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Are You AWOL?

Psalms 55-60

The publishers of the Bible translation I use put the title “In God I Trust” at the head of Psalm 56 and as you read the Psalm you will see that phrase repeated a couple of times.  It reminded me of what we have printed on our money, “In God We Trust”.  I found the history of that phrase interesting and if you have a few minutes extra to read about it you can do so at:

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.shtml

This history states that the move toward putting “In God We Trust” on our money started around the time of the civil war.  It also insinuates that an “increased religious sentiment” existed at the time and had influence on this development.  If this is the case we would be talking about the middle of “The Second Great Awakening”.  This is a time period that saw significant growth in the Methodist and Baptist denominations.  In fact, the Baptist and Methodist denominations are now 2^nd and 3^rd respectively in number of adherents in America after Catholicism.  The order changes slightly if you separate Southern Baptist from the other Baptist denominations.  In that case Methodists are number 2 numerically and Southern Baptists are number 3.

Obviously, immigration played a big role in the ascendency of Catholicism in the U.S.  The Second Great Awaking played a big role in the rise of the Methodists and Baptists.  Of course many other denominations grew or came to be in this period.

I think we’ve come a long way since our national religious sentiment first placed that inscription, “In God We Trust”, on our currency; and not in a good direction.  I wonder today if a majority would still be in favor of maintaining that motto; and if you read the history provided at the U.S. Treasury site mentioned above, you will see that this is indeed, legally, our national motto.  Regardless of the answer to that question, I am more concerned with the thought that the motto no longer applies.  My take on our American society today is that those that “truly” trust in God are in an overwhelmed minority.

On one hand, I am not surprised by this; on the other I am saddened that we Christians have done such a poor job evangelizing our own nation.  To this day we continue to send missionaries to foreign lands, and I know that continue to do evangelism in our own country as well, yet China is on fire and the U.S. seems to be going the other way.  It is hard to comprehend that a nation that sends and funds missionaries abroad to great success seems to have trouble evangelizing its own.  Could this be because you and I are not as “on fire” to share the gospel with our friends, neighbors, and co-workers as are the new converts in foreign lands?

There is no secret to the spreading of the Gospel.  It has always been spread through the individual efforts of one Christian sharing his faith with a non-Christian.  That is happening in nations where Christianity is growing; it is not happening were Christianity is in decline.  Now you can point to surveys that indicate that a majority of the U.S. population describes themselves as Christian, but I say to you that were those self-described Christians truly followers of Christ we would live in a vastly different country today.  Perhaps our problem is that many who consider themselves Christians do so because their parents once took them to church.  Maybe it is because many took Christ on as a cosmic insurance policy; “I’ll accept Christ just in case this Heaven and Hell thing is real.”  Maybe it is because our churches were more focused on numbers baptized than number of changed hearts.  Maybe our churches have simply not provided sufficient discipleship training or mentoring.  Maybe it’s a little of all of the above.

My point is, there are some who call themselves Christians who are clearly not Christians.  Now it is true that you and I cannot simply look at a person and visually ascertain the status of their spiritual condition.  Of course, even those who have accepted Christ will stumble from time to time; I’m afraid I am too good an example of that truth as was David (granted he wasn’t a Christian per se).  Yet, there is one way to separate some chaff from the wheat.  If God says something is sin, and you say it is not, you are not a Christian.

Jesus Christ said that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).  He also said that not one dot or iota will pass away from the Law until heaven and earth pass away (Matthew 5:18).  You cannot claim to be a follower of Christ and yet say that He was wrong.  Why would you follow a deity you thought was wrong?

If you claim to be a follower of Christ yet look at the Bible and say it is just a collection of nice sayings, some of which are correct and some of which are wrong, then your faith is built on a fraud.  Either Christ is who He says He is, or He is not.  If He is not, He either knew He was not or He didn’t.  If He knew He was not who He said He was, then He was a liar and not worthy of worship.  If He didn’t know He wasn’t who He said He was, then He was crazy; also not worthy of worship.  Jesus doesn’t give you a choice.  He is God or He isn’t.  His Word is true, or it isn’t.  You follow Him or you don’t.  You don’t get to pick and choose; He didn’t give you that option.

