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.

Freedom is Good News Part 3

Who knew the topic of freedom could be this big?  The answer; I guess God did!!  There are many “threads” that run through the bible weaving a multi-colored tapestry and one of those threads is the concept of freedom.  Last week I mentioned freedom from “the law of sin and death” as Paul stated it in Romans 8:2.  This freedom only comes through choosing Jesus Christ as ones personal Savior.  Oh really! Just what does it mean to have a personal Savior? 

Let me begin to answer by stating that, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  This is probably the most oft quoted scripture.  And many people misread it.  Yes, He gave His Son for the world, but in order to not perish and to have life and thereby to have this freedom we have been talking about, one must do something.  One must believe in this “sacrificial Son of God”.  (A little side note is that this word “perish” comes from a Greek word that means “to destroy fully”.)

You want a personal Savior?  You must believe!  You say you believe in God, good, even the demons believe that and shudder (see James 2:19).  Do we really think we can just pay lip service to the creator of the universe and all will be well with us?  Can we just give a nod and wink of the eye to Him who gives us life itself, who has written the entire DNA code for our bodies and expect life eternal with Him?

No, “belief” as we read it in the bible is much more than that.  The Greek word for belief is “pisteuo” and by definition means, “to be persuaded of; and hence, to place confidence in, to trust; and it signifies reliance upon, not just belief.  It may be translated as ‘commit unto’, or ‘commit unto ones trust’”.

In Romans 4:3 Paul quotes from Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”.  Father Abraham did much more than just believe God existed.  We read in Genesis 22:1 – 19 the most amazing story of how Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son as a sign of his commitment of trust in God.  And James writes about this episode in Genesis with these words, “Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did 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.”  This episode about Abraham’s faith is so much more than just an “Old Testament” story.  This is actually a “forerunner” or a “type” of the Heavenly Father giving His Son as a sacrifice for us. 

So, do you have faith in a personal Savior?  Have you really accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?  Are you “persuaded of” Him?  Have you “placed your confidence in” Him?  Have you found “reliance upon” Him?  Have you committed yourself so as to place your trust in Him?  He gave His life for you, have you given back that life to Him for safekeeping?  A lot of questions here to answer in order to get to the good news of that freedom!!

More on this next time.                                           

Freedom is Good News Part 2

Last time we met, we were discussing the topic of freedom.  We swung from our national freedoms won for us 240 years ago to the freedoms won for us almost 2000 years ago by our Redeemer Jesus Christ.  And those freedoms, the latter ones, are immeasurably more important than the former.

The Good News is that if we have personally come to our Savior and have accepted His blood as a sacrifice for our life, then we have a freedom that is far beyond anything any government could ever promise.  The things of this world, this society, this physical life are subject to certain laws of physics that cannot be changed.  Not wanting to get too deep into the natural laws of science, let me just say that all physical things are subject to the concept of entropy.  In the book of Romans 8:21 the Apostle Paul tells us that the creation itself is in bondage to decay and decay is the result of entropy.  There is no way out, we will all die.  The plants and animals die and new growth takes place and then it too grows old and dies.  The scriptures tell us that it is given to all mankind to die.

So what am I saying?  No manmade government has or will last forever.  All of the world’s empires have crumbled.  But there is one government and only one government that is eternal.  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

And this is why the freedom given to us through and by the Son of God is immeasurably more important than the transitory freedoms granted through the constitution.

In the Gospel of John chapter 8, Jesus said two things concerning this freedom; “If you hold to my word you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” and “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.  But what is it that we will be set free from?  “Through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)  You see, Jesus did not set us free from keeping the law, for Paul has already said in Romans 7:12 that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”  We still find that stealing and coveting etc. are sin.  John in his first letter confirms this when he defines sin for us by stating, “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact sin is the transgression of the law.”  (1Jn 3:4)  So again, what is this “law of sin and death” that we have been set free from? 

Simply stated, scripture tells us that the penalty for sin is death; we sin, we deserve to die!  But our freedom from this law is that Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and went to the cross for us.  This is a big subject!!

