Hard Times

Had in interesting experience this morning!

Here I was, driving to work, listening to the radio, as you do. And, of the five songs played on the radio that I could concentrate on reasonably without distracting too much from my driving, four of them were saying something to the effect of “life with Jesus is fantastic everyday”. And I thought to myself, “Man, I can’t really be a Christian, I mustn’t even know the guy. If their lives are so great since they’ve met Him, then I clearly haven’t met Him!”

Now I do not mean to say that my life is not the better for knowing Him. On the contrary, my life IS far better through knowing Him. He gives me Reason to live and Hope to carry on. But "everyday feels like I’m walking on sunshine" as one of the songs said – yeah right!

I’ll be first to admin that the “ups” are better than before I met Him or lived His way, but I think the downs are worse when you know Jesus. See, He’s there through it all, always there, always helping, always working everything out for good. But that doesn’t mean everything IS good – in fact it implies the opposite, that some things are going to be very bad. And the trouble with knowing Jesus is the times when it seems like He’s not there. In all the good times you have Him along side, helping, encouraging etc, and then come the dark times when you can’t feel that support. You cry out for His help, and can’t hear a reply. You’re stumbling around lost, helpless and alone and all the time wondering “didn’t He say He’d always be there?” It’s much worse to be promised someone will be there to support you through everything and then wander around seemingly without them, than to never have someone say they’ll be there. At least without that promise you know you’re on your own. You’re never left wondering if you’ve done something terribly wrong that has caused the promiser to walk away.

I’d rather not get married, than have my wife promise me the world then not be there when I needed her the most and it was within her powers to be there!

The trick of course is to remember in those hard times that Christ IS there whether we “feel” Him or not, and allow our trust in Him and faith to develop and grow - which is of course the whole reason for the hard times. As Philip Yancy says, Faith is believing in something, and acting on that belief, that will only make sense once you’ve come out the other side of it.

I hope those song writers come back to planet Earth soon :)

Ironically, or perhaps not so ironic, the one song that wasn't like that out of the 5 was KJ52's remix of The Hard Way

It occured to me that perhaps I should try to stop knowing about God, and instead start being God!
Well, ok, I don't wanna claim diety. But I am the method God has chosen to have influence on this earth - along with every other Christian. So perhaps, if I could stop focusing so much on me, myself and I, and started DOING what I know I ought, then maybe everything would be different - different like the early Christians were different - different like effective!

I used to think that Jesus was able to do such cool miracles on earth because He was the Son of God. Well, I think, in light of further revelation, that I was wrong. I now think, when He came to earth, He left behind all of the extra, cool stuff He was able to do in Heaven. He left behind His omnipotence, and omnipresence and all that, I know, but I think He left everything else behind too. In fact, the only thing I think He did take was just His personality.
I think when He arrived on earth, He had to grow in character just like us. The only reason He could perform the miracles that He did was because He had only ever been obedient to His heavenly Father and did nothing except that which His Father was doing.

So what's our excuse? Doesn't God dwell in us?

Why is it that Christians are SO different to the first generation of believers?

Let me give you a piece of information you probably don't know. If you hit www.dictionary.com, and look up "enthusiasm" you will see that means "possession by a god" or "having the god within". The word actually came about because the early Christians were so passionate about their new relationship with Jesus that they literally changed the entire known world at that time.
Nowadays we don’t seem to be having the same effect. Well, we Christians in the Western world at least. I know a million people in China get saved a month, and tens of thousands in South Africa and the likes. But here in the West, we just aren’t having that same impact.

Let me know why you think it is. I haven’t formed an opinion as to why, but here are some of my thoughts.

• We’re too lazy, too wrapped up in self to really care, too busy
• Lacking motivation – I bet you’d be more extreme about your faith if someone threatened to saw you in half because of it. And imagine the witness it would be if you got sawed in half for it! (Witness is another interesting word – did you know it comes from the same root word as Martyr? When Jesus said “you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem…” He actually said “Martyrs”)
• Maybe as a society we know to much regarding Science – because of course, they’ve proved Evolution, haven’t they? (not half they haven’t)
  Are we too concerned with being right, and don’t actually love the other person (being generous without asking anything in return) before trying to ram out religion down their throats
• Do pre-Christians see us as no different from themselves and therefore think we have nothing to brag about. After all the divorce rate amongst Christians is the same as in the world. Same with teen-pregnancies, drug use, depression, suicide, sickness… If we’re not different, why should they believe?
• Is it because the power of God is not so present to support what we say through miracles etc. And if it’s not, then why is it not?

