One Day

One Day

July 1, 2019

Zechariah 14:9 "The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name."

The Lord is Lord, even if you don't acknowledge it. He is Almighty, Sovereign, and Ruler over all creation. He is either Lord of your life or not, but that does not change the fact that He is still Lord. You can agree or disagree, neither changes His identity. Atheists will one day have to acknowledge that He is Lord. They may choose to deny His existence now, but there will be a time when they not only have to acknowledge His existence but they will also honor Him as Lord. One day every knee will bow and tongue confess that He is Lord. For those of us who understand this, it gives us opportunity to do this now.

There are many religions today, and gods who go by many different names. Those who serve those gods will one day realize an unfortunate truth, that those gods had no name, that those gods were not even real. People spend their lives in service to these gods, only it is for nothing. Those gods cannot save them in the end, and in the end those who serve those gods will not be saved. Those people, however, will still have to acknowledge that the Lord is Lord, that the Lord is the one true God over heaven and earth. We can acknowledge now and later or be forced to only acknowledge it later.  You and I, we chose to acknowledge Him now. We know Him as Lord and Savior, but do we honor Him as Lord of our lives, honoring Him as Lord every moment.

Sure, in the end, we will bow down and acknowledge Him as Lord, and in general, we acknowledge Him as Lord, but what about each and every secret moment. One day we will all honor Him as Lord publicly, the atheist and the Christian alike. But in the secret moments, when no one can see you, do you still acknowledge and honor Him as Lord? When the Lord comes back, making Himself known and destroying the old ways of heaven and earth, it will be the obvious moment to declare Him as Lord. This will be the opportunity to bow before Him in humility, as a Christian, and bow before Him in embarrassment and shame as a previous atheist.

But if the Lord came back at this very moment, as a Christian would He find you honoring Him or would you be embarrassed by your actions in the moment. Consider yourself at your worst moment yesterday, if the Lord had chosen that moment to appear in all His majesty and glory, would He be pleased or would your actions be akin to those of an atheist? One day every knee will bow and tongue confess, but is that one day in the future for you or is one day really and truly everyday? One day is for the atheist, everyday is for the Christian.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Phil 2:9-10, Rom 14:10-13

It Was Good

It Was Good

June 24, 2019

Genesis 3:6  "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it."

Adam and Eve were set up in the Garden of Eden and it was good. The Bible says that all of creation was good, as the Lord was building and designing and creating, and the Lord declared it all as good. He put the man and the woman in the good garden, and placed boundaries around them. The Lord also placed the a tree in the middle, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. No one will ever know why He placed that tree there, a tree that would be tempting to someone along the way. But it did not take long for Adam and Eve to figure out the tree in the middle of the garden, the one that grew forbidden fruit, was good, too. Eve inspected it and decided the fruit was good for something, it was quality food and would open their eyes. No one will ever know what went through her mind just before Eve took the first bite of the fruit, but she reasoned it was good. She reasoned the fruit was good and the experience would be good and it was going to be good thing to do.

It wasn't good, however, eating that forbidden fruit. The sole reason it was not good was because the Lord had told them not to eat it, never to eat it. The fruit was good but the eating of the fruit was not good. The Lord creates everything in our lives, all good things, but it does not mean that everything is permissible or good for us to partake. If the Lord creates a boundary, a limitation, then we need to respect the boundary line as good. Eve did not asses the boundary line as good. She assessed the boundary line as just a line, that was passable if she deemed passing it was good. That's where Adam and Eve went wrong. They assessed that crossing the line was possibly in their interest, best interests even.  Here lies the difference between God and man. God can declare something as good, but man does not possess all knowledge to understand what the Lord understands.

In having a children, the parents set up boundary lines. Maybe a boundary line is as simple as not playing the street. The child may assess the street as a desirable place to ride a bicycle or kick a ball, but the parent is aware of so many more dangers and hazards. Playing in the street may seem good, but it is not. Parents often know far more than children do, but it is the same nature, that Adam and Eve had, to deny the boundary line if crossing the boundary line seems good. Parents don't always have the time to explain to a child why something is not good, nor does a child possess all the understanding required to comprehend why something is not good. This is often true with the Lord. He does not always explain why the boundary line is good and participating is not good, but nonetheless He put the line there not to be crossed.

