Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Faith, Hope, Love

Jas 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Jas 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Jas 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
Jas 2:24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Jas 2:25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.


Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him


1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.


1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.


1Jn 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?


1Jn 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


2Th 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.



Can you have faith in God without love? Or love of God without faith? Seriously, can you? I know that we can love a person without fully trusting them, having faith in them, but that's with our very imperfect love. Some would say that's a warped love, being able to love someone whom you can't have faith in. We do it all the time as parents don't we? Our children do things that hurt us as they grow up and yet the love doesn't stop. But... is the love still there because we are trying to have faith in them, that they'll be better? The same with spouses that cheat, or do other things that are detrimental to the relationship. We love them, the love doesn't stop just because we are hurt by them and we want to give them another chance don't we? We want to believe they won't hurt us again. That's faith isn't it? Believing in something unseen, hoping in something. And love, we give part of ourselves to those we love don't we? We invest part of ourselves. We care for them and don't want to see them hurt.


Can we have faith in someone without love? Yes, I don't have to love my neighbor do I, in order to trust them. Or is that a love of fellowman that I have for them? I certainly can't hate my neighbor and have faith in them could I? Faith seems to disappear when hate enters in. Can we have love without faith? No. Because love automatically has us hoping in the best even if we think the worst. I may think the worst of a lying, cheating, abusing husband but the part of me that still loves him would have hope that the lying, cheating, and abusing would end. Part of me would hope that there are good reasons for all of it if it doesn't end.


Faith and love are all intertwined aren't they? It's no wonder that without faith it's impossible to please God. We have to believe in God and have a certain measure of love towards God and others. I say a certain measure because I'm beginning to believe that it's very true, we have to love God and love our fellowman- these are the two greatest commandments that all the rest hang on. It's not the overwhelming gooshy love but a love filled with hope, a love believing in the best of each other even in the face of the worst. A love hoping when there is little tangible reason to hope.


Jesus died to give us hope. We have to have patience, our faith has to remain to the end, we have to love each other- hope in each other. We have to have faith, hope, and love... and yes the greatest is love because it encompasses faith and hope. It's determining to love when there is no outward reason to hope or have faith.


Faith without works is dead. We cannot truly have faith without works. The faith in God will result in a life full of decisions based upon that faith and our lives are made up daily of the works we do, the actions we take.


May the Lord God Almighty look down upon us and bless us with the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit live in us, all by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May our faith grow now and always in Him and our works, our lives be a reflection of that faith. Please Lord, hear us and help us.


Amen.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Love is...

Mat 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.


Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.


Love is... having no other gods before God.
Love is... not making any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, not bowing down thyself to them, nor serving them.
Love is... not taking the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
Love is... Remembering the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Love is... Honouring thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Love is... Not killing.
Love is... Not committing adultery.
Love is... Not stealing.
Love is... Not bearing false witness against thy neighbour.
Love is... Not coveting thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.


Most of us will recognize the following.


Charity is... suffering long
Charity is... kind
Charity is... envying not
Charity is... vaunting not itself
Charity is... not puffed up
Charity is... not behaving itself unseemly
Charity is... seeking not her own
Charity is... not easily provoked
Charity is... thinking no evil
Charity is... rejoicing not in iniquity, but rejoicing in the truth
Charity is... bearing all things
Charity is... believing all things
Charity is... hoping all things
Charity is... enduring all things
Charity is... never failing


We know for a fact that loving someone is not harming them in any way. We know for a fact when we love we look out for the others best interests no matter what that entails. That old saying if you love something set it free, love automatically allows for freedom because it's not imprisoning in any way. Children believe their parents don't love them when they put up restrictions, but the parents know it is because they do love them they erect the restrictions to protect their children.


God would have us know Him and in knowing Him we learn love. God didn't leave us without instructions, but over and over reveals His love to us. Some would say God has only reveals His wrath, His ability to spread suffering and heartache, but that isn't true at all. We are given examples all through life of God's love and Satan's evil. Satan would have us believe that when God allows the evil to reign that it's a sign of His own evil, not love. God allows the evil to exist, but it will only exist for a short while compared to eternity without any evil at all. We can't know the ways of God- our finite minds can't comprehend fully.