Brother, I don’t know which camp you fall into; was your heart changed or are you faking it?  The problem with faking it is you can fool all of humanity, but the only perspective that matters is God’s and He will not be fooled.  You may fool yourself, but not Him.  If you are feeling a little uncomfortable right about now you might want to chat with your pastor.  Once saved always saved, but walking the aisle and getting dunked isn’t salvation.  Salvation comes with a changed heart.  Those who have a changed heart know that they know that they know they are saved; there should be no doubt.

Now, we are all human and doubt is part of that equation.  It is not my intention to have you doubt your salvation if your heart has been changed, but, frankly, I am really more worried about the one who wrongly thinks he is saved and isn’t.  If you are saved and doubt, you are still saved.  If you are not saved and don’t doubt, you are dead.  Search your heart brothers and make your salvation sure.

If you know you are saved I have to ask you, as I have to ask myself, are you sharing the Gospel?  Do you believe or not?  You know that Jesus is your Savior but do you know He is your Lord?  Let me ask you something.  Did you buy Him or did He buy you?  Which should be following the others orders?  He said go and make disciples.  Are you?  Your Lord has told you what to do.  Your nation needs you to do what your Lord has told you to do?  Are you AWOL?  Get back in the trenches soldier; you’ve got work to do.

Have a faithful day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Go And Sin No More

Psalms 49-54

It seems to me that all the theology of the Bible is found in these Psalms.  Take for example Psalm 49.

Psalm 49:7-9

“Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.”

You and I cannot save ourselves or anyone else.  Even if you and I sacrifice our life for the transgressions of someone else it is not enough to save them; our very life is not valuable enough to pay the high price required by sin.  These verses tell us that in man there is no hope.  Of course, that is not the end of the story.  You see, while man cannot save himself, God can and does save man.  God can and did pay the price required of sin.

Psalm 51 illustrates this fact perfectly.  Remember back in 2 Samuel when David took another man’s wife and then had that man killed?  We all know that by God’s standard both acts were heinous.  What you may not have considered, however, is that as king, David was above reproach.  In fact, what he did in this instance was not really an unusual act for a king of that era.  By the human standards of the day, outside of God’s law, David didn’t do anything wrong.  God’s standard, of course, is a different matter entirely.  There is scriptural evidence to suggest that David was being eaten up by his sin prior to Nathan’s confronting him; it bothered him and he became quiet and withdrawn.

I think one of the things that has bothered many of us who have read about David, is that he seems to be such a great man of God and then, seemingly out of the blue, he commits two horrendous sins in succession.  How can a man with such a close relationship with God, who clearly loves the Lord and has shown time and again an ability to deny his own self-centered desires in order to be true to God’s standard, drop the ball in such a catastrophic way?  “He didn’t just tell a little white lie to keep from hurting someone’s feelings; he committed adultery and murder!”

Do you know how you can tell David loved God?  His sin bothered him.  When Nathan confronted him with his sin, he could have, like any other king of the day likely would have, had Nathan killed.  Instead, David confesses his sin.  You see, if you are God’s man, sin will bother you.  If you are God’s man He will discipline you.  If you are God’s man you will confess your sin from a broken heart with true regret and remorse.  In verse 1-6 of Psalm 51 is David’s confession.  He admits he has fallen short of God’s standard and that he needs to be forgiven.