Retirement Theory

Let me start by quoting Philip Yancey’s comment in his book “Disappointment with God” from the bottom of Page 198 ‘The Bible hints at the viewpoint “from above” in some of its most mysterious passages. It says that Christ “was chosen before the creation of the world,” which means before Adam and before the Fall and thus before the need for redemption at all.’
Now ponder this: Who chose Christ? And, like it, what was He chosen for?
The passage of Scripture referenced is 1 Peter 1:20. Let me put it in context for you: 1 Peter 1 “18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (emphasis added). You can see from that passage, Jesus was chosen from before the world was created to be our Redeemer. And if He was chosen, and I think one can safely assume (but correct me if I’m wrong) that He was chosen by God, then clearly it was for a purpose, for a plan. The plan of redemption. God created, from the outset, this world with the intention of having Jesus die on the Cross.
All my retirement theory does is offer a reason for this plan. It’s not a biblical fact that I’m going to try to prove to you. It’s just a “maybe God thought this”, just a little speculation that I had. My theory is this:
One day (which of course, is before time) God sat on His throne after a busy day of ruling the spiritual realm, and thought to Himself “I love my angels, and they love me, but they don’t really have any choice. They have valid reason to love me, but how real is their love if they don’t have something else to choose?
I know what I’ll do; I’ll create creatures that DO have a choice. Now they won’t be allowed to see me, cos if they see me they won’t be able to resist Me. But instead they shall exist in a universe, take one day as it comes, and be presented with an unavoidable choice to love me, or love something else. And I shall allow them to reproduce and become numerous in number. Then, when things have gone long enough, I shall reveal myself to them. And everyone that has ever lived will see me. If they chose not to love me, I shall cast them away from me. But those that chose to love me, I shall call them to myself, take them home to be with me. Then I think I might retire and dwell with them fully. Besides my Son can run things well enough.” And so He did.
Because He wanted these creatures to have a choice, He created another option. He allowed Lucifer to become consumed with pride, turn a third of the angels against God, insight a rebellion in Heaven and ultimately get kicked out. Lucifer thus became the alternative, whether himself or his prideful ways.
God created Earth and all the oceans and mountains, all the animals, the clouds, the stars in the sky and everything else. Then He created Man, in his own image (meaning having a soul and spirit as distinct from other animals), and placed them in a specially designed garden.
The Garden, you will know from the creation story, had a tree in it called “the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. That tree wasn’t there by mistake; God put it there along with the Tree of Life for a reason.
Then He gave Adam and Eve one command. I want you to see the significance of this. Without the command, none of this plan would have come into being.
Now Jesus, overhearing his Father’s musings, and seeing the universe created before him, watches while man runs amuck and disobeys God’s only command. Suddenly a thought occurs to Him, “Father, now that these people have turned away from you, shouldn’t you provide a way for them to come back. They’ve now observed how good things were when they were in right standing with you, and how bad things are having walked away. Wouldn’t it be great if they could have a second chance to come back to you?”
“But,” the Father replied, “the price would be very great. To overlook rejecting Me… I don’t know, Son.”
“What if,” Jesus continued, “I went down and lived among them, and showed them how to live. If I kept your rules, yet received the punishment for breaking them, then surely that would be payment enough?”
“Son,” said the Father, “the wages of sin is death!”
“So be it!” replied Jesus, “Father, I love these people, I want them to be with us. I would gladly pay that price.”
“I will try everything else first.” Said the Father, “You are my Son – my only Son. I will not lightly send you into the hands of men to be killed. But what you say is good, a second chance they shall have. And my throne shall be Yours once you complete your mission.”
And so they set about their plan.
Ephesians 3 “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (emphasis added)

Yes of course I have no proof of it, like I said, it’s my theory.

Evolution is Believable

Of course Evolution is believable!  But believable doesn’t mean true.
If God wanted us to have free will, there would have to be something else to believe, other than Him.  At this point in time, evolution is one of the primary alternatives.

Your choice is whether you believe what man has made up, or something that was passed down to man.  No person on earth has ever or will ever be able to claim being the originator of Christianity – except of course, Christ.  But, if Christ were a mere man, Christianity existed before He came along; it was prophesied about many hundreds of years before Christ came to Earth.
The thing with Evolution is that we know who made it up and we know when it happened.  We can look back at his ideas and agree with what we see or disagree.
If I thought God was a control-freak or a big old mean guy with a big stick in the sky waiting for me to do something wrong so He could beat me, I would probably want to formulate some other origin of species as well.  The problem is not that I’ve come up with another idea about how the earth was formed.  The problem is that my view of God is wrong.  God isn’t a control-freak.  He didn’t make us as puppets or punching bags.  Instead, He made us to have relationship with Him, to love us and for us to love Him in return.   A genuine love; based on choice.  And if based on choice, then there has to be other options.  And those other options would have to seem plausible.
Christianity doesn’t change with what we think is right.  It doesn’t change as we get more and more scientific evidence.  What is written in the Bible hasn’t altered in several thousand years.  And no one has ever proved any error in it.  For a book that is in parts dated four thousand years old, that is a remarkable achievement.  Will the theory of evolution stand up to that kind of test and remain largely unchanged?
See, you either believe what evolutionists tell you, or you believe what the Bible tells you.  Either way you have to believe because you cannot prove it.  What are the consequences of believing Christianity if it’s wrong?  Nothing; if Christianity is wrong, you die and that’s it.  What are the consequences of believing evolution if it’s wrong?

God's Plan B

So is God’s Law Plan B?

I wonder what would’ve happened if the Israelites had run to God at Mount Sinai instead of running from Him.  I wonder whether He would have delivered them the 10 commandments and all that, or whether they would have lived a righteous life because of the relationship they had with Him.