More on this next time.

Freedom is Good News

I do hope that everyone will have a very insightful 4th of July.  Leading up to this day I began to think about the thousands of men and women who shed their blood on the battlefield of the American Revolution some 240 years ago. 

We, today, get caught up in all the celebrations and can forget that this day is a memorial of what our forefathers accomplished in winning freedom from the tyranny of the king of England.  Oh, it is a day to celebrate all right, parades, picnics, cookouts, family reunions and of course the day’s end fireworks celebration.  The victory, of the somewhat rag-tag colonists over the world’s best equipped fighting force, set in motion one of the greatest political experiments on this planet. 

Our nation became a worldwide symbol of freedom and we, today, still stand in the afterglow that made this nation the greatest ever in the history of the world.

I do not believe this to be a circumstantial coincident that somehow just fell into the “laps” of men like, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc.  I believe (as did they) that the hand of God was involved.  Excuse me while I quote from the book, “The Thousand Year Leap” by W. Cleon Skousen, “…they (the framers of the constitution) declared that the formation and adoption of our new system of federal government represented a political achievement unprecedented in human history.  They looked upon it, more over, as an event that was actually ‘influenced, guided and governed’ by the hand of God”.  In my words, “it was a blessing of extreme importance.”

Are you with me on this?  What happened 240 years ago was indeed “Good News”.

But you, like I, have seen the sometimes gradual, sometimes precipitous slide this nation has taken.  We have fallen away from these freedoms that were won for us.

So as I pondered these freedoms won for us through the shedding of blood, my mind swung around to another event that took place almost 2000 years ago to grant to all men freedoms that will never fade, never grow old and can never be taken away.  These freedoms were also won by the shedding of blood, not on a physical battlefield, but on a spiritual one.  They were won by the Son of God as He hung on a cross.  Jesus Christ came to earth to set men free.  He came to redeem us from our sins.  He came and died to set us at liberty.

More on this next time.

Yes, There is Good News! Part 14

I would like to continue with the topic of last week concerning the words found in Zechariah 3:10, “In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree, declares the LORD Almighty.”  I see this expression as one that bears much “fruit for good news”. 

We will find this same statement (albeit quite expanded) in the writings of the prophet Micah chapter 4, “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s house will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills and peoples will stream to it.  Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.  He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.’  The law will go out from Zion the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He will Judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.  Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.”

This is a very important piece of scripture for many reasons, but for us reading these articles, the importance is the overwhelming “good news” that it contains.  This is not a picture of the world today.  It is the picture of the ultimate “good news” that God has planned and promised for His children.  It is the expression from the mouth of God of the joy He has for the future.

Are you awaiting that day; a day when God’s dwelling is exalted as the best there ever could be, a day when people from many nations will want to worship God, a day when the One perfect in righteousness is the merciful judge, a day when peace and joy will be the ruling factors in His kingdom?  It will be on such a day as this that fears and terror will be banished.  (Terror banished!!  Wow!!  Ask our brothers and sister in the Middle East how they feel about that statement.)

Every man, (let me emphasize that) EVERY MAN, will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree.  And you know what?  No one will make them afraid – why?  “For the LORD Almighty has spoken.”

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!  See your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken.  He will proclaim peace to the nations.  His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 

It was Jesus who came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey (see Matthew 21:4) He is the Prince of Peace.  Wow!!  There is some really good news in these scriptures.

Till we meet again, Peace and joy to you all.

Yes, There is Good News! Part 13

I was raised in a church organization that discouraged the lay people from reading the bible.  Having left that church some 46 years ago, I find it somewhat ironic that today I am striving to encourage people to pick up God’s word, read it and study it, so as to be comforted, edified and instructed by these words of life.

From Genesis to Revelation there is abundant joy and amazing wisdom to be found.  Would you please pick up God’s word and read it?  And as you commit yourself to do this may I suggest that we look at one particular scripture together.

Zechariah 3:10:  “’In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree’, declares the LORD Almighty.”  Let me invite you, my neighbor, to sit under my vine and fig tree with me!  For perhaps we are in “that day” today – that day of “invitation”.

