Freedom is Good News Part 60

I just re-read the previous article and paused to consider the fact that Abraham was called a “friend of God”.  You believe in an Almighty God, creator of the entire universe.  What would it be like to know that God calls you His friend?  Indeed, what would it take to be called God’s friend?

We saw in that article that Abraham was obedient to God.  We also saw that obedience is linked to faith.  “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6 & Rom. 4:3)  There are four concepts, faith, obedience, friendship with God and righteousness that are brought together in the book of James 2:21-24: “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did (obedience) when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.  And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness’, and he was called God’s friend.  You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.”

So just what is faith?  Is it merely a belief that God exists?  Earlier in this same chapter of James (verse 19) we read, “You believe that there is one God.  Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder.”  That in itself is a telling statement!  We must go beyond that if we are to be a friend of God.

Some time ago, a friend and brother in Christ, said that a good working definition of faith is having a trust in God so as to know that His every intention for you is always good.  I believe this gets to the heart of a true faith.  When we know and understand that God’s intentions for us are always good then we will have no problem in doing what God wants us to do.  We will be obedient and so emulate our father Abraham. 

There is another aspect to consider when we look at the word obedience, and that is love.  The easiest way to connect the two concepts of obedience and love is to see what our Savior had to say about them.  In the gospel of John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey what I command.”  In verse 21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”  And in verse 23, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.  He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.”

How can we say we love and trust God and then not do His will; not obey Him.  This kind of obedience is a good thing; for it pleases our Father and is the conduit for His love upon us.  And that is “Good News”!

Freedom is Good News Part 25

If you’ve been with me these past two weeks, you know that we have been looking into Psalm 103.  We have seen that God is loving, compassionate and gracious.  He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.  And I hope we have seen that these are not just things God has decided to do, but that they are inherently a part of His personality.

It would be a decidedly foolish thing for Him to do; create a beautiful environment for life, provide everything needed in abundance and create a life form to dwell there, all the while ruing the day that He did so.  No, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….  God, our God loves us and wants us to come to love Him.

This is a beautiful Psalm!  God so loves us that (verse 10), “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”  In other words it is we who have gone astray in our respect and love for Him and still, His love is bigger than we are!  His love is bigger than our foolishness.  His love is bigger than our sins.

Verse 11 says it all very well, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear Him.  As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” 

Jesus Christ while on this earth told us that we should call this great God of the entire universe, “Father”.  All of us have had a father and perhaps many of you reading this are fathers.  Some of us have had wonderful, loving fathers and other of us … well, not so much.  We do not live in a perfect world.  But God our Father loves us with an undying love; with a love that goes beyond our understanding.  And so in verse 13 we see King David using a metaphor that we can all grasp.  He informs us that, “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.”

Oh, wait a minute here, didn’t we just read that there’s a condition to that love from God?  Doesn’t it say He has compassion on those that fear Him?  What’s up with this fear?  The word for fear in the original Hebrew has several nuances of meaning.  Vines Hebrew Dictionary has this to say about the word “yare” (fear):  “Used toward a person in an exalted position, “yare” (fear) connotes “standing in awe”.  This is not simple fear, but reverence, whereby one individual recognizes the power and position of the individual revered and renders him proper respect.  In this sense the word may imply submission to a proper ethical relationship to God.”  Yes, that’s a mouthful but I believe you see how this word is used in the Psalm. 

In this 21st century we sometimes lament the way children do not show respect for parents and elders.  Do you, as a child of God, show respect and fear for Him?

More good news to come, in this beautiful Psalm of David’s.

Freedom is Good News Part 24

Last week we began by considering that our God is good and that He is good all the time.  The vehicle we were using in exploring this topic was Psalm 103.  (Have you read the entire Psalm?)  This Psalm is quite beautiful in its entirety and really helps to explain so much of who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

I, for one, am amazed at how King David, in verse seven, has us read that God made known to Moses “His ways”!  It has been said that Moses is the author of the first five books of the bible.  (Actually God is the author and Moses the scribe.)  And as we consider what these five books contain, we see a beautiful preface to the entire bible.  God revealed to Moses first of all, the creation, then the flood, the calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and finally, the Exodus from Egypt with Moses as leader and of course the wanderings in the wilderness.  As an overview, we get to see the perfect will of God in action.