A man that does not belong to God does not feel he needs to be forgiven for his sinful behavior.  How can one who feels they have done nothing wrong desire forgiveness?  How can forgiveness be given if it isn’t requested?  David is God’s man even though he sinned.  And that is my point about the theology we see here in the Psalms.  David, a hero of the Bible, is not good enough to save himself.  Even with all of his great works and great Psalms of praise, he cannot save himself; he falls short of the mark and deserves the pit.  What hope do you and I have if even one like David is not good enough?  Our hope is the same as David’s; it is the fact that God convicts us of our sin and enables us to perceive our guilt.  Our hope is in the fact that He loves us enough to discipline us and provide cleansing for us as a result of our requesting forgiveness.  Listen to David’s words:

Psalm 51:7-12

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

You see, David knows that God must do the work of salvation.  God must cleans us and renew our spirits within us.  Now I found a couple of more verses in this Psalm fascinating.

Psalm 51:16-17

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

God has developed an entire system of sacrifice; burnt offerings and wave offerings and peace offerings and the like, but David says God will not delight in that sacrifice or he would give it.  He says that the burnt offering is not enough.  The sacrifice that God requires is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.  I worry about those that seem to come to God too easily.  Is their spirit really broken?  Do they really have a broken and contrite heart?  It is not for me to say, but either it is or it isn’t.   If they are not broken by their sin, how can they truly ask for forgiveness?  We tend to say that all you have to do to be saved is accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.  This is, of course, true, but a little over simplified.  There must be confession and a changed heart.  You cannot simply take Christ on as some kind of cosmic insurance policy without any sense of remorse or brokenness; it is not a sincere request.

As I did the dishes prior to sitting down to write this post, I listened to a song performed by Bob Carlisle entitled “We fall down”.  It is the story of a man who trudges his way past a cathedral every day as he drags his wares to market.  As he passes the cathedral he imagines how wonderful it must be to live in a place where you are warm and well fed and the burdens of the world are shut out.  One day a priest passes by and the man asks him what it is like to live in such a place.  The priest replied “We fall down, we get up.  The saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up.”

We have to be careful about getting our theology from pop Christian songs; far too many of them are a little off, and one might find things in this song with which to disagree.  Still the idea that the saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up is pertinent to what the lesson of David teaches us.  When we accept Christ we are “reborn”; we are new creatures; the old is gone the new has come.  Our problem seems to be we don’t understand the power of the new creature and we have phantom sensations that remind us of our old selves.  I’ve heard it said that an amputee will often have a sensation that the removed limb is still attached.  The limb is gone but the mind, for some reason, gives the sensation that it is still there.  I think we can get that same kind of sensation after we have had the old self removed.

What this phantom sensation means is that we might, from time to time, fall down.  The question here is what are you going to do once you’ve hit the floor?  Will you deny your sin, or will you confess your sin and ask for forgiveness?  The enemy is a dastardly creep.  He will encourage you into a stumble and then condemn you in an effort to keep you down.  David has shown us the proper response.  We must confess, ask for forgiveness, and get back up and on with being a man of God.  We will have to live with the consequences of our sin as David did, but we must rise in the victory already provided by Christ, go, and sin no more.

Sorry for such a long post.  It seems to be what God laid on my heart.  Get up brothers!  Go and sin no more!

Have a blessed and righteous day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

God Is Our Refuge And Strength

Psalms 44-48

I find God’s Word to be as a diamond.  As the light of Christ shines through it we seem to catch a different sparkle every time we look at it.  Have you ever read a bit of scripture only to read that same bit at a later date and perceive an entirely different truth than the first time?  Scripture spoke to the past as it speaks to the present.  Scripture tells us of things that have been, that are, and that will be.  Sometimes it speaks to past, present, and future all in the same verses.  I found that to be the case in the verses we read today.

Most of the Psalms we read today relate to the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  They also relate to you and I today, just as they did to the people of Israel in days of old.  I’ve included the entire text of Psalm 46 because it speaks to this fact.