“But I don’t have a vine or a fig tree” you say. OH!  Let us see if we can locate them for you.

This symbol of the vine and fig tree can be reckoned as an idiomatic expression.  In other words, these things stand as a type of something else – something the Israelites would have recognized and understood right away.  Let’s ponder the question, “what was of utmost importance to these people who lived several thousand years ago?”

The answer is simple; food and water!  One only has to look at the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years – what did they worry and grumble about?  “Where will we get water to drink and food to eat?”  (See Exodus 16:1-3 and 17:1-3)  These people were not so concerned about cable TV or internet reception back then.  Physical life itself was bound up in their concern for food and water.

God promised Moses that He would rescue the Israelites from their bondage to the Egyptians and take them to “a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”  “Milk and honey” was another expression to say that they would have an abundance of fertile land for the cattle and plenty of flowering fruit trees for the bees to make honey.  Food was important. 

OK!  So let’s get back to the “vine and fig tree” of Zechariah.  This expression is used to indicate what kind of life the people would have under the rule of King Solomon.  “During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba (i.e. from the northern border to the southern) lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.”  Ah!  So we have safety and everyone eating grapes and figs.  Sounds like good news for the people under Solomon’s rule. 

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

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 8

In the previous entry I suggested that we go back to the beginning to see with what gentleness God instructs us to love Him.  So let’s go there.  In Genesis 1 and 2 we find the story of creation.  I believe we all know something of Adam and Eve.  In those days God saw that there was no real need for a lot of commandments.  There was no one else to steal from, no other wives to covet, etc.  You get the point.  He did tell them that He provided many trees to eat from but when they came into the midst of the garden there would be two trees; one of which they were forbidden to eat.  So, one commandment was given to our first parents; do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

As they say, the rest is history.  The serpent deceived Eve and she ate.  She tossed the proverbial apple to Adam and he ate and now they are banished from the garden.  In eating what was forbidden, did they express their love for God?  I think that we can agree that they did not.  Lesson number one; when God tells us to do something or to not do something, we show our love to Him by obedience!

In the Gospel of John, just before Jesus was to be crucified, He sat at the Passover meal and taught the disciples many things.  One thing He taught that is pertinent to our interest is found in chapter 14, verse 21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.  He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and manifest myself to him.”  In keeping with the topic of these articles, let me just say, “That is good news!!”  But wait a minute, you mean to say we have to obey Him?

OK, let’s go back to the beginning.  Only this time it’s not in the book of Genesis.  Let’s go back to when you were born.  The doctor, midwife or perhaps your father was there to help deliver you, your cord was cut, you were cleaned up and handed to your joy filled waiting mother.  Were you so filled with love at that time you couldn’t wait to learn to talk and let your parents know?  No, that’s not really how you reacted.  You were attracted to mom because you recognized her smell but you knew nothing else.  In short, you were a blank slate and you had to learn not only how to love but what love was all about.

When Adam and Eve were created, what did they know?  Well they didn’t even know that love for God was wrapped up in their obedience.  It was something they had to learn and it was not an easy lesson.  Sometimes I wonder about all the bad news we hear today.  Could it be because our society has moved so far away from God and have forgotten that we must be taught to love our heavenly Father through obedience?

Do you know how to love your heavenly Father?

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

Yes, There is Good News! Part 7

One time when Jesus was being tested by those pesky Pharisees one of them asked Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  This episode is found in Matthew 22:36-38.  “Jesus replied, ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”  This was not just something that Jesus came up with off the top of His head.  No, He was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, one of the first five books of the bible sometimes known, from the Hebrew word for law, Torah.  “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:4)

In the previous article I mentioned that God “wants us to come to know Him and visit with Him and so to learn to love Him.”  What does it take to “learn to love” someone?  Unfortunately in our society we have somehow been taught that love is as easy as “falling off a log”.  Two young adults are attracted to each other and they falsely assume that they are in love.  We mistake the feeling of attraction for the reality of love.  Love is so much more.  And that is not to say that two young adults will not grow into a true love.