Job 11:7 Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?


We have to believe in God.


Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.


In believing we come to know the love of God and our lives reflect that love. If our lives fail to reflect that love something isn't right- because believing alone is not enough. Devils believe.


Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.


By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we believe and live in Him, for Him, all in love for God is love.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Sin is the Will to Destroy God

Listening to a Bible lecture the other day I came across this -

'When you sin what are you saying?
I don't want to do His will, His law.
But the law is the basis of His government.
The sinning is trying to pull down the government of God. Right?
Sin is trying to destroy, pull down the government God has set up.
Sin is the will to destroy God.'


We don't like to think about sin that way. We think of it more as a harmless little hurt, a pinprick that God barely feels. He's God, right? Nothing can hurt Him. Nothing can destroy Him. When I sin I don't imagine I'm trying to destroy God that's just ludicrous. Why is sin so abhorrent to God then? In our own lives we sometimes acquire enemies. No, not everyone can say they have someone out there wanting to destroy them, but most people do find people in their lives that are less than happy to watch them succeed. As children it's very common to get on the wrong side of a school yard bully- it could be something as simple as a cross-eyed look at a bully and you're in their sites. When we're young it doesn't seem to matter what might set things off so much. Once a bully gets you in their sites they want to push you about, call you names, take you to the school yard and put you in your place. As we grow up sometimes that sort of thing continues on into high school but not so often as the childishness of things begins to give way to adulthood. The destroying of another that we perceive as a threat when we're older comes about in other ways. We use the law sometimes, other times we break the law to get back at another. Mostly we just learn to live with someone were not fond of and merely talk badly about them to prove to others how bad that person is so they don't befriend them. In some circles someone business men are at each others throats corporately trying to tear one another down in order to succeed. Corporate spies are common place and they're set in motion to gain information that can be used to hurt a company while benefitting another. Not all of the will to destroy another is fictional, though we do see some of it glorified in movies and books. Even on a grand scale- nation against nation - there is the *good guys* and the *bad guys* and of course it depends on which side you're on as to who is who. Certainly to our perceived bad guys we are the bad ones. We have wars going on right now and yes, killing going on right now, as we try to destroy an enemies whose values or lack there of are detrimental to ours. Kill or be killed they say. Destroy or be destroyed.


How many people out there actively try to destroy God? Impossible you say, He's not a *REAL* person. No one can point a gun at God and end His life. You're right and yet people actively hurt God more often than they even realize because they don't equate their actions with anything to do with God. Yet God is our creator and has an active interest in all we do, good or bad.


God is a spirit incapable of dying. Angels are spirits that under normal circumstance do not die, yet can be killed by God in the long run as a result of their rebellion. Satan is one such angel who has led a multitude of angels to defy God, to turn from God's ways seeking to destroy God and all He stands for.


We DON'T want to make that a reality in our minds, in our lives. We want that to be a fictional story. As long as God and Satan and the war between them is a fiction tale then we don't have to realize our own part in it all. When we realize that it isn't a tall tale but real life we have to realize that it is because of Satan seducing Eve into sin that we are all a part of this battle between God and Satan. We know who has won, but that doesn't stop the loser from wanting to take as many of us down with Him as He can- hurting God until the very last moment it's possible for Him to do so. God on the other hand is long suffering wanting as many as will to come to Him. He's set a time in the grand scale of things when it will all be decided one way or another and when that time comes we will either be on God's side or Satan's. So you see, it's very, very important for us to realize that our sins are our futile attempt to destroy God, to defy Him, to make His government, His laws, His ways of none effect. OUR SINS. Is it no wonder our sins caused the death of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus became lowly human flesh in order to save us- proving once and for all that God's law, God's government, God's ways on earth are just.


'Sin is the will to destroy God.' Again, I have to emphasize, we don't believe that our sins, our petty little wrong doings and such are truly us trying to destroy God. Sin is the transgression of God's law. When we sin we are hurting God, we are hurting our fellow man and God's law says to honor and worship Him and to have respect to our fellow man- love God and love man- this is the whole law.


Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


Our sins great or small break one of these two laws, or both. We don't want to believe that but it's true. We call our sins harmless and yet isn't that just what Satan wants? As long as we believe our sins are harmless and hurt no one, least of all God then we're fine.


We have to wake up and realize before it's too late that it is our sins that if left un-confessed and un-repented of that will ultimately kill us eternally. That it is our sins that are an admission of being in defiance of God. We can proclaim our Christianity until the day we die, but unless we realize that on a personal level each sin we commit is a strike against God, we are only fooling ourselves and letting ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security.


May God open our hearts and minds to the truth of His word. May we seek to understand and believe the truth that our sins are hurtful to God - big or small. By the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior may we seek forgiveness so that we may be at one with God through Him and not fighting against Him and His love.


Amen.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Obeying the Truth Through the Spirit

1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

*

1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:


What is a man's work? Is it what he does as a job? Or is it the whole of his life's actions?


The word 'work' -

ergon
er'-gon
From ?????? ergo? (a primary but obsolete word; to work); toil (as an effort or occupation); by implication an act: - deed, doing, labour, work.


'by implication an act- deed, doing, labour.'


Our lives are judged, our actions are judged and that includes our jobs- our occupational work. Without any respect to who it is, God will judge all by the same criteria. All of us will be judged by our actions. The most important action being what? Believing in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior and loving Him with all our hearts and minds. From there all the rest of our actions in life are judged. Do we live in accordance to God's will? Is it important to us to put God first? To worship God? People stomp their feet and cry out Jesus did away with all that stuff, we are only to love! But do we love? Even Jesus commended the rich young ruler when he said that he followed the law of God. Wouldn't have Jesus taken that prime opportunity to tell the young man that he no longer had to follow the laws if that's what He intended of us? Loving God and loving our fellowman this our duty.


Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.


In those commandments our love is manifested, God's love is manifested.


Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.


Being judged by our actions is necessary because it is an action- a work- to believe, to have faith, to worship God first and foremost.


1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:


We do sojourn here on earth don't we? This isn't our final home and it wasn't intended to be, not this sin-filled, corrupted world. Jesus said in His Father's house are many mansions. Jesus also spoke of coming again to bring us to Him incorruptible, immortal. There was talk of a new heaven and a new earth. This isn't our final home and truly we only sojourn here for however long our lives may be it is only temporary that we dwell on this earth this way. So being told 'pass the time of your sojourning here in fear' it is a wise saying isn't it? We need to have a healthy fear of losing our eternal life because we holdfast to things that are corruptible, because we worship things and each other more than God.


1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot


We're not redeemed from this life, from earth by things that are corruptible themselves. Money won't save us, traditions won't save us, only the precious blood of Christ- a pure, unblemished sacrifical lamb- saves us. Our lives, our works, our actions are to believe in the saving grace of Christ and the blood He shed for us and to love Him with all our hearts.


1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.


Purified your souls in OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT UNTO UNFEIGNED LOVE...
BORN AGAIN....BY THE WORD OF GOD


We have to believe and out of our beliefs we live, our actions are committed. We have to purify our souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit and in that we will have the unfeigned love for God and others that we need. We have to be born again through God, by the Word of God.


Living in a world that is so fully corrupted that everywhere we turn the corruption is widespread, it isn't easy to hold fast to the love of God, the truth of God. When so many things cry out to be worshipped by us over any worship of God, it's hard to truly believe the truth. Solomon talked of 'all' being vanity and he wasn't far off was He? We focus on ourselves first so much. Even in giving of ourselves we focus on the fact we give as if that is a gold star in our favor- vanity. By the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit may we find the truth in the Word of God and live in truth, in love now and forever.


Amen.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Obedient Children of God

1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance


Our thoughts can run wild can't they? I know mine have run wild on me but you know what we control our thoughts don't we? We might think something but we control whether we keep thinking on it for the most part.


Things might be hard to get out of our thoughts too. If you've a sick loved one it's hard not to think about them isn't it?