But let’s get back to Psalms 103.  Verse eight begins, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”  A couple of comments here are in order.  First, this is a reiteration of God’s telling Moses, on Mount Sinai, what His name was:  Ex. 34:5, “The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with Him (Moses) and proclaimed His name, the LORD (Yahoveh).  ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.’”  David, of course, knew this scripture.  And secondly, David gives us a beautiful description of how he saw the awesome attributes of the wonderful God we serve!

Verse nine: “He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever.”  Yes, God is patient with us and always willing to reinstate us into His good graces.  The Israelites certainly tested God’s patience over and over again.  His patience did seem to wear out when He allowed first Assyria and then Babylon to take His people into captivity.  But even then He says through the prophet Jeremiah, “Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing …. But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds…. I will restore the fortunes of Jacob…”  (Jer. 30:12-22) 

Our God is a loving Father!  He is more than just a loving Father; He is a perfectly loving Father.  He wants us to succeed and to be with Him in eternity.  Remember how we started the article last week, “He knows our frame; that we are but dust.”  We will see this phrase a little later on as we continue our look at the 103rd Psalm.

Until next time, remember “God is good, all the time”.

Freedom is Good News Part 4

I guess when I began writing these articles, some time ago, I really had only one goal, one desire, and that was to help you, the reader, to come to a closer relationship with our heavenly Father and with His Son.  I wanted to highlight the joy and the good things that I have felt as I strive to draw near to my God.

I am excited about knowing my God.  I am excited about seeking Him with my whole heart and my whole life and so I wish that others can taste of the good things that God has brought to my life.  It is good sometimes to just speak from the heart, to pour out for all to see, the wonders of His love.  I hope and I pray that my words here on this page will help all to long for a deeper understanding of just how much God wants to be a part of your life.  God’s desire to have you seek Him, to have you come to Him in prayer, to have you spend time with Him in thought and meditation and to have you open up and read His book of love, the bible, really is beyond our comprehension.

A line from a song I enjoy says this, “you’re wanted, you’re precious, you’re the love of His heart and the old rugged cross was for you…”.  I believe that says a lot!  Oh how He wants us to know Him so that He may shower His love upon us whom He has made.  My friends and brethren, do you really know how precious you are in His sight?

And so to pick up on last week’s theme, let me say that our God has desired to give us true freedom.  It is the world, society and Satan that wants to put us in chains of bondage.  The bondage that comes from sin can seem so enticing.  Satan tries to turn things upside down and deceive us into thinking that God’s ways are somehow chains of bondage.  “God doesn’t want us to have any fun” is the broadcast that Satan promotes.  But the truth, that is the truth that sets us free, allows us to experience the depth of joy that only god can provide.  In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.”  His peace is true peace and His joy is true joy and His love is true love..

I speak here from firsthand experience.  I have known that peace, joy and love.  It is real and it is beyond our measuring by human means.  It is I that slip and fall - not God.  It is I that err and fail - not God.  His ways are perfect.  He is a Father, a parent if you will, like none other.  His love is perfect.  His instruction is perfect.  He is an awesome God.  And He offers us true freedom.

More on this next time.

Yes, There is Good News! Part 12

And so we have given some thought to the three aspects of how we are to love God.  Someone may say, “Now I know something about loving God, how is that good news?” 

I believe that is a fair question.  But in asking the question one must assume that good news comes only from receiving something and not in giving something.  And from a purely human standpoint I must disagree with this assessment.  True joy comes to us when we can give of ourselves to another.  It is only a child that believes joy comes from receiving.  The anticipation of a gift on the part of a youth can be delightful to watch.  Why?  Because we can understand the maturity level held by a child.

When an infant is born the maturity level stands at a flat zero.  There is only room for growth.  How much love does the baby have for others?  The answer is also zero.  A new-born has needs, many needs and one of the greatest needs it has is for love.  The love a mother and father have for the infant is inherently great enough to make up for the lack of love in the child.  One might say that the “love” that a human has is directly proportional to the level of maturity that exists in the human.  Allow me to make another formulaic statement:  the level of maturity that exists in a human is directly proportional to the joy he or she receives in giving of self to another.  Maturity and love for others travel hand in hand!