Have you ever realized that when Jesus was asked “which is the greatest commandment” and He answered, “To love ….” He was establishing the love we must have for God as a requirement.  Can you command anyone to love you?  Can you command an emotional response from another human being?  God is the creator.  He knows our make up.  He knows that we have an emotional side and an intellectual side.  And yet He commands us to love Him!  In fact He tells us that this is the greatest commandment.
 

A couple of entries ago I mentioned that we are capable of loving on several different levels.  One of those levels is that of a parent to a child.  This is one level of love that does not have to be taught.  When Mother gives birth and first holds the child in her arms, there is a tremendous outpouring of love for the baby.  That is a natural occurrence.  It is that type of love that God has for us.  His love is as that for a child.  In fact we are sometimes called, “the children of God”.

But we, the babes that He loves, must learn to love Him with all our heart, strength and life (or soul).  God is so far above us that we really cannot understand all that the nature of God entails.  Our 5 senses - those things that God has given us to interact with and learn from the world around us – will never begin to allow us to comprehend how to love an infinite being.  So He teaches us to love Him.  Jesus tells us we are to call God “Father”.  This allows us to begin to grasp the relationship we are to have – we have all had a father.

But perhaps I get ahead of myself.  Perhaps we should go back to the beginning and see with what gentleness He instructs us to love Him.

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.

Yes, There is Good News! Part 5

So, either Jesus was who He said He was or He was insane.  You and I are going to go with the reality that He was who He said he was – our Savior, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  Incidentally there were some who thought that Jesus was insane.  In Mark 3:21 it says, “When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, ‘He is out of His mind’”.  And later in that same episode in Mark, the scribes said He was demon possessed. 

Let me state again; I believe He was who He said He was.  Near the end of the fourth Gospel, John tells us the reason for his writing the book: John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”  Yes!  That is my position and I know that it is good news!!

OK, so we have this as good news but is that the entirety of the good news that we are looking for?  If you are like me, you like to ask questions.  (Might I suggest that God, our Father, will never mind us asking Him questions.  It is how we are to learn.)  So, my question at this point might be, “why did God Almighty create a universe wherein is a planet that is populated by beings that have the free moral agency to reject Him and go after all manner of evil?

I have a friend who likes to joke and say that God just didn’t have enough problems in His life.  But I believe that we know there is much more to it than that silly idea!!

The reality, as I see it, is that when the bible says that “God is love” it implies that His whole being filled with this love needed a place to express it.  It is in the first letter of John that it says, “God is love” and that is an interesting statement.  Note that he does not say God shows love, or that God produces love, or that God gives us love.  It is quite specific, “God is love”.  You and I have the ability to love on several different levels.  The love we have for a spouse is different than the love we have for our children and that love is different than the love we might have for a friend.  And all of these loves come in differing degrees.  The love a married couple of fifty years have is a much deeper love than they had for each other when they were first married, etc.  But we are not “love”.  Our love grows, deepens and blossoms.

God alone may be called love.  That is most difficult to get one’s mind around.  Another example to consider concerning God’s love is from the book of Exodus.  In chapters 33 and 34 Moses asked to see God’s glory.  God told Moses that He would pass by and proclaim His name but that no one could see the face of God and live.  Exodus 34:5 says, “The LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name … ‘Yahovah, Yahovah the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands …’”  Out God is abounding in love and that is good news!!

Yes, There is Good News! Part 4

The word we have been looking at is “righteousness”, which we saw was a relationship word and then ended the previous entry by realizing the only way to a relationship with God was through “redemption” and that this redemption can only come by way of the Son of God.  Ephesians 1:7 told us that we have “redemption through His blood”.  I must emphasis, at this point, that the only way we can find this redemption is by the blood of Jesus Christ.  In the book of Acts chapter 4:12 we read, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  And of course that name is Jesus Christ, I believe we understand this. 