Psalm 46:1-11

“God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. “

God is indeed our refuge and strength particularly in times of trouble.  This is true today as it will be in the last days.  Of course, every generation thinks theirs is the last and that is because every generation has its share of trials and troubles.  As we look at the troubles and strife of our world today we are hard pressed to deny the possibility that Jesus may return any moment.  It seems as if there is more violence, more promiscuity, more war, natural disasters, and disease than ever before; and yet all of these are just what Jesus calls the beginning of birthing pains.  The real signal for the end of the age will be the moment the Gospel has been preached to every people group in every land.  Just as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Pharaoh, and the Canaanites, were given every opportunity before they were given over to their sin, so it will be for all of humanity.

Should it surprise us that the world becomes more and more estranged from God every day?  It shouldn’t.  God told us it would be so.  The return of Christ is predicated on it being so.  This does not mean that we should encourage a lost and dying world to continue on its way so we can see Christ sooner.  It means that we must be about our Master’s business as it is His purpose that all who would be saved will be saved.

The trials and tribulations will come; what have we to fear?  “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”  Is Jesus, the River of Life, living within you?  If so you are His Holy Habitation in a sense.  God is within your midst and you shall not be moved.  God will help you when morning dawns.  The nations will rage and kingdoms will totter; the earth will melt at the sound of His voice, but the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Be about your Master’s business and fear not, for He is your refuge and strength!

Have a fearless day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

I Have Told The Glad News

Psalms 38-43

Am I alone in this?  Do you see the story of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Salvation come to life before your eyes as you read this Bible, and these Psalms in particular?  The whole of this wonderful Bible is the redemption of you and me through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Every bit of theology espoused in the New Testament can find its roots in the Old.  Now that you and I have been saved by grace, purchased at a high price, what are we to do?  We know that Jesus sent all of His disciples, which includes you and me, to tell the world of the good news.  This notion, however, is not new.

Psalm 40:9-10

“I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O Lord.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
from the great congregation.”

Have you hidden the deliverance of Jesus Christ in your heart?  Have you concealed the steadfast love and faithfulness of Christ from those whom God would call?  I hope not.  All humanity was created to be in right relationship with God.  Jesus spoke of Himself as living water.  Our hearts thirst for God.  Separated from God we dry up; we become parched.

42:1

“As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.”

If we have accepted Christ as our Savior then our desire should be as that of David in Psalm 40.  We should tell “the glad news of deliverance”; we should not restrain our lips, we should not hide the deliverance of Christ within our hearts; we should speak of His faithfulness and salvation; we should not conceal His steadfast love.  Brothers, what have you done with the grace of God?  Have you hidden it or have you shouted it to others?  The lost and dying world pants for Christ; can we not offer them the river of life?  Will you tell them the glad news?

Have a glad news shouting day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Be The Father He Created You To Be

Psalms 35-37

Of course, I love all of the Psalms but some just seem to speak to me more than others.  The 37^th Psalm did that for me in today’s reading; it spoke to me more than the other two.  I’ll admit that my mind was preoccupied with Father’s Day as I wrote this.  Happy Father’s Day, by the way, to all of you fathers out there!

I started this blog because I want to continue to become, to discover if you will, the man God created me to be.  We like to put various aspects of ourselves into boxes.  In this box is the husband, in this box is the Christian, in that box the employee, and in the other is the father.  Of course we are all of those things, and more, all at the same time.  We don’t get to take off the Christian hat while we put on the employee hat; the husband hat stays securely in place while we wear the father hat.  In fact, hats are a horrible analogy for the roles we fill as men.  We fill them all at the same time; we don’t get to take any role off at a given moment.

On Father’s Day we tend to think about our dad’s, and we give them a call and we thank them for all they have done and continue to do for us; and that is as it should be.  I think, however, that Father’s Day should also be a day when we think about the job we are doing as a father ourselves.  When your children are grown, and Father’s Day rolls around, what will their thoughts of you be like?  Will they remember a man that was a good dad all the time or just when he chose to put the Dad hat on?  Will they bless your name because you helped them develop godly behavior that served them well all their days?  Will they remember a godly man who showed them by word and deed what it meant to be a faithful servant?

