Him; and put myself at the foot of the cross anyway, and ask to be used.  Despite it all, I will be willing, and so will be used.

The reality of this is not to be trifled with.  Asking God to use you in His plans is not a prayer that goes unanswered.  And it is not one where “no” is a possible response.  If you are willing, God will use you.  As sure as there is a creator God, He will employ you in His service.  Your calling may not be to rise as Moses, Noah, or Abraham;  but to serve is enough for those who see the brokenness of their own conditions.  To serve God can start today.  It requires nothing but willingness.  You do not have to wait until you see Heaven to begin serving God, you can start right now, when it counts even more.  For the battles are not over yet, the rewards are not come yet, and there are so many around you, who still need to know who God is, what love is all about, and why love reaches even you, even them …