OK so let’s not get too out of hand.  We are talking about love for God and how that can be the good news we are looking for.  But we also made the analogy of an infant’s love for a parent.  The love of a parent will teach the infant how to love.  And so it is with our Father in Heaven.  The scripture leads us to this same conclusion.  The epistle of 1 John is said to be the “love book” in the bible.  And the topic of love comes to an apex in the fourth chapter.  As we make our way down this chapter and its many comments on love, we come to the 19th verse wherein we read, “We love because He first loved us”.

Can we just stop here and ponder the fact that even before we understood that there was a God, even before we knew who that God was, even before the atheist will admit that there is a God, He loved us!  Yes, He even loved that atheist.

In the preceding chapter of 1 John, chapter 3, we read in verse one, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are.”  Now don’t get me wrong, I can not as of yet place everyone on this earth as being called children of God.  But you….you are reading this column and I pray that you are being lead to see God’s love for you and so are coming to see what manner of love you are to have for this Father of ours.

To be continued ……. Stay tuned!!!                                                       

Yes, There is Good News! Part 11

And so we come to that third aspect of the love for God that was given to us in the book of Deuteronomy and was quoted by the Son of God in Matthew 23:37, you must love the Lord your God with all of your mind.

Have you ever thought of loving someone with your mind?  How could we go about doing this?

We often think of the mind as the center of the intellect.  This is where all thought processes take place.  We perform calculations in the mind; we memorize dates and numbers and we store all of the information that we gather during our lives.  How then do we love with our minds?

Let us take a few minutes and consider this complicated device.  Have you ever ridden a bicycle?  The coordination that takes place between the eyes that see where we are going, the hands that steer, the legs and feet that pump the pedals, the inner ear that keeps body and bicycle in an upright position and the lungs that pump air through a correctly formed mouth so as to whistle a sweet melody, are all controlled by what we call the mind.  And while all this is going on, you are thinking about what you will have for lunch, not at all paying attention to this complicated coordination process.

Wow!  Are you able to contemplate what your mind can do and thereby praise the One who created the mind?  Your brain has trillions of connections that operate without your having to do anything.  Dr. Paul Brand, in his book In His Image, says this about the brain:  “During each second of life, the brain performs about five trillion chemical operations.  When we are awake, only a few reach our level of consciousness and those so quickly we are hardly aware of the process.”  Five trillion connections every second – receiving input and sending messages that regulate every aspect of the human body.  What a marvelous piece of creation we are!  I think we can label that as good news.

What is there around you in the world that does not fill you with awe when you consider it deeply?  If we are to consider loving God with all of our mind, the process starts when we consider His creation and thereby give honor, glory and praise to Him.  So much of what God has done for us is just taken for granted.  We see a beautiful flower garden and perhaps remark about the one that planted and cares for it but do we ever “love God with our whole mind” by thanking Him for the diversity of color, scent and patterns that are His design and creation?  

We take granted that every spring the leaves on the trees will appear and turn the landscape into a verdant expanse of peaceful joy.  We all have a sense of awe and wonder when this happens, but as we come to know and love God in His creation, we come close to loving Him with our whole mind.

To be continued ……. Stay tuned!!!

Yes, There is Good News! Part 10

It might seem, according to the previous entry, loving God with one’s whole heart is a big enough task to accomplish.  But this scripture we have been looking at tells us that there are two more prerequisites in coming to this love that our God would have from us.

In Matthew 22:37 we find the second item mentioned is to love God with our all our “soul”.  Many people believe this word “soul” has some mystical, ethereal, or spiritual quality that separates it from our bodies.  But this is not the case.  A simple study of the word from the Bible will show that the soul can and will die.  This word “soul” is not limited to humans, in fact the first time the word appears in the bible it is applied to animals (it is found in Genesis 1:20, “…let the waters teem with living creatures”.  The word translated “creatures” from Hebrew is the same word that is translated “soul” elsewhere in the bible.)  The Hebrew word here is “nephesh” and its basic meaning is “breath of life”.  Ezekiel 18:4 says, “The soul who sins will die”.  In the New Testament, the Greek word for soul “psuche” has much the same meaning – “the breath of life”.