But just in case there is some questions about this let me add a few thoughts.  I have heard some say that “we all serve the same God; some just call Him by differing names”.  This scripture in Acts 4:12 should dissolve that idea for there is only one name!!  Another comment that I have heard before is that Jesus was just a good teacher.  He was a prophet of God but so was Buddha or Vishnu or Mohamed.  This comment can only come from someone who has never read the bible.  Indeed they have never even read the gospels concerning Jesus. 

Logically, if one reads the gospels, there are only two conclusions that can be drawn from them about Jesus: first, He is who the gospels say he is; see Matthew 1:22, the virgin will be with child, will give birth and His name will be Emanuel, that is “God with us”, also, Matthew 16:15-17, Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and Matthew 17:5 the voice came out of the cloud, “this is My Son, whom I love…;  and the second conclusion would be that Jesus was just a man but must be quite insane.  For example, see Jesus’ conversation with Pilate just before His crucifixion in John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world”.  See also in Luke 22:67; when speaking of Himself, He said, “the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God”.  If this is truth and not the words of a lunatic, then we must admit that there is no one who can ‘stand’ beside the one who is the true Savior of mankind!! 

We could go on but I think you get the point.  If one wants to reject the bible, they do so at their own peril.  But you cannot combine the sayings of the bible and especially the statements Jesus made about Himself with any other religious material.  Logic will not allow it.

So, what am I saying?  It is just Jesus alone.  There is no other who can bring us the “good news”. 

Yes, There is Good News! Part 3

We have been talking (alright so I’ve been writing and you’ve been reading) about the topic of “righteousness”.  It is a term that means “acting in an upright manner” and being “faithful to another’s expectations so as to form a good relationship”.

On the one hand, God is perfect in righteousness and is always faithful to fulfill whatever promises He has given to us (in other words, He is faithful to fulfill our expectations).  The problem here is, as I see it, can we be righteous so as to fulfill what God expects of us?

Perhaps we should look at a couple of scriptures?  In Matthew 5:20 Jesus says, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the scribes, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  But hey, we all know that the Pharisees and scribes were self-righteous and Jesus was always berating them for their hypocrisy (“woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites…. See Matthew 23:13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27 and 29).  So then, let us examine ourselves and repent of our own hypocrisy.  Perhaps in that respect we are better than the Pharisees.

But in the same chapter of Matthew in 5:48, Jesus says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.  UH OH!!  Really?  Are we to be perfect as God is perfect?  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that this is way too tall an order.  What’s a believer to do? 

Well, herein lies our first true view of what we’ve been striving to see, this is our introduction to the “good news”!  Because there is no way for us to attain to this perfection as God is perfect.  There is no way for us to try and put any of our righteousness up against God’s righteousness.  We lose every time and we lose in a huge way.  In Isaiah 64:6 it says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”  Indeed, we have no way, in and of ourselves to stand in the presence of God.  We need a redeemer. 

What does it mean to redeem?  We may take our pop cans, for which we paid a nickel, back to the grocery store to have them redeemed.  The store will buy them back.  They redeem them.  So, redeemed means to buy back.  Our lives, wrapped up in sin are like the empty pop cans.  They are not worth anything until they are redeemed!  And where do we find redemption? 

Ephesians 1:7, “In Him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”  Can I get an Amen!!

Yes, There is Good News! Part 2

Some of you might say to me that you are a Christian, and have been for all the years of your life and yet you feel that there is an empty spot within.  Why is this?  Well I would have to ask you what it means to be a Christian.  Is it just a belief in God?  The obvious answer is, no!  In his letter, James says, “You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that - and shudder.”  (James 2:19)

But we are headed in the right direction.  Belief plays an integral part in being a Christian and so the bible says that “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)  Why should we believe God and what does this thing called righteousness mean?  I’m glad you asked!!

I must go back to my previous entry and quote myself in regards to the “good news” that we have been seeking, “God Himself, the creator of the entire universe, wanted to have me call Him “Father”. 

