The Patience of Saints

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13.

Wait on the lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27:14.

The Old Paths, the Good Way

Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is. And walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it' (Jeremiah 6:16).
 
We need to go back to true worship, simple faith, obedience to our Creator. Throughout the Psalms we are advised and inspired to meditate on God’s awesome power, His works, His grace, His righteousness, and His majesty. Throughout modern culture we are motivated and pressured into meditating on our potential, our righteousness, basically the power of ‘I am’ (some human-inspired book) rather than on the power of the ‘Great I Am’ (Exodus 3:14). Psalm 145 beautifully captures the essence of what our focus should be on: God’s greatness.

Metaphysics and New Thought and basically everyone, are trying to convince the world that if you just focus on ‘being’ and feeling good about yourself, well then you’re just golden, a righteous little nugget who deserves heaven/paradise/72 virgins/eternity of chocolates. And yet the bible clearly teaches us to focus on God’s goodness and power, and that we cannot earn our way into heaven (Titus 3:5, Romans 8:3-4, Acts 4:12, etc). Romans 10:3 provides unimpeachable God-given guidance that what the world is currently teaching is ignorant and flies in the face of our excellent Creator. ‘For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.’

Happy thoughts may lift you into the air, but they are not enough to get you to heaven, and they are little use (without selfless righteousness through submission to God’s will) to others. Verse 4 reinforces this: ‘For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.’ Without Christ we are unrighteous. Without Christ we have only empty words and no salvation. Turn to Christ and live, and there you will find true joy and rest.

Too Busy, Too Bad: Service in the Name of Christ

What does it mean to be a Christian? In a word: Service.

Jesus had compassion on the masses (Matthew 9:36), because they had followed Him and were hungry. So He fed them. That was a service. He had compassion on the sick who were brought to Him (Matthew 14:14). So He healed them. That was a service. Throughout scripture we are encouraged, exhorted, and commanded to do good works, which involves serving the needs of our neighbors. Fortunately the bible gets pretty specific when it comes to ‘good works’. Obey the ruling authorities; speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing humility to all men (Titus 3:1). Meet urgent needs (Titus 3:14). Increase in knowledge of God; giving thanks to Him (Colossians 1:10-12). Bearing with one another and forgiving one another (Colossians 3:13). Pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:28). Control your tongue and do not lie (Psalm 34:13). Tend to the needs of the suffering (Luke 10:33-35). It is not always easy, but is simple, being a Christian.

You see someone in need, and if it is within your power to help, then right at that moment you have a choice to make, a road to choose. Will you be a Christian, a man or woman of God? Or will you say to yourself ‘I am too busy’ and go about your day, like the priest and Levite who walked by the wounded man lying on the road without helping him? Are you the hypocritical priest or are you the good Samaritan? In other words, are you a servant of Christ, or are you a servant of yourself? It is a vital question to your faith. What will you tell God on the Day of Days, when He demands an answer for your neglect of your Christian duties? That you were busy? Think on this: when you are presented an opportunity to help your fellow man, and you choose not to because you were busy or whatever excuse you favor, you are putting your eternity at risk.

The hard truth is that we put our salvation on the line every time we act as if getting to work is more important than stopping for that accident (if the cops or ambulance have not yet arrived), or that we don’t have time to help that old gentleman cross the street because we really need to get to the store, or that we just can’t attend that food drive because we have a lot of work to do. FOOLS! Helping your fellow humans is your business. THAT is why we are here, to serve and honor and glorify God by ‘doing good works’. It is also just as vital that you take time out of your terribly busy schedule (busy does not equal important, by the way) to close your door and pray, to spend time in the Word with God. WWJD?

50 Shades of Heaven

A number of movies and other medium, both secular and Christian, have portrayed heaven. No matter whether the heaven displayed is meant for comedic or dramatic effect, and even though each heaven is distinct from the other, they have one thing in common: God has no place in those heavens! He never seems to be around.

It’s a bizarre though rarely noted phenomenon. And it is intentional. Modern society (alas, the only society we have today) is big on inclusiveness and tolerance. These can be good things. But when it comes to heaven and to God’s design, in order to make heaven all-inclusive you have to disregard scripture. God is love (1 John 4:8), and He is forgiving (Daniel 9:9). He is also intolerant towards unrepentant sin. The bible pulls no punches where is describes the results of sin left unacknowledged and hearts unrepentant (Revelation 21:8, Romans 2:6-8). To disobey and outright ignore God’s will and design for our lives is to choose a path that leads away from Him—for eternity. This cultural idea that pretty much everyone is going to their own version of heaven, where they will be served up their every whim and answer to no one, is absurd, and smacks of irreverence.

The world is afraid of offending people, and yet no one seems afraid of offending and disrespecting Almighty God, who created the world and made the rules. This is backwards. It is displayed most blatantly in the idea (even from so-called Christian movies) that God just isn’t around in heaven, because there are many faiths and many versions of gods. It is ridiculous and irreverent.

Hard Biblical Truth #1: If all those other faiths were true, then Christianity would be false.
Hard Biblical truth #2: Heaven is exclusive. It’s like a mile-high club; you can’t expect to get in just because you think you deserve to. There are rules and conditions set by the owner. His club, His rules, whether you like it or not.

I have put forth no personal opinions in this post. My views did not come into play. I love God’s word, therefore I believe it and adhere to it. ‘The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works’ (Psalm 145:17). That’s what the bible says, that’s what I believe. In this world you choose what you revere. I choose to revere my Creator, not my fellow humans with their fickle cultural opinions.