We have thoughts and those thoughts control our feelings don't they? If we have good thoughts we are generally in a good mood. If we have bad thoughts we can easily be in a foul mood.


Thoughts can spiral out of control at times.


Could it be as well that sometimes how we feel influences are thoughts?


It's easy to meet yourself coming and going when thinking about all this but we do have to think about all this because we are told to 'gird up the loins of our mind' our thoughts produce things- actions. We do very few things without first thinking about them. We think about the sin we commit even if it's just a split second or two before we commit it, it goes through our mind before it becomes an action. If we gird up the loins of our minds we are watching over the things we allow ourselves to think- if a bad thought enters our mind we choose whether or not to dwell on that thought. If we're girding up the loins of our minds we're choosing not to entertain those thoughts that lead us to sin. We are called to be sober in our minds, in our thoughts to realize that it is the ungirded loins of our minds that lead us into sin. We need to hope for grace, and hope for it right to the end. Grace will be given to us when Jesus Christ is revealed fully to us at His return. Let us be obedient children of God, not continuing to live as we once lived when we didn't realize the grace of Jesus Christ in our lives.


By His mercy and through His love, in the grace of Jesus Christ we can't fashion ourselves according to former lusts when we didn't know the love, the grace of Jesus.


Obedient children of God will gird up the loins of their mind and be sober and hope to the end for grace through Jesus Christ.


1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.


Lev 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.
Lev 20:8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.


Girding up the loins of our mind, it sounds like it should be easy but it really isn't. Our thoughts are constantly influenced by so many things around us. May God help us and through His grace and mercy may we be saved in Him, in His love, now and forever.


Amen.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Hope to the End for Grace

1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ


The loins of your mind.

loins. a. The region of the hips, groin, and lower abdomen. b. The reproductive organs.


The loins of the human body are typically considered the reproductive organs- coming from the loins of so and so. The loins have that power to reproduce, they are the source of reproducing without them mankind would never have lasted as long as it has. From Adam and Eve we've all descended but where our parentage goes from there isn't quite so traceable. Some families can go way, way, way back in tracing their lineage others not quite so far. Regardless of being able to trace our heritage we know that it has been through the loins of various men and women that we've come into existence by the Grace of God.


The loins of our minds- our minds don't reproduce...or do they? Think about it. Our minds bring about our actions. Generally without the thought coming from our minds our bodies do not react. Again, typically, people do not thoughtlessly as if in their sleep without a thought in their head, do anything. The thought comes first. Yes, sometimes we react so quickly to something it's easy to say, 'I did it without thinking.' But in reality the thought came first before the action even if it's only a split second between the two. Our minds literally control things. Our actions come from thoughts. The loins of our minds un-girded would me what?


If you keep something un-girded it's not secure, it's not ready.


Gird
1. a. To encircle with a belt or band. b. To fasten or secure (clothing, for example) with a belt or band. c. To surround. See synonyms at surround.
2. To equip or endow.
3. To prepare (oneself) for action.


Our bodies left un-girded are exposed to the elements. Soldiers left un-girded are more vulnerable to the weapons of warfare. To be un-girded is to be unprepared, unprotected, unsecure, unequipped. So when it is mentioned that we are to gird up the loins of our minds it's really saying what? That our minds left unprotected are vulnerable.


1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ


We have to protect our minds, our thoughts we have to be mentally and emotionally prepared for a life following Christ. People say it should all come easy or were not doing it right. They say there should be this happy-happy, joy-joy dancing and singing experience that never ends. They look at professed Christians and hold them to a higher standard than those who are not professed followers of Christ. In truth as followers of Christ we are to place all our hopes in Him and the world to come and not here. When we keep our hopes here on earth we are subject to a lot of heartache and upset.


We are to be mentally prepared- sober.


One definition of sober is- Marked by circumspection and self-restraint.


When our minds are not girded and we give no thought to what we do or so it's not showing self-restraint or circumspection. Having our thoughts protected means to think before we act and show the restraint necessary for one whose mind is stayed upon Christ. You hear that saying- 'What would Jesus do.' And it's truly something we need to have in our mind always.