Growing up during the 50’s and 60’s I was blessed to have a wonderful father.  My dad loved me and let me know that he loved me.  Today, I might only hope that all of you reading this paper also had good fathers.  But I also know that in this “fallen world” there are some men who are not good role models and not good fathers.  Not everyone can claim to have had a loving father.  But wait a minute!  God Himself, the creator of the universe, wants to have us call Him Father.  He wants to have a relationship with us.  And that is good news!  Yes that is tremendous news!!   And that is why we should believe God and believe in God.

Do you have a good relationship with someone near to you?  How did you get that good relationship with them?  How do you maintain the good relationship with them?  I have had the opportunity to counsel many young couples for marriage.  The one thing I try to get across to those being counseled is:  any good thing worth having is worth working for.  And yes it takes two to do the work of building and maintaining a good marital relationship.

Jesus, as the Son of God, came preaching the good news of his Father’s kingdom.  And through His Son, our Father has done the very hard work of building that relationship.  How can we attain to that relationship?  We must be willing to accept it.  That’s obvious!  But is there more? 

Well yes there is!  Let’s consider that ‘hard work’ the Father has already done. 

Keeping the answer simple, it is written: “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son ….”  This Son of God died on the cross (a most brutal death) and so gave His life, through the pouring out of His blood, as a sacrifice for us who were yet sinners. This was the hard work!  Is there more?  I believe we should ponder that question but let’s start here. 

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  What is this thing called righteousness?

Perhaps this thirteen letter word is a little bewildering.  It sounds like something out of a religious lexicon.  Yes, when we talk too much about thirteen letter religious words the eyes have a tendency to glaze over and the mind starts to drift.  I do know the feeling!  But this word is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as, “acting in an upright manner, doing what is right”.  And if we go to a lexicon for a biblical definition we find that the word has relational context; that is, “two parties that are faithful to each other’s expectations so as to form a good relationship”.  The two parties here being; you (on the one hand) and your heavenly Father.

The questions then that might be asked are, “what do you expect of God?”  And, perhaps more importantly, “what does God expect of you?”  Well, that is assuming that you want a relationship with God.  But if you have been reading this article from the beginning, then I guess you must have an interest!!!  So let’s explore the answers.

I would have a difficult time listing the many things that one might want, need or expect from God: air, water, food, health, protection, love, joy, peace, …. etc.  You get the point.  But for brevities sake let’s just say we might expect protection and provision leading to eternal life.  But can we dare say that we expect something from an almighty God?  After all, we are but “small peanuts” in this incredibly huge universe. 

Interestingly enough, these are the things that God promises us if we will fulfill our part of this righteous relationship we were talking about.  God’s righteousness is foundational.  So how do we go about establishing our faithfulness to God’s expectations?  What is it that He expects of us?

I have heard some people say that they go to church each week.  They sing, listen to a sermon and toss a few dollars in the basket – is that what God expects of us?  Some people get involved in food banks and helping the poor.  Some donate hard earned money to missionaries in other countries.  Some go to college for many years and earn Doctor of Divinity.  Some just lead a humble life, work hard and help others when they can.  These are all good things but is it what God expects of us?

Well maybe we should ponder these ideas in our next installment. 

Yes, There is Good News! Part 1

There are many things in the world today that are causes for distress.  I must ask, my friends, what’s been on your mind?  Sometimes the news is enough to get you down.  Mostly these days the news networks are filled with the latest inane things our politicians have been saying.  And if that’s not enough, we are inundated with talk of the crazy weather patterns across our country, or the latest on Syria or ISIS, or what China is doing to flex its military muscle or Russia or North Korea or …..

Whoa, Bill!!!  Wait just a minute - stop with the bad and worrisome things before we “stick our heads in the sand just a little bit”.  The title of this series of articles is, “Yes, There is Good News”; and so where do we start?  How about we start with the words themselves, “good news”?  I know that all of us have received via the mail, the phone, a text, or a personal message that lifted us up, made us feel good, gave us comfort.  Even while typing that last sentence, my mind traveled back in time to remember the wonderful feeling of receiving good news.