In the New Testament era, which we live in now, we are not free from the law in that we don’t have to keep it; we’ve been given the Law of Grace.  Oddly enough, while most people think this is an easier standard, if you like, it is in fact, a much harder standard.  Grace is commonly held to be little more than getting let off the hook if we don’t meet that standard.  But it’s so much more than that.
Jesus explained that the Law of Grace is now not about DOING what’s right; it’s also about THINKING what’s right.  If you hate your brother, Jesus said you are guilty of murdering him.  If you think about committing adultery, you are guilty of it.  This is a much harder standard to live up to.  But as Christians, we see the benefits of living up to this standard, and so we want to meet those requirements.  And the benefits of living up to that standard are numerous, but nothing more valuable than intimate relationship with God.
The Law of Moses was powerless to help us achieve holiness, but the Law of Grace is our enabling power to achieve it.  It changes us from the inside out.  The Law of Grace works at our desires and motives.  We begin to want holiness, we want intimacy with God and so we start cutting out things that compromise those things.  The Holy Spirit leads us in our choices and as we surrender to His guiding, we move further and further from a life of sin.  So the Holy Spirit becomes our new guide, not the Law.  And thus, I wonder if the Law was God’s Plan B.

Control Issue

Control Issues - I think they are the underlying causes of everything.
What is a control issue?  Simply wanting to control over someone or something.

So, say you're moving out of home for the first time in your life.  Or perhaps you're going away on holiday.  Now your mother is excited for you, of course, but she bursts into tears as you say your goodbyes.  Why?
I would say it's a control issue.  By which I mean that your mother won't be able to keep an eye on you like she has.  She won't be able to be Mother so much anymore.
Now before you say I'm being insensitive, don't blow it all out of proportion.  I'm not saying she’s not entitled to be upset.  What I want you to do is tell me any other underlying reasons for her tears that contradict what I’ve said, and justify those reasons.  You don’t have to use this as the only example; I can list many more situations for you.

We live in a world where we like to think we define truth – let me explain.
I saw a documentary the other day of a lady who was a teacher and had sex with one of her students, a 15 year old guy.  The interviewer asked her what she thought about the fact that she was a paedophile. The lady replied aghast that she didn’t see herself as a paedophile.  The interviewer pressed saying that the law defined her as one, and that it was the truth, she was a paedophile.  The lady was left speechless.  She was presented with a truth that she had no control over, and it baffled her.
Too often we justify our actions in our head.  We like to define what we’re allowed to do and we come up with reasons that, in our mind at least, let us off the hook.  Yet we know these things are wrong, so much so, that if we see someone else doing them, we get annoyed with them and maybe even tell them off.  Yet we do the very same things.  Take, for instance, driving your car.
There you are, approaching a compulsory Stop.  You can clearly see the road ahead and that it’s clear for you to go, so instead on coming to a complete stop, you roll on through and carry on your merry way.  That instant you hear someone tooting their horn at you.  They screech to a halt a few inches from your car.  You, of course, tell yourself that you haven’t done anything wrong, you just didn’t see them.  You’re only human after all, not perfect.
A few minutes later, at another intersection, someone else fails to stop completely at their compulsory stop as you approach, and you have to slam on your brakes.  The roles are reversed.  What’s your reaction?  I guarantee you're not sitting there thinking that it’s ok; after all they’re just human, not perfect.  You’d be yelling your head off at them, right?  I know I would.
But hang on, you justified your mistake and let yourself off.  Why can’t you let them off?
You were in control of your mistake – which, of course, wasn’t a mistake; just a slight oversight on your behalf and anyone could do it.  But you weren’t in control of their mistake.  You can’t stop them from doing it again, now can you?  You want to do the best you can to ensure they aren’t so dumb in the future so you let them know how you feel.  The truth is you were in the wrong as much as they were, and thus the driver who nearly hit you has just as much justification in yelling at you as you do of yelling at this guy.  Ironically though, assuming no one here is perfect, no one should be yelling at all because we’ve all been the cause so we all need to be more careful!

Here’s the climax of the whole issue:  when Eve was deceived into taking the fruit off the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she was told it would make her like God – knowing good and evil.  It would mean she was in control.
Ironically, God wanted her to be like Him – He made her in His image.  She was just going about becoming like Him her own way.  Her sin wasn’t eating the fruit; her sin was doing what she wanted, and not what God had planned.  It was a control issue.
God is God, He wants to be God, and no one else should try to fill His role.  He made us in such a way that we will slowly fall apart if we don’t submit to Him.
It is because we don’t submit to Him that this world is falling apart.  It is the cause of all the pain and all the suffering in this world today.  You will never really know happiness and meaningfulness in life until you learn to submit to God every aspect of your life.  And to submit, you have to realise your position in relation to God.  Most likely, thus far in life, you have pretty much done what you want.  This is what God calls Sin and sin separates us from God.  We need God’s forgiveness in order to come to Him.  And in order to be forgiven, we are required to repent.  Now repent is a fancy word that comes from two words meaning “after” and “to think”.  Simply put, it means we must admit we are wrong and commit to living life the way He intended – submitted to Him.  Welcome to Christianity.