Of course, some of us have children already grown and out of the house.  Does that mean we can’t still have a positive, godly influence on them?  I don’t think it does.  I think that no matter how badly we’ve done in the past, we serve a God not only of second chances but multitudes of chances.  I think that until God calls us home we can be a godly influence for good for those we love and who depend on us to model Christ for them.

As I read today I noticed what was said about the children of the wicked in the 37^th Psalm.

Psalm 37:27-29

“Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
For the Lord loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.”

The children of the wicked shall be cut off.  What a desolate sentence.  As I’ve said before, our children reap what we fathers sow.   Every individual is responsible for the choices they make.  This is true for our children as it is for every human being.  Still, we influence our children even after they have moved out of the house.  No matter what stage of life we find ourselves, we can continue to influence our children.  No matter how badly we have fumbled the ball in the past or how well we’ve done as a father, we can, and should, continue to influence our children for good at every opportunity, not just when we get around to putting on the father hat.

That influence starts with how we live our own life and continues on to how we interact with our children.  If you have young ones in your home, what are you doing to point them toward Christ?  What are you doing to help them develop godly habits like daily Bible reading, scripture memorization, and prayer?  It’s not easy being all those things we men are supposed to be at all times, but that is why God made you a man; so you would have big enough shoulders to carry the load.

Brothers, I pray that you have a wonderful Father’s Day today.  I pray that your children will be a delight to you and that you will bask in the glow of their righteousness.  I also pray that you never stop being the father, husband, employee, Christian, man God created you to be!

Have a blessed Father’s Day brothers!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Take up your cross daily and follow Him!

Many Are The Afflictions Of The Righteous

Psalms 31-34

God has told us that if we obey Him and walk in His ways we will be blessed and that if we don’t obey Him and don’t walk in His ways we will be cursed.  From this we get the mistaken idea that if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior only good things will happen to us and bad things will never occur.  We grab hold of this idea for all we are worth, which is why we are so devastated when something bad happens to us or to someone we know to be a “good person”.  “I’m a good person!  I’ve haven’t done anything REALLY bad!  I’ve done more good than bad!  How can God allow this bad thing to happen to me?”

This is one of those cases where we take a promise of God and manipulate it to mean what we want it to mean rather than accepting it for what it is.  Let me ask you something.  Which is more important, this life or eternity?  Which is God more concerned with?  In case you weren’t sure, eternity is the answer to both questions.  God’s plan for you is eternity.  Now, let me ask you something else.  Have you been perfect all your life?  No?  That’s the standard for eternity you know.  You have not always obeyed God, have you?  You have not always walked in His ways, have you?  I’m afraid you have not been a “good person” by God’s standard; and it is his standard, and His alone, that matters.  Eternity is available for perfect people.

There was only one of those, however, and His name is Jesus.  The blessing God is most intent on giving you is eternity.  He came down here to earth to offer it to you.  If you confess your sins and accept His sacrifice you can invite Him to come and live in your heart where He will prepare you for eternity.  Bad things can and will happen.  Jesus is our example in all things.  He was perfect.  Did He have only blessings in His life?  No.  Our lives are better when we walk in God’s ways and they are usually miserable when we don’t, but life on this planet is not the goal.  Eternity is the goal and it is there where God’s greatest blessings lay.

Look at what David wrote:

Psalm 34:19-22

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”

Did you hear that?  Many are the afflictions of the righteous.  That was certainly the case for Jesus.  The good news is that Jesus will deliver us out of them all; none who have taken refuge in Him will be condemned.  I think it is time we stopped chasing after paltry little blessings on this earth and started looking forward to the blessings we have in eternity.  This life is not what it is all about.  Eternity is what it is all about.  Our prayers and our hopes need to be focused on eternity.  Accept that afflictions will be yours for a time and know that the Lord will deliver you out of them all.

Have a blessed and righteous day!

Your brother and servant in Christ,

Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!