OK so what are we learning here?  This second aspect of loving God, to love Him with all of our soul, actually means we are to love Him with all of our life.  God is the author of life.  The life we have in us is a gift from Him and we are capable of doing many things.  We may take a walk on a beautiful summer morning with the sun shining on our faces.  Because we have life we can smell the fresh scent of flowers and behold the array of colors that surround us.

Yes, the life we live is a gift from God.  We can show Him our love when we enjoy that gift and give Him the glory for all we have and all we do.  The key here is to give Him all the glory.  To love God with your whole life is to appreciate each day you have and to give the credit to God for all you are able to do, no matter how great or how small it may be.

God’s love for us is unconditional – our love for God must be with all of our heart and also with all of our life.  In other words, with a whole hearted love that encompasses all our lives.  And yet there is a third aspect.

Stay tuned!

Yes, There is Good News! Part 9

In the previous entry, I ended by asking the question, “Do you know how to love your heavenly Father?”  Now that you have had some time to think about that question let’s consider an answer.

We began this topic of loving God by considering the scripture, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:4)  And we noted that this was Jesus’ answer to the question of “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Let us note that Jesus did not stop there, He went on to mention the second great commandment also, “love your neighbor as yourself”.  This second great commandment is also very good news!  But before we get into that we must understand the first.  How do we apply it and why is it good news.

This type of love is an act of the will.  We have the free will to love God or not to love Him.  It is within our will power to bring ourselves to love Him, and to love Him first and foremost; to love Him with all our hearts, all our life (the word “soul” means life) and all our minds.  When I look at this scripture and contemplate its implications, I become awed.  This commandment is not at all like, “Do not steal, do not lie, or do not commit murder.”  This is in a category by itself.  To utilize all my heart, all my life and all my mind in forming a loving relationship with my Heavenly Father is pretty heavy stuff.  Perhaps we must take a closer look at this.

Let us start with the first item in this list, “the heart”.  What does it mean for you to put your whole heart into something?  When you start a project, are you a “wholehearted” person?  We use this word “heart” to mean many things.  We say things like, “I had my heart broken” or “he stole her heart”, and it is used as a symbol of romantic love.  We also say “let’s get to the heart of the matter”, and so desire to get to the core meaning.  We say that an athlete “played their heart out”.  And I guess we get the point.

So if we could put our whole heart into loving the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the one who gave us life itself, how would we be blessed by Him?  Do you believe that God is our provider and protector?  Do you believe it when the bible says that every good and perfect gift is from our Father above?  And this whole “hearted” love is only the first of three prerequisites.  Let’s look at the other two in upcoming articles.

Don’t go away folks, there’s still more to come.

Yes, There is Good News! Part 6

In my previous entry, I made the statement that because God’s entire being is love; He wanted to have somewhere to express that love.  So, He created a universe, then a solar system within, a planet – perfectly placed from the sun so as to sustain life – and finally He created life; first plants then animals and at last mankind.  We look around and marvel at the awesome beauty that God has placed us in.  From a small and dainty flower in the spring, to the majesty of a snow capped mountain that can bring forth gasps of wonder.  Wow!!  That’s a lot of love!  I could go on for a long time about the beauty of creation and perhaps sometime in the future I may. 

What is the greatest joy you find in the love that you have for another?  I suppose we might list many joys but perhaps the greatest is having that love returned from the object of your love.  There are many sayings concerning unrequited love but the true happiness of being able to share a love with another human being is quite exceptional.  It indeed brings fulfillment, not to mention excitement to our lives.  A love shared is a love fulfilled.

We are created in the image of God!  Do you not think there is excitement for our heavenly Father when His love is returned to Him by one of His children?  In the Gospel of Luke 15:10 Jesus says, “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  And why do the angels rejoice?  I think it is fair to say that when God is happy, the entire heavenly realm is happy!

Yes, God wanted to share His love, His great love, His infinite love and so we were created.  Remember a couple of entries ago I asked the question, “What does God expect of us?  Perhaps we have come upon the answer.  I mentioned that He desires a relationship with us and enables us to enter that relationship because He has provided redemption for us through the righteous life of His Son.  Righteousness has been imputed to us because of the death and resurrection of His Son.

Not only has God created a universe, a planet, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink, and the beauty to see, hear, taste, touch and smell, but He has created a pathway for us to fellowship with Him.  He wants us to come to know Him and visit with Him and so to learn to love Him.

