The Heart of the Matter

All things in the scriptures were written for us . . . but not all things in the scripture were written to us.

Example:

Jeremiah 17:9  says "The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.

It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?".  

Many teachers have convinced people who are in Christ that this is true of them.  It is sad to see.

Jesus IS the cure.  Jesus came to remove our stony heart and give us a heart of flesh.  Those who are in Christ are NEW creations, the old is passed away and all things are new.  Those that are in Christ have the Spirit dwelling in their hearts.  

Listen to your heart.  Follow your heart, for this is the dwelling place of the very God.

The Basics

I embrace the Christianity taught by Jesus Christ which teaches that to be right with God a person MUST BE PERFECT. This is such a high standard that no one can possibly achieve it. If a person were to be 99.9999999999999% perfect but slip up once in one small detail, they are disqualified.

However, Jesus DID live such a perfect life and has said that if we would quit trying to meet God's high standards through our own efforts, that the perfection he achieved would be ours . . . freely . . . without strings . . . forever . . .

The Apostle Paul in Romans 8:1 said: "There is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ."

So, salvation, and restoration of the broken relationship with God, the complete removal of all our sinfulness, past, present, and future, the joy and peace and security of not having to worry about "did I do it right", the very spirit of God dwelling inside our core, is all freely given, with no strings, no "as long as", no requirements to keep trying to be perfect, no requirement to attend religious services, no requirement to give money, no rules to keep, no expectation that sin in our lives will stop . . . NOTHING, to anyone and everyone when they admit they can't be good enough on their own and simply understand that Jesus has already done it all for us.

I know this may sound somewhat different than Christianity as most people think about it, but many teachers down through time have twisted the wonderful message that God has done all this for us only because he loves us all so very much and wants to have a close, intimate relationship with his beloved creation.

I know you are very focused on love, as am I, and I have found that knowing that I am loved THIS MUCH, makes it possible to really reach out to and care for and love those who cross my path. I am not perfect at it, but the more I grasp God's great love to me the easier it becomes to love . . . even those who are hostile to me.

Sorry to be so long winded, but this is such a wonderful message it kinda bubbles up inside of me.

The Good News is Really Good!!

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9.

Most Christians believe this to be true, and yet they feel a need to add things to it such as "make a commitment", or "give your heart to Christ", or "make Him your Lord", or "make a decision", and I could go on and on. All of a sudden this free gift from God sounds more like it has a string attached or a hook in it, or like it is from my own effort rather than a free gift. It makes the Good News taste a lot less "good".

Prior to the light of Christ shining in our hearts we are described as dead and in darkness. How does a corpse do anything? How do they make any decisions? What part did the dead Lazarus play in his own resurrection? Answer . . . NOTHING. God did it all!!

I remember being down deep in the Carlsbad Cavern when they turned out the lights . . . I have never experienced any darker darkness than in that hole in the ground. Picture someone in an underground limestone cave having never seen the reality of the beauty around them because of the darkness, all they have ever known is the darkness. Suddenly someone turns on the lights, revealing all the beauty that was around them all the time for them to enjoy. They don't DECIDE to believe in the existence of stalagmites, or stalactites, or waterfalls, or pools of crystal clear water, they see it and just know it to be true.

The light being turned on is the same as the faith that is a gift from God spoken of in Ephesians. His Spirit "turns on the light" showing the dead person that all his sins are forgiven, he is loved unconditionally, he has the presence of God inside of him, he is assured of eternity spend in a fabulous place called heaven. He doesn't need to make a decision, or make God his lord, or promise anything at all. It is all his freely out of the loving heart of a gracious God! Now this tastes a lot more like Good News to me.

Way to go God!!!

God's Loving Care

I saw a dead sparrow on the sidewalk this morning and I was reminded of God's never ending love for me.

A dead sparrow seems like an odd symbol of God's care and love.

Does God care for sparrows? Isn't there a passage which says He watches over even the sparrows and knows when they "fall"? If He does care so much and yet sparrows continue to fall from the sky, why doesn't He protect them? Why didn't He prevent this sad event? Could He? Did He want too? If not, how is that love?