I believe all of us are familiar with the word, “gospel”.  And perhaps most of you know that the definition of that word is, “good news” or more literally, “good message”?  Would you all bear with me as in the near future we explore this word in all of its ramifications and perhaps in ways we have not looked at it before?  Oh my, we do have a good message to share and may I begin with the first words of Mark, “The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”

Somehow in the back of my mind I wonder if some of you might cringe at the thought of looking into this topic.  I know that I would have tossed it aside when I was in my early twenties.  That was the last thing I might have been interested in.  Life was ripe for the picking and I wanted some of this world’s fruit.

But by my late twenties, with God’s help, my taste buds began to change and to mature.  I realized that this world’s fruit was tasteless and quite bland.  Let me try and explain by example:  Have you ever been skiing?  The first time I tried skiing it was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  I knew several of the employees at one slope and received a nice discount on rentals and a lift ticket.  But what’s a novice to do??

I was too poor (or perhaps too cheap) to afford lessons so I headed to the “bunny slope”.  Up the “T-bar” and down the gentle slope without too much trouble, watching and learning from others as I went.  It must have been around the tenth or twelfth time down this beginners slope when I started to get bored.  I needed more excitement.  I had to try the excitement of a bigger slope.

I could go on with this story but I have arrived at the appropriate words, “more excitement”.  This valuable lesson on the slopes of New Hampshire was my first glimpse in seeing that we humans are never really satisfied with any level of activity we might pursue.  And so we long for “bigger, higher, faster, more terrifying excitement”.  Has anyone noticed the word “extreme” attached to activities such as snowboarding, skydiving, sports, etc?

So, what’s the point?  We keep pushing our desires in hopes of finding satisfaction in our lives.  And perhaps, along with me, you have noticed that this worlds “empty glory” just does not satisfy for long.

So let me back up a couple of paragraphs: it was in those late twenties when I began to understand that I had been missing out on having the most exciting relationship anyone could ever have.  God Himself, the creator of the entire universe, wanted to have me call Him “Father”.  This was the “good fruit” that my taste buds were longing for.  This was the “hole” in my life that needed to be filled.  This was the “good news” that would allow me, for the most part, to look right through the smoke and fog of bad news that seems to pervade our world today.

Let me attempt to explain………I believe that God is the creator of all things. I believe that when He said, “Let us create man in our image and in our likeness” He truly had that aim in mind.  But our first parents, Adam and Eve, believed the lie of Satan and ate of the wrong fruit and so they were banished from the Garden of Eden and not allowed to eat from the Tree of Life.  And so something was missing from this created man and woman.  This missing ingredient left an empty spot, a hole if you will, in what the Apostle Paul would later call “the inner man”.  Perhaps today we could call it the “inner psychological make up of man”.  Yes we do have a hole that we need to fill.

This is why the artist paints another picture, the poet writes another poem, the astronomer wants to understand the newly discovered galaxy, and the botanist a new plant species and so on and so on … It is the “thing” that drives us to go further.  What is it that you want?

Do you desire to see your team win the Super Bowl next year?  The next time you take your clubs to the golf course do you want to shoot a better score?  Perhaps there is something out there that might begin to fill that hole.  The fruit of this world is tempting, always tempting.  Perhaps we desire a better job, more pay, newer car or a bigger house.  The wisest of all men, Solomon, said this, in his book of Ecclesiastes, “All things are wearisome, more than man can say.  The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.” (Eccl. 1:8)  Somehow we never have enough.  As I drive my school bus through the countryside each morning, I cannot tell you how many beautiful sunrises I have witnessed and praised God because of them. (Just a small perk from bus driving!)

Indeed, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with any of these things that we do.  We all have dreams and want better things for ourselves and our loved ones.  But, again, when our first parents forsook the tree of life they left a “hole” deep inside that begs to be filled.  And all the activities we engage ourselves in cannot – in the end – fill that hole.  Deep inside we know that there is something we are missing. 

Adam and Eve missed out on something called “the fruit from the tree of life” and hence, a hole was created.  And that is just where the proverbial rubber meets the road!  The “Good News” is that this fruit is available to us today.  And Oh my is it tasty, sweet and filling.  God is good!

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!!