Wait – did I say, “Learn to love Him”?  What is there about love that we have to learn? Well, much in every way.  Let’s talk about that in the next entry.

WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE? PART 4

I must share with you that since I have started looking into this topic; God has shown me again and again how I fail to have in mind the things of God.  In my dealings with co-workers, brethren, family and even the kids on my school bus, God has shown me the deviousness of my wanting to have my way!  It is not that I must give way to the will of those around me – for that would also be idolatry – but the will of God is my prime directive.

In the previous installment we looked at a curious example of idolatry found in Matthew 16:21-25.  Let’s consider another – perhaps unusual – example of idolatry found in the bible.  This one is found in 2 Samuel 6:6.  King David wants to move the ark of God and Uzzah has the task of guiding the cart that is hauling the ark.  The oxen stumble, Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark and he meets with death.  Is he guilty of idolatry in this action?  Uzzah had the things of man and not the things of God in mind.  His work met with death.  I’m going to go with idolatry.  But let’s not forget David.  In 1 Chron. 13 we read that David conferred with “his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds” – uh oh!  He did not consult the word of God for this endeavor which commanded that only the Levites may carry the ark of God.  This is a good example of the scripture, “There is a way which seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.”  There is here a spirit of idolatry that can influence our decisions.  These examples have nothing to do with idols of stone and wood but with flesh.  It is a spirit of idolatry that resides within the human nature.

And so let us look at David’s act with Bathsheba.  Was it his sin with this woman or his sin with her husband that might be considered idolatry?  It was both.  Remember, we have spoken of the fact that the idol is “eliyl”, it is nothing.  David did not idolize Bathsheba or Uriah the Hittite.  His idol was his own will; his ego and vanity. 

We could go on and discuss Saul and his failure to obey God’s command to destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock.  He did not have the things of God in his heart.  All of these examples have one thing in common – they failed to have that perfect love for God in their heart, their strength and their life.  These examples show forth a love of the world that John tells us to avoid in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Many times a brother or sister in Christ will refer to a certain scripture in Proverbs as a hallmark for their life.  Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in YHVH with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  Note the emphasis on the word “all”. 

Trust in YHVH with all your heart (Prov. 3:5); love YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 6:5); serve YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 10:12); seek YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 4:29) – throw in the fact that you should do this with all your strength and all your life and you have a recipe for avoiding idolatry.

Simply put, this life is not about us.  It is wholly and totally about the God we serve.  It’s funny, isn’t it?  We are toward the end of a four part article and I just stated the gist of it in two short sentences.  If we find ourselves with a spirit of idolatry, we cannot love.  We cannot love God and we cannot love our neighbor, pure and simple!  And indeed, it is not always easy to see.  A brother or sister may be in some kind of trouble and we rush in to help.  Was God testing this person in some way and we just overstepped our bounds because we decided to help?  I’m sure that Uzzah felt that he was just doing a good deed in steading the ark – his work was a dead work. 

So, perhaps you’ve been wondering, “Is this series of articles about the opposite of love, as the title suggests; or is it about renewing your mind so as to have the mind of Christ, as the start of this article seemed to indicate, or is it about keeping ourselves from idols, as 1 John 5:21 warns us?”  And the answer is …. YES!!

Allow me to quote Paul in his letter to the Romans (Ah, the very letter where we began this study).  Romans 8:5-8 says, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the flesh; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on the Spirit.  The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace; the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we cannot love God.  If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we are not renewing our minds.  If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we are not keeping ourselves from idols.

Paul goes on to encourage the Roman church in verse 9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you ….”  Oh my, you might as well read the entirety of this chapter.  It all fits here.

I must assume that all of you who are reading this are striving to have your minds set on the Spirit and not on the flesh.  But sometimes the “old man” gets in the way.  After all, we know how some things should turn out for the best.  We should have our own way.  The Boss, the neighbor, our relative, our spouse, etc.; they just do not know how it should work and we need to have our opinion served.  And maybe we are right; but to what cost? 

“Continue to work out your salvation within fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to desire and to work according to His purpose.  Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Phil. 2:12-15)

So, perhaps you have read this far and you are wondering, “Where do I go from here?”  Simply put; down on your knees.  How should you conduct your life with this info in mind?  I don’t know, but God does!  Ask Him to show you.  And when He places a contrary spirit in your path, in your life – do not plead for deliverance, pray for insight.  Let Him lead and direct your path.  “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.” 