Our minds need to be guarded, our thoughts filled with Christ and we need to hope to the end for the grace that is given to us by Jesus.


As we go into this new year, let us have the loins of our minds girded, let us be sober, and filled with the hope we can only find in Jesus. We will be hoping the new year brings us good things- better jobs, better health, better grades in school, stronger friendships, better relationships, etc. We hope for a renewal of good things in our lives and yet we know that not much is going to change from this last day of the year to the new one. No magic switch is pulled which will shift our fortunes from one way to the other. The hope is really that throughout the year that our lives do get a bit better in all respects and yet as followers of Christ we know that in this world we have great enemies- all the enemies Christ and His disciples had all down through the ages. The same enemies in different forms war against any who follow Christ. The enemy's goal is to turn us from Christ back to Satan without us even realizing it, or with us realizing it but feeling helpless to stop the turning. This isn't something that will ever change, new year or no new year, that unseen war will go on and on and we all fight in it one way or another. The battle will be fierce the closer the end is and we need to realize this as we have our hope for the new year. Let our hope be for a stronger faith that if our whole worldly existence falls apart somehow- jobs, health, family etc, that our faith remains and grows by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior in love, now and forever!


Amen.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Faith- Does God Measure As We Do?

Step out of the ordinary and fall face first into adversity. Watch yourself succumb to anger, upset, and things you know are harsh and wrong. What do you do? It's almost like watching yourself outside of yourself and you feel as helpless to stop that nasty person from emerging as truly if they were a stranger.


What happened? Was it a test of faith and did you fail that test? What does it mean to fail a test of faith?


Gold tried in fire is literally metal heated until it is melted to a liquid state. It takes tremendous heat to melt metal- we live in a world with metal all around us and we don't live in a world with puddles of melted metal around every corner. An exceptionally high heat is needed to reduce metal to a liquid state. If our faith is tried like gold in fire what does that tell us? The fire is going to get hotter than we can really imagine.


1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ


Faith tested and tried.


Isn't it the test and PASSING the test what matters?


We go through life having to pass various tests. Tests in school, in higher education, in jobs- our skills are tested and based on our ability to score high enough on the tests we either pass or fail. If we fail the result can be loss of moving up a grade in school, it can mean the loss of a job, or the loss of a promotion.


I know a man who tried to pass an exam so he could advance in his job but after many years of trying to pass that test before retiring, he never did. He tried at a cost to himself- each exam taking money out of his own pocket just so he could advance to a higher pay grade and in prestige.


Whether successful or not, each position has its results, its consequences.


When our faith is tried we want to pass the test right? We want success because that success means eternal life with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.


But you know what?


We have to ask ourselves a question. Does God measure our success and failure the same way we do? Jesus suffered and died - that was a success. However, many in that day considered His life and especially His death a failure. He should have been able to save Himself, kept Himself from being hurt, from being tortured.


That man who kept trying and failing I told you about- was there a special kind of success in His ability to keep trying to pass the test even though he never did? You hear the old saying all the time that it's not whether you win or lose but how you play the game. That failure is only giving up. Are they true?


Our test of faith- we might fail in our own eyes, but maybe not in God's. He may measure things differently than we do. What I mean is a test may come and just having the recognition of failure, the recognition that it was a test may go a long way to building your faith, having your faith become stronger so that in the end it really isn't an ultimate failure but a temporary setback. Perhaps this faith being like gold tried in fire is never giving up though the trials will come and some of them come without any warning with such a vileness you are all but destroyed. The ultimate test might just be having to cling to Christ and only Christ.


We don't know the end from the beginning, but we do know that Satan would have us so caught up in our seeming failures that we just give up looking to Christ at all.


We can't give up! We must understand that the trying of our faith strengthens it- not necessarily passing the test. One failed test may ultimately keep us from failing in the future. We might have to fail our test over and over again but we can't give up! We can't!


God is the one critiquing our lives and He judges differently. We have to hope and pray that we hold fast, that we don't let our faith fail no matter what test it is put to. Easier said than done, yes, but it is my prayer that God bless and keep us so that we never give up our faith, never.


By the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever!


Amen.