You and I, we think we know better than the Lord. Eve clearly reasoned she knew better when she decided to eat the fruit. Maybe the fruit was good but maybe the boundary line was good, too; maybe the boundary line was better than the fruit. You have boundaries placed all around you. They are in your marital relationship, or lack thereof, they are in your workplace and finances, they are even in your walk with the Lord. The Lord sets up good boundary lines, as He knows best how to take care of His children. He knows all the reasons why the boundary line is put in place but does not always express to us why it is there. We want to know why the boundary line is there to assess if the Lord is correct, but the Lord wants us to trust Him and follow Him. There is where the rub lies, sometimes. We want to know all that the Lord knows and make our own decision. If you think about it, maybe the Lord is best equipped to make our decisions for us.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: Gen 3, Deut 34:12,  Ps 16:6, Jer 5:22, Hos 5:10, Rom 8:28

Obeying is Sacrifice

Obeying is Sacrifice

June 17, 2019

1 Samuel 15:22  ". . . has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord. . . ?"

The Lord said that it is better to obey than to sacrifice. This was said after an act of disobedience. The Lord had given Saul clear and concise directions, very specific and direct instructions. Saul disobeyed. Back then, when you sinned, the Lord had made a way for you to make it right. You had to offer a sin offering, basically bringing something of value, usually a live animal, and destroying its value to you.  It cost you something to make it right when you disobeyed. The Lord said it was far better to obey rather than pay the price for the sin. In fact, you could offer a sacrifice to the Lord just because, destroying something of value to you simply in honor to the Lord and yet the Lord said he'd prefer you and me to just obey. The Lord doesn't want you to pay the price for your sin; He wants you to obey.

There are two ways to obey. The first is the easier of the two. If the Lord tells you to NOT do something, then don't do it. If He tells you to not lie, then don't lie. If He you tells you to not murder, then don't murder. It's pretty easy to not murder, at least for most of us. If you violated these few rules, then you would be required to pay the sacrifice for the sin. He said it was better to obey than to offer a sacrifice. The second way to obey is move out and do something that He specifically tells you to do. This requires you to acknowledge His voice and directions, then to step out and take action. It brings honor to the Lord when you step out in obedience to do something for Him. When the Lord told Saul it was better to obey than sacrifice, Saul was clearly hoping to offer a sacrifice in hindsight to make up for his lack of follow through. This did not, and does not honor the Lord. Many people feel guilty for not stepping out in obedience to the Lord's leading in their lives. Many people give and give and give to make up for their disobedience and their feeling of guilt. Even as Christians we feel guilty when we don't do something we know we are supposed to do, so we give something to appease our guilt. The Lord would say to keep your gift. He would prefer the obedience.

I would tell you that to obey the Lord is a sacrifice, however. It requires you and me to lay down our own wants in order to do what the Lord wants us to do. Sometimes the Lord asks a great feat from us, to step out and do something that is bold or scary or even painful. It takes great faith and courage to obey when this type of command is as stake. It takes a great sacrifice sometimes to obey the Lord. Jesus told Peter to lay down his net and follow Him. Following the Lord, obeying him, was a sacrifice for Peter. In my own life, my family has followed a difficult path, one we knew the Lord asked of us, but would be painful and difficult. We could have chosen to disobey, then attempt to appease our guilt by giving to the Lord, but the Lord doesn't want our giving, He wants our obedience. 

You can sacrifice until you are blue in the face, but it does not take the place of obedience. Obedience, however, still requires a sacrifice and if you think obeying the Lord does not bring Him honor then you are playing the part of a fool. The Lord is well aware of the sacrifice involved with obedience and it brings Him great honor and joy and you find favor in His eyes when you do that. The Lord says your life will go well for you when you obey Him, when you step out and do the things He has for you to do. It is better to obey and find favor in the eyes of the Lord than it is to offer a sacrifice to Him that He did not request.  He requests obedience, not the offering you'd like to bring.

Don't take my word for it; look it up: 1 Sam 15:1-23, Jer 7:21-23, John 21:15-19, Eph 6:1-4