P.S.  You might just begin with Psalm 115.  May God bless you with insight!

WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE? PART 3

Idolatry is a huge subject in the word of God.  So let us enter in (not into idolatry, but to the study of the topic!).

We have already established the fact that the little book of 1 John uses the word agape, in the noun and verb forms, a disproportionate amount of times when compared with the rest of the New Testament.  And so my observation here is that John closes this letter, which is devoted to love, with a very cryptic statement, “My dear children, keep your selves from idols”.  (Oh, you did not think this closing statement was cryptic?  Cryptic:  “Hidden, mysterious or baffling.”)  I believe John ended with this statement in order to get us to think.  So what do YOU think?  Let’s reflect upon this.  The main consideration of this letter is embodied in the word “love” and so therefore we are to keep ourselves from idols.  These two words, love and idolatry, travel in opposite directions.

In this same vein, Paul tells us in 1 Cor.10:14, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry”.  In other words, run from it!

Let’s take a moment here to see where we began so that we can continue in a straight line.  We began with Romans 12, where we are urged to offer ourselves as living sacrifices; we are to not conform to this world; we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds; we should understand our gifts (graces) given from God; and our love must be genuine.  Will love transform your mind or will idolatry?

I guess if we are to flee from idolatry, then in what direction should we flee?  In the direction of God!!  In other words, seek His face.  We are told in scripture that our love for God is to be perfect; in other words we are to love Him with all of our heart, strength and life.  This is a tall task but we need to pay attention to how we are progressing.  This type of love for God is not attained in an instant.  It is learned over the course of our relationship with Him; it happens over many years.  In fact, (and I might be mistaken, but), I believe we may never accomplish this perfect love until we see Him face to face!  For when the weight of His glory and His holiness are fully revealed to us, what shall we say, but – “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD God Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.”  (Isaiah 6:3) 

In the meantime, what shall we do?  “Keep ourselves from idolatry.”  Let us consider a few thoughts about this vast subject.

So what, intrinsically, is idolatry?  In one sense it is nothing.  One word used for “idol” in Hebrew is #457 “eliyl” and it literally means “nothing” and can be thought of as vanity.  It is used for and translated “idol” in almost every case.  The first use of this word is in Lev. 19:4, “Do not turn unto “nothing” (idols) or make gods of cast metal for yourselves.”  Some versions of the bible use the word “vanity” to translate the word eliyl.  This definition is helpful because I would suggest that the concept of idolatry has nothing to do with statues of stone and blocks of wood.  But it has everything to so with the mind and heart of the idolater.  Today, the notion of having carved images, from the view point of our tradition in Christianity, seems far-fetched.  But as one author stated, we will always try to “carve upon” those around us when we desire to influence them toward our opinions and motives.  We may go to extreme lengths to coerce someone to think or do as we want without regard to God’s will. 

Case in point and an unusual example of idolatry may be found in Matthew 16:21-25.  In verse 13 of this chapter, Jesus sets up this interesting scenario.  He first asks the disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  They answered; John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or another of the prophets.  He then asks, “But what about you?  Who do you say I am?”

At this point they may not repeat this litany of answers.  Jesus already drew out of them what everyone else said – they now had to think for themselves and be quite honest with their answer.  We know the story; Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Peter answered correctly and received a “pat on the back” from Jesus. He said, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah”.  But then it says that Jesus began to explain that He must suffer many things, He would be killed and would be raised the third day.  It is at this point that Peter slips from his blessed state (verse 17) in the eyes of his Lord and falls into idolatry.  Verse 22:  “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.  ‘Mercy upon you, Lord; for this shall never happen to you!’  Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get behind me adversary!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’”

First of all, knowing what you know about our Savior, the Messiah, could you honestly rebuke Him?  Peter had just called Him the Messiah, the Son of the living God and yet he rebuked Jesus!  We have here a very good definition of idolatry, “you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  Jesus goes on to say, “If anyone would follow me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

I will leave this lesson of Matthew 16 speak for itself at this time.  But I must ask the question; do you have in mind the things of God in everything you do and in everything you say?

Don’t go away folks, there’s still more to come!!

WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE? PART 1

Some time ago I was given an article on neuro-plasticity and how science has determined that we, humans, can change the way we think and thereby act.  I remember putting this together with Paul’s admonition in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  The renewing of our minds is possible – but how do we go about it?  Ah!  Paul gives us the answer in Philippians 4:8 as he gives us eight concepts to think upon. 

At that time I developed this idea into a message and delivered it at several venues, i.e. church services and festivals.  I felt that this understanding was given to me by the hand of God.  And indeed it was well received with ensuing discussion.

More recently within our local congregation I began looking into this same subject with a series of bible studies, keeping in mind the thought that Paul did not write this admonition to the church in Rome and then expect them to send a delegation to Philippi so as to read their letter and find out how to renew their minds.  Paul must have given the Romans the answer within their letter.  And it must have been located somewhat shortly after this admonition in Romans 12:2.  Let’s take a look at this possibility.

“Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and well pleasing to God – this is your rational act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and discern what God’s will is – His good, acceptable and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:1-2)

Does this process of renewal have anything to do with our “offering our bodies as living sacrifices”?  The short and obvious answer is, yes!  For what shall we say, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit … you are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)  Whatever God requires of us is His right; for when we entered into covenant with Him, we gave our lives over to Him. 

But it has been my experience that being a “living sacrifice” to Him is not an easy concept to grasp, never mind an easy activity to put into practice each and every day.  Paul elsewhere says, “I die daily”.  Here he proclaims that he means what he says and puts it into practice.  We must understand that Paul either had renewed his mind or was well along the way to doing so.

OK!  Let’s set this daily “living sacrifice” aside for the moment (we shall come back to it) and move on to some of the other things Paul tells us to do in Romans 12.

Verse 3, “For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”

Oh my!  It is such a human, fleshly and “old manish” thing to do, to consider oneself better than others.  We seem to always want to put ourselves first.  Knowing this, Paul goes so far as to reiterate it in verse 10, “Honor one another above yourselves”.  And then again in verse 16, Paul says “… Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.”  Do you want to renew your mind?  This is a good place to start!

At this point Paul starts talking about the body with many members, each having a different function.  He says, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” (Verses 4-6)  The word translated “gifts” here would better be translated as “graces”.  It is the Greek word, “charisma”.  It is the same word Peter uses in 1Peter 4:10, “Each should use whatever grace he has received to serve others …”  The word “grace” is indeed a gift but the nuance is that one receives it without any merit of his own.  And the other concept here is that “each” of us has received a grace/gift.  In other words, when God calls His children, He gives each one a grace/gift, or it may be that He takes a look at us, sees what we have been born into and thereby raised with the aptitude of a certain personality and so calls us accordingly – we all must then take a look at Paul’s list of graces and see just what God has given to us or seen in us.

Let us not lose sight of the fact that we are striving to understand how we might renew our minds.  Understanding these gifts and where we fit into them will play a part of our renewal!

Let me briefly say that these graces or gifts listed here in Romans 12, are sometimes called motivational gifts as opposed to the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 (manifestation gifts) and Ephesians 4 (ministry gifts).  If you are interested in learning more about this, please see the book by Don and Katie Fortune entitled “Discover Your God Given Gifts”.  Don and Katie explain that we all have motivational gifts and they help us discover which gift is tops in our individual personalities and what other gifts we may have that complement this top gift.

For our purposes here, knowing which is our dominant gift, (prophesy, service, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading and compassion) will lead us to the greatest gift; which we all know and understand is love.  The very next thing Paul tells us here in verse 9 is that “love must be sincere”.  Our love must be honest, genuine and without pretense.  We must consider these graces, these gifts from God and we must pursue them.  But we must do so in love.  We must apply them with love.  We must prophesy in love, we must serve in love, we must teach in love, etc.  “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.  … Love does no harm to its neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)

Some time ago an individual confessed to me that they did not feel they had a love for their brothers and sisters in the church.  After some conversation and consideration it became obvious that this person, whose “top tier” gifts were leadership and service, loved others through these gifts.  They were able to organize church services.  They made sure there was a place in which to worship at and that the room was clean and ready.  Their observation was that they didn’t love like those who were compassionate or giving.  But the reality here is that we must learn to love within the gift (or grace) that God has endowed us with.