I love birds. My wife and I have worked hard to make our backyard "bird friendly" and we enjoy spending time watching them flitting about and listening to them calling out to each other. They are such happy creatures. Seeing one of our feathered friends laying still and dead on the cold pavement evoked sadness in my heart.

I think God is sad like that too when one of His creation is hurting, struggling, or . . . dies.

This world is not the way God made it. This world is not the way God wanted it. This world, and all that is in it, including sparrows, are damaged and will some day die.

Sin is the culprit and God hates the damage that sin has done to His creation.

Through Christ's victory over sin on the cross we now know the day is coming when all the damage will be reversed. Pain will be gone, tornados will cease, hating, cheating, hurt, and yes, even death, will all be washed away. All things will be restored just the way God wanted it in the first place.

Yet, today is not that day. Today, we must all continue to struggle with sin's effects. Today sparrows continue to fall from the sky, and loved ones we know continue to get sick and die.

For me the comfort comes from knowing God values me much more than sparrows. When I suffer the effects of sin in this world, He is there with me; supporting me; crying with me; comforting me with the words . . . "I make all things new".

I have a best friend.

Sin Addiction

A crack baby is born; it's mother and father are strung out.

This precious young life is adopted by loving parents.

In spite of the adoptive parent's great love the innate effects of the crack addiction will continue to cause harm and destructive behavior for their youngster throughout the child's life.

The parents hate the addiction that continues to plague and cause harm to their loved one, but they understand their adopted child can do nothing but struggle with the crack addiction it was bequeathed by it's biological parents.

Motivated by love, if there were a way the adoptive parents would gladly take the pain, hurt, and consequences of the crack addiction from their suffering child and endure it themselves.

Sin is the same way. God hates the sin that continues to cause us hurt and pain. He understands that we are damaged and will continue to struggle. He is not mad at us when we sin, but He is very mad at sin. Wouldn't you be mad at anything so destructive to the ones you love?

Thankfully, there was a way of escape and God is the one who provided it.

Way to go God!!

Reading those personalized license plates can be a challenging, eye opening, and puzzling adventure..

I read one this morning which said "STOP SIN". It was easy to decipher but now I find myself trying to understand the application of this message.

Is this a command to the unwashed masses?

Shall I take it as a battle cry for someone on a crusade to stamp out evil in the world?

Maybe it is a simple wish for the car owner for their own personal life.

Is this even possible? Every effort to control sin seems to fail. If I try to speak only loving words inevitably I find myself wishing to take back something said. If I work hard at contentment, before long I will be wanting a new car, or house or job. No matter what the sin is, by trying harder, or working more, or learning the right thing, or grunting really hard the effect will be failure to meet the goal of stopping sin. I believe one could spend an entire life time shouting "STOP SIN" and the result would be . . . no change.

Are there some people who are better at stopping sin in their lives than others? It may seem so, but even the good ones have not STOPPED sin if there is even one remaining.

Things that are deep; things that are engrained; things that are instinct; things that are inbred; to stop these things is to go against nature, so am I as hopeless as it sounds?

Thankfully not. God knows everyone is a sinner by nature. God knows no one can STOP. God knows sin will continue. God offers to unite all of us with His Son, the One who truly was able to "stop sin", and thereby the sin penalty is erased, the guilt is gone, the anxiousness of repeated sinning evaporates, the fear of facing an angry, wrathful God is replace with a sense of extreme love from God to me.

Although sin will continue to raise it's ugly head as my life goes on it is like a fangless viper, the venom is gone as a result of God's extreme love.

I'm sure glad He knows my weakness and in His love has made provisions to overcome the power of sin. I pray the guy with with the STOP SIN get his wish . . . there is a way.

The latest on Jon's spiritual journey:

I have a close relative who is homosexual and distant from the family. There is a part of me that wants to reach out to him and show him the love of Jesus but will the message of Christ love be clouded by my own hang ups? God is doing great things in my soul . . . things I want. God is asking me to love, not to judge; He is much better at that anyway. He showed me today how He handled a similar situation.

Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today."

Jesus did not fear that socializing with a sinner would appear as if He were condoning the stealing which was going on. Can I do the same today? If I care for those in darkness as Jesus did, I will.

Lord open the doors